Another Eccles for me today. The grid hinted at a Nina but I can’t see anything.
Monday’s puzzles do seem to have got less difficult recently but maybe that’s just me.,
Thanks Eccles.
Across
1 Subject of a very loud song (6)
AFFAIR
A & FF & AIR, not completely convinced that affair and subject could be used interchangeably
5 Having feminine features, desire to enter Middle Eastern country? On the contrary (8)
WOMANISH
OMAN in WISH rather than wish in Oman
9 Butcher is writing out MA in full (8)
MASSACRE
M(ASS) & A(CRE)
10 Relatively big day for German store (6)
LARDER
D(ay) replacing G(erman) in LARGER
11 Old woman meets Lance Armstrong, perhaps – a spectacle where nothing is spoken (5,5)
GRAND OPERA
GRAN & DOPER (Armstrong perhaps) & A
12 Black out from decompression sickness, which can result in deaths (4)
ENDS
B(lack) from (b)ENDS
13 Coffee tables press on trousers (8)
ESPRESSO
Answer is trousered by – hidden
16 Balls‘ motivation to get close to final (6)
DRIVEL
DRIVE & (fina)L – guess this is alluding to some television programme M’lud
17 German male – one trying to lose weight (6)
DIETER
Double definition
19 Subdue student overwhelmed by rum (8)
STRANGLE
L(earner) in STRANGE
21 Capital often frozen due to unlimited industrial action (4)
OSLO
unlimited (g)O SLO(w)
22 Like an action replay of constipation? (4,6)
SLOW MOTION
Do I really need to explain this….
25 Cured meat made from antelope’s rejected but quietly rejected (6)
SALAMI
P (quietly) removed from a reversed IM(p)ALAS
26 Offered to look after English communist (8)
TENDERED
TEND & E(nglish) & RED
27 Champion desperately needed form regularly (8)
DEFENDER
[NEEDED F(o)R(m)]* desperately
28 Times journalist removed (6)
ERASED
ERAS & ED(itor)
Down
2 Ability of the French to hide in tree (5)
FLAIR
LA in FIR
3 Crime of the Century carried out from Nevadan city (5)
ARSON
C(entury) removed from (c)ARSON
4 Dramatic artists about to replace American ministers (7)
RECTORS
RE (about) replacing A(merican) in ACTORS
5 Towards which place is extremely tentative whore travelling? (7)
WHERETO
[T(entativ)E WHORE]* travelling
6 Train Sam Allardyce to box (7)
MALLARD
The fastest steam locomotive, was the mallard a train or just the engine? anyway it’s a boxed – hidden answer
7 1 in 21 possibly wearing no pants (9)
NORWEGIAN
Someone in 21 – OSLO, [WEARING NO]* pants
8 Veronica Spooner’s charming treatment of unwanted visitor? (9)
SPEEDWELL
Weeds are unwanted plants so a spoonerism of WEED SPELL
14 Ordered hash pipes to be ordered (9)
SHIPSHAPE
[HASH PIPES]* ordered
15 Reason to limit booze (9)
RATIONALE
RATION & ALE
18 Cancel lessons on religion, science, and …? Not art, initially (7)
RESCIND
R.E. & SCI(ence) & A(rt) removed from (a)ND
19 One who has an attempt at goal that rolls along the ground (7)
SHOOTER
Double def
20 Italian church court (7)
ROMANCE
ROMAN (It.) & C.E.
23 Head of Theology enthralled by article on Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians (5)
THETA
T(heology) in THE & second letter of (p)A)(ul)
24 Live in very large house, at last – very large (5)
OBESE
BE (live) in O/S & last of (hous)E
That rare thing, a cryptic crossword that consisted entirely of write-ins.
Yes, quite an easy one today, a nice start to the week.
Some clues to raise a smile, too – DRIVEL, SLOW MOTION and, for its surface, NORWEGIAN.
Pedants’ (or Pedant’s) Corner: ‘Train’ is obviously necessary in the clue to 6dn for its surface, but MALLARD is a locomotive, not a train (although a locomotive can be described as a train in certain specific circumstances).
Thanks, Eccles and flashling
Yes, Mallard is normally a locomotive not a train. Both Mallard and Allardyce are record breakers: fastest steam locomotive and shortest-ever holder of post of England football team manager!
Oops. I meant holder of the post for the shortest amount of time, not the shortest in stature!
A seasonal puzzle – lots of old chestnuts.
Yes, an easy Monday puzzle, but don’t forget that there are people out there who are still learning this stuff. I thought that it was well-constructed, and I liked SLOW MOTION and DRIVEL.
Well done, Eccles, and thanks to flashling for the blog.
Wot KD said. 🙂
Thanks for the blog, flashling, and to commenters.
It was meant to be pretty gentle, perhaps I was a fraction too generous, but I’m happier to err slightly that way.
The ‘pedants’ are quite right, of course. The Mallard was the locomotive, although it is reasonably often referred to as a train (when I typed it in to Google). Not that that makes it right…