I did not find this quite as tightly clued as Aardvark’s usual fare, and there is one unsolved clue in here. Other than that enjoyable as always. Thank you Aardvark.
| Across | ||
| 1 | BOTANY | Lad collects sort of amber for scientific study (6) |
| BOY (lad) contains TAN (sort of amber) | ||
| 4 | BY RIGHTS | Year 8 heading off into empty bus properly (2,6) |
| YR (year) eIGHT (8, missing head) inside BuS (empty) | ||
| 9 | TENDON | Daughter brought in particular saw for part of joint (6) |
| D (daughter) inside (brought in) TENON (particular saw, type of saw) | ||
| 10 | PLATINUM | Whitish wild cat mostly eating tongue (8) |
| PUMa (wild cat, mostly) contains (eating) LATIN (tongue, language) | ||
| 12 | TROY | Plague grips ordinary ancient city (4) |
| TRY (plague, irritate continually) contains (drips) O (ordinary) | ||
| 13 | SHROVETIDE | Time of year mum meets retired newsman – about half five (10) |
| SH (mum, quiet) with (meets) EDITOR (newsman) reversed (retired) containing (about) fiVE (half of) | ||
| 15 | STRATOSPHERE | Nuts stop and stare endlessly at this place, somewhere in the sky (12) |
| anagram (nuts) of STOP and STARe (endlessly) then HERE (at this place) | ||
| 18 | SALESMANSHIP | When redesigned, lass names funky craft in the market (12) |
| anagram (when redesigned) of LASS NAMES and then HIP (funky) | ||
| 21 | MINI-BUFFET | Given small selection of food, bite muffin into pieces (4-6) |
| anagram (into pieces) of BITE MUFFIN | ||
| 22 | OSLO | Some symbols of withdrawn capital (4) |
| found inside (some of) symbOLS Of reversed (withdrawn) | ||
| 24 | LEISURED | Having spare time, it’s OK in deli to have a wander (8) |
| SURE (it’s OK) in anagram (to have a wander) of DELI | ||
| 25 | TUMULI | Corporation, at regular intervals, pulls in with barrows (6) |
| TUM (corporation, stomach) and pUlLs In (regular selection from) | ||
| 26 | RENEGADE | Frenchman stifles oath seeing rat (8) |
| RENE (Frenchman, typical name) contains (Stifles) EGAD (oath) | ||
| 27 | MOUSSE | Flash American store’s wrapping dish (6) |
| MO (flash, an instant) US (American) and StorE (wrapping, outside letters of) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | BETA TEST | Gallery’s participating in chance experiment (4,4) |
| TATE’S (gallery is) in BET (chance). I am nitpicking here, but is a beta test really an experiment? An alpha test might be thought of as an experiment, seeing if something works. The beta test is more about polishing and refining in a production environment. | ||
| 2 | TANDOORI | Cook, wearing brown and gold, beginning to indicate style of cuisine (8) |
| DO (cook, as fraud) inside (wearing) TAN (brown, also in 1 across) and OR (gold) then Indicate (beginning letter of) | ||
| 3 | NEON | Nicole’s outside playing, in element (4) |
| NicolE (outside letters of) and ON (playing) | ||
| 5 | YELLOWHAMMER | Bird with timorous amateur at sea in France (12) |
| YELLOW (timourous) HAM (amateur) with (at) MER (the sea in France) | ||
| 6 | IN THE WRONG | Driving with no reg, unknown’s caught – guilty (2,3,5) |
| anagram (driving) of WITH NO REG containing (with…caught) N (unknown, maths) | ||
| 7 | HANG IN | Ghana’s inner spirit to continue steadfastly (4,2) |
| gHANAa (inner part of) and GIN (spirit) | ||
| 8 | SUMMER | Maths teacher’s period for lessons outdoors? (6) |
| double definition. I don’t quite get this one, is “summer” recognised slang for a maths teacher? I can see that a summer is someone who adds, but why does that make them a teacher? | ||
| 11 | CHESTERFIELD | Sofa where money maybe stored given to Comic Relief fund ultimately (12) |
| CHEST (where money may be stored) with anagram (comic) of RELIEF and funD (last letter of, ultimately) | ||
| 14 | STRASBOURG | Street artist needing grub so desperately in European city (10) |
| ST (street) RA (artist) with anagram (desperately) of GRUB SO | ||
| 16 | CHESNUTS | Corny jokes which go round at Christmas? (8) |
| 17 | UP TO TIME | Excited child writer’s meeting back in house promptly (2,2,4) |
| UP (excited) TOT (child) I’M (the writer is) and housE (back letter in) | ||
| 19 | AMBLER | One who’s 24 perhaps more fit, covering miles (6) |
| ABLER (more fit) containing (covering) miles | ||
| 20 | INDIAN | Race to boost charity held in pub (6) |
| AID (charity) reversed (to boost, send upwards) inside (held in) INN (pub) | ||
| 23 | LUDO | Board game clue uncovered cheat (4) |
| cLUe (uncovered, no outside letters) and DO (cheat) | ||
*anagram
definitions are underlined
I write these posts to help people get started with crosswords. If there is something here you do not understand feel to ask questions; chances are there are others wondering the same things.
I see now that CHESNUT is an old spelling of CHESTNUT, so 16 down is OK. But it is listed in Chambers as “now rarely used”, so it seems to me that CHESNUT is not an obviously better answer than CRACKER.
Thanks PeeDee.
I found this crossword much easier than Aardvark (or his alter ego Scorpion) can be.
My first one in was OSLO (22ac) which I actually quite liked.
LOI: 16d (CHESNUTS) which had to be it, although I had to check the alternative spelling.
As a Maths teacher I wasn’t offended by SUMMER (8d).
Just a bit of a whimsical clue.
In the blog, the R of 4ac is missing: Year = YR, not Y this time.
I’m a very senior citizen, and am, of course, familiar with “on time” and “up to date,” but NEVER have I heard of “up to time.” Had that possibility even entered my head I’d likely have solved 18d and 25a. Harrumph!!
Hello Sasquatch, I had not heard of UP TO TIME either, I found it only because it fitted the wordplay.
It had the feel of an entry that was put there because it fitted the spaces and got the grid-fill over quickly. HANG IN and the CHESNUTS had that feel about them too.
Thanks Aardvark and PeeDee
Had the same sort of misgivings with this puzzle with a number of the clues – TAN for amber was a stretch, PLATINUM for whitish not quite so – but …, UP TO TIME for promptly – more like ‘up until’ for mine and then that strange spelling of CHESNUTS. Anyway, it didn’t stop the solve, although that last one was more like a write in and hope answer.
Did enjoy the rest of it, particularly SALESMANSHIP ! Finished in the SE corner with the obscure TUMULI and that weird CHESNUT.