I found this fairly hard-going and wasn’t able to finish it on my first run through. However, returning after an adjournment, it did yield fairly quickly.
There were a few slightly unusual words, although nothing obscure. All in all, a very satisfying puzzle and credit has to be given for having an answer where the first word was t-e but wasn’t “the”.
| Across | ||
| 1 | NOTARIES | Legal officials leaving out first sign (8) |
| Not(=leaving out, as in “not that one”) + Aries | ||
| 5 | MOSAIC | Decorative artwork to do with Biblical character (6) |
| DD – mosaic can be an adjective meaning relating to Moses | ||
| 10 | CREEP | Nasty person gets record on credit note (5) |
| EP on cr(edit) + E (musical note) | ||
| 11 | INCEPTION | Start amending topic 9 (9) |
| (Topic + nine)* | ||
| 12 | ABASEMENT | A space underground for humiliation (9) |
| A + basement | ||
| 13 | SHEEP | Sometimes opted to return with female farm animal (5) |
| She + even letters of oPtEd<. | ||
| 14 | UPBEAT | Cheerful ape – but weird (6) |
| (Ape but)* | ||
| 15 | HOT CAKE | Book about fish keeps being a best-seller (3,4) |
| (OT + c) in hake | ||
| 18 | HERETIC | Dissident woman’s name seen in the mirror (7) |
| Her(=woman’s) + cite< | ||
| 20 | CROWDS | Boast detective invades personal space (6) |
| Crow + DS (Detective Sergeant) | ||
| 22 | COVET | Strongly desire company doctor (5) |
| Co(mpany) + vet | ||
| 24 | BIOSPHERE | There’s life in this bishop (knocked out before) (9) |
| Bishop* + ere | ||
| 25 | NASHVILLE | Architect gets very sick finishing the city (9) |
| Nash – I think this must be referring to Albert C Nash rather than the better-known Ogden Nash, who was a poet + v(very) + ill + [th]e | ||
| 26 | RAISE | Put up beams in the auditorium (5) |
| Hom of rays | ||
| 27 | SOREST | Extremely angry, then, the others (6) |
| So(=then) + rest | ||
| 28 | GANYMEDE | Deny game is fixed by satellite (8) |
| (Deny game)* | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | NECTAR | Almost kiss sailor for heavenly drink (6) |
| Nec[k] + tar | ||
| 2 | TOE TAPPER | Character in posh hat’s energetic song (3-6) |
| Eta (Greek character) in topper. An early conviction that the first word was “the” meant this was might LOI. | ||
| 3 | REPRESENTATIVES | Vast enterprise collapses without English salespeople (15) |
| (Vast enterprise)* around E | ||
| 4 | EMINENT | Distinguished the last of the explosive books (7) |
| [Th]e + mine + NT | ||
| 6 | OPPOSITION PARTY | Workplace do for the Liberal Democrats? (10,5) |
| OP(=work) + position(=place) + do(=party) | ||
| 7 | AGILE | Flexible monster with tail up run to earth (5) |
| Gila with the tail(=a) moved to the front = agil + E(arth). A gila monster is a lizard from North America. | ||
| 8 | CANOPIES | Covers North American up, surrounded by imitations (8) |
| NA< in copies | ||
| 9 | SCOTCH | Put an end to tax on children (6) |
| Scot + ch | ||
| 16 | ANDRE GIDE | French writer with extreme lese-majesté no longer in charge (5,4) |
| And(=with) + reg[ic]ide. Lese-majeste is an offence against a ruler, so regicide would be an extreme example. | ||
| 17 | CHICANES | This Roman sticks around for tricks and artifices (8) |
| Hic(=this in Latin) in canes | ||
| 19 | COBALT | Blue bed keeps little dog going round (6) |
| Cot around lab(rador)< | ||
| 20 | CHOLERA | Gap right in the middle of California causes complaint (7) |
| Hole + r(ight) in Ca, state abbrev for California | ||
| 21 | REVERE | American horseman forever exposing bits (6) |
| Hidden in foREVER Exposing – ref to Paul Revere. | ||
| 23 | VISOR | Face protection from half a dozen special soldiers (5) |
| VI + s(pecial) + OR | ||
*anagram
Thanks Alchemi and NealH,
I thought this was excellent – I especially liked CHICANES and ANDRE GIDE.
25A The architect is the Englishman John Nash (1752-1835).
As above.
Actually didn’t find this too difficult. It went it quite smoothly. 6dn and 16dn were more or less the last two in for me; neither of which I could parse, so thanks for the explanations.
Enjoyable puzzle.
Found the LHS went in pretty smoothly (save for 17d & 25a), but the RHS gave me problems. Not least of all because I wrote in political before realising I was a letter short and messed me grid up, doh! When I finally twigged ‘opposition’ that side gradually fell for me.
Lots to like here with my 9 and 21d so thanks to Alks for the puzzle and to Neal for the blog, wot I needed for a couple of parsings
Definitely not a write-in but all accessible except that we couldn’t parse ANDRE GIDE – ‘extreme lèse–majesté’ was a nice misdirection. The NE corner held out for a while till the apprentice got MOSAIC (I was trying to think of something ending in ‘Job’). TOE-TAPPER was our LOI; we were just about to resort to a wordfinder when the lightbulb moment occurred. Favourites were NOTARIES and the aforesaid MOSAIC.
Thanks Alchemi and NealH
Thanks NealH and everyone else.
Seems to have been enjoyably soluble with a little effort, which is just about ideal from my point of view.
Many thanks Alchemi
At the easier end of your spectrum, just right for a Monday. Like Hoskins, I filled the LHS fairly quickly and slowed on the RHS. Last one in was the French writer – thanks very much NealH for the parsing which I missed completely. I didn’t know the monster – learn something every day…
I quite like 26a RAISE and 25a NASHVILLE, with many more nice clues
What Alchemi said. Thanks both.
Yup, nice puzzle to wind down with after a long day on the road from Isle of Wight to Stockport. Hands up those of my generation who started (literally) parsing Hic Haec Hoc in 17 (CHICANERY). Thought so.
Enjoyed this one. Mostly non-evil it may have been, but I did have to ask a friend about the last few. Unlike me, he’d met the Gila monster. (Having googled, I will not now picture Gila the setter in the same way again!) M. Gide, however, defeated both of us and needed to be searched out.
Thanks to Alchemi and NealH.