Fairly straightforward offering from Armonie. Thank you!
Overall a great crossword. Thanks to Armonie. We thought A for ‘acting’ in 20d was a bit unusual unless we missed something? Also ‘she’ for NIECE in 13a a bit loose perhaps. THRACE 1d was a new one for us, but parsed easily enough. We initially had SELFISH for 4d before we had thought about it properly but all fell into place once we got 11a.
| Across | ||
| 1 | TELECAST | Select at random what’s on the box (8) |
| (SELECT AT)* (*random) | ||
| 5 | WIND UP | Success with Irish party to end (4,2) |
| WIN (success) + DUP (Irish party, Democratic Unionist Party) | ||
| 10 | RIFLE | Weapon common around Luxembourg (5) |
| RIFE (common) around L (Luxembourg) | ||
| 11 | ANARCHIST | Revolutionary in rash act (9) |
| (IN RASH ACT)* (*revolutionary) &lit | ||
| 12 | CROSSBILL | Winger gives angry account (9) |
| (winger, type of bird) CROSS (angry) + BILL (account) | ||
| 13 | NIECE | She’s agreeable when taking ecstasy (5) |
| NICE (agreeable) when taking E (ecstasy) | ||
| 14 | SEARCH | Look for attention in school (6) |
| EAR (attention) in SCH (school) | ||
| 15 | NAIROBI | New look with Japanese sash? That’s capital! (7) |
| N (new) + AIR (look) + OBI (Japanese sash) | ||
| 18 | MISUSES | Badly treats girls in uniform? The other way round! (7) |
| U (uniform) in MISSES (girls) (other way round) | ||
| 20 | SIESTA | A short nap in Susie’s tavern (6) |
| [su]SIES TA[vern] | ||
| 22 | CHUMS | Cronies creating a stink in the civil service (5) |
| HUM (stink) in CS (civil service) | ||
| 24 | TENTATIVE | Shelter at worker’s ‘ome is uncertain (9) |
| TENT (shelter) + AT + [h]IVE (workers’ home, hive without ‘h’) | ||
| 25 | BUCHAREST | A Schubert composition is capital (9) |
| (A SCHUBERT)* (*composition) | ||
| 26 | INEPT | Unable to succeed in record time (5) |
| IN + EP (record, extended play) + T (time) | ||
| 27 | ESTATE | Type of vehicle for plantation (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| 28 | GRANDSON | Thousands working for a relative (8) |
| GRANDS (thousands) + ON (working) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | THRACE | Car club in the old country (6) |
| RAC (car club) in THE | ||
| 2 | LEFTOVERS | Refuse sinister deliveries (9) |
| LEFT (sinister) + OVERS (deliveries, cricket) | ||
| 3 | CREASE-RESISTANT | Actresses retain potential – never getting wrinkles (6-9) |
| (ACTRESSES RETAIN*) (*potential) | ||
| 4 | SLAVISH | Prodigal son’s first to be submissive (7) |
| S (son) before (first) LAVISH (prodigal) | ||
| 6 | INCONSIDERATION | Party, in private, limit discourtesy (15) |
| CON (party, conservative) in INSIDE (private) + RATION (limit) | ||
| 7 | DRIVE | Energy for excursion (5) |
| Double definition | ||
| 8 | PATHETIC | The way name’s brought up is contemptible (8) |
| PATH (way) + ETIC (name, cite, brought up, reversed) | ||
| 9 | FALLEN | Everyone in Slough died (6) |
| ALL (everyone) in FEN (slough, swamp) | ||
| 16 | OUTRIDERS | Advance guard for our direst criminal (9) |
| (OUR DIREST)* (*criminal) | ||
| 17 | AMICABLE | In the morning one party leader is good-natured (8) |
| AM (in the morning) + I (one) + CABLE (party leader, Vince Cable – Liberal Democrat party leader) | ||
| 19 | SETTEE | Fix peg in chair (6) |
| SET (fix) + TEE (peg) | ||
| 20 | SENATOR | Acting Tory leader introduced to Spaniard is a lawmaker (7) |
| A[cting] + T[ory] (leader) introduced to SENOR (Spaniard) | ||
| 21 | NEATEN | Tidy up after knight has had a meal (6) |
| N (knight, chess abbreviation) + EATEN (had a meal) | ||
| 23 | UNCUT | Peacekeeper’s portion is complete (5) |
| UN (peacekeepers) + CUT (portion) | ||
Found this fairly straightforward. Got held up for a while with 6d and 11a but got there in the end. A for acting appears quite a lot. I think it is only in the sense of acting chairwoman for example rather than on stage or screen. Thanks to Teacow and Armonie.
Thanks Teacow & Armonie. An enjoyable solve.
I wouldn’t consider chair & settee as being synonymous, and I think most people who live in the Fens would take offence at them being considered anything like Slough!
Thanks to Armonie and Teacow. A quick solve for me but very enjoyable. From the US I did not know Vince Cable for AMICABLE but assumed that was the correct parsing. I did know RAC for THRACE but my initial reaction was that “club” somehow was an anagrind for “car.” Pathetic (8d)?
@ACD, indeed, RAC is the Royal Automobile Club. Are you unhappy with PATHETIC being a synonym of “contemptible”? It seems reasonable to us.
Thanks Armonie and Teacow
A typical puzzle from this setter that didn’t present too many problems – some tight clever anagrams (1a, 25a, 3d), some neat charades (1d, 14a, 27a) and the occasional loos-ish definition (13a).
ACD – think of ‘the pathetic old man’.
The clever THRACE was my last one in.
No, my pathetic reference was to my own missing the RAC part of the THRACE clue.