The puzzle can be found here.
I started this puzzle off confidently, writing in the first three or four across entries without having to think about it. Within a few minutes, half of the grid was filled, then I stalled a bit, as I wondered whether a peacock could be considered a “winger” (they are birds, and do have wings, so seems reasonable), then had to think about some of the parsings of other entries like GAMEKEEPER and WELL-KNIT, finally completing the puzzle with CORTES, which took me longer to parse than I’d like to admit.
Thanks Peto.
| Across | ||
| 1 | UNBIASED | Impartial peacekeepers stationed around Indonesia’s capital (8) |
| U.N. (“peacekeepers”) + BASED (“stationed”) around I(ndonesia) | ||
| 5 | POP OFF | Die from lemonade gone bad (3,3) |
| POP (“lemonade”) + OFF (“gone bad”) | ||
| 8 | DON | Not entirely prepared to be a Mafia boss (3) |
| DON(e) (not entirely “prepared”) | ||
| 9 | TROUBADOUR | Uncertain about having rector next to sullen love poet (10) |
| *(about) having R(ector) next to DOUR (“sullen”) | ||
| 10 | REASONED | Set forth logically in study about working in the London area (8) |
| READ (“study”) about ON (“working”) in S.E. (“the London area”), so REA(S(ON)E)D | ||
| 11 | ODIOUS | Very unpleasant when cramped? Not half (6) |
| (incomm)ODIOUS (“cramped”, not half) | ||
| 12 | AGES | Speaks with passion dismissing earliest of revolutionary periods (4) |
| (r)AGES (“speaks with passion” with the R(evolutionary) dismissed) | ||
| 14 | GAMEKEEPER | A bit of fun at last leading to hesitation by Mellors perhaps (10) |
| GAME (“a bit of fun”) + KEEP (“last”) + ER (“hesitation”)
Oliver Mellors from Lady Chatterley’s Lover was a gamekeeper. |
||
| 17 | DISORDERLY | Irregular soldier shot crossing road near the centre of Okayama (10) |
| *(soldier) crossing Rd. (“road”) near (oka)Y(ama) | ||
| 20 | TEND | Minister to become widely spoken about on social media site right away (4) |
| T(r)END (“to become widely spoken about on social media”) with R(ight) away | ||
| 23 | CORTES | My place is back in the Spanish legislature (6) |
| COR (“my”) + <=SET (“place”, back)
Refers to the Cortes Generales, the parliament of Spain. |
||
| 24 | IN PERSON | Wearing for each boy actually present (2,6) |
| IN (“wearing”) + PER (“for each”) + SON (“boy”) | ||
| 25 | ATTRACTIVE | Right to have volunteers around getting involved and arousing interest (10) |
| <=Rt. TA (“right” + “volunteers”, around) getting ACTIVE (“involved”) | ||
| 26 | LEA | Field ambulance eventually obtained by the French (3) |
| (ambulanc)E obtained by LA (“the French”) | ||
| 27 | TEMPER | Style of painting ultimately lacking self-control (6) |
| TEMPER(a) (“style of painting”, lacking its ultimate letter) | ||
| 28 | WELL-KNIT | Firm’s comfortable sports clothing worn by Neymar primarily (4-4) |
| WELL (“comfortable”) + KIT (“sports clothing”) worn by N(eymar) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | UNDERHAND | Not straightforward when short of assistance (9) |
| UNDER (“short of”) + HAND (“assistace”) | ||
| 2 | BANDAGE | Protective covering for the ears forbidden over time (7) |
| Homophone (for the ears) of BANNED (“forbidden”) over AGE (“time”) | ||
| 3 | ACTION | Leaderless splinter group gets something done (6) |
| (f)ACTION (“splinter group”, leaderless) | ||
| 4 | EXONERATE | Former partner to criticise strongly after joke becomes clear (9) |
| EX (“former partner”) + RATE (“criticise strongly”) after ONE (“joke”) | ||
| 5 | PEACOCK | Scoff largely at nonsense in support of Portugal’s winger (7) |
| EA(t) (“scoff”, largely) + COCK (“nonsense”) in support of P(ortugal) | ||
| 6 | PROMINENT | Inclined to include note on books catching the eye (9) |
| PRONE (“inclined”) to include MI (“note”) on N.T. (“books”, i.e. the New Testament) | ||
| 7 | FORTUNE | Large cask blocking the front part by chance (7) |
| TUN (“large cask”) blocking FORE (“the front part”) | ||
| 13 | SHORT-STOP | Things worn by a baseball infielder (5-4) |
| SHORTS + TOP (“things worn”) | ||
| 15 | EGLANTINE | Appallingly inelegant of Rose (9) |
| *(inelegant) | ||
| 16 | REDUNDANT | Ranted about keeping horse when no longer needed (9) |
| *(ranted) keeping DUN (sandy-coloured “horse”) | ||
| 18 | ISOLATE | Starts to investigate several options towards the end of quarantine (7) |
| Starts to I(nvestigate) S(everal) O(ptions) + LATE (“towards the end of”) | ||
| 19 | DESPAIR | Hopelessness of father exhibited in want for the most part (7) |
| PA (“father”) exhibited in DESIR(e) (“in want”, for the most part) | ||
| 21 | EPSILON | A refusal to receive Labour leader is sent back by letter (7) |
| NOPE (“a refusal”) to receive L(abour) IS and the whole thing reversed (sent back), so EP(SI-L)ON | ||
| 22 | REVEAL | Bring to light deception of leave campaigner at last (6) |
| *(leave r) where the R is the last letter of (campaigne)R | ||
*anagram
This was right on the limit of what I can manage unaided, although I did have to check the meaning of CORTES. My LOI was REVEAL, not because it was hard but because I had put ATTRACTING for 25a. Was really pleased to get TROUBADOUR which opened up the NE. Took a while to get and parse ODIOUS. If I hadn’t seen ONE for ‘joke’ (as in ‘that’s a good one’) before, I doubt I would have thought of it in 4d, especially given the sneaky definition. Also took a bit of thought to see ‘keep’ as ‘last’ in 14a, then thought of food keeping/lasting. PEACOCK was another toughie imo. Altogether a very enjoyable solve so thanks to Peto and loonapick.
ATTRACTING got me too.
Quite a tricky thing but enjoyable too – thanks to Peta and loonapick
Thanks to Peto and loonapick. Tough going for me. I did not get REVEAL and was unsure about well=comfortable in WELL-KNIT. I did remember Mellors for GAMEKEEPER, but had to look up CORTES which was new to me.
Thanks for parsing ODIOUS. My guess at CORTES was totally wrong and I managed ATTRACTION before finding REVEAL (last in). Thanks Loonapick.
Very tricky but enjoyable crossword. Not well-read enough to get Gamekeeper. Thanks for this.
Thanks Peto and loonapick
Didn’t get to this one until Friday morning and it took quite a few shortish sessions to work my way through what was a really entertaining crossword. Lots of digital help required to confirm ‘Mr Mellors’, the CORTES assembly in Spain and to track down a word that would form ——ODIOUS.
PEACOCK had to be the answer to 5d, but it took an age to understand why it was. It was typical of a number of clues in which the definition was very cleverly disguised. It was my second to last in with CORTES, an unknown word and a trickily constructed one as my last.