A mostly fairly gentle puzzle with a few clues that were made more difficult by having more obscure answers.
It was one of those puzzles that was quite easy to start with a few nice anagrams to get you going but tricky to finish – 23 and 24 were a little obscure. Overall quite enjoyable though.
| Across | ||
| 1 | PASSAGES | Trips some time after exam result (8) |
| Ages(=some time) after pass(=exam result) | ||
| 5 | FLIGHT | Note unserious escape (6) |
| F(=note of the scale) + light | ||
| 9 | REATTACH | Put back on stretch of river keeping one dry (8) |
| Reach around a + TT | ||
| 10 | ABLOOM | Sailor to threaten bursting out (6) |
| Ab + loom | ||
| 12 | OLDER | Senior operatives Liberal Democrats employ revolt leaders (5) |
| Initial letters of operatives Liberal Democrats employ revolt | ||
| 13 | INTUITION | Travel company into changing following popular feeling (9) |
| TUI (German company who took over Thomson) + into* after in(=popular) | ||
| 14 | UNCLOG | Central Council apologies will remove impediment (6) |
| Central letters of coUNCil and apoLOGies | ||
| 16 | LEAGUES | Fit into the French competitions (7) |
| Ague in les(=tone form of the in French) | ||
| 18 | SEES FIT | Considers it appropriate to look at odd man out that’s dropped note (4,3) |
| See + [Mi]sfit | ||
| 20 | AGENTS | Sets of books on time factors (6) |
| NTs (New Testaments) on age | ||
| 22 | ENERGISED | Excited Greens die out (9) |
| (Greens die)* | ||
| 23 | GLEAM | Polish sign about pasture being genetically-modified (5) |
| Lea with G(enetically) M(odified) around it | ||
| 24 | DEODAR | Called back using wireless I left in tree (6) |
| Rad[i]oed< | ||
| 25 | EVENTFUL | Exciting to sound off about fuel crisis? Contrariwise (8) |
| Opposite of vent around fuel* | ||
| 26 | DRYADS | Boring promotions for woodlanders (6) |
| Dry + ads | ||
| 27 | BROACHED | Mentioned insect found in bed (8) |
| Roach in bed | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | PARROT | Flier runs over in a bit (6) |
| R(uns) o(ver) in part | ||
| 2 | STAND ON CEREMONY | Run after Romney, resolved to be formal (5,2,8) |
| Stand(=run, as in an election) + on(=after) + Romney* | ||
| 3 | ALTER | Key scripture backing change (5) |
| Alt (on keyboard) + R(eligious) E(ducation)< | ||
| 4 | ETCHING | Artwork quite attractive once topped (7) |
| [F]etching | ||
| 6 | LUBRICATE | Oil club I rate poorly (9) |
| (Club I rate)* | ||
| 7 | GLORIOUS TWELFTH | Showgirl left out mistakenly as shooting starts (8,7) |
| (Showgirl left out)* | ||
| 8 | TAMENESS | People with energy stop Soviet news agency being bland (8) |
| Men + E(nergy) in Tass | ||
| 11 | ET AL | Delayed standing up with the others (2,2) |
| Late< | ||
| 15 | LIFEGUARD | A rifle dug up by safety worker (9) |
| (A rifle dug)* | ||
| 17 | ASCENDED | Got higher position when Charlie died (8) |
| As + Charlie (C in phonetic alphabet) + ended | ||
| 19 | TEST | River Thames’s source is in Dijon (4) |
| T[hames] + Est (French for is, as in il est | ||
| 20 | ANDOVER | Town with some balls (7) |
| And(=with) + over (balls in cricket) | ||
| 21 | AMBLED | Australian doctor was first, having walked slowly (6) |
| A(ustralian) MB led | ||
| 23 | GENOA | German put up excellent sail (5) |
| G(erman) + (A One)< | ||
*anagram
Nice start to the week. Particularly liked ANDOVER. Note that, in 2d, it is ONCE, not ON, for ‘after’. Thanks to Alchemi and Neil.
A pleasant Monday offering and thanks to Alchemi and nealH.
Although the construction was obvious I didn’t really get the surface for GLEAM, seems so awkward I must be missing something
I think the definition for GLEAM was “polish sign” as in “sign something’s been polished”
Slothrop@3 That’s how I read it.
Thanks both @3 & @4 that makes a little more sense I guess!
Enjoyed that despite having to verify both the tree in 24a and the sail in 23d. No complaints as the wordplay was sufficient to get the answer and it never does any harm to learn something new. Also took me a while to register the odd man out in 18a.
Thanks to Alchemi and to Neal for the blog.
Possibly one or two words a little off the beaten path, but clues quite able to supply the necessary materials.
Thanks Alchemi and Neal H
Very enjoyable. Thanks Alchemi and Neal H. Small point but I wasn’t happy about up as an anagram indicator in 15d. I suppose it works if dug is doing double duty.
Bit late I’m afraid. Didn’t do the crossword until late yesterday.
It looked to me as if 23ac was saying that there is a sign by the field telling people that the pasture is genetically-modified and ordering someone to polish it.
I think ‘up’ is a perfectly good anagram indicator (in 15dn). Surely Alchemi wouldn’t do anything so naughty as to have a word doing double duty, as xlpotter@8 seems to imply is what is really happening.