Thanks to Neo. There are a few clues/solutions from/relating to Greek mythology, the Bible, and literature respectively. And some clues/solutions that could be connected to one another. Is something going on here? Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1 Beach god finds girl (6)
SANDRA : SAND(an expanse of, well, sand along the shore, that is, the beach) + RA(ancient Egyptian sun god).
5 Chief old and small for example heading West (8)
GERONIMO : Reversal of(… heading West, in an across clue) [ O(abbrev. for “old”) plus(and) MINOR(small, as opposed to major;larger) + EG(abbrev. for the Latin “exempli gratia”;for example) ].
Defn: … of one of the Apache tribes.
9 Astronomer runs little school sending rotter outside (8)
HERSCHEL : [ R(abbrev. for “runs” in cricket scores) + SCH(abbrev. for;little school) ] contained in(sending … outside) HEEL(a rotter;an untrustworthy person).
10 Mourn first woman on collapsed rig (6)
GRIEVE : EVE(the Biblical first female of the human race) placed after(on) anagram of(collapsed) RIG.
11 Spanish district where one may drink port (6)
BARRIO : BAR(a place where one may drink) + RIO(de Janeiro, Brazilian port).
12 Lunatic another to box current champion booed (8)
ANTIHERO : Anagram of(Lunatic) ANOTHER containing(to box) I(symbol for electrical current in physics).
Defn: The central character in a story, who one might call a champion, but who lacks the moral qualities associated with a conventional hero, and therefore might be booed for that. An example is found in 14 across.
14 British PC having to face the music – that’s novel! (8,4)
BRIGHTON ROCK : B(abbrev. for “British”) + RIGHT-ON(in keeping with fashionable liberal opinions and values;PC, abbrev. for “politically correct”) plus(having to face) ROCK(a genre of popular music).
Defn: … by English writer Graham Greene.
18 Sewing initially confuses little one – could it be this? (6,6)
SADDLE STITCH : 1st letter of(… initially) “Sewing” + ADDLES(confuses;muddles) + TITCH(a little;small person).
Answer: A stitch of thread, ie. sewing used to bound a magazine or booklet.
22 Bottle good as weapon (5,3)
NERVE GAS : NERVE(bottle;courage) + G(abbrev. for “good”) + AS.
25 Sun exposed this high-flier‘s failings (6)
ICARUS : Cryptic defn: The mythological Greek who flew too close to the sun, thus melting the wax attaching his wings (constructed by his father), resulting in his failure to fly and escape from Crete.
26 Saint using web to find poem (6)
SONNET : S(abbrev. for “Saint”) + ON(using, eg. a drug or drugs) + NET(a web;a network of fine threads) or [ON NET](using the Net;Internet to access the World Wide Web, possibly to get any poem you wish).
27 Agent in misery as wounded (8)
EMISSARY : Anagram of(… wounded) MISERY AS.
28 Olympics venue welcomes a legendary runner (8)
ATALANTA : ATLANTA(city in Georgia, USA, venue of the 1996 Summer Olympics) containing(welcomes) A.
Defn: … in Greek mythology, who agreed to marry, but only to one who could outrun her. She was outsmarted by Hippomenes who had 3 golden apples he used to slow her down.
29 Close friend in Grenadier Guards (6)
ENDING : Hidden in(… Guards) “friend in Grenadier“.
Down
2 Rising pop celebrity upset old primate (6)
APEMAN : Reversal of(Rising, in a down clue) PA(like “pop”, an informal term for one’s father) + reversal of(… upset, in a down clue) NAME(a celebrity;one who’s famous).
3 Southern pirate in exploit that’s illustrated (9)
DESCRIBED : [ S(abbrev. for “Southern”) + CRIB(to copy illicitly;to pirate) ] contained in(in) DEED(an exploit).
Defn: Explained or clarified something by giving examples.
4 Inconstant peri had to love goddess (9)
APHRODITE : Anagram of(Inconstant) PERI HAD TO.
Defn: … in Greek mythology, who provided the golden apples in 28 across.
5 Giant pig about to carry dog around (7)
GOLIATH : Reversal of(… about) HOG(a castrated male pig) containing(to carry) reversal of(… around) TAIL(to dog;to follow).
Defn: In the Bible, a giant of a Philistine warrior.
This clue is very reminiscent of another by another setter that I’m blogging – great minds think alike!
6 Tory supporters absolutely correct in opinion (5)
RIGHT : Double defn: 1st: …, as opposed to the Left end of the political spectrum; and 2nd: …, as in “she was absolutely correct in her opinion about …”.
7 Hinge needs repair – that’s Arab’s comment! (5)
NEIGH : Anagram of(… needs repair) HINGE.
Defn: …, ie. a sound made by one of a breed of horses originating in Arabia.
8 Independent state positively in small man’s grip (8)
MAVERICK : AVER(to state positively;to assert something is true) contained in(in …’s grip) MICK(a short-form for;small Michael, a man’s name).
Defn: Independent-minded or unorthodox.
13 Popular name for pub (3)
INN : IN(popular;trendy) + N(abbrev. for “name”).
15 January not starting pleasant – in danger of soaking? (2,4,3)
ON THIN ICE : “Month I”(with the Roman numeral for “1”, what you might call January, Month Number One of the year) minus its 1st letter(not starting) + NICE(pleasant).
Defn: …, if the answer is taken literally.
16 Vehicle providing last trip in colour went through (9)
REHEARSED : HEARSE(the vehicle providing the last trip for one’s body, to the cemetery or crematorium) contained in(in) RED(a colour).
Defn: …, say, a scene in a play.
17 One elder to wander all over the place (8)
DANEWORT : Anagram of(… all over the place) TO WANDER.
Defn: A version of the elder shrub.
19 Some colliers are buried (3)
LIE : Hidden in(Some) “colliers“.
Defn: … in a particular place, as in “their bodies are buried in that cemetery”.
A possible connection to 16 down.
20 Die long time after Durbeyfield girl (7)
TESSERA : ERA(a long period of time) placed after(after) TESS(short name for the main character, Teresa Durbeyfield, in Thomas Hardy’s novel “Tess of the d’Urbervilles”).
Defn: As a singular of dice, a small cube, possibly used in constructing a mosaic.
Tess is described as an anti-heroine, cf. 12 across.
21 On strike – then work to escape (6)
OUTRUN : OUT(to be on strike;taking industrial action) plus(then) RUN(to work;to function, as with, say, an appliance).
A possible connection to 28 across.
23 Mercenary having dined heartily tucked into meat (5)
VENAL : Middle letter of(… heartily) “dined” contained in(tucked into) VEAL(meat of a calf, used as food).
Defn: Open to being paid to do something dishonest or immoral.
A possible connection to 12 across.
24 Do well in grand public school (3,2)
GET ON : G(abbrev. for “grand”, $1000 or ?1000) + ETON(the English public school).
I didn’t do very well here, missing out on 1a for a start and then a few more, including DANEWORT, which was unknown. I’ve also missed the theme if there is one.
I parsed RIGHT as a triple def, for the sense of ‘absolutely’ when agreeing with someone. eg Comment: “Roger Federer is an all time great.” Response: “Absolutely.” (= right / yes / you’re right). I think ‘correct in opinion’ is still OK for RIGHT without the ‘absolutely’. My two bob’s worth anyway.
Interesting to see William HERSCHEL. As well as being an astronomer of great note, he was also a composer. I’ve heard one of his (24) symphonies – in the style of Mozart and very pleasant to listen to.
Thanks to scchua and Neo.
Thank you Mr Chua for your usual stylish blog, complete with useful illustrations. I quite enjoyed cracking this offering from Neo.
Thanks to Neo and scchua. Enjoyable. I too did not know DANEWORT (so I spent a lot of time trying out different combinations of “to wander”). I did know and parse TESSERA but wasn’t sure about the connection to “die” and took a while getting REHEARSED because I kept trying to squeeze in a P from “last trip.”
Thanks Neo and scchua
I quite enjoyed some of this (eg 26, 16), but some were write-ins (25, 13), and some I thought were very loose:
1: Beach = sand? Not the Chesil one
11: Spanish? Hispanic possibly, as it’s predominantly a US usage derived from the Mexican
12: Antihero = champion booed? An antihero is normally one who triumphs despite not having heroic traits
Oh well, at least we had Picaroon today.
Many thanks Neo, very enjoyable. NW was last to be completed. 1a reminded me of some movie where the guy traipsing through the desert said he joined the foreign legion to get over a relationship, but her name was Sandra.
Chambers has “Spanish speaking” (chiefly US) for barrio – I was just happy to know the word.
I particularly liked NERVE GAS, APHRODITE, ON THIN ICE.
Many thanks scchua for a fine blog
Thanks Neo and scchua
Enjoyed this over a coffee break and almost his usual tightly clued offering – agree with Simon’s call out of some loose-ish definitions – which didn’t lessen the solving experience for me.
Particularly liked putting together some of the more complex charades such as BRIGHTON ROCK and SADDLE STITCH and had to check on ATALANTA as the name of the mythical runner.
Finished in the NE corner with APEMAN and HERSCHEL as the last couple in.