I didn’t know I was going to be covering this puzzle when I solved it 8 days ago, had I done I would have made some notes at the time. However, coming back to it now to write this post, I have realised just how good a lot of the clues were (too many to mention them individually!).
Having said that, there is one clue, 11ac, that I just don’t understand and cannot parse. I suspect an error here, perhaps something missing or maybe ‘litter’ is an incorrect word. Despite this, there was still much to enjoy so thanks Goliath.
Across
1 Gives birth in ecclesiastical vestments (6)
CALVES – contained in ‘ecclesiastiCAL VEStments’
5 I would return to tough area (8)
DISTRICT – I’D (I would) reversed (return) STRICT (tough)
9 Reign of Victoria, at first poor, is blamed no more (8)
FORGIVEN – an anagram (poor) of REIGN OF V[ictoria]
10 Get off beaten tracks and investigate new beginnings (6)
OBTAIN – initial letters (beginnings) of O[ff] B[eaten] T[racks] A[nd] I[nvestigate] N[ew]
11 Pay attention to what could be litter (6)
LISTEN – I can make no sense of this one other than the fact that both ‘litter’ and LISTEN can be preceded by a G to form words that are synonymous, but there is no indication in the clue for this.
12 Authorised programme went walkabout (8)
APPROVED – APP (programme) ROVED (went walkabout)
14 On edge, dude’s cool playing chicken (12)
BRINKMANSHIP – BRINK (edge) MAN’S (dude’s) HIP (cool)
18 Crossing in secret into ground (12)
INTERSECTION – IN plus an anagram (ground) of SECRET INTO
22 Latin and Greek mostly knocked into shape (8)
TRIANGLE – an anagram (knocked) of LATIN GRE[ek]
25 Author is taking a long time in pictures (6)
IMAGES – I’M (author is) AGES (a long time)
26 Brief, trendy and unisex? (6)
INFORM – IN (trendy) F OR M (unisex)
27 Loudest compiler welcomed by the most curious (8)
NOISIEST – I (compiler) in (welcomed by) NOSIEST (most curious)
28 Let go of fields covered in grass (8)
RELEASED – LEAS (fields) in (covered in) REED (grass)
29 One is first to sit by fireplace (6)
SINGLE – S[it] (first to sit) INGLE (fireplace)
Down
2 Particulate half of the letters read out, I see (6)
ATOMIC – A TO M (half of the letters) I C which sounds like (read out) ‘I see’
3 Green and somewhat naive? Get a blessing! (9)
VEGETABLE – contained in (somewhat) ‘naiVE GET A BLEssing’
4 Not odd to be found in hovels in this decade (9)
SEVENTIES – EVEN (not odd) in (to be found in) STIES (hovels)
5 Beastly home brand of bacon from here (7)
DENMARK – DEN (beastly home) MARK (brand)
6 What she does to conquer love in bar (5)
STOOP – O (love) in STOP (bar) – a reference to this Oliver Goldsmith play
7 A riot out of proportion (5)
RATIO – an anagram (out) of A RIOT
8 Measures sex in racier novel (8)
CRITERIA – IT (sex) in an anagram (novel) of RACIER
13 Did 19 in 17 (3)
RAN – contained in ‘entRANce’ (17)
15 I draw in Basil Faulty’s talents (9)
ABILITIES – I TIE (I draw) in an anagram (faulty) of BASIL
16 Sat in one’s pants to get a thrill (9)
SENSATION – an anagram (pants) of SAT IN ONE’S
17 Captivate / arrival (8)
ENTRANCE – double def.
19 Come undone from arguing regularly (3)
RUN – alternate letters (regularly) in [a]R[g]U[i]N[g]
20 Elaborate lace Mr Flanders washed (7)
CLEANED – an anagram (elaborate) of LACE followed by NED (Mr Flanders) – this character from The Simpsons
21 Container / ship (6)
VESSEL – double def.
23 Came up by any other name? (5)
AROSE – cryptic allusion to lines in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet:
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet;”
Or as it is commonly paraphrased: “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet”
24 Same energetic heart but different sports (5)
GAMES – an anagram (but different) of SAME [ener]G[etic]
Entirely agree about 11a. Also thought of Kitten, but couldn’t parse that either!
yes, we noted that both kitten and listen fitted for 11a, but neither makes sense. I was guessing there is a slip here, either by the setter or in the printing. Liked the rest of the puzzle…
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Thanks, Gaufrid. I agree with you about favourites.
Re 11ac – I’m sure you’re on the right track: we’ve had several similar clues from this setter. The first I encountered was several years ago on my own blog of a Guardian puzzle [Goliath wearing his Philistine hat] when I was completely flummoxed by ‘Games of shaven swine’ [SPORT] and had to be helped out. I was rather more prepared when ‘Stop and chat (5)’ [PEAK] appeared in the most recent of his that I blogged!
Many thanks, as ever, to Goliath, for a most enjoyable puzzle.
I’ve been out since first thing this morning and just looked in to see if others had any ideas – and found that I should, of course. have written ‘Stop and chat (5) [SPEAK]’ – my apologies.
Thanks Gaufrid. All I could think of re 11across is that it should read “could be glitter” as listen is an anagram of tinsel. Apart from this seemingly flawed clue I really enjoyed the puzzle.
jmac @5
I considered the LISTEN/tinsel option but ruled it out because it would have been an indirect anagram, which I don’t think would have got past the crossword editor.
Thanks Goliath and Gaufrid
Quite a tough assignment from Goliath here.
There were three that I couldn’t parse – that LISTEN (where the blog version looks the correct thinking and a potentially clever idea), INFORM (where I didn’t see the unisex F or M) and SWOOP (which was wrong through my ignorance of the Goldsmith play).