This was a little trickier than previous Gila puzzles with some good misdirection.
One or two things were maybe a little obscure, such as 14D and the word association in 12A, which still eludes me. However, there were some great clues. I liked the misdirection in 7D and 6A was also very clever.
| Across | ||
| 1 | TRACKS DOWN | Finds evidence of heroin use and drink (6,4) |
| Tracks (evidence of heroin use = the marks left by needles) + down(=drink, as a verb) | ||
| 6 | ABS | What may stop you getting a six-pack? (3) |
| DD. Abs are abdominal muscles which, if very prominent, form a six-pack. ABS is also Antilock Braking System. | ||
| 9 | BANANAS | A type of bread covered with chopped fish and nuts (7) |
| A nan in bas[s], nuts used in the sense of insane | ||
| 10 | TURNKEY | Old guard‘s failure to accept closure of prison (7) |
| Turkey (as in a very bad film) around [priso]n | ||
| 11 | EXTRADITE | Hand over nasty, x-rated magazine article with no hint of modesty (9) |
| (X-rated)* + ite[m] | ||
| 12 | GENRE | Sort of green liquid (5) |
| Green*. Not sure in what context genre=liquid. | ||
| 13 | OSTRICH | One who can’t face the reality of being wealthier than everyone but not married (7) |
| [M]ost rich | ||
| 15 | STAB | Attempt crazy Spinning (4) |
| Bats< | ||
| 18 | FEED | Fuel price beginning to drop (4) |
| Fee + d[rop]. Def used in the sense of to fuel something. | ||
| 20 | RATTLER | Snake of an old politician nearly getting taken in by Republicans (7) |
| Attle[e] in RR | ||
| 23 | ATOLL | Some coral in a ring (5) |
| A toll (as in a bell tolling) | ||
| 24 | IN SPIRITS | Merry because of gin and vodka? (2,7) |
| DD/CD | ||
| 26 | BENGALI | South Asian from England visiting island in Indonesia (7) |
| Eng[land] in Bali | ||
| 27 | DEFUNCT | Dead river caused an unpleasant smell, so it’s said (7) |
| Hom + dee funked | ||
| 28 | COS | Salad stuff from a high-street coffee shop? No thanks! (3) |
| Cos[ta] | ||
| 29 | SENEGALESE | Eagles seen migrating from part of Africa (10) |
| (Eagles seen)* | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | TABLE TOP | Where to put your iPad, perhaps, at work (5,3) |
| &lit – tablet (iPad is a type of tablet computer) + op | ||
| 2 | ANNOTATE | Comment on negative response received by an art institution (8) |
| No in an + Tate | ||
| 3 | KINDA | Sounding more helpful (sort of!) (5) |
| Hom of kinder | ||
| 4 | DISTICH | Piece from odist I chose is a couplet (7) |
| Hidden in oDIST I CHose | ||
| 5 | WITHERS | US singer-songwriter accompanying Queen at the end of gigs (7) |
| With(=accompanying) + ER + [gig]s – Ref to Bill Withers | ||
| 6 | ASKING | What’s a poser doing when at Top Man? (6) |
| As king = when at Top Man | ||
| 7 | STYLES | Fashions displayed by someone associated with 1D (6) |
| DD, referring to Harry Styles of One Direction, which is often abbreviated to 1D. | ||
| 8 | PREGNANT | Significant power in control (8) |
| P(ower) + regnant(=reigning, in control). Def used in the pregnant pause sense. | ||
| 14 | IDEAL GAS | If everything’s perfect, theoretically, what could the matter be? (5,3) |
| CD referring to a theoretical state of matter called an ideal gas. | ||
| 16 | ALLIANCE | Every person that is embracing a new college partnership (8) |
| All(=every person) + i.e. around a n(ew) c(ollege) | ||
| 17 | DRESS TIE | Posh clothing can somehow be resisted! (5,3) |
| Resisted* | ||
| 19 | DEICIDE | Resolve to arrest leader of infidels for a religious crime (7) |
| Decide around i[nfidels]. Deicide is killing a god, so would therefore be religious in nature. | ||
| 20 | RUSHDIE | Author in a hurry to stop working (7) |
| Rush + die | ||
| 21 | MALBEC | Guy takes barbituates at first, followed by cocaine and wine (6) |
| Male around b[arbituates] + c(ocaine) | ||
| 22 | JOINTS | Spliffs seen in dive bars? (6) |
| DD | ||
| 25 | INFRA | Further in, and far off (5) |
| In + far* | ||
*anagram
12 across – I think “sort” is the definition and “liquid” is the anagrind.
Hoskins to Gila: “Hey man, I have some clues that I cannot use at the moment. Well, I can, but. Do you want them?”
Gila: “Great, I could do with a handful but please, leave HerMaj out”.
Good, sound crossword!
A bit tricky but we got it all without help apart from checking ‘funk’ in Chambers. We didn’t know WITHERS or STYLES but they were clear enough from the wordplay, and we guessed ‘1D’ didn’t refer to 1 down.
We agree with Colin@1 about 12ac – although that means ‘sort of’ as a definition occurs twice. Not sure, though, why ‘Spinning’ in 15ac has an initial capital. And according to our spellchecker (we print out the crossword) it should be ‘barbiturates’ in 21dn, not that it makes any difference to the working of the clue. That was our CoD, actually.
Thanks, Gila and NealH
Definitely needed Neal’s help with the parsing of a few of these – 1,7&14d. Regret to say that I’ve never heard of the latter.
Also failed on the definition of ‘funked’ in 27a and thought 24a needed to be either ‘in good spirits’ or ‘in high spirits’ to make the clue work.
Particularly liked 6a.
Thanks to Gila and to Neal for the helping hand.
Missed the 1d reference, many thanks NealH. I had a number of theories why the answer might relate to a table top. And I had abs but forgot the braking system. I liked ideal gas, I like that kind of surface, but perhaps not straightforward for everyone.
Great crossword, thanks Gila. Not easy, well not for me anyway. I liked ostrich, feed, kinda, cos and many more. All good stuff, keep it up
Many thanks to Neal for the write-up and to all who have taken time to comment. Glad ABS seems to have found favour. Probably my favourite clue of the bunch.
Apologies for the missing R in 21d, which I have to confess I’ve never realised is even there! Duly noted. ?
On the other couple of points raised:
@allan_c – the Spinning ref. in 15a is to the exercise class (in one of which I came up with that clue in fact!)
@jane – Chambers does give ‘in spirits’ as an entry in itself, though it’s admittedly quite odd. I don’t think I’ve ever used the expression without a qualifying adjective
Thanks again
Ali/Gila