I’ve absolutely no idea where Turbolegs has got to today but something must have prevented him from blogging.
I should be doing other things right now so here is just an analysis of the clues with no further commentary.
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Across
1,5 Actor that’s given two boys a sort of swatter (7,7)
PATRICK STEWART – PAT RICK (two boys) plus an anagram of (a sort of) SWATTER
9 Sailor heads for original top deck (5)
TAROT – TAR (sailor) O[riginal] T[op] (heads for original top)
10 Give eg morphine to Scot? Er … Ian, perhaps (9)
NARCOTISE – an anagram (perhaps) of SCOT ER IAN
11 A little cricket game Liberal journalist decided against (9)
OVERRULED – OVER (a little cricket) RU (game) L (Liberal) ED (journalist)
12 Returning soldier meets John in the White House (5)
IGLOO – GI (soldier) reversed (returning) LOO (John {toilet})
13 Twin street with A-road? As a rule, that’s unfair (6,8)
DOUBLE STANDARD – DOUBLE (twin) ST (street) AND (with) A RD (A-road)
18 Gossiping with model five times, interrupting Gail getting off with Neil (6-8)
TITTLE-TATTLING – T (model) TTTTT (five times) in (interrupting) an anagram (getting off) of GAIL NEIL
20 Fish not cooked in right oil, ultimately (5)
TRAWL – RAW (not cooked in [righ]T [oi]L (right oil, ultimately)
22 Sort of TV channel broadcast after 10, including return of ER (4-2-3)
FREE-TO-AIR – an anagram (broadcast) of AFTER IO around (including) ER reversed (return of)
24 Essential passages from old books Gail ordered, about sex (9)
OBBLIGATI – O (old) BB (books) plus an anagram (ordered) of GAIL followed by IT (sex) reversed (about)
25 Curious about one getting rowdy (5)
NOISY – NOSY (curious) around (about) I (one)
26,27 More curious about women getting seduced by potentially great actor (7,7)
STEWART GRANGER – STRANGER (more curious) around (about) W (women) in (getting seduced by) an anagram (potentially) of GREAT
Down
1,17 Bananas on toast? Lets rip – they’re a source of gas! (6,8)
PETROL STATIONS – an anagram (bananas) of ON TOAST LETS RIP
2 Came true? No doubt – not even questionable (6,3)
TURNED OUT – an anagram (questionable) of TRUE NO D[o]U[b]T
3 Start off season in team (5)
INTER – [w]INTER (start off season)
4 Most benevolent sort, in case where one is imprisoned (9)
KINDLIEST – KIND (sort) LEST (in case) around (where … is imprisoned) I (one)
5 Actor’s back in cast? Just a small part (5)
SHRED – [acto]R (actor’s back) in SHED (cast)
6 Lament 10-0 thrashing, with feeling (9)
EMOTIONAL – an anagram (thrashing) of LAMENT IO O
7 Shakespearean character ruining second part of King Lear (5)
ARIEL – an anagram (ruining) of [k]I[ng] (second part of king) LEAR
8,19 Our Father’s earnest request that rain won’t stop play? (3,5,6)
THE LORD’S PRAYER – def. with a cryptic reference to the Lords cricket ground
14 Welsh lake reportedly similar to a musical instrument (9)
BALALAIKA – BALA (Welsh lake) plus LAIKA which sounds like (reportedly) ‘like’ (similar to) A
15 Laughter as wife leaves tweet (gin drunk) (9)
TITTERING – T[w]ITTER (wife leaves tweet) followed by an anagram (drunk) of GIN
16 Toughening up of Queen before beheading somewhere in London (9)
ANNEALING – ANNE (Queen) [e]ALING (beheading somewhere in London)
21 Topless rural walk, a leisurely one (5)
AMBLE – [r]AMBLE (topless rural walk)
22 Binge beginning in French Quarter (5)
FEAST – F[rench] (beginning in French) EAST (quarter)
23 Friendly country dance, after exchanging two letters (5)
TONGA – TANGO (dance) with the two vowels swapped (after exchanging two letters)
Maybe Turbolegs fell asleep doing this crossword? Very humdrum I thought. Maybe I’m being a bit unkind?
Thanks to Wanderer and Gaufrid.
Thanks Wanderer and Gaufrid
This didn’t seem to take as long as what it normally would for a puzzle by this setter although I felt more pressure to get the outside clues than usual for some reason. Was eventually able to get PATRICK STEWART from the word play, not knowing of him, which then helped open it up.
Appreciated a couple of the clues better after working through the logic – such as remembering that TONGA was once known as the Friendly Islands, seeing the trick with the ‘five times’ at 18a and the cleverness of the intertwining of the two Shakespearean plays at 7d.
Finished with TWITTERING, STEWART GRANGER (not sure why didn’t see him earlier) and ANNEALING (taking longer than it should have to see that the queen wasn’t to be ‘beheaded’ and that the place in London was).
Hovis @1 – yes, maybe you are. [For a start, just take another look at some of the surfaces – 12, 18ac, 7 or 8,19dn, for instance.]
Many thanks, Gaufrid, for stepping in with a great blog once again.
Wanderer is one of my favourite setters and I found this as enjoyable as ever, so many thanks to him / her. I’ve already highlighted some of my ticked clues. I was amused to see that, whoever Gail is, she’s doing overtime today. 😉
Just looking back over the completed grid – was there something going on with DOUBLES (the hint at 13)?
There were doubles with STEWART, RR, TT (a few times), OO, BB, EE and NN.
Hmm … not TT (a few times) – TT (at 15d), TTL (at 18a) and there was also LA (at 14d)
Thanks to Wanderer and Gaufrid. FREE-TO-AIR was new to me and my LOI, only accessible after I finally worked out FEAST and TONGA.
I should perhaps add that I normally consider Wanderer as a top setter. Eileen @3, I did have another look at the clues you mentioned but still not impressed. In fact, I thought 8,19 the weakest of the lot. Different strokes etc as they say.
Shouldn’t/couldn’t 18a be “…model six times…”?
K3vin @8
The first T refers to the Model T Ford car but precedes the anagram. The other 5 Ts, which interrupt the anagram, are abbreviations for ‘times’.
@psmith. Ah, yes, model preceding the anagram makes all the difference. Thanks.