A fairly typical Everyman: nothing too obscure, but enough of a challenge to be enjoyable.
Concise clues, even for the very long entries, and some vivid surfaces: I enjoyed the quarrelsome bird, loud flute, energetic composer, and dramatic party. And a smile for the neatly punning cryptic definition at 4d.
Definitions are underlined; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| Across | ||
| 1 | RIBALDRY | Bone, article left with waterless earthy stuff (8) |
| RIB + A (the indefinite article) + L[eft] + DRY. | ||
| 5 | SPECKS | Spots king wearing glasses (6) |
| K[ing] within (wearing) SPECS (short for spectacles). | ||
| 9 | FILCH | Steal dossier mostly about hospital (5) |
| FIL[e] (dossier mostly) + C (circa = about) + H[ospital]. | ||
| 10 | UP THE POLE | Hut people demolished, being crazy (2,3,4) |
| Anagram (demolished) of HUT PEOPLE. | ||
| 12 | REAR-VIEW MIRROR | Raise opinion and reflect – the driver needs it (4-4,6) |
| REAR (raise) + VIEW (opinion) + MIRROR (reflect). | ||
| 13 | EVIDENT | Clear, endlessly wicked impression (7) |
| EVI[l] (wicked, without its end) + DENT (impression). | ||
| 15 | EXTRACT | Passage, wide perhaps, beside court (7) |
| EXTRA (in cricket, awarded for errors such as a wide ball) + CT (short for court). Passage / extract: a piece of writing taken from a larger document. | ||
| 17 | SPARROW | Bird strikes back, joining quarrel (7) |
| RAPS (strikes) backwards + ROW (quarrel). | ||
| 19 | ANTHEMS | Songs from soldiers for instance protecting border (7) |
| ANTS (for instance soldier ants) around (protecting) HEM (border). | ||
| 21 | COMPREHENSIBLE | Plain and simple herb once prepared (14) |
| Anagram (prepared) of SIMPLE HERB ONCE. | ||
| 24 | FLAGEOLET | Flute that’s loud and played a lot with glee (9) |
| F (forte, loud in musical notation) + anagram (played) of A LOT with GLEE. | ||
| 25 | IRATE | Furious pace getting one in front (5) |
| RATE (pace = speed) with I in front. | ||
| 26 | ROAMED | Wandered from route around Middle East (6) |
| ROAD (route) around M[iddle] E[ast]. | ||
| 27 | GLORIOUS | Good treatment of our soil? Magnificent (8) |
| G[ood] + anagram (treatment) of OUR SOIL. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | REFORMERS | Progressives in past breaking resolution (9) |
| FORMER (past) inserted into (breaking) RES[olution]. | ||
| 2 | BALSA | Tree in tribal sanctuary (5) |
| Hidden answer in triBAL SAnctuary; perhaps also &lit because balsa grows in rainforests. | ||
| 3 | LE HAVRE | Very entertained by composer with energy in place in Normandy (2,5) |
| V[ery] inserted into (entertained by) LEHAR (Austro-Hungarian operetta composer) + E[nergy]. | ||
| 4 | ROULETTE WHEEL | Article during revolution offering a better hope? (8,5) |
| Cryptic definition – offering hope to “a better” in the sense of “a gambler”. | ||
| 6 | PIERROT | Nonsense following support for clown (7) |
| ROT (nonsense) following PIER (support). | ||
| 7 | CHOCOLATE | Sweet end of tale after crazy upset during conversation (9) |
| LOCO (crazy) upset (reversed in a down clue), inserted into CHAT, followed by [tal]E. | ||
| 8 | STEM | Check stalk (4) |
| Double definition – the first as in “stem / check the flow”. | ||
| 11 | TEMPERAMENTAL | Unreliable medium chaps follow? Not I (13) |
| TEMPERA (painting medium) + MEN (chaps) + TA[i]L (follow, without the I). | ||
| 14 | INAMORATA | Beloved home before noon or at middle of day (9) |
| IN (at home) + AM (ante meridiem, before noon) + OR AT + middle letter of dAy. | ||
| 16 | TASTELESS | Flat lacking refinement (9) |
| Double definition. | ||
| 18 | REPLETE | Full answer nearly given by alien leader of expedition (7) |
| REPL[y] (answer, nearly) + ET (extra-terrestrial) + E[xpedition]. | ||
| 20 | TESTIER | More irritable group raised row (7) |
| SET (group) raised (reversed in a down clue) + TIER (row). Something I learned today: TESTY originally meant headstrong, from the French tête = head (old French teste). | ||
| 22 | BEANO | Live drama involving a party (5) |
| BE (live, as a verb) + NO (or Noh: Japanese drama) + A. Beano = short for beanfeast, which was originally an annual workers’ dinner: there are probably a lot of those happening this week. | ||
| 23 | AFAR | At a distance, some loaf around (4) |
| Hidden answer in loAF ARound. | ||
I enjoyed this puzzle.
Thanks Everyman and Quirister.
A good, enjoyable puzzle, perhaps a little trickier than par. The flute I sort of vaguely knew but was unsure of the spelling of, and 21ac took an age to unpick. Elsewhere progress was steady if unspectacular.
Thank you Everyman and Quirister.
An enjoyable puzzle, I especially liked the clues for ROULETTE WHEEL and FLAGEOLET, and the anagram for COMPREHENSIBLE which, as for Jon_S, took me a while to get.
Incidentally, in France the adjective têtu, têtue, still means headstrong or obstinate – the original meanings of French words is usually conserved by the strict control of the Académie française.
Thanks both. I enjoyed this, but confused myself trying to parse SPARROW with the ARROW = quarrel (e.g. In a crossbow) before the penny dropped
I decided to print this one out and finish it a day earlier since I was on leave. A pretty straightforward crossword though I still don’t understand 4d. BEANO is not a term I’m familiar with but clue was parse-able
All good thank you, but not satisfied with explanation of 4d. The gambling reference is OK as single definition of hoping for better, but that seems too one dimensional to be a cryptic clue. Looking to parse the answer, I see ‘r…eel’ for revolution, but can’t sort the rest of it. I’d be looking for something like an article to go in between (‘during’) the letters of ‘reel’
Peterfitz @ 6, the reference to Revolution is simply the spin of the roulette wheel?
I keep forgetting that No is a Japanese play so Beano was unparsed, as was Temperamental as I’d not heard of the paint, all else fine albeit took a good part of a lazy morning by the beach.
Thanks all.
Roulette Wheel escaped me completely: purely cryptic definitions not so common with this setter maybe? Like Peterfitz I was looking for something to place an article in.
Never heard of a Beano in that context, just as the comic.
All I’m all enjoyable though, as always. My thanks too to Everyman and Quirister.
No problems today. Thoroughly enjoyable.
Barrie @6. Tempera is that powder paint that the Education Board used to supply to schools to be used for art. The class monitors mixed it with water for the class to use, and usually put far too much water in. Maybe it was before your time.
Also much enjoyed I only got my last one 1ac by a weirdly reverse way
Roulette wheel just popped out at me as soon as I got ghe W but I couldn’t see why and would never hv worked from the clue ., must be too much sun
Loved12ac and 5ac this week
Stlll don’t get 4 down; “offering a better hope” is fine — punning definition. Nice. But where/how does “Article during revolution” fit in? Can someone please explain?
Struggled with 22 down; “beano” is not in my vocabulary and like BarrieG@7 I keep forgetting that “No” is used for a style of Japanese drama. Eventually figured it out, but. LOI.
Sorry Rolf got to this one a week late so you may not be returning here. The article is the roulette wheel. It only offers the better hope while it’s spinning. So the whole clue defines the answer. I’ve gone of the boil with cryptic definitions too so they take me by surprise when they occasionally pop up.