Monday morning kicks off with a gentle FALCON…
This was all fairly 3d.
We thought the use of “comic” as an anagrind twice was perhaps a little weak, but both clues had nice surfaces and in any case the crossword overall was fun to solve. 4d was probably our favourite.
Thanks FALCON!
Across
1 Find a way round team with pace (8)
SIDESTEP
SIDE (team) with STEP (pace)
5 A launch at sea (6)
AFLOAT
A FLOAT (a launch)
10 Failure in comic roles (5)
LOSER
(ROLES)* (*comic)
11 Dear old partner deep in thought (9)
EXPENSIVE
EX (old partner) + PENSIVE (deep in thought)
12 Period at home at end of the close (9)
TERMINATE
TERM (period) + IN (at home) + [th]E (end of)
13 Saucy Latin American dance? (5)
SALSA
Cryptic definition
14 Gold coin originally concealed in plant (6)
ORCHID
OR (gold) + C[oin] (originally) + HID (concealed)
15 Archbishop, strictly formal, dined (7)
PRIMATE
PRIM (strictly formal) + ATE (dined)
18 Eliminated in match following away round (3,2,2)
OUT OF IT
FIT (match) following (OUT (away) + O (round))
20 Father describing a deity in temple (6)
PAGODA
PA (father) describing (around) A GOD (a deity)
22 Natural talent shown by lad, at first, in market (5)
FLAIR
L[ad] (at first) in FAIR (market)
24 Amateur work involving clergyman in phone book? (9)
DIRECTORY
DIY (amateur work) involving RECTOR (clergyman)
25 Ten urge AA, after repair, to provide warranty (9)
GUARANTEE
(TEN URGE AA)* (*after repair)
26 Large sea duck can, coming across first of eiders (5)
OCEAN
O (duck) + CAN, coming across E[iders] (first of)
27 Go round close, fashionable (6)
TRENDY
TRY (go) round END (close)
28 Faithful wife in LA engrossed by celebrity beginning to talk (8)
STALWART
W (wife) in LA engrossed by STAR (celebrity) + T[alk] (beginning to)
Down
1 Gesture of respect given late US comic (6)
SALUTE
(LATE US)* (*comic)
2 Soldier and sailor coming over after leave (6,3)
DESERT RAT
(TAR)< (sailor, <coming over) after DESERT (leave)
3 Clear, even at the front (15)
STRAIGHTFORWARD
STRAIGHT (even) + FORWARD (at the front)
4 Stone me, ‘arbinger’s outside (7)
EMERALD
ME, [h]ERALD ([h]arbinger) outside
6 Educational establishment getting shot of coach (9,6)
FINISHING SCHOOL
FINISHING (getting shot of) + SCHOOL (coach)
7 Rebuilt Loire college (5)
ORIEL
(LOIRE)* (*rebuilt)
8 Generate changes in youth (8)
TEENAGER
(GENERATE)* (*change)
9 Maintenance at an end? On hold (6)
UPKEEP
UP (at an end) on KEEP (hold)
16 Group of stars with artist holding protest march up (9)
ANDROMEDA
AND (with) + RA (artist) holding (DEMO)< (protest march, <up)
17 Clash between boxers? A scrap that’s up in the air (8)
DOGFIGHT
Double definition
19 Fashionable? Not at university, until now (2,4)
TO DATE
[up] TO DATE (fashionable, not up (at university))
20 Complete textbook, superb (7)
PERFECT
Triple definition
21 Type of ring, by the sound of it, for an aquatic bird (6)
CYGNET
“signet” (type of ring, by the sound of it)
23 Conscious of a conflict close to home (5)
AWARE
A WAR (a conflict) + [hom]E (close to)
Yes, not too demanding, but I still missed the parsing of TO DATE and the ‘textbook’ (adj.) meaning of PERFECT.
I liked the reminder of the DESERT RATS(s). ?How many left now?.
Thanks to Falcon and to Teacow.
You seem to have left out the “at” in 12A
Thanks to Falcon and Teacow. A quick solve but enjoyable. I’m another who didn’t initially get the textbook meaning of PERFECT, but I enjoyed DOGFIGHT-boxers.
Thanks Falcon and Teacow
A nice gentle start to the solving week with no real holdups along the way. Had treated SALSA more as a double definition with ‘sauce’ and the ‘dance’ – maybe a cryptic dd !
Finished in the NE corner with DESERT RAT and SIDESTEP the last couple in.
Triple definitions get me every time!
Thanks for this.