A brisk solve with some very nice surfaces.
I liked 1d particularly. One minor grump re ‘RATED’ but otherwise classic stuff from Neo, to whom thanks.
| Across | ||
| 1 | CRAMPED | With little room in tents pitched around river (7) |
| CAMPED (‘tents pitched’) around R[iver]. | ||
| 5 | SHASTRA | Ganesh as traitor to an extent in Hindu writings (7) |
| Hidden in ‘ganeSH AS TRAitor’. | ||
| 9 | AMBER | Cautionary signal: right time to leave dance company (5) |
| Ballet ‘rAMBERt’ without R[ight] or T[ime]. | ||
| 10 | FORTHWITH | Defence intelligence placed within hours on the spot (9) |
| FORT (‘defence’) + WIT (‘intelligence’) in 2x H[ours]. | ||
| 11 | INTRUSIVE | Disturbing to confuse sin with virtue (9) |
| Anagram (‘to confuse’) of SIN + VIRTUE. | ||
| 12 | OGHAM | Old characters making comeback exit play without permit (5) |
| Reversal (‘making comedack’) of GO (‘exit’) + the play HAMlet without LET (‘permit’). | ||
| 13 | GROOM | Grand accommodation for new union member (5) |
| G[rand] + ROOM, w cryptic def. | ||
| 15 | EXPRESSED | Communicated with paper boy (9) |
| EXPRESS (newspaper, allegedly) + ED (a boy). | ||
| 18 | LAST RITES | Leaving ceremony is routine, girl admits (4,5) |
| TRITE in LASS. | ||
| 19 | NEATH | Elegantly simple opener from Hitchin Town (5) |
| NEAT (‘elegantly simple’) + H (‘opener’ of ‘Hitchin’). | ||
| 21 | ADAGE | Saw woman for example headed west (5) |
| ADA + reversal of EG. | ||
| 23 | REDBREAST | Robin left-wing as Bert’s revolutionary? (9) |
| RED (‘left-wing’) + anagram (‘revolutionary’) of AS BERT. | ||
| 25 | HAVE A STAB | Attempt to murder Caesar? (4,1,4) |
| Cryptic definition. | ||
| 26 | BELCH | Forcibly expel ringer leaving one large church (5) |
| BELl (a ‘ringer’) less 1x L[arge], + CH[urch]. | ||
| 27 | RELAYED | Genuine assistance for auditor is passed on (7) |
| Homophone (‘for auditor’) of REAL AID. | ||
| 28 | ENDOWED | Given income? At finish was in debt! (7) |
| END + OWED. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | COATING | Good conclusion to bad action film (7) |
| Anagram (‘bad’) of ACTION + G[ood] at end. | ||
| 2 | ALBATROSS | Score from ace cricketer getting runs in defeat (9) |
| A[ce], then BAT (‘cricketer’) + R[uns], both in LOSS. | ||
| 3 | PERDU | Lost – died in foreign land (5) |
| D[ied] in PERU. | ||
| 4 | DIFFIDENT | Shy girl, doubly feminine, one needs to impress (9) |
| DI[ana] + 2x F[eminine] + 1 + DENT (‘to impress’). | ||
| 5 | SURGE | Eddy initially showing desire (5) |
| 1st letter of Showing + URGE. | ||
| 6 | ASHMOLEAN | Museum loan has me crippled (9) |
| Anagram (‘crippled’) of LOAN HAS ME. | ||
| 7 | THIGH | Time wasted in member’s area (5) |
| T[ime] + HIGH (‘wasted’, drugged up), the thigh being an ‘area’ of the leg, or ‘member’. | ||
| 8 | ASHAMED | Embarrassed because pressman eats meat (7) |
| AS ED consumes HAM. | ||
| 14 | MERCENARY | Hired soldier showing forbearance about near-disaster? (9) |
| MERCY (‘forbearance’) around anagram (‘disaster’) of NEAR. | ||
| 16 | PASO DOBLE | Music, not French, stirred English blood (4,5) |
| PAS (‘not’ in French) + anagram of E[nglish] BLOOD. | ||
| 17 | SCAPA FLOW | Naval base provides cover in South Africa on run (5,4) |
| CAP (‘cover’) in S[outh] A[frica] + FLOW (‘run’). | ||
| 18 | LEATHER | Nonsense writer without the polish (7) |
| Edward LEAR around THE. | ||
| 20 | HITCHED | Man had to suppress desire to be married (7) |
| HE’D (‘man had’) around ITCH (‘desire’). | ||
| 22 | ANVIL | Iron block in Roman villa (5) |
| Inclusion in ‘romAN VILla’. | ||
| 23 | RATED | Reckoned explicit kiss should be cut (5) |
| X-RATED (‘explicit’) with no X, or kiss. (Shome duplication here surely?) | ||
| 24 | RABID | Hydrophobic sailor with freehold? (5) |
| AB[le Seaman] ‘held’ by RID (to ‘free’). | ||
*anagram
Thanks Grant – I needed help parsing AMBER. I wondered if PERDU was some kind of &lit as it is “lost” in France (foreign land). I liked THIGH – probably because my schoolboy mind thought of another proximate member but MrsW put me right. RATED seemed ok to me and I liked FORTHWITH – English seems to have a wealth of these type of words which are falling out of use – I think HERETOFORE was in a recent G puzzle. Thanks also to Neo.
Thanks to Neo and Grant. OGHAM defeated me, and I did not know SCAPA FLOW (though I parsed it) or Rambert for AMBER.
Thanks for the blog. In 25a is it because Caesar was stabbed? Seems a little weak to me. Didn’t have a problem with rated.
I liked this Neo effort. COD 26ac.
Thanks Neo & Grant.
In 25 across I think that the definition is simply Attempt. Then to murder Caesar? is the wordplay.
It’s meant to be a cd really, just a joke about what having a stab is alleged to have meant at some point in history.
Anyway, thanks Grant, and all who commented.
Cheers N.
Thanks Neo and Grant
Found this one a good work out with a number of twists and turns in it – and illustrated by the messy overwrites in my grid. Like WhiteKing@1, my mind had focused on the inner thigh rather than the whole leg as the member – nobody around to whip me back into shape though.
Not sure what duplication there may have been in 23d, thought that it was all good – did take me a while to see the word play though.
The RAMBERT dance company was the only new term and was pleased to remember SCAPA FLOW as the naval base 17d.
Finished in the top left corner with COATING, GROOM and ALBATROSS the last few in.