The usual efficient and enjoyable crossword from Punk today. Purists may say that there are rather a lot of clues where you have to use one or two letters from a word, but these are clearly indicated and it doesn’t worry me.
Definitions underlined, in maroon. Anagram indicators in brackets.
Even I could see what is going on today: there are many uses of the word ‘red’, and this usually refers to a footballer (Liverpool mainly but not always) although there are two communists. Since you may be even more unsure about footballers than I am (although the ones here are generally pretty well-known) there is a link each time to them.
| Across | ||
| 8 | LEONINE | Papal order initially in red reaching troublesome conclusion (7) |
| Le(o{rder})nin {troublesom}e — the pope is Pope Leo, of whom there have been several, and the red is Lenin | ||
| 9 | BOASTER | Peacock feathers finally put in hat (7) |
| boa({feather}s)ter | ||
| 10 | RONALDO | Red ball frayed either side: movement around that (7) |
| ron({b}al{l})do — the red is Cristiano Ronaldo, red I think because he played for Manchester United (evidently Juventus don’t play in red, but Portugal do) | ||
| 11 | LATERAL | Side at a future date meeting Arsenal wingers (7) |
| later A{rsena}l | ||
| 12 | TERMINATE | Stop bullying entire team drained of energy (9) |
| *(entire t{e}am) | ||
| 14 | OLIVE | Green wire attached to complete circuit? (5) |
| o live — the wire is the live wire and I’ve never seen the letter o defined like this, but it is without question a complete circuit | ||
| 15 | REBUS | Puzzle on something red in London (5) |
| re [on] bus — the red of London buses | ||
| 17 | BOT | Half behind machine (3) |
| bot{tom} | ||
| 18 | LEGGY | Tall sunflower in the middle, yellow perhaps? (5) |
| {sunf}l{ower} eggy | ||
| 19 | SIREN | Charmer backing winner, I seethe somewhat (5) |
| Hidden reversed in winNER, I Seethe | ||
| 20 | CASTRATED | Actors considered fixed (9) |
| cast [actors] rated | ||
| 24 | BRITISH | Berlin regularly leading this silly race (7) |
| B{e}r{l}i{n} (this)* | ||
| 25 | CALL OFF | Stop upper chamber briefly going in a little lower (4,3) |
| cal(lof{t})f — the little lower is a little low-er | ||
| 27 | STERNUM | Bone in grave: I’m not sure (7) |
| stern [grave] um | ||
| 28 | NOW THEN | Ending in detention, the short red skirts bringing expression of mild reproof (3,4) |
| {detentio}n Ow(th{e})en — ‘skirts’ a verb — the red is Michael Owen | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | CLARET | Instrument, though not in red (6) |
| clar{in}et — simply the colour | ||
| 2 | MOANER | Grouch mean, or miserable (6) |
| (mean or)* | ||
| 3 | VIAL | Small bottle, one in private chamber brought up (4) |
| v(1)al, the val being (lav)rev. | ||
| 4 | PELOTA | Fortune collected by seed in sport (6) |
| pe(lot)a | ||
| 5 | FAST BOWLER | Cricketer bats, surprisingly, in red (4,6) |
| (bats)* in Fowler — the red is Robbie Fowler | ||
| 6 | STARLING | Redpoll in red, good for bird (8) |
| Sta(r)lin g — the red is Stalin — I’m not quite sure why redpoll = r; is it because r is the first letter (the head or poll) of red? | ||
| 7 | DROLLERY | Turn on leader of establishment overwhelmed by sarcastic jokes (8) |
| d(roll e{stablishment})ry | ||
| 9 | BOLDEST | Grey in red, most striking (7) |
| B(old)est — the red is George Best | ||
| 13 | INSENTIENT | Feeling nothing new in intestine after treatment (10) |
| n [new] in (intestine)* | ||
| 15 | ROSEBUSH | Plant most of bed so comes up in red (8) |
| (be{d} so)rev. in Rush — the red is Ian Rush | ||
| 16 | BAR LINES | Scoring marks, 51 in red (3,5) |
| Bar(LI)nes — 51 is LI in Roman numerals — bar lines are marks on a musical score — the red is John Barnes | ||
| 17 | BECKHAM | Red meat at bottom of stream (7) |
| beck [stream] ham — the red is David Beckham | ||
| 21 | SECOND | Extra flash (6) |
| 2 defs — if you are a second for someone you are an extra to that person, and a moment of time is a flash or a second | ||
| 22 | TOOTHY | On top, solver’s blessed with outstanding dining equipment? (6) |
| too [on top] thy [solver’s] | ||
| 23 | DEFINE | Explain when bit of fish found in river (6) |
| De(fin)e — I wanted to have decode here, but a cod isn’t really a bit of a fish | ||
| 26 | LAWN | Green area, red and green ultimately (4) |
| Law (gree}n — the red is Denis Law | ||
*anagram
As you say, a theme that even famed non-spotters of themes could see – and I surprised myself with my knowledge of the ‘reds’
Thanks to Punk and John
A very witty use of “red” as a theme with many old favourites. maybe not all will agree but i thought this was J Halpern in top form, almost reminiscent of Araucaria. Thanks John amd John
Even I could spot the ‘red’ football players, and the other contexts of the theme word added to the enjoyment. Still, I had to check several times: CLARET but no ‘Rum’.
Yes, I thought ‘redpoll’ = poll, or first letter, of red.
My two favourites were PELOTA, an unusual ‘sport’, though I seem to remember it has appeared before and the ‘blessed with outstanding dining equipment’ def.
Thanks to Punk and to John
We twigged fairly early on from FAST BOWLER and NOW THEN, as well as the frequent appearance of ‘red’ in the clues, what the theme was although we didn’t at first make the connection to footballers – they might have been obscure socialists for all we knew. Then 20ac meant 17dn had to be BECKHAM (rather than Burnham) and it all began to fall into place. The NW corner gave us the most trouble but we got there in the end.
We agree about ‘redpoll’ indicating R – a case of ‘lift and separate’, a device more often found in the Graun but quite acceptable to us.
Plenty to like, particularly OLIVE, LEGGY, DROLLERY and TOOTHY.
Thanks, Punk and John
Surprised I managed to finish, even with a cricket clue thrown in. For me, this was “well I guess that must be a footballer”, but no doubt loads of fun for those with the GK. I did know beckham, best and renaldo..
Many thanks punk and John
Thanks to John and Punk
I’d prefer a theme on white but very good anyway. I’ll be careful not to ask my GP for a quick fix.