As far as I can tell, this is a debut for Skinny, so welcome. I found this a tractable and pleasing puzzle in the IoS style, spoilt only by one clue which is faulty. What did you think?
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Deny being in favour of proposal
FORBID
A charade of FOR and BID.
5 Falsehoods which vegetarians would find difficult to swallow
PORK PIES
PORK PIES is Cockney rhyming slang for ‘lies’, so it’s a kind of cd cum dd.
9 Pack captures many a naval unit
FLOTILLA
An insertion of LOT in FILL followed by A.
10 Sweet wine lost in minor quake?
AFTERS
AFTERS[HOCK]
11 Junk mail re-sent to cut out waste
STREAMLINE
(MAIL RE-SENT)*
12 Ghost briefly makes a comeback; sorry about that
OOPS
SPOO[K] reversed (‘makes a comeback’).
13 Elderly relative housed in apartment that’s gross
FLAGRANT
An insertion of GRAN in FLAT.
16 Cash grab – not 100, but 500
DOLLAR
Skinny is asking you to replace the C (‘100’) in COLLAR with D (‘500’).
17 Accustomed to setback in older universities
INURED
Hidden reversed in olDER UNIversities.
19 VIPs to lead artists’ society
TOP BRASS
A charade of TO, PB for the chemical symbol for ‘lead’, RAS for ‘artists’ and S for ‘society’.
21 Bird one tells stories about
RAIL
A reversal of LIAR, and a chance for the obligatory Pierre bird link. There are lots of rails to choose from, so I have gone for Ridgway’s Rail.
22 Wild dances and musical in which you may get carried away?
SEDAN CHAIR
A charade of (DANCES)* and HAIR for the 1960s’ musical. The colours, man, the colours are amazing …
25 Disciplinarian leaders of schools teach religious instruction classes, typically
STRICT
The initial letters of the last six words of the clue.
26 Occasionally he pulled out before day of festival opening
ON AND OFF
A charade of ONAN, D, OF and F for the first letter of ‘festival’. ONAN did indeed engage in coitus interruptus, and spilt his seed upon the ground. It didn’t end well for him, but that’s Old Testament God-given retribution for you.
27 Anticipates Forster (initially) to be included in homework, and Eliot similarly
PRE-EMPTS
Skinny is referencing the initials of two authors: EM Forster (Howards End, etc) and TS Eliot (The Waste Land, etc). It’s the former in PREP, posh kids’ ‘homework’, followed by the latter.
28 Curses introduction of spectator sports
SWEARS
A charade of S for the first letter of ‘spectator’ and WEARS.
Down
2 Duck with permit to be a small bird
OWLET
More birds. My cup runneth over this morning. Here’s the (unbearably cute) obligatory Pierre bird link. A charade of O, W, and LET.
3 Club that chap joined to go swimming
BATHE
A charade of BAT and HE.
4 It’s a problem to raise hat to a girl
DILEMMA
A reversal of LID for ‘hat’ and EMMA.
5 ‘Thespian’ is term that describes Victoria Wood, perhaps
PIANIST
Hidden in ThesPIAN IS Term. Victoria Wood was (imho) one of the funniest people on the planet, but she was also a very accomplished pianist (and often played as part of her stand-up).
6 Crash into back of car – organ death follows
REAR END
The last letter of ‘car’ is followed by EAR and END. REAR END does mean to ‘crash into back of car’ but you only need the first two words for the definition.
7 Postman with fancy car – he’s on his rounds
PATROLLER
A charade of John Cunliffe’s famous animated postman, PAT, and ROLLER.
8 Perhaps the Irish Sea, pure with no variation
EUROPEANS
(SEA PURE NO)*
14 Dilapidated ancestral house of Henry V
LANCASTER
(ANCESTRAL)*
15 Exotic green clothing for supermarket girl
GERALDINE
An insertion of the low-cost ‘supermarket’ ALDI in (GREEN)*
18 Where papers may be posted – possibly about a thousand?
DESKTOP
An insertion of K for ‘a thousand’ in (POSTED)*
19 It’s not exciting messing around outside
TEDIOUS
(OUTSIDE)*
20 Rings round newspaper proprietors at first for correspondents
PEN PALS
An insertion of N and P for the first letters of ‘newspaper’ and ‘proprietors’ in PEALS.
23 Fence – sit on it?
HEDGE
Another cd cum dd: if you ‘sit on the fence’ you could be ‘hedging’ (your bets).
24 Reason home’s on fire in Paris?
INFER
It’s a pity that the last clue has spoilt a fine debut. I’m afraid this is faulty, unless I’m missing something. The setter is intending a charade of IN for ‘home’ on FER for ‘fire’ in French. Only problem is that the French word for ‘fire’ is FEU, which is (not that it matters) not even a homophone of the word that Skinny is using. FER means ‘iron’.
Bravo to Skinny for the debut puzzle.
24d, 12a!, but didn’t spoil an enjoyable peri-prandial solve. I was fooled by ‘to lead’ in 19a, which I mis-parsed as TOP and I’ve now learnt that ‘disciplinarian’ has an adjectival sense. I liked the ‘initially’ device for the authors in 27a and the slightly naughty ON AND OFF. “Hair” is now 52 years old – scary.
A big thanks and welcome to Skinny and to Pierre – that RAIL looks like he’s up to a bit of mischief to me.
Having solved an excellent Skinny puzzle elsewhere yesterday, I was expecting this to be very enjoyable and it certainly was. I have a sense of déjà vu however in that I took him to task yesterday for one element of poor taste which he has repeated today with 26a. This is a well-constructed clue but out of place surely in a reputable newspaper (even though poor taste seems to have become commonplace for Indy crosswords!)
On the (big) plus side, the cluing is nicely brief and very accurate (shame about 24d but these things happen even to the best) with lovely smooth surfaces. 27a was my favourite with 14d running it close.
Many thanks for the fun, Skinny, and please keep them coming. Thanks too to Pierre.
Shame about the French letters-but the ed should have spotted that. Agree that its otherwise quite fun
Thanks all.
Welcome Skinny.
I really enjoyed this. Don’t need to bang on about the you-know-what, but the rest contains almost too many highlights to list: TOP BRASS, ON AND OFF*, PRE-EMPTS, SWEARS, BATHE … and can’t not add a purr for the cute OWLET!
*Always good to be reminded of Dorothy Parker’s canary.
Thanks Skinny and Pierre.
As regards 24 down, fer is French for an iron when used to iron clothes.
Forget last post. That is irrelevant, but I don’t know how to delete posts.
Quite a weekend for Skinny with two puzzles on parade – congratulations to him.
I enjoyed both of the offerings and it was a shame about the inaccuracy in today’s 24d. Slap on the wrist for the test solver!
I’m with RD in hoping that ‘poor taste’ clues don’t become a feature of Skinny’s puzzles. As I’ve often said to another BD/Indy setter – you’re a very good compiler and don’t need to resort to using that type of ‘humour’ to attract followers.
Enjoy your success, Skinny, and bring us more puzzles soon.
My apologies – completely forgot to thank Pierre for the review and the much appreciated pics of our feathered friends.
Thanks to all for comments and to Pierre for the review, which are hugely appreciated. To RD @2 and Jane @7 honestly, it’s not intentional to go down the Finbarr Saunders route, I fit in the phrase and the word jumped out at me. Perhaps that says more about my puerility, and again, I take the point that some would not expect to see such phrases.
Thanks again to all.
Don’t agree with criticism of 26ac. That was my favourite clue.
I didn’t object in the slightest to 26ac. Mary Whitehouse passed away a long time ago, and there’s always the Church Times crossie if you really are bothered by this stuff in the Indy. Well done again to Skinny on a good debut puzzle – I hope we bump into each other again soon.
Mary Whitehouse passed away a long time ago? Luckily, we still have Ann Widdecombe!
I cannot be bothered about the taste or distaste of clues like 26ac.
But I don’t think I would agree with JimT @10 who found this a favourite.
A good and relatively straightforward crossword that was only, annoyingly so, more or less spoilt by the final clue which indeed is faulty (and shouldn’t have been).
I assume, looking at names of some commenters who seem to know who Skinny is, that he is one from Big Dave’s stable.
And is this Skinny the same person as the one who frequently pops up in Everyman blogs?
Many thanks to Pierre for the blog & Skinny for the puzzle.
Welcome to Skinny on your debut Indy puzzle and thanks for dropping by.
Despite the error it was an enjoyable solve. We look forward to blogging one of your puzzles in the future.
Thanks Pierre – we missed the parsing for TOP BRASS.
Thought this was an excellent debut, enjoyed it a lot, an improvement on the usual IoS puzzle.
Endorse most comments above. Thought ON AND OFF pretty witty.
Thanks to Skinny and Pierre.