I thought this was an excellent puzzle with just the right level of cultural references.
There was nothing obscure and there was some lovely, head-scratching stuff such as working out what ‘John Lennon’ could be other than Beatle.
| Across | ||
| 9 | TRAINING COLLEGE | Aiming to have member accepted by Old King’s school (8,7) |
| Training(=aiming) + leg in Cole (Old King Cole) | ||
| 10 | POMPEII | Pageantry with European team in Italian city (7) |
| Pomp + E + II. I think the II is meant to be an 11, which it resembles, although I suppose it could also be a team of 2 (as in say a tennis doubles match). | ||
| 12 | RESIDES | Stops trips around El Salvador (7) |
| Rides around E(l) S(alvador) (to stop somewhere is to reside somewhere). | ||
| 13 | PEPPERONI | Spanish manager has Italian beer and sausage (9) |
| Pep (Guardiola, manager of Man City) + Peroni | ||
| 14 | ATTIC | Greek tenor seen in part of Cincinnati club (5) |
| T in (hidden in cincinnATI Club). Interesting composite clue type that I’ve not seen before. | ||
| 15 | BESEECH | Ask for a bit of blue cheese soufflé (7) |
| (B(lue) cheese)* | ||
| 18 | NEWGATE | Deny wife is held in old prison (7) |
| Negate with w(ife) in. | ||
| 21 | NOOKS | Complete absence of sanctions in retreats (5) |
| No OKs | ||
| 23 | LIBERTINE | Rake‘s letter about debauched tribe (9) |
| Line around tribe*. Not entirely sure why line is letter. Maybe someone would say “I’ll send you a line about that”, so a type of short letter. | ||
| 25 | REDPOLL | Winger in communist vote (7) |
| Red + poll | ||
| 26 | AIRPORT | Start off musical opening for John Lennon? (7) |
| [H]air + port(=opening). Again the question mark is required because John Lennon is an example of an airport. | ||
| 29 | POWER OF ATTORNEY | Wrote of poetry and briefly about legal document (5,2,8) |
| (Wrote of poetry an’)* | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | STEP | Stage movement (4) |
| DD | ||
| 2 | PALM | Appropriate line in revolutionary plan (4) |
| L(ine) in map<. Appropriate here used as a verb (to appropriate something). | ||
| 3 | ANTECEDE | Go before City editor blocks advance payment (8) |
| (EC + ed) in ante | ||
| 4 | INDIGO | Classical architect receives Dutch plant (6) |
| Inigo (Jones) around D(utch) | ||
| 5 | SCORPION | Shoot capturing soldiers parking tank? (8) |
| Scion around (OR + p(arking)). Scorpion is a type of tank, hence the question mark. | ||
| 6 | PLASMA | Type of set form of matter (6) |
| Seems to be DD, although I don’t quite see the set reference. | ||
| 7 | VENDETTA | Feud in Mediterranean capital has purpose for everyone (8) |
| Valletta (Capital of Malta) with all replaced by end. | ||
| 8 | VERSICLE | This may be sung in Latin during elaborate service (8) |
| L(atin) in service* | ||
| 11 | OBESE | Fat to be seared in part (5) |
| Hidden in tO BE SEarched | ||
| 15 | BANKRUPT | Before rugby training side is deficient (8) |
| Bank (as in a river bank) in front of RU PT | ||
| 16 | SHOWDOWN | Greeting in Cornwall leads to new confrontation (8) |
| How-do in SW + n(ew) | ||
| 17 | HALF LIFE | Semi-existence leads to period of decay (4-4) |
| DD (half life refers to the decay of radioactive particles) | ||
| 19 | WARDROOM | North-African chart put up in military quarters (8) |
| (Moor + draw)< | ||
| 20 | TONER | Fashion queen’s beauty product (5) |
| Ton + ER | ||
| 22 | SPOORS | Tracks wind left to right over sierra (6) |
| Spool with L becoming R over S(ierra) (phonetic alphabet for S) | ||
| 24 | BEASTS | King leaves woven baskets for animals (6) |
| (Bas[k]ets)* | ||
| 27 | OWNS | Has leaders of Oprah Winfrey Network sacked (4) |
| Initial letters of Oprah Winfrey Network Sacked | ||
| 28 | TOYS | Two eyes oddly required to see plays (4) |
| Odd letters of TwO eYeS | ||
*anagram
Took me ages to properly parse PLASMA. Set refers to a TV set, a type of which is plasma (not so much these days).
Thanks to Kairos and Neal.
This was quite simply one of the best puzzles I have ever solved. It was nicely challenging and great fun.
Many thanks to Kairos and to Neal.
An enjoyable puzzle just right for a Monday morning. It all came together smoothly although some thought was needed, particularly for AIRPORT and PLASMA.
One minor quibble, though: in 16dn ‘leads’ is needed for the surface, but as only the first letter of ‘new’ is used it should be ‘lead’.
Thanks, Kairos and NealH.
allan_c, Kairos uses ‘leads to’ here in the sense of ‘leading to’, ‘comes before’. And the N is just the abbreviation for ‘new’.
Many thanks to NealH & Kairos for producing this fine puzzle.
Quite a challenge for me but a great sense of satisfaction on completion – even though I did have to look up the Spanish manager!
Many thanks, Kairos, and thanks to Neal H for the review.
Good, entertaining puzzle.
I ticked the unusual ATTIC, BESEECH, AIRPORT, VENDETTA and SHOWDOWN.
Thanks Kairos and NealH.
My thanks to NealH for the review and to all for the kind comments.
Neal, you must be young. In the days before email, texting and all the even more modern things I barely understand, one would ‘drop someone a line’, meaning write them a letter. (23ac)