Just right for a Monday.
An enjoyable puzzle to start off the week from Falcon. Nothing too tricky, with a good mix of clues and some great surfaces. Thanks Falcon!
Across
1 Novel written by a female makes a bundle (5)
SHEAF
SHE (novel) written by A + F (female)
4 More or less impartial, all over (4,5)
JUST ABOUT
JUST (impartial) + ABOUT (all over)
9 Fury abroad about holding silver (7)
OUTRAGE
OUT (abroad) + RE (about) holding AG (silver)
10 Toddler enthralled by stories? That’s an understatement (7)
LITOTES
TOT (toddler) enthralled by LIES (stories)
11 Playing at one four, must lose enthusiasm (3,3,2,5)
RUN OUT OF STEAM
(AT ONE FOUR MUST)* (*playing)
14 Work with a student in stone (4)
OPAL
OP (work) with A + L (student, learner)
15 I’m impressed by astonishingly slicker humorous verses (9)
LIMERICKS
I’M impressed by (SLICKER)* (*astonishingly)
18 Newscaster can run one in resort (9)
ANNOUNCER
(CAN RUN ONE)* (*in resort)
19 Clever suggestion saving time (4)
CUTE
CUE (suggestion) saving T (time)
21 Keep the man here just now (3,3,7)
FOR THE PRESENT
FORT (keep) + HE (the man) + PRESENT (here)
24 Lots met up excitedly, indefinite number after end of parade (7)
UMPTEEN
(MET UP)* (*excitedly) + N (indefinite number) after [parad]E (end of)
26 Outside broadcast – do watch (7)
OBSERVE
OB (outside broadcast) + SERVE (do)
27 Such a forecast may involve one’s own house (9)
HOROSCOPE
Cryptic definition
In astrology, a house is a zodiac sign
28 Exemplary Medical Officer was first to be retired (5)
MODEL
MO (Medical Oficer) + LED< (was first, <to be retired)
Down
1 Indicate pig swallowing hard (4)
SHOW
SOW (pig) swallowing H (hard)
2 Performer to board train travelling across Spain (11)
ENTERTAINER
ENTER (to board) (TRAIN)* (*travelling) across E (Spain, España)
3 Display French article in apartment (6)
FLAUNT
UN (French article) in FLAT (apartment)
4 The common man, widely known to support Orton? (3,6)
JOE PUBLIC
PUBLIC (widely known) to support JOE (Orton)
5 Burst of gunfire from five entering Laos illegally (5)
SALVO
V (five) entering (LAOS)* (*illegally)
6 Stair repaired with effort and creative skill (8)
ARTISTRY
(STAIR)* (*repaired) with TRY (effort)
7 Choose from top ten (3)
OPT
[t]OP T[en] (from)
8 Makes tarts nervously for slave-driver (10)
TASKMASTER
(MAKES TARTS)* (*nervously)
12 Met in bar in dire need (11)
ENCOUNTERED
COUNTER (bar) in (NEED)* (*dire)
13 Impressive having lots of money in hand (5,5)
ROYAL FLUSH
ROYAL (impressive) + FLUSH (having lots of money)
16 Signalling system used in Spooner’s unrefined manner (5,4)
MORSE CODE
Spoonerism of COARSE MODE (unrefined manner)
17 Heard-hearted girl on extremely large steamship (8)
RUTHLESS
RUTH (girl) on L[arg]E (extremely) + SS (steamship)
20 Discarded stuff from planes in the morning (6)
JETSAM
JETS (planes) + A.M. (in the morning)
22 Fun for kids in Japan (Tokyo) (5)
PANTO
[Ja]PAN TO[kyo] (in)
23 Fortunate indeed (4)
WELL
Double definition
25 Standard box, not small (3)
PAR
[s]PAR (box, not S (small))
Very straighforward. LOI was 17d as I could not understand the meaning of ‘heard-hearted’. I suspect it is a typo for ”hard-hearted’ or am I missing something?
Steven @2 Me too and I think it was a typo.
Thanks Falcon and Teacow
On the surface this looked all pretty straightforward, but a number of the clues did have quite a bit of depth to them, especially the cryptic definition at 27a and the piecing together of JOE PUBLIC.
Entered a not fully parsed EXTREMADURA in at 2d initially which caused a bit of rework.
Finished with RUTHLESS as well for the same reasons as Steven and john above
Thanks to Falcon and Teacow. LITOTES was new to me. Got it through parsing but had to check a dictionary to be sure.