Thank you Julius.
Everything I could think of for the introduction turned into a spoiler: “a meaty puzzle”, “plenty to get your teeth into”, “food for thought”. I’ll get my coat…
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | BEEF CHEEKS | Meaty cut of Becks’ fee arrangement he pocketed (4,6) |
| anagram (arrangement) of BECK’S FEE contains HE | ||
| 6, 10 | DUCK SOUP | Skip first course on the menu in the Groucho Club? (4,4) |
| DUCK (skip) then SOUP (first course) – film by (Groucho) Marx brothers | ||
| 9 | SUCKING PIG | Taking in fluid, I’m given PG Tips one’s heated on a 22? (7,3) |
| SUCKING (taking in fluid) then I inside (given…tips, edges) PG | ||
| 10 | See 6 | |
| 12 | SKINNED ALIVE | Leaves kid drunk outside pub, getting torn off a strip (7,5) |
| anagram (drunk) of LEAVES KID containing (outside) INN (pub) | ||
| 15 | BACON RIND | 9’s skin product cured a conservative Republican in a difficult situation (5,4) |
| A CON (Conservative) R (republican) in BIND (a difficult situation) | ||
| 17 | B-LIST | Minor celebrities seen regularly in Bel Air street (1-4) |
| every other letter (seen regularly) of BeL aIr then ST (street) | ||
| 18 | NAOMI | Israeli leader to complain about Ruth’s mother-in-law (5) |
| Israeli (leading letter of) MOAN (to complain) all reversed (about) | ||
| 19 | STEEL CAGE | Secure accommodation of slippery individual caught in dramatic setting (5,4) |
| ELL (slippery individual) C (caught) inside STAGE (dramatic setting) | ||
| 20 | SECRET AGENTS | Spies PA leaving railway lavatory (6,6) |
| SECRETAry (PA) missing RY (railway) then GENTS (lavatory) | ||
| 24 | EMUS | Fox skinned birds (4) |
| bEMUSe (fox) missing outside letters (skinned) | ||
| 25 | FISH SUPPER | Fine sushi rolls quiet salesman sent back – it must have chips! (4,6) |
| anagram (rolls) of F (fine) SUSHI then P (quiet) and REP (salesman) reversed (sent back) | ||
| 26 | KISS | Peck travels down piste back to front (4) |
| SKIS (travels down piste) back letter to the front | ||
| 27 | CHESTERTON | Case repelling our French novelist (10) |
| CHEST (case) then NOTRE (our, French) reversed (repelling) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | BUSK | Sing for money in coach heading for Kettering (4) |
| BUS (coach) then Kettering (heading letter of) | ||
| 2 | ETCH | Eat out, vomit, throwing up starter in restaurant (4) |
| rETCH (vomit) missing Restaurant (starting letter of) | ||
| 3 | CHICKEN LIVER | Pâté ingredient taken from bird I have throttled with both hands (7,5) |
| CHICKEN (bird) then I’VE (I have) inside (throttled by) R and L (both hands) | ||
| 4 | EGG ON | Toast might have this to encourage (3,2) |
| double definition | ||
| 5 | KNIFE EDGE | One can cut through a tricky situation (5,4) |
| double definition | ||
| 7 | UNORIGINAL | Ruling a no.1 criminally plagiarised (10) |
| anagram (criminally) of RULING A NO I | ||
| 8 | KIPPER TIES | Fashion accessories to draw those who sleep around (6,4) |
| TIE (to draw) inside (with…around) KIPPERS (those who sleep) | ||
| 11 | LAMB’S LETTUCE | Leaves battle, muscle being torn (5,7) |
| anagram (being torn) of BATTLE MUSCLE | ||
| 13 | T-BONE STEAK | Take bets on Wilder getting the chop (1-4,5) |
| anagram (wilder) of TAKE BETS ON | ||
| 14 | ACE OF CLUBS | One in black suit? (3,2,5) |
| cryptic definition | ||
| 16 | IN SPANISH | Pep talks given thus, when at home? (2,7) |
| how Pep Guardiola (football manager) speaks when at home | ||
| 21 | ETHOS | Spirit shown by those putting English first (5) |
| THOSE with (E (English) first (moved to the start) | ||
| 22 | SPIT | Second mine that’s dug by spade? (4) |
| S (second) PIT (mine) | ||
| 23 | IRON | Club serving up Japanese seaweed (4) |
| NORI (Japanese seaweed) reversed (serving up) | ||
I’ve only heard reference to SUCKLING PIG. I guess SUCKING is a variant. I don’t get 26a. “Travels down piste” is “skis” and moving back to front gives SSKI.
Thanks to Julius and PeeDee.
Fab surfaces. Thanks Julius and Pee Dee
Hi Hovis, I had not heard of sucking pig either, but it is in the dictionary.
You are right about KISS, what I wrote in the blog doesn’t work. I think one would have to read the clue as KISS (peck) is something that when you move the back letter to the front you get SKIS. Julius gets away with it but probably not what he originally intended?
Hovis @1. You would have to regard “KIS” as the “back”. I must admit that I didn’t notice the problem while solving! Thanks Julius an PeeDee.
PeeDee @3 We crossed. I tried to get you off the hook!
PeeDee @3. You could well be right. John @4 – very inventive:) I like it even though it’s never going to be what Julius intended.
Whoops. Missed the space after inventive 🙂
Lovely puzzle as usual from Julius. My tiny quibble is that if the Pep in 16 down is Guardiola, he would be more likely to speak Catalan at home (I think). Thanks Peedee.
Highly enjoyable.
I began in the bottom right and started getting very worried because the first two clues I solved made me think this was going to be themed exactly the same way as the puzzle I’m currently working on, which is intended for the FT. As time went on and I realised that it wasn’t, I began to feel hungry for some reason.
Thanks PeeDee for the blog. I solved a number of the clues from the surfaces themselves without understanding the parsing e.g. 20a,24a,and 26a; 16d was a pure guess from the crossing letters as I hadn’t heard of Guardiola. As always, Julius provides an excellent crossword.
I liked “bird I have throttled with both hands”. also “one in black suit”, though I messed up my puzzle by trying to write in spades. I’m hoping that is because i had just filled in 22d.
Many thanks Julius and PeeDee
I laughed out loud when the penny dropped for ‘Pep talks'(my COD)
Thanks Julius and PeeDee
Did this last week but only got around to checking it off today. Entertaining puzzle across a couple of sittings and noticed the mostly carnivorous theme along the way.
Saw the anomaly with KISS / SKIS … and liked the John@4 interpretation. Missed the joke with the Man City coach and had just biffed in the correct answer. It was one of my last in, along with UNORIGINAL and DUCK SOUP (which I had to change from my original unparsed PORK CHOP).