A few technical problems today!
An enjoyable solve. 10a was new to me. 15d and 3d were favourites.
Thanks VELIA!
ACROSS
1 A little pressure from speaker; a bill immediately rejected (8)
MILLIBAR
([speake]R A BILL IM[mediately])< (from, <rejected)
6 Representation of extremely scruffy, male throwback (6)
SYMBOL
S[cruff]Y (extremely) + M (male) + (LOB)< (throw, <back)
9 Orders forecasts to remove spin (6)
EDICTS
[pr]EDICTS (forecasts, to remove PR (spin))
10 Odd meals cooked in Mediterranean dish (8)
DOLMADES
(ODD MEALS)* (*cooked)
11, 22 Cut the cost of fine material? (8)
LACERATE
Double (cryptic) definition
12 Brit regularly vows to return with poetry showing life’s rich tapestry (10)
BIODIVERSE
B[r]I[t] (regularly) + (I DO)< (vows, <to return) with VERSE (poetry)
14 Getting a drink before the judge? (2,3,3)
AT THE BAR
Double definition
16 See 18
18, 16 Affectionate expressions for Spooner’s lice? (8)
BEAR HUGS
“hair bugs” (lice, Spoonerism)
19 Arouse with no time to reproduce (8)
SIMULATE
S[t]IMULATE (arouse, with no T (time))
21 Imagines wild nights after appropriate broadcast (4,6)
SEES THINGS
(NIGHTS)* (*wild) after “seize” (appropriate, “broadcast”)
22 See 11
24 Explain those against, concordant with the facts (8)
CONSTRUE
CONS (those against) + TRUE (concordant with the facts)
26 Bother editing Tatler (6)
RATTLE
(TATLER)* (*editing)
27 Can’t live without the French pointer (6)
NEEDLE
NEED (can’t live without) + LE (the, in French)
28 Wobbly seat ceased to be under control (8)
STEADIED
(SEAT)* (*wobbly) + DIED (ceased to be)
DOWN
2 Juliet’s following this country (5)
INDIA
Double (cryptic) definition
In the NATO Phonetic Alphabet, Juliet follows India.
3 Holder conks out having fought (6,5)
LOCKED HORNS
(HOLDER CONKS)* (*out)
4 Adorable creature like George or Kate once (4,4)
BUSH BABY
Double (cryptic) definition
George Bush, Kate Bush
5 Responders irate about those who broadcast (5,10)
RADIO PRESENTERS
(RESPONDERS IRATE)* (*about)
6 Small mythical creature that’s in photo (6)
SELFIE
S (small) + ELF (mythical creature) + IE (that’s)
7 Heads of management brag about professional milestone (1,1,1)
MBA
M[anagement] B[rag] A[bout] (heads of)
8 Give short-tempered supervision (9)
OVERSIGHT
(GIVE SHORT)* (*tempered)
13 So thrilled with old flame, Hilary cut short new date (11)
EXHILARATED
EX (old flame) + HILAR[y] (cut short) + (DATE)* (*new)
15 So three, may be four say? (9)
THEREFORE
(THREE)* (*may be) + “four” (“say”)
17 Kiss the head of Mary disrupting Easter’s festive offering (4,4)
XMAS TREE
X (kiss) + M[ary] (head of) + (EASTER)* (*disrupting)
20 Envelopes of cash after game payment (6)
CHARGE
C[as]H A[fte]R G[am]E (envelopes of)
23 Material from chapel Lutheran set up (5)
TULLE
([chap]EL LUT[heran])< (from, <set up)
25 He left shade down (3)
SAD
S[h]AD[e] (HE left)
Thanks to Velia and Teacow. Lots of fun. I was slow getting SELFIE, SEES THINGS, and LOCKED HORNS.
Yes, nice one for Monday, Velia. Thanks to you and teacow, with the usual growl at ISPs.
Great crossword. Used an anagram solver to get DOLMADES (unknown word for me) and then finished off with SELFIE which I should have seen somewhat earlier. For a Monday, both this and today’s FT proved a lot better than I normally expect. Thanks all.
Another fine puzzle from Velia.
Not very demanding, in my opinion, but elegantly clued.
I think 4d (BUSH BABY) was my favourite today.
My only real objection is ‘vows’ for I DO (in 12ac). Seems to me just one ‘vow’.
And while 15d (THEREFORE) is a nice clue, I think ‘may be’ as an anagram indicator in its position here (behind the fodder) isn’t great.
For me, ‘maybe’ would be much better and wouldn’t spoil the surface if a comma were added between ‘four’ and ‘say’.
Many thanks to Teacow & Velia.
Quite challenging in places and we resorted to an anagram solver for 10ac and 3dn, after which things fell into place more easily once we ralised that 6ac wasn’t an anagram.
We liked MILLIBAR, BIODIVERSE and CONSTRUE.
Thanks, Velia and Teacow.
Thanks Velia and Teacow
Found this quite challenging for a Monday, taking quite some time longer than normal to finish.
Lots of interesting devices and didn’t spot the reversed hidden at 1a – creating a much more complex charade that didn’t quite work.
Had the Spoonerism around the other way initially – BED HUGS (affectionate expressions) to give HEAD BUGS as the answer :). And did look up the mysterious PELLU material at 25d until TULLE was recognised as a more familiar one. (No wonder it took so long to do!!)
Finished with the clever SELFIE after having to use aids to get DOLMADES.
Great start to the week …
A DNF for me because George Best and Kate Best are both well-known people and best baby fits the definition as well as bush baby.
Thanks Velia and Teacow for the fun.