The puzzle can be found here.
Hi everyone. I hope you are well. Thanks to Alchemi for this puzzle to brighten up our Saturday. I found it more like a Sunday puzzle in difficulty, but didn’t mind. There’s no danger of me getting my days muddled as I’m still working, albeit from home (and very glad of the long weekend, which I will of course also be spending at home). A couple of unknowns to check at the end to keep things educational. Home learning is not just for kids!
Definitions are underlined in the clues below. In the explanations, quoted indicators are in italics and I’ve capitalised and emboldened letters which appear in the ANSWER.
Across
1a Cocktail skier (8)
HIGHBALL
A skier is a type of shot: a HIGH BALL
5a Runner takes break very fast (6)
PRESTO
The runner is something which runs, the river PO, and it contains (takes) REST (break)
10a Different temperature for Henry’s swimmer (5)
OTTER
OT[h]ER (different) with T (temperature) inserted in place of (for) H (Henry)
11a Dish‘s American publicity impresses mothers (5,4)
MUSHY PEAS
US (American) plus HYPE (publicity) goes inside (impresses) MAS (mothers)
12a Being old not right in secret organisation (9)
EXISTENCE
EX (old) then, without R (not right), an anagram (organisation) of IN SEC[r]ET
13a House god reaching very advanced stage of development (5)
LARVA
LAR (house god) followed by V (very) + A (advanced). A new god for me
14a Any gravitons regularly missing trees? (6)
NGAIOS
Alternate letters removed from (… regularly missing) aNy GrAvItOnS
15a Shoot a number with the Italian doctor first (7)
TENDRIL
TEN (a number) with IL (the, Italian), and DR (doctor) before that (first)
18a Witch with book in purse (7)
HANDBAG
HAG (witch), having AND (with) and B (book) inside (in)
20a Opportunity to see government minister roll back out (6)
CHANCE
CHANCE[llor] (government minister) with the reversal of (… back) ROLL removed (out)
22a Dish ordered so it comes with recipe (5)
ROSTI
An anagram of (ordered) SO IT next to (with) R (recipe)
24a Electric guitar ultimately has key objective of getting louder (9)
CRESCENDO
The last letters of (… ultimately) electriC and guitaR + ESC (key) + END (objective) + O (of, o’)
25a Wild dingos, some short of round bits (9)
SMIDGEONS
An anagram of (wild) DINGOS S[o]ME without (short of) O (round)
26a Spreadsheet is superb, though not before Easter (5)
EXCEL
EXCEL[lent] (superb) though not LENT (before Easter)
27a Help musician losing her head (6)
ASSIST
bASSIST (musician) without the first letter (losing her head)
28a One exchanging with beer supplier leaving northern Germany for western Romania (8)
BARTERER
BARTE[nd]ER (beer supplier), leaving N (northern) and D (Germany) for the western letter of Romania
Down
1d The naked groom breaks nose (6)
HOOTER
THE plus gROOm without its outer letters (naked …) is anagrammed (breaks)
2d Old boarding (7,2)
GETTING ON
A double definition
3d Poet saving this game has cut himself off (5,3,7)
BURNT HIS BRIDGES
BURNS (poet) containing (saving) THIS (from the clue) and BRIDGE (game)
4d Halt notes oddly for sad songs (7)
LAMENTS
LAME (halt) + the odd letters of (… oddly) NoTeS. Halt meaning lame was new to me, but Chambers tells me it is Biblical and archaic so I don’t feel too stupid (no more than usual anyway!)
6d Golf club trashed in anecdotal yarn (5,3,7)
ROYAL AND ANCIENT
An anagram of (trashed) IN ANECDOTAL YARN
7d Weapon which would be redundant with point moved to the end (5)
SPEAR
With a compass point (E) moved to the end, this would be SPARE (redundant). I wondered for a bit too long why PEARS might be redundant … d’oh!
8d Stole cab around blockage (8)
OBSTACLE
STOLE CAB anagrammed (around)
9d A lock-up, say (6)
ASSERT
A (from the clue) + TRESS (lock) reversed (up)
16d Hear Charles possibly perform around Arkansas with Mercedes? (6,3)
RACING CAR
In this context we hear RA as RAY (Charles possibly) and CING as SING (perform). We then have C (around) and AR (Arkansas)
17d Impressive quality as I march around (8)
CHARISMA
AS I MARCH anagrammed (around)
19d Lizards, for instance, put up with potassium-laced lettuce (6)
GECKOS
EG (for instance) written upwards in the grid (put up), with COS (lettuce) containing, or laced with, K (potassium)
20d Wingers for Cowdenbeath – alternatively a London club (7)
CHELSEA
The outside letters of (wingers for) CowdenbeatH + ELSE (alternatively) + A (from the clue)
21d British flyer let me see hat (6)
BOWLER
B (British) + OWL (flyer) + ER (let me see)
23d Fielders‘ mistakes (5)
SLIPS
A double definition
This all flowed quite smoothly from 5A, but I only completed the NW corner late on as, though guessing Highball, I couldn’t parse it. Racing Car neither – I didn’t think of Ray Charles but should have done. Thanks Alchemi and Kitty for the fun and photos!
I got nicely misled by the secret organisation and Mr. Charles but fortunately remembered the trees from a previous puzzle – not sure whether it was one of Alchemi’s?
My favourite was the ‘lock-up’ in 9a.
Thanks to Alchemi and to Miss Kitty for the review – I can only imagine that the owner of the obstacle course was stood on the other side of it shaking a packet of Dreamies!
Great crossword. Great blog. Can’t ask for much more.
Hope not too many paper cups were harmed in the making of the video. Cats are so funny though I don’t think they know it.
Didn’t know “skier” as a shot – presumably a sky-er as it were. Didn’t know Lar either or that “halt” could mean “lame” (or vice versa).
What an enjoyable puzzle and what a what an enjoyable review. Mostly nice brief cluing with all Alchemi’s usual deviousness were on display with the difficulty ranging from straightforward to challenging.
Silly me – I knew LARES as house gods, but it took a while to think LAR might be the word for just one! Like Kitty, I didn’t know HALT = LAME.
RACING CAR was my favourite.
Many thanks to Alchemi and to Kitty.
Thank you for this. 18A I was wondering how “a NDB” ( National Dictionary of Biography) fitted. “And” is so obvious when you know. Also got Bridges and Burns mixed for a while.
Yes a shame that Bridges is also a poet but glad iIcame here for the feline extras.
Thanks Kitty for such an entertaining blog. I also got side-tracked by the redundant pears. Thanks also to Alchemi.
Many thanks, Kitty and Alchemi. In 15A, I parsed IL as “the” in Italian, rather than “with” as suggested in the blog. LAR (house god) and LAME (halt) were new to me.
Oops, yes, missed a “the, ” from inside the brackets – will add that in now. Thanks Michael.
We solved it all but there were several we couldn’t parse, possibly because we didn’t read the clues carefully enough after getting the answers from definition and crossing letters.
We’re not sure that a handbag is the same as a purse, but a purse – or should that be purrs – will fit in a handbag.
Thanks, Alchemi and Kitty.
forgot about that kind of skier. Enjoyed 1d, we’ve all done it. like others had to check the god and the halt but all very fairly clued. quite liked BOWLER as well
Many thanks kitty and Alchemi
In the US, handbags are often called purses.
Thanks everyone. I didn’t realise “halt” was archaic, but that just proves I’ve read too many 19th century novels.
I liked the skier/one that boots into the sky misdirection at 1a, but didn’t understand the surface and wondered if Skier’s cocktail would have made more sense. Perhaps I’m missing something.
Great fun, particularly liked MUSHY PEAS.
@14Nila Palin and others, “skier” refers to a ball skied by a batsman in cricket.
Thanks to Alchemi and Kitty (funny attachment).
Gwep, you’ve misread my post.