Thanks to Beale, who returns after a long absence of over 3 years. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1 Accessories worn with kind of shirt — striking on first sight (9)
TRAPPINGS : T(short for “T-shirt”) + RAPPING(striking a hard surface with repeated blows) plus(on) 1st letter of(first) “sight“.
6 The whole team made the cut (4)
CREW : Double defn: 1st: …, say, in a rowing boat; 2nd: …, as a hairstyle.
10 Create film music from scratch (5)
SCORE : Double defn.
11 Specialist used it with chancel refurbishment (9)
TECHNICAL : Anagram of(… refurbishment) [IT plus(with) CHANCEL].
12 Grease spilt over cheese cloth (7)
TAFFETA : Reversal of(… spilt over) FAT(grease/animal fat used or produced in cooking) + FETA(a white salty Greek cheese).
13 By and large this garment’s unfinished (7)
OVERALL : “overalls”(loose-fitting one-piece garment) minus its last letter(…’s unfinished).
14 Be passionate about teacher’s initial suggestion for sacrifice (5,8)
BURNT OFFERING : BURN(to be passionate about/be possessed by strong emotion) + 1st letter of(…’s initial) “teacher” + OFFERING(a suggestion that is put forward, during a discussion, say).
Defn: Something, often an animal, burnt at an altar as a sacrifice to a deity… or…..
17 Dairy product church head decrees is off (7,6)
CHEDDAR CHEESE : CH(abbrev. for “church”) + anagram of(… is off) HEAD DECREES.
21 Wary of motoring organisation backing fuel modification (7)
CAREFUL : Reversal of(… backing) RAC(abbrev. for the Royal Automobile Club) + anagram of(… modification) FUEL.
22 Lead singer rehearses The Sound of Music (7)
STRAINS : 1st letter of(Lead) “singer” + TRAINS(rehearses/practises).
24 Hippy gear? (9)
LOINCLOTH : Cryptic defn: Gear/clothing hung from the hips covering, obviously, the loins.
25 Send back a large piece of lightweight material (5)
BALSA : Reversal of(Send back) [A + SLAB(a large piece of flat rigid material)].
Defn: …/wood from a type of tree, used for making rafts and models.
26 Is it the fashion to get very cross? (4)
RAGE : Double defn.
27 Design of poster etc is hush-hush (3,6)
TOP SECRET : Anagram of(Design of) POSTER ETC.
Down
1 Experimental equipment for examination underground (4,4)
TEST TUBE : TEST(an examination) + TUBE(name of the London underground train system).
2 Unfriendly, when a clown shows up (5)
ALOOF : A + reversal of(… shows up, in a down clue) FOOL(a clown).
3 Finding gift that’s absolutely right makes one tense (7,7)
PRESENT PERFECT : PRESENT(a gift/an offering) + PERFECT(absolutely right/could not be better).
Defn: …, in grammar.
4 Freshly made hot flan gets an enthusiastic response (3,4)
NOT HALF : Anagram of(Freshly made) HOT FLAN.
Defn: A response expressing full enthusiasm for/agreement to. An understatement of “Totally!”/”Absolutely!”
5 What’s used to sweeten pudding courses when processed (7)
SUCROSE : Anagram of(… when processed) COURSES.
Defn: The main component of cane or beet sugar.
7 Shape emerges from half-hidden recess leading to confusion (9)
RECTANGLE : “recess” minus its last 3 letters(half-hidden …) plus(leading to) TANGLE(confusion/muddle).
8 Showing no restraint, boy grabs daughter (6)
WILDLY : WILLY(a boy’s name) containing(grabs) D(abbrev. for “daughter”).
9 Hard to make out behind replica designed by European (14)
INDECIPHERABLE : Anagram of(… designed) BEHIND REPLICA plus(by) E(abbrev. for “European”).
15 Tape of call capturing point at which company doctor returned (9)
RECORDING : RING(call on the telephone) containing(capturing) [E(abbrev. for “east”, a compass point) plus(at which) CO(abbrev. for “company”, a commercial firm) + reversal of(… returned) DR(abbrev. for “Doctor”)].
16 Fresh direction with actors producing programme (8)
NEWSCAST : NEW(fresh/recent) + S(abbrev. for “south”, the direction opposite to “north”) plus(with) CAST(a group of actors in a play or film).
Defn: … over the radio or television.
18 Distribute loot due by arrangement (4,3)
DOLE OUT : Anagram of(… by arrangement) LOOT DUE.
19 Fruit grew to be fashionable (7)
ROSEHIP : ROSE(grew vertically, as with a plant or swell, as with dough containing yeast) + HIP(to be fashionable/trendy).
20 Skip start of funny visual (6)
OCULAR : 1st letter deleted from(Skip start of) “jocular”(funny/joking).
23 Less occupied with identity, Lear loses Cordelia, finally (5)
IDLER : ID(abbrev. for “identity”) + “Lear” minus(loses) last letter of(…, finally) “Cordelia“.
And of course, Cordelia was a daughter of Shakespeare’s King Lear.
I enjoyed this: just the right monday-morning mixture of gettable and head-scratching. I particularly liked 20d and 23d – and LOINCLOTH made me grin. Thanks to Scchua for help with completing the parsing to TRAPPINGS, thanks to Beale for the fun
With offerings like this, I’d be pleased to see Beale more often. Very much enjoyed LOINCLOTH, IDLER and TAFFETA
Wonder if DOLE OUT could be shortened to a little &lit clue. It’s probably been done before, but I think ‘Distribute loot due’ on its own would be fair, no?
We loved it, Thanks Beale and Scchua.
I approached this with uncertainty on seeing a new (to me) name in the setter’s slot and became concerned when only three of the across answers went in on the first pass, but then the pieces began to fall into place, and soon I had it all solved and parsed with no need to look anything up, a good Quiptic experience. There were a few nits to pick, such as the hanging “at which” in 15d, but the clues were fair and clear enough to point to the answers, and several deserve praise, including SCORE, STRAIN, and OCULAR.
Thanks and a hearty welcome, or welcome back, to Beale, whom I look forward to seeing again. Thanks also to scchua for the blog.
Enjoyable and a very well honed level of difficulty for the Quiptic slot. Unlike others I’m not so keen on LOINCLOTH, mainly because I don’t believe that without checked letters you can read the clue, land upon the answer and write it in with confidence that it is correct. But overall, a lovely puzzle, thanks all.
Like DNC @4, I found this went a bit slowly at first for a Quiptic, but that might be just not being used to the setter’s style.
I quite liked LOINCLOTH once I got it, but, yes, one needed crossers as is often the case with cds. I also appreciated the ‘one tense.’ I didn’t, of course, like ‘first sight’ and ‘Lead singer’ to give S, although this is allowed in the Guardian despite being, I think, grammatically incorrect.
Thanks Beale and scchua.
I agree with Robi – Lead singer = s gained a cross from this ex-teacher. Design and designed as two anagrinds? But a good and fair Quiptic.
Most enjoyable! (I did it quite quickly -for me – this morning but have only been able ro post at the blog.) Thank you Beale and sschua!
A bit tough for a Quiptic, I thought. But fair and well clued, and an enjoyable solve.
Got stuck on 2D because I could think of every word but FOOL – mime, harlequin, joker, jester…
Not many Britishisms this time! Overall, they were words or phrases I knew but weren’t prominently in my lexicon:
1D Tube=Underground. As well known as ‘subway’ or ‘metro’, but not my immediate thought. I also got stuck thinking I was looking for a synonym for ‘equipment’ and attempted TEST CASE and TEST SITE before I got it.
4D I’ve definitely heard the phrase “not half bad”, but am not sure how much I’ve heard the abbreviated form. I knew I was looking for an anagram of ‘hot flan’, but couldn’t get anything reasonable to form. Ended up being my last or penultimate answer.
I don’t think this is a Britishism, but while I puzzled out the answer for 22A, I found myself confused how STRAINS = ‘The Sound of Music’. Thankfully, the dictionary was reasonable this time, describing it as “chiefly literary”. I know I’ve read sentences like “The strains of conversation wafted up the stairs” or suchlike. Much better than last week, when it tried to tell me words like ‘moo-cow’ or ‘gee-gee’ were slang!
15D was my favorite, though that was due to how much cryptic lingo/grammar I recognized. A clue this complex would’ve baffled me just a few months ago, so I’m pleased how simple I found it to puzzle out this time around.
Words:
Characters:
Great crossword and blog. Thanks, both, very much. Ocular took me for ever! A number of other very good and satisfying moments.
Anyone remember not half, pop pickers?