1. Chaotic argument nobody needed to settle? (4-3-3)
FREE-FOR-ALL
7. Sobbed as first of wound’s evil pus trickled (4)
WEPT
W[ounds] E[vil] P[us] T[rickled] (first of)
9. Bet against being heard (4)
ANTE
“anti” (against, “being heard”)
10. High flyers review model exam during mocks (3-7)
JET-SETTERS
(T (model) + TEST (exam))< (<review) during JEERS (mocks)
11. American writer initially tried one chapter in verse (6)
POETIC
POE (American writer) + T[ried] (initially) + I (one) + C (chapter)
12. Those voting against point haven’t a get-out (2,6)
NO ESCAPE
NOES (those voting against) + CAPE (point)
13. Terrible colic after Rob’s pickled vegetable! (8)
BROCCOLI
(COLIC)* (*terrible) after (ROB)* (*pickled)
15. Thought island endlessly expensive (4)
IDEA
I (island) + DEA[r] (expensive, endlessly)
17. Times report causes confusion (4)
DAZE
19. Depressed following act’s decline (4,4)
TURN DOWN
DOWN (depressed) following TURN (act)
22. Calm vice-president’s securing recall of current reservists (8)
PATIENCE
PENCE (vice-president) securing (I (current) + TA (reservists))< (<recall)
23. Beheading meme by jerk is vomit- inducing (6)
EMETIC
[m]EME (beheading) by TIC (jerk)
25. Question article’s peripheral knowledge on world seismic event (10)
EARTHQUAKE
(QU (question) + A (article) + K[nowledg]E (peripheral)) on EARTH (world)
26. Interested in painting some of spectacular Tyrol (4)
ARTY
[spectacul]AR TY[rol] (some of)
27. Good woman always gives support (4)
STAY
ST (good woman) + AY (always)
28. Teaches English nervously at first then becomes less serious (10)
ENLIGHTENS
E (English) + N[ervously] (at first) then LIGHTENS (becomes less serious)
2. Competed with bravery, no time for bitterness . . . . (7)
RANCOUR
RAN (competed) with COUR[age] (bravery, no AGE (time))
3. . . . . and quits over final defeat in tournament (5)
EVENT
EVEN (quits) over [defea]T (final)
4. One protesting judge is involved in October revolution (8)
OBJECTOR
J (judge) is involved in (OCTOBER)* (*revolution)
5. Bad outcome as a second can with spirit gets teetotal man in trouble (1,5,2,3,4)
A STING IN THE TAIL
A + S (second) + TIN (can) with GIN (spirit) gets (HE (man) in TT (teetotal)) + AIL (trouble)
6. Made sheep’s eyes bloodshot after emptying out lice drug (6)
LEERED
RED (bloodshot) after (L[ic]E (emptying out) + E (drug))
7. Pregnant, which is surprising taking in time left inside out of sight (4,5)
WITH CHILD
(WHICH)* (*surprising) taking in T (time) + (L (left) inside HID (out of sight))
8. Kipper cooked with egg stuffing is Melton Mowbray’s claim to fame (4,3)
PORK PIE
(KIPPER)* (*cooked) with O (egg) stuffing
14. Revolutionary film on line shows special connection between people (9)
CHEMISTRY
CHE (revolutionary) + MIST (film) on RY (line)
16. Repair fridge and put in, say, something for breakfast (5,3)
FRIED EGG
(FRIDGE)* (*repair) and put in EG (say)
18. Determined now to get Mum set up with social worker (7)
ADAMANT
AD (now) to get (MA (mum))< (<set up) with ANT (social worker)
20. Penned injured tit seized by another small bird (7)
WRITTEN
(TIT)* (*injured) seized by WREN (another small bird)
21. Small university in France that is like no other (6)
UNIQUE
UNI (small university) + QUE (that, in France)
24. Praise former gangster starting to testify (5)
EXALT
EX (former) + AL (gangster, Capone) +T[estify] (starting to)
Shame 7d doesn’t work. The parsing gives one too many H’s.
Hovis@1 – Yes, forgot to mention that. I couldn’t see how else it was supposed to work.
Nor me. Could have added a “without hospital” and kept the surface working.
Pangram and pork pies! This Midlander found much to like in today’s grid.
Thanks to Zamorca and Teacow.
Thanks to Zamorca and Teacow. Lots of fun. I did parse PORK PIE, but did not know the connection to Melton Mowbray, but not RANCOUR, and the phrase STING IN THE TAIL was new to me.
Thanks Zamorca for the fun. Liked RANCOUR, WRITTEN, and EXALT among others. 5d was a new phrase for me. Thanks Teacow for the write-up.
Thanks Zamorca and Teacow
A typically straightforward Monday morning puzzle with nothing overtaxing in the solve. Didn’t spot the overpopulation of H’s in 7d and although my pangram antennae went up after seeing Q, Z, X and J, forgot to check post solve.
Finished appropriately with A STING IIN THE TAIL which did take the longest to see and parse even knowing the term.
All done and dusted quite quickly, though we didn’t time ourselves. We missed the faulty parsing of 7dn; in fact once we saw the answer we didn’t bother to parse it. But we did check for a pangram.
Thanks, Zamorca and Teacow/
Not seen RY before – have to bank that one!