1. Footballers’ kit: They take it off (4,5)
TEAM STRIP
6. Scare from dead end relative (5)
DAUNT
[dea]D (end) + AUNT (relative)
9. Second and third of September, heads West and sulks (5)
MOPES
MO (second) + (SEP[tember])< (third of, <heads west)
10. Retire and try finding shelter in exotic spot (2,2,5)
GO TO SLEEP
GO (try) + (LEE (shelter) in (SPOT)* (*exotic))
11. As a top GCSE requires reworking, they get the blame (10)
SCAPEGOATS
(AS A TOP GCSE)* (*requires reworking)
12. What cuts extremely arid zone (4)
ADZE
A[ri]D Z[on]E (extremely)
14. Rise of comedian (5-2)
STAND-UP
15. Quiet burden for piper? (7)
PLUMBER
P (quiet) + LUMBER (burden)
17. Sanitise lists held by church (7)
CLEANSE
LEANS (lists) held by CE (church)
19. Glam rockers, out of tune, feature on the coast (7)
MUDFLAT
MUD (glam rockers) + FLAT (out of tune)
20. Repeat, from the chorus (4)
ECHO
22. Soundly interpreted the woman’s call as a fallacy (3,7)
RED HERRING
“read” (interpreted, “soundly”) + HER (the woman’s) + RING (call)
25. Needing a wee in moribund African country (5,2,2)
DYING TO GO
DYING (moribund) + TOGO (African country)
26. Leaders to question underground rebel about new text (5)
QURAN
Q[uestion] U[nderground] R[ebel] A[bout] N[ew] (leaders)
27. Junior solver gets nothing on vacation (5)
YOUNG
YOU (solver) gets N[othin]G (on vacation)
28. Need to change about a dozen, squared and gripped (9)
ENGROSSED
(NEED)* (*to change) about GROSS (a dozen squared, 144)
1. Newspaper implicated in rising antisemitism (5)
TIMES
([anti]SEMIT[ism])< (in, <rising)
2. A free meal for strong man (5,4)
ALPHA MALE
ALPHA (a) + (MEAL)* (*free)
3. Delaying transmission about American chief of police (10)
SUSPENDING
SENDING (transmission) about (US (american) + P[olice] (chief of))
4. Roger turned up for rally (7)
REGROUP
5. Sounds like Brad’s the best for a mini break (3,4)
PIT STOP
“Pitt’s” (Brad’s, “sounds like”) + TOP (best)
6. Run for a bit (4)
DASH
7. Fitting from 15 says solver is flexible (1- 4)
U-BEND
“you bend” (solver is flexible, “says”)
15 being PLUMBER
8. Highly confidential with respect to organisation (3,6)
TOPSECRET
(RESPECT TO)* (*organisation)
13. Small amount of money for band exchange (4,3,3)
QUID PRO QUO
QUID (small amount of money) + PRO (for) + QUO (band, Status Quo)
14. Exhausted Conservative leader in dusky red pants (6,3)
SUCKED DRY
C[onservative] (leader) in (DUSKY RED)* (*pants)
16. Mr Bryson somehow raids game (9)
BILLIARDS
BILL (Mr Bryson) + (RAIDS)* (*somehow)
18. They say Velia spotted a blot on the landscape (7)
EYESORE
“I saw” (Velia spotted, “they say”)
19. Rising actor first to join opening night guessing game (7)
MAHJONG
(HAM)< (actor, <rising) + J[oin] O[pening] N[ight] G[uessing] (first to)
21. Half an inch at first, with this country rejected, for a mere poem (5)
HAIKU
H[alf] A[n] I[nch] (at first) with (UK)< (this country, <rejected)
23. Ball gown out west gets some publicity (5)
GONAD
GO[w]N (out W, west) gets AD (some publicity)
24. Past legend getting us excited (4)
AGOG
Thanks Velia and Teacow
Straightforward enough, but did have to work for a few of them. Had to look up and check for MUD (and their “Tiger Feet”, best left in the 70’s methinks !), found another hip hop group called QUO from the 1990’s and settled on them for 13d and hadn’t heard of the term SUCKED DRY to mean ‘exhausted’ before. Took a few minutes to parse RED HERRING after that went in. Smiled at GONAD.
Finished in the SW corner with MAHJONG and MUDFLAT the last two in.
Great Monday puzzle from Velia – a welcome write-in. Fun to see Mud and Quo make an appearance though “that’s neat, that’s neat” will be going around in my head all day now!
25a was my favourite today but ooh la la, 23d!
Thanks Velia and Teacow.
A fitting puzzle for the beginning of the week, with some very elegant surfaces. I’m sure we all enjoyed the naughtiness of 23d GONAD. Thanks to Velia and Teacow.
A nice accompaniment to Velia’s “other half” Matilda in the Guardian today. I found this a bit gentler with not too many hold-ups, though MUD must have passed me by in the 60’s and 70’s – I don’t know that I’m too much the poorer culturally as a result! I liked GONAD but thought that the best (and hardest) was left till last with AGOG.
Thanks to Velia and Teacow
In 22d the def is ‘a mere poem’, I think.
Since nobody else has mentioned it, the clue to 21d is written as a haiku just to add to the cleverness.
I did finish this puzzle without help, but there were a couple of answers I had to take on faith until I read Teacow’s explanations. (Pants as an anagrind? Legend for G?)
After seeing a J, Q, and Z, I was looking for a pangram, but it appears to be short V and X.
Hovis@6: Thanks for pointing this out; I had indeed missed it. Beautiful!
EdK@USA@7: Pants is, I think, UK slang for “rubbish”, and thus works as anagrind. Legend is G when read as “Leg end”.
Thanks Velia and Teacow.
Very enjoyable overall with many good surfaces; my favourites were RED HERRING and ALPHA MALE; I will add HAIKU to that list after reading Hovis @6 — thanks for that and thanks to Velia and Teacow.
Why is mud glam rockers?
Geoff @ 10
Mud were a 70s UK glam rock band
Thanks to Velia or the puzzle (which for me was perfect for last thing at night), Teacow for the blog and Hovis for pointing out what has gone completely over my head but which adds immensely to the pleasure now I know it’s there! I initially thought 19 was incorrect because I imagined that the glam-rock band had an extra D – but of course that’s another Mudd altogether.