Hamilton’s distinctive style is often commented on as being a bit cavalier with “the rules”. Despite the odd questionable surface, I very much enjoyed this puzzle.
There were a few write-ins but that’s to be expected on a Monday. Overall a good variety of clues which kept me on my toes. I always admire a long anagram, such as 10/14, I loved 19a and thought 14a and 21d clever.
Many thanks to Hamilton!
1. Committee considering war transport? (5,4)
THINK TANK
6. Special youngster gets in first, ready for wash (5)
SCRUB
S (special) + CUB (youngster) gets in R[eady] (first)
9. Assume Don’s present (3,2)
PUT IN
10, 14 down. A cabaret star hoping to recreate Italian speciality (9,9)
SPAGHETTI CARBONARA
(A CABARET STAR HOPING)* (*to recreate)
11. Row to Rio with care when transporting Greta Thunberg (3-7)
ECO-WARRIOR
(ROW + RIO + CARE) *(transporting)
12. Contemptible sort will argue back to Mark (4)
WORM
ROW< (argue, <back) to M (mark)
14. Compelled company to turn back truncated order (7)
COERCED
CO (company) + DECRE[e]< (order, truncated, <to turn back)
15. Run to minder getting the last drink in (7)
SKITTER
SITTER (minder) getting [drin]K (the last) in
17. Turned to books held in high esteem (7)
ROTATED
OT (books, Old Testament) held in RATED (high esteem)
19. Parker’s alias? (3,4)
PEN NAME
20. Expel in furious temper (4)
OUST
22. State of royal ownership (10)
QUEENSLAND
QUEEN’S LAND (owned by royal)
25. Capable flight attendant passed for take-off (9)
AIRWORTHY
26. Pensioner that’s held by Tommy (5)
OLDIE
[s]OLDIE[r] (held by Tommy)
27. A doctor on the French promenade (5)
AMBLE
A MB (a doctor) on LE (the, French)
28. Parent-led revolt against near neighbour (3,6)
RED PLANET
1. Supporter finds gym in rudimentary building (5)
TEPEE
TEE (supporter) finds PE (gym) in
2. Solitary man rising and following in time (9)
INTROVERT
TREVOR< (man, rising) and following IN T (time)
3. Working at Nick’s, say, in Midwest location (6,4)
KANSAS CITY
(AT NICK’S SAY)* (*working)
4. Certain of a boat on the River Dee (7)
ASSURED
A SS (a boat) on the URE (river) + D (‘dee’)
5. Monarch’s careless with wayward son’s noisy apparatus (7)
KLAXONS
K (monarch’s) + LAX (careless) with (SON)* (*wayward)
6. Openings in Somerset House and in W1 (4)
SOHO
SO[merset] HO[use] (openings)
7. Some leisure trousers made to look dated (5)
RETRO
[leisu]RE TRO[users] (some)
8. Graduate, popular girl, gets slow cooker (4-5)
BAIN-MARIE
BA (graduate) + IN (popular) + MARIE (girl)
13. Somewhere to sit is optional, so be prepared (5,5)
PIANO STOOL
(OPTIONAL SO)* (*prepared)
14. See 10
16. Broken gate leads to forest and al fresco cafe (3,6)
TEA GARDEN
(GATE)* (*broken) leads to ARDEN (forest)
18. Thomas the activist taking on universal comms company (7)
DOUBTER
DOER (activist) taking on U (universal) + BT (comms company)
19. Maybe Cherry is seen to be drunk (3-4)
PIE-EYED
PIE (maybe cherry?) + EYED (seen)
21. Plant temperature changes in 6 across (5)
SHRUB
SCRUB (6 across) with C (cold) changing to H (hot)
23. First dinky little townhouse wherein we lived (5)
DWELT
D[inky] + L[ittle] T[ownhouse] (first) wherein WE
24. Bound to be pole dancing (4)
LOPE
I think your opening paragraph sums things up nicely. I stopped doing his puzzles for a bit but the boredom of lockdown has me returning.
Despite extra words creeping in (e.g. ‘to’ in 11a, ‘be’ in 13d etc), I enjoyed this. For 9a, I had PUT ON as a triple definition (the last as in put on/present a show).
Thanks to Hamilton and Teacow.
I agreed with Hovis on 9A with “put on.” To me the most unconventional device Hamilton uses occurs at 15A, for example, a case of one fewer word instead of extra. “Run to minder getting the last [of] drink in.” It’s hard at first to see that “last drink” means the K and more often you would see the clue with the bracketed preposition I inserted. Similarly at 23D the “first” refers to the first letters of the succeeding three words, a device which for me was hard to see without crossers. In any case, I liked the puzzle all right and thought it different for a Monday. Thanks to Teacow and Hamilton.
Some quite difficult ones such as DOUBTER which took a bit of working out. I don’t know that I was convinced by the ‘Capable flight attendant’ wordplay for AIRWORTHY but I did like the clues for OLDIE and SHRUB and the PUT ON triple def.
A good way to start the week. Thanks to Hamilton and Teacow
Beaten on SKITTER – i think I entered SNIFTER
Personally, I never mind a ‘fast and loose’ setting style as long as I’m entertained, as I was today.
My picks included PIE-EYED, BAIN-MARIE, SCRUB/SHRUB and my favourite clue of this young year so far, ECO-WARRIOR.
Like Wordplodder, DOUBTER took a while and the words ‘capable flight attendant’ in 25a left me perplexed but the crossers helped with this, my LOI.
Cheers, Hamilton, for the fun and Teacow for a super blog.
For 25a, I took “worthy” as a noun referring to a skilled person, so a capable flight attendant could be described as being an air worthy. Not a great clue but just about works.
enjoyed it overall… slight hiccough with 5d… 2 Ks n all of SONS to give a singular apparatus KLAKSON.. the error revealed by young Greta.. apart from that…
thanks Teacow n Hamilton
Very enjoyable even though some clues bent the rules a bit. Who was it said that rules are for the obedience of fools but for the guidance of the wise?
We liked THINK TANK, BAIN MARIE and the SCRUB/SHRUB device.
Thanks, Hamilton and Teacow.
Good crossword for a Monday in my opinion — I’m impressed with the anagram for 10,14 and I enjoyed solving KLAXONS. I agree with Hovis @1 about PUT ON and I appreciate Hovis @6 for explaining the noun “worthy.” Thanks Teacow for parsing —- I didn’t understand OLDIE or SCRUB. Thanks Hamilton.
Yes, a belated thanks to Hovis @6 re 25a.
Thanks Hamilton and Teacow
Was a surprise to see this setter in the Monday slot and it added a different, but pleasant, experience to the week’s beginning. As said by others, a good variety of clue devices that didn’t supply too many gimmes throughout the solve. Nice to see a second Australian state grace recent puzzles and embarrassingly they have both been solved in the latter stages of the grid fill.
Was thinking that AIRWORTHY was more than just padding around the initial part of a cd and thank Hovis@6 for showing what it was. Even though SPAGHETTI CARBONARA was a relatively easy ‘unscramble’, it was an impressive anagram in a well-surfaced clue. Also appreciated the working of the ECO-WARRIOR one as well.
Finished with three down clues in the NW corner – KLAXON, KANSAS CITY and TEPEE (which held out for ages, and shouldn’t have).
I thought 19a was the best