Apologies for the late appearance of this clue analysis. The scheduled blogger emailed me this morning to say that he would “post the blog quite late tonight”. I assumed that this meant his local time and, given the difference between that and GMT, his post should have appeared mid/late afternoon.
We were told “C, H & R each stand for their same word throughout”. These turned out to be course, horse and race.
Across
1 Cheyenne, one in Great Britain backing H (3,5)
BIG HORSE – I (one) in GB (Great Britain) reversed (backing) HORSE (H)
5 RC has maiden coming first? That could be lucky! (6)
MASCOT – M (maiden) ASCOT (RC)
10 Last letter a doctor’s given to simple-sounding banker (7)
ZAMBEZI – Z (last letter) A MB (doctor) EZI sounds like ‘easy’ (simple)
11 Symbol of strength after not finishing HR, H’s first loss in 3 (3,4)
OAK TREE – OAK[s] (not finishing HR) T[h]REE (H’s first loss in 3)
12 Chicken with variable and over-the-top energy (9)
WYANDOTTE – W (with) Y (variable) AND OTT (over-the-top) E (energy)
13 Extremely irate jockey after losing by a head? Duck! (5)
EIDER – [irat]E (extremely irate) [r]IDER (jockey after losing by a head)
15,16 Doctor daring to learn periodically about an HR (5,8)
GRAND NATIONAL – an anagram (doctor) of DARING TO L[e]A[r]N around AN
19,20 State of grass on UK HR or US one (8,5)
KENTUCKY DERBY – KENTUCKY (State of grass) DERBY (UK HR)
21 Maybe R after / HR? (5)
CHASE – double def.
23 New RH briefly needs time in stalls in US (9)
ORCHESTRA – an anagram (new) of RACE HORS[e] around T (time)
25 Coffee maker’s ace, except it’s gone wrong before (7)
BARISTA – BAR (except) plus an anagram (gone wrong) of IT’S A (ace)
27 Rattling noises from catarrh on chill’s appearance (7)
RHONCHI – contained in (from … ‘s appearance) ‘catarRH ON CHIll’
28 Party repeatedly with old woman in African capital (6)
DODOMA – DO DO (party repeatedly) MA (old woman)
29 Allowed to go after HR trophy? It’s in the blood! (8)
PLATELET – PLATE (HR trophy) LET (allowed)
Down
1 Unreal amounts of bushy hair: one feature of beehives on former politicians, say (8)
BUZZWIGS – BUZZ (one feature of beehives) WIGS sounds like (say) ‘Whigs’ (former politicians)
2 One taking body images of third Greek character at R, cycling round in the morning (5,6)
GAMMA CAMERA – GAMMA (third Greek character) CERA (race, cycling) around AM (in the morning)
3 Went too far? Wanderer had got mounted twice in public (7,2)
OVERDID IT – I’D I’D (Wanderer had … twice) reversed (got mounted) in OVERT (public)
4,16 Santa Anita Handicap’s lost sadly, one ending up a tad short (5,8)
SAINT NICHOLAS – an anagram (sadly) of ANITA HaNdICapS LOSt ie minus (short) [u]p a tad
6 RH version of King Lear (5)
ARKLE – an anagram (version) of K (king) LEAR
8 More affected by somewhat short wee romance (5)
TWEER – contained in (somewhat) ‘shorT WEE Romance’
9,24 Seasonal number from UK city girl? (8,5)
COVENTRY CAROL – COVENTRY (UK city) CAROL (girl)
14 Grave, say? Grave as grave could be! (11)
DIACRITICAL – DIA sounds like (say) ‘dire’ (grave) CRITICAL (as grave could be)
17 Outsiders, including English mount perhaps (3,3,3)
ODD MEN OUT – an anagram (ODD) of MEN OUT would give E MOUNT
18 Unknown male over in half-distance is one with forceful personality? (8)
DYNAMIST – Y (unknown) MAN (male) reversed (over) in DIST[ance] (half-distance)
21 Young reporter supported by boss, as 2 is in 8 (5)
CUBED – CUB (young reporter) ED (boss)
22 RC visited during sleep, somnambulistically (5)
EPSOM – contained in (visited during) ‘sleEP SOMnambulistically’
26, 7 First of runners and riders raced around RC (6)
REDCAR – R (first or runners and riders) plus an anagram (around) of RACED
Thanks for stepping in Gaufrid. I thought this was marvellous. I decided to just do the clues and not worry too much about the letters, so ORCHESTRA finally gave me the way in. Yes, it was a struggle and I had to check a number of answers but it was all fairly clued. Thanks for the afternoon entertainment Wanderer.
Thanks Wanderer and Gaufrid. First of this week that I completed. Slow start FOI was BARISTA which led to EPSOM and away we went! I would not have got ARKLE but for having A_K_E suggesting an anagram of KLEAR.
Many thanks, Gaufrid, for stepping in once again. It would have been a great pity if this fun puzzle had been left without a blog
I really enjoyed working out the C H R combinations, which looked a little daunting at first. Following my usual habit of tackling the clues in order (and concentrating on the non-themed ones), it took me till 29ac to be fairly sure that the answer must be PLATELETS, which left PLATE for HR trophy, which rang a bell .The anagrams at 6dn and 26,7 quickly confirmed the suspicion and then it was fun all the way.
I’m writing this after my customary Friday early-evening glass of wine or two with my daughter and partner and a Sainsbury’s delivery has just arrived, so I can’t elaborate on all the ticks I had but I must mention the brilliant double-ticked DIACRITICAL, which has gone straight into my little book of classic clues.
Huge thanks to Wanderer for a highly entertaining and enjoyable puzzle – I’m by no means a racing enthusiast but I recognised all the references -and renewed thanks to Gaufrid.
Gaufrid – having reread the blog, I realise I had a (very slightly) different reading for DIACRYTICAL:
Definition: GRAVE ( as grave {accent} could be) – Wordplay: DIA (sounds like dire) + CRITICAL (dire).
(I’m a little confused by two concurrent blogs,)
Eileen @4: Thank goodness they agreed with each other!