Thank you to Leonidas. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1. Metal arm worn by retired sailor (6)
COBALT : COLT(brand-name for a type of revolver/firearm) containing(worn by) reversal of(retired) AB(abbrev. for “able-bodied seaman”/a sailor).
Defn: A metallic chemical element.
4. Spur Africans missing leader after mist dispersed (8)
STIMULUS : “Zulus”(African tribesmen) minus its 1st letter(missing leader) placed after(after) anagram of(… dispersed) mist.
9. Dragooned gendarme somewhat irritable (2,4)
ON EDGE : Hidden in(… somewhat) “Dragooned gendarme“.
10. Sport happy about receiving church money (8)
YACHTING : Reversal of(… about) GAY(happy/cheerful) containing(receiving) [CH(abbrev. for “church”) + TIN(slang for money/cash)].
12. Musical stopped by problem gossips (9)
CHITCHATS : CATS(the Lloyd Webber musical) containing(stopped by) HITCH(a problem/a snag).
13. Cut 50% off wine and gold (5)
RAZOR : “Shiraz”(a wine varietal from the, well, Shiraz grape) minus its first 3 letters(50% off …) plus(and) OR(the gold colour in heraldry).
Defn: To ….
14. Turnipy lump needs time for treatment (7,7)
SWEDISH MASSAGE : SWEDISH(as indicated by the suffix “–ish”, like the swede/as indicated by “-y”, like the turnip) + MASS(a lump/a large body of matter with no definite shape) plus(needs) AGE(a long period of time).
17. Rex‘s chicken thigh they’re stewing (5,3,6)
HENRY THE EIGHTH : HEN(a female chicken) + anagram of(… stewing) THIGH THEY’RE.
Defn: …/King, of England in the early 16th C.
21. Discovered better walk (5)
AMBLE : “gambler”(one who places bets) minus its 1st and last letters(Discovered …).
22. A bad clanger involving husband Michael perhaps (9)
ARCHANGEL : A + anagram of(bad) CLANGER containing(involving) H(abbrev. for “husband”).
Defn: An example of which/perhaps is Michael in the Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths.
24. Name minor poet oddly dismissed? (8)
CALLIOPE : CALL(to name/to label) + “minor poet” minus its 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th and 9th letters(oddly dismissed).
Defn: The name of the Muse for epic poetry – whom you might (or might not)/? call a minor poet.
25. Barrel emptied by German presumably drunk (6)
BLOTTO : “Barrel” minus all its middle letters(emptied) plus(by) OTTO(one so-named is likely to be/presumably, a German).
26. Fools announced Yorkshire beauty queen (8)
MISLEADS : Homophone of(announced) “Miss Leeds”(the title for the beauty queen/winner of the female beauty contest for residents of Leeds, West Yorkshire).
27. Year One repressed by explosive bully (6)
TYRANT : [YR(abbrev. for “year”) + A(like “one”, denoting the first of a list of items)] contained in(repressed by) TNT(abbrev. for “trinitrotoluene”, the explosive).
Down
1. Best chilled bar essentially overlooked street (8)
CHOICEST : “choc ice”(a frozen/chilled dessert consisting of a bar of ice cream covered in chocolate) minus its middle letter(essentially overlooked) + ST(abbrev. for “street”).
2. Arrangement of locks and buzzers (7)
BEEHIVE : Double defn: 1st: In the 60s, a popular hairstyle/arrangement of your locks; and 2nd: A structure/arrangement made by bees/buzzers.
3. Reason trooper carries pass travelling north (5)
LOGIC : GI(an American soldier/trooper) contained in(carries) reversal of(… travelling north/upwards, in a down clue) COL(a pass/a low passage between 2 mountain peaks).
5. Slide nasty, Prancer shaken (12)
TRANSPARENCY : Anagram of(… shaken) NASTY, PRANCER.
Defn: … in a projector for viewing on a screen.
6. Teacher raised actor and a chancellor (9)
MAHARISHI : Reversal of(raised/pulled up, in a down clue) HAM(a not good actor) plus(and) A + RISHI(Sunak, currently Chancellor of the Exchequer, UK).
Defn: …/a Hindu sage.
7. City stage welcomes Dancing Zipi (7)
LEIPZIG : LEG(a stage/a section of a race, say, that is run as a series of such sections) containing(welcomes) anagram of(Dancing) ZIPI.
Defn: … in Germany.
8. Spicy ragu slowly turning a bit sweet (6)
SUGARY : Hidden in(… a bit) reversal of(… turning) “Spicy ragu slowly“.
11. Poor country singer can’t find a way out (4-8)
CASH-STRAPPED : CASH(Johnny, a country and western singer) + ‘S(contraction of “is”) TRAPPED(can’t find a way out/having no escape).
15. Is God of Egypt leading Abraham? (9)
ISRAELITE: IS + RA(ancient Egyptian sun god) + ELITE(leading/the cream of the crop).
Defn: An example of which/? is Abraham.
16. Pay large thug to lift female (5,3)
SHELL OUT : L(abbrev. for “large”) + LOUT(a thug/an uncouth and aggressive guy) placed below(to lift/support, in a down clue) SHE(third-party pronoun for a female).
18. Doctor in Seoul dissolved clot (7)
EMBOLUS : MB(abbrev. for “Medicinae Baccalaureus”/Bachelor of Medicine, a doctor) contained in(in) anagram of(… dissolved) SEOUL.
Defn: A blood … carried by the bloodstream.
19. Proud supporter picked up meal (4,3)
HIGH TEA : HIGH(proud/imposing/grand) + homophone of(… picked up) “tee”(the supporter of your ball at the golf tee).
Defn: … eaten in the late afternoon or early evening.
20. Powder starts to act like codeine in belly (6)
TALCUM : 1st letters, respectively, of(starts to) “act like codeine” contained in(in) TUM(tummy/stomach/belly).
23. Comrade tackles English passage (5)
ALLEY : ALLY(comrade/one taking your side in the face of opposition) containing(tackles) E(abbrev. for “English”).
For 24a, I parsed it as an &lit alluding to the idea that a minor poet may dismiss this particular muse.
Lovely crossword. Hadn’t met EMBOLUS before and, for some reason, couldn’t think of shiRAZ.
Completed this in two sessions, finishing with YACHTING. I found the NE corner tough and needed all the crossers to snag STIMULUS and RAZOR. Nevertheless, it was well worth the effort with some great clues, among them CALLIOPE, BLOTTO, CASH-STRAPPED and CHITCHATS. BEEHIVE was the icing on the cake.
Thanks for a super workout, Leonidas and for an excellent, much-needed blog, Sschua.
I didn’t know what was going on with CALLIOPE (made a change from “Erato” anyway) and I couldn’t understand where that extra S came from in CASH-STRAPPED. Otherwise all came together steadily enough and I especially enjoyed SWEDISH MASSAGE and the surface for BLOTTO.
Thanks to Leonidas and to scchua – nice piccies of the BEEHIVE and The Beatles, both pleasant reminders of earlier times.
Pleasant meander.. altho 2dn failed to associate locks with hair!.. all other BEE options explored.. ah well.. everything else according to plan.. some really great clues all over.. 4ac n 10ac scored highly for me..
Thanks Leonidas n scchua
Nice to see original meaning of GAY. I was sans printer today and I looked at a few clues and decided it warranted a grid being constructed so I found a ruler and ended up enjoying a lot of clues. I liked the Yorkshire clue and I was also reminded of a particularly silly line in Python saying “Here is a massage from the Swedish prime minister”
Very enjoyable crossword!
I don’t think I have seen “A carries B” meaning “A inside B” before.
Usually, it means “A around B” or – in a down clue – “B + A”.
Can anyone give me an example to justify how Leonidas used it?
Lots of really good clues.
Many thanks to sschua (for the blog) & Leonidas (for today’s entertainment).
Sil, here’s a (long) shot at it:
“He went round carrying an aura of superiority.”
Thanks Leonidas, that was very enjoyable with favourites being CHITCHATS, MISLEADS (a nice homophone), BEEHIVE, ISRAELITE, (great surface), and EMBOLUS. Thanks scchua for the illustrated blog. I couldn’t parse AMBLE (quite clever) and I still don’t understand how you get SWEDISH from turnipy.
Thank you, scchua @7.
It seems that ‘to carry’ can work either way then – it’s perhaps in the same category as ‘to wear’?
Tony @ 8
Turnipy = ‘like a turnip’, so ‘Swedish’ = ‘like a swede’, which is a vegetable known in the US as rutabaga.
Simon S @10: Thanks, I did not know a swede is a rutabaga. Makes perfect sense now.
Thanks Leonidas and scchua
14ac: According to Chambers, a swede is defined as a Swedish turnip. I think that gives you Turnipy = Swedish more directly.
Lovely crossword and an excellent blog.
Took me a while to make much progress then it all started to come together, the long answers helping a lot. A few I couldn’t parse so thanks for the help. Top left was where I struggled, with last three in Beehive, Cobalt and Choicest (which I’d seen for ages but couldn’t parse.) Particularly liked Henry VIII, Embolus, Blotto amongst others.
Very late for me today, but I only spotted it after dinner. Glad I did, because No 5 from Leonidas is just as good as the others were. Specially liked the CHOC ICE.
Thanks Leonidas and scchua
A challenging and enjoyable puzzle which took about half as long again as my usual solve time and still had three that I didn’t parse properly – couldn’t ‘discover GAMBLER’, didn’t twig to CHO[C] ICE and didn’t properly unravel ‘S TRAPPED. Interesting the strengths of where you solve this – ‘Choc ice’ is not a common term in Australia whereas ‘Shiraz’ is probably one of the most popular red wines made and drunk down here.
Liked the ‘turnips’ / SWEDISH play and the other clever constructs throughout, even the ones I didn’t see.
Finished in the SW corner with EMBOLUS (a new term, although close enough to ’embolism’ to get), that trickily derived AMBLE and the excellent homophonic MISLEADS.
Loved this, especially Miss Leeds but most of all Swedish Massage. If I could follow the Python quote with one from Blackadder (slight generational difference) it evoked the old “irony” being “like goldy or bronzy only made out of iron”.
And thanks for the blog, some tricky parsings in there.