Thanks to Slormgorm. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1. Picture produced by The Stones? (6)
MOSAIC : Cryptic defn: A picture made by arranging together small pieces of coloured stones.
5. Accept cup of tea needs to be stirred (4,2,2)
FACE UP TO : Anagram of(… needs to be stirred) CUP OF TEA.
9. Bardot comedy about an online business? (6)
DOTCOM : Hidden in(… about) “Bardot comedy”
10. It is likely one defies a youth leader (1,4,3)
I DARE SAY : I(Roman numeral for “one”) + DARES(defies/challenges) + A+ 1st letter of(… leader) “youth“.
11. Retired vicar having chops and wine (8)
VERMOUTH : Reversal of(Retired) REV(abbrev. for “Reverend”, form of address for a vicar) plus(having) MOUTH(… of a person or animal, informally called “chops”).
Defn: … flavoured with aromatic herbs.
12. Very mean devil with the blue clothing (6)
SKIMPY : IMP(a mischievous devil) contained in(with … clothing) SKY(in literary terms, “the blue”).
Defn: …/meagre/scanty.
13. A Stone making a comeback is wicked (4)
MEGA : Reversal of(… making a comeback) [A + GEM(a precious stone) ].
Defn: Like “wicked”, slang for “excellent!”.
15. No stars and I will play Firestarter (8)
ARSONIST : Anagram of(… will play) [NO STARS plus(and) I].
Defn: A fire-starter/one who deliberately sets fire to property.
18. Language master college caught snorting line (8)
POLYGLOT : POLY(short for “polytechnic”/formerly, an institution of higher education in Britain/a college) + GOT(caught/obtained) containing(snorting) L(abbrev. for “line”).
19. Desire one’s husband to get behind wife (4)
WISH : [ I(Roman numeral for “one”)‘S + H(abbrev. for “husband”) ] placed after(to get behind) W(abbrev. for “wife”).
21. Win the confidence of underworld member (6)
DISARM : DIS(the underworld/Hades) + ARM(an upper limb/member on a body).
23. One hammered on ale I hand shot (4- 4)
NAIL-HEAD : Anagram of(… shot) ALE I HAND.
25. A reason some won’t go out tonight? (8)
INSOMNIA : Cryptic defn: That which causes one not to fall asleep/go out like a light at night/tonight perhaps/?.
26. Group withholding recipe for a meal (6)
BRUNCH : BUNCH(a group of similar things) containing(withholding) R(abbrev. for “recipe”).
Defn: … that’s breakfast-cum-lunch.
27. Hit enthralling listener is Beat It (5,3)
CLEAR OUT : CLOUT(hit/a heavy blow with a hand or hard object/blunt instrument) containing(enthralling) EAR(a listen-er/a person’s organ that listens).
Defn: Like “beat it!”, an expression telling one to move away.
28. Half-cut stud during holiday’s most naughty (6)
RUDEST : 1st 2 letters deleted from(Half-cut) “stud” contained in(during) REST(holiday/a long break from work).
Down
2. Region south of Ohio has clean bracing air (5)
OZONE : ZONE(a region/an area) placed below(south of, in a down clue) O(an old postal abbrev. for Ohio State, USA).
Defn: A non-scientific term for …, especially that blown from sea to shore.
3. Play along with a group on radio (9)
ACCOMPANY : A + homophone of(… on radio) “company”(a group/gathering of individuals).
4. Philosopher seen around quiet uni grounds (6)
CAMPUS : CAMUS(Albert, French philosopher) containing(seen around) P(abbrev. for “piano”, musical instruction to play softly/quietly).
Defn: University grounds.
5. Daft talent night annoyed high steward (6,9)
FLIGHT ATTENDANT : Anagram of(… annoyed) DAFT TALENT NIGHT.
Defn: …, not stoned, but in an aircraft, of course.
6. Snobby girl one son found in court (8)
CLASSIST : [ LASS(a girl/young woman) + I(Roman numeral for “one”) + S(abbrev. for “son”) ] contained in(found in) CT(abbrev. for “court”).
7. Posh tenor regularly cut refrain for organs (5)
UTERI : U(posh/upper-class) + T(abbrev. for “tenor”) + 1st, 3th, 5th and 7th letters of(regularly) deleted from(cut) “refrain“.
8. Naughty Pat strips quietly pious people (9)
TRAPPISTS : Anagram of(Naughty) PAT STRIPS.
Defn: Monks/pious people of the Trappist Order, who follow a rule of being quiet/maintaining silence.
14. Mate in loo sadly in a tearful state? (9)
EMOTIONAL : Anagram of(… sadly) MATE IN LOO.
Defn: Being this might/? result in …
16. US reporter from south eaten by puppy? (9)
NEWSHOUND : S(abbrev. for “south”) contained in(eaten by) [NEW HOUND](what one might call a young dog/puppy)
17. Winger on fire gets second of goals (8)
FLAMINGO : FLAMING(on fire/ablaze) plus(gets) 2nd letter of(second of) “goals“.
20. Row about doctor warning of severed palm? (6)
TIMBER! : TIER(row/level of a structure, such as a stadium) containing(about) MB(abbrev. for “Medicinae Baccalaureus”, a doctor).
Defn: Shouted as a warning to people around a tree, perhaps/? a palm that it is falling after being cut.
22. Foreigner’s version of Hello, Goodbye (5)
ALOHA : Cryptic defn: A Hawaiian (foreign if you’re not from Hawaii) word for both greeting/a version of hello and parting/a version of goodbye.
24. Some Cristal costly for Aussie drunks (5)
ALCOS : Hidden in(Some) “Cristal costly“.
Defn: Aussie slang for “alcoholics”/drunks.
I liked the red herring of a possible music theme in today’s grid with various bands and hit songs littered among the clues.
I also liked a number of clues/answers which were less obvious (at least to me) like 7, 13, 20 and 25 (I too thought of ‘out like a light’).
Top picks, though, were 11 and 1 which, aptly enough, revealed itself (slowly) in fragments.
I was just unsure what purpose ‘clothing’ served in 12.
Thanks to Slormgorm and SCChua – for the pictures and explanations.
I wonder what it is about CLOUT and NAIL with Slormgorm / Hoskins. Yesterday in the Indy puzzle by Hoskins we had CLOUTNAIL as an answer and today the words turn up (admittedly separately) again, together with TIMBER. Maybe our respected setter is hammering away on some sort of carpentry project.
Entertaining puzzle, with some good words like MEGA for ‘wicked’ (I wonder what they would have made of that a couple of generations ago), NEWSHOUND and ALCOS. I also enjoyed the INSOMNIA cryptic def.
Thanks to scchua and Slormgorm
Thanks Slormgorm and scchua
3dn: I think the whole answer needs to be taken as a homophone of “a company”.
Thanks for the blog and the pictures . I actually knew MEGA meant wicked although it may be dying out and replaced by awesome.
Do loggers actually say TIMBER when a tree is about to fall ?
Diane @1 12AC I took it as the SKY clothing the IMP.
1AC has to be my favourite of many, this was really good.
Thanks Roz @ 5,
That works.
I really enjoyed this puzzle. 2d was my FOI, even though ozone can actually be dangerous. 13a was my LOI; I had trouble recognizing that both MEGA and “wicked” could mean very good. I liked the clue once I solved it.
Minor typo in the blog for 10a: the A seems to have slipped away from the two plus signs.
Thanks to both Slormgorm and Scchua.
An entertaining puzzle, where I wasn’t seriously hindered by one or two slight quibbles. In 26a I don’t think “withholding” means “containing” – to withhold is to hold something back, rather than put it in (though I see the OED gives “detain” as one meaning, so perhaps I’m wrong).
My thanks to Scchua for parsing Uteri, which I failed to do – alternate letters from a word not actually included in the clue is obviously a stretch too far for me.
Perplexus@7: But “refrain” IS in the clue for 7d.
And in 26a, I parsed the clue as “Group with holding recipe …“.
Perplexus@7
To be precise 7d is UT plus the 2nd 4th and 6th letters in Refrain E R I
Thanks for the corrections on 7d – not too much for me, just a stupid oversight: I should have looked at it again properly.
EdK@USA – but that does leave “with” as redundant. Just “holding” would have been fine, but the clue wouldn’t have read so well.
Thanks Edk@USA. Yes the “A” seems to have gone AWOL. Blog amended.
Thanks Slormgorm for a pleasant crossword. The left side took a bit longer to complete than the right side but it all came together eventually. My favourite was FLAMINGO; I could not parse POLYGLOT — thanks scchua for explaining.
Many thanks to scchua for a great blog and to all who solved and commented.
I went from the ‘restrain’ def of ‘withholding’, but reckon it is one of the more on the edge of things indicators so will have a think, and maybe even a thunk, about using it again.
Cheers and chin chin to all and hope to see y’all again next time around. 🙂
Thanks Slormgorm and schhua
An entertaining puzzle that took a little over the average time across a number of sessions to finally get out. Held up at the end in the SW corner where it took three country’s to finally say goodbye – ADIEU then ADIOS before getting to Hawaii to say ALOHA.
The rest didn’t hold too many issues. Have seen POLY as the school before and that helped find the multi-linguist.
Started off with the TRAPPIST anagram (nice clue) and finished in the SW where CLEAR OUT finally got me to ALOHA and was then able to change the hopeful INSIGNIA at 25a into INSOMNIA (another nice clue) to finish it off.