Very enjoyable. A good puzzle for those who prioritise surface readings over outright difficulty. Thank you Moo.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | TAOISM |
One seduced by a most bizarre philosophy (6)
|
| I (one) inside (seduced by, taken in) anagram (bizarre) A MOST | ||
| 4 | BLIGHTER |
Rogue captain set adrift with half- sister (8)
|
| BLIGH (captain set adrift, in Mutiny on the Bounty) with sisTER (half of) | ||
| 9 | ARENA |
One needs an age to go round battlefield (5)
|
| AN (one) with ERA (an age) reversed (to go round) | ||
| 10 | TAXPAYERS |
Organise a sex party for contributors to Treasury (9)
|
| anagram (organise) A SEX PARTY | ||
| 11 | ABSOLVE |
Forgive a bishop found with crack (7)
|
| A B (bishop, chess) with SOLVE (crack) | ||
| 12 | CHOPPER |
Policeman impounding husband’s mode of transport (7)
|
| COPPER (policeman) contains (impounding) H (husband) – a motorcycle | ||
| 13 | TIER |
Row is a sad sight for the Speaker (4)
|
| sounds like (for the speaker) “tear” (a sad sight) | ||
| 14 | BRIGHTLY |
Tory left infiltrating Times in clever fashion (8)
|
| RIGHT (Tory, in UK politics) L (left) inside (infiltrating) BY (times, multiplication) | ||
| 17 | REBUTTAL |
Victim in genuine denial (8)
|
| BUTT (victim) inside REAL (genuine) | ||
| 19 | ASIA |
Some samosas I ate, originating here? (4)
|
| found inside (some of) samosAS I Ate – a food originally from Asia | ||
| 22 | ENTERIC |
Intestinal trouble in Crete (7)
|
| anagram (trouble) of IN CRETE | ||
| 24 | HOTHEAD |
H for an impetuous chap? (7)
|
| HOT HEAD gives you H (the first letter of hot) | ||
| 25 | DISTILLER |
One producing brandy to make girl calmer (9)
|
| DI (Dianna, a girl’s name) and STILLER (calmer) | ||
| 26 | ADDER |
Might it bite you in summer? (5)
|
| double definition | ||
| 27 | GLASS EYE |
A prosthetic one cannot see at all (5,3)
|
| double definition – one literal and one figurative | ||
| 28 | LAWYER |
Solicitor in bed, drinking whiskey (6)
|
| LAYER (bed) contains (drinking) W (whisky, phonetic alphabet) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | TEA PARTY |
American right-wingers do without alcohol (3,5)
|
| a TEA PARTY is a do (party) without alcohol | ||
| 2 | OVERSTEER |
Supervisor pinching typist’s bottom, a dangerous manoeuvre (9)
|
| OVERSEER (supervisor) contains (pinching) typisT (last letter, bottom) | ||
| 3 | SNAILS |
An item on the fast food menu? Definitely not (6)
|
| cryptic definition | ||
| 5 | LEXICOGRAPHER |
Someone like Johnson, a man of many words (13)
|
| double/cryptic definition – Samuel Johnson, writer of an early English dictionary | ||
| 6 | GO ABOUT |
Change course of fight in Indian province (2,5)
|
| a GOA BOUT might be a fight in Goa (a province of India) – a sailing term | ||
| 7 | TIE UP |
Finalise advice about Brussels (3,2)
|
| TIP (advice) contains (about) EU (Brussels) | ||
| 8 | RESORT |
Haunt troops during siesta (6)
|
| OR (other ranks, troops) inside (during) REST (siesta) | ||
| 10 | THEORETICALLY |
English colliery that’s gone bust on paper (13)
|
| anagram (has gone bust) of E (English) COLLIERY THAT | ||
| 15 | YESTERDAY |
Starry-eyed Romeo leaving tipsily not long ago (9)
|
| anagram (tipsily) of STARrY EYED missing (leaving) R (Romeo, phonetic alphabet) | ||
| 16 | WANDERER |
Wife with husband abandoning her twice for vagabond (8)
|
| W (wife) AND (with) then hER missing H (husband) twice | ||
| 18 | BARBIES |
Al fresco occasions for vacuous young women? (7)
|
| double definition | ||
| 20 | SEA DOG |
Sailor runs up to welcome Bill (3,3)
|
| GOES (runs) reversed (up) contains (to welcome) AD (advertisement, bill) | ||
| 21 | OTTAWA |
Engineer keeling over in old American capital (6)
|
| WATT (James Watt, engineer) reversed (keeling over) inside O (old) A (American) – I wasted a lot of time her looking for a capital city in the United states of America | ||
| 23 | TESLA |
Vehicle manufactured by a large firm from the south (5)
|
| A L (large) SET (firm) reversed (from the south, as read on a map) |
Moo’s cheeky wit was good company today, with entries like 10 , 26, 16 and 18.
Though a write-in, I needed the blog, to parse TIE UP.
Thanks to Moo and PeeDee.
Liked 1d best.
PeeDee,
21d should have ‘capital’ underlined. I too cast about for an ‘old American capital initially but Canada’s it is.
Thanks for spotting that Diane, fixed now.
Thanks Moo and PeeDee
20dn: Tiny error in the blog here: the parsing should end “AD (bill)”, although “Bill” does of course often indicate AC.
Thanks Pelham. My fingers must have been typing on autopilot there.
All well except for “BARBIES” which for the al fresco part must be a British/Australian? term. Was not around when I left the UK in 1970. Thanks Moo and PeeDee.
John@7: I had a similar experience to yours. I know the term “Barbie” from the old US ads for Australian Tourism: “We’ll put another shrimp on the Barbie.” Unfortunately, I didn’t remember it until I read the blog.
Thanks to PeeDee for the explanations and Moo for a very enjoyable puzzle. I especially liked BRIGHTLY.
I thought of CHOPPER as a helicopter, but motorbike is equally good (or a bicycle, I guess, for those who remember the 70s). A rapid solve, but with some fun quirky twists.
Shamefully defeated by BARBIES I nonetheless made quick work of this humourous crossword over breakfast today. The surfaces were a delight throughout; favourites included TAXPAYERS, ABSOLVE, BRIGHTLY, WANDERER, and TESLA. Thanks to both.
Our first thought for CHOPPER was the 70s bicycle, followed by helicopter; we didn’t know of the motorbike.
A pleasant solve in one session though we took a while to get ARENA – we were fixated on it being a named location. SNAILS was our LOI, and elicited a groan when we got it.
Thanks, Moo and PeeDee.
Thanks Moo and PeeDee
Did this quickly yesterday and enjoyed it immensely. Some of the surfaces were a joy to behold in their own right – especially the ‘Treasury sex party’ which crossed with ‘Johnson, a man of many words’ to inadequately apologise for them.
BARBIE obviously presented no problems down here and was one of the earlier entries in the bottom half. I went with the helicopter mode of transport at 12a.
Finished in the SE corner with ADDER (that took longer than it ought), OTTAWA (beautifully disguised capital of further North America) and LAWYER the last one in.