Thank you to Mudd. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1. Retiring nurses fighting authority, provider of shoddy work (6)
COWBOY : COY(retiring/shy or pretending to be shy) containing(nurses) WBO(abbrev. for the World Boxing Organisation, one of the authorities sanctioning professional boxing fights).
Defn: A service provider who is dishonest, careless, or unqualified, producing shoddy work.
4. I walk back on to cold Arctic mass (3,3)
ICE CAP : I + reversal of(… back) [ PACE(to walk at a steady speed) plus(on to) C(abbrev. for “cold”) ].
8. Mistake caging Irish animal (7)
GIRAFFE : GAFFE(a mistake/a blunder) containing(caging) IR(abbrev. for “Irish”).
9. Circulation of air in primitive dwelling a rare treat? (7)
CAVIARE : Anagram of(Circulation of) AIR contained in(in) CAVE(the dwelling of primitive cavemen).
11. Jam vessel, brass (10)
BOTTLENECK : BOTTLE(a vessel/a glass or plastic container with a narrow neck) + NECK(brass/impudence).
And, incidentally, “bottle”, “neck” and “brass” are synonymous.
12. A London group who play as well (4)
ALSO : A + LSO(abbrev. for the London Symphony Orchestra, a group of players/musicians based in London).
13. Still in ecstasy, Ethiopians (2,3)
AS YET : Hidden in(in) “ecstasy, Ethiopians“.
Defn: …/up to the present or the time mentioned, as in “he is as yet not house-trained”.
14. Worshipper, one addicted to felines? (8)
CATHOLIC : -HOLIC(suffix indicating one with an addiction to something, as in “shopaholic”; in this case to “cats”/felines).
Answer: A worshipper of the Roman Catholic faith.
16. Clean surface originally without pans? (8)
SPOTLESS : 1st letter of(… originally) “surface” + POTLESS(without pans/pots).
18. Operation hurt (5)
STING : Double defn: 1st: A carefully planned … to deceive; and 2nd: To …/wound with a sting.
20. Ring circular, as like loop, first of all (4)
CALL : 1st letters, respectively, of(…, first of all) “circular, as like loop“.
Defn: …, on the phone, say.
21. No room to manoeuvre in apartment, as furniture may have arrived? (4-6)
FLAT-PACKED : FLAT(an apartment consisting of a set of rooms)-PACKED(filled to capacity/with no room to manoeuvre).
23. Character beginning sentence, type of punishment (7)
CAPITAL : Double defn: 1st: An upper-case character/letter that begins each sentence in text; and 2nd: … that is the legally authorised killing of someone who has committed a crime.
24. Clear film, thin covering (7)
BLANKET : BLANK(clear/bare) + ET(the film/movie, named “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” in full).
Presumably, in addition to the usual thick coverings, there are other types of blanket that are thin.
25. Endless joy in swallow, little bird (6)
EAGLET : “glee”(joy/delight) minus its last letter(Endless …) contained in(in) EAT(to swallow, usually, food).
26. Cryptic setter’s boulevard (6)
STREET : Anagram of(Cryptic) SETTER.
Down
1. Cotton sock on foot of commando (5)
CHINO : CHIN(to sock/to punch someone on the chin) placed above(on, in a down clue) last letter of(foot of, in a down clue) “commando“.
Defn: Fabric made of cotton.
2. Loaded question about late manoeuvring (7)
WEALTHY : WHY?(a short question) containing(about) anagram of(… manoeuvring) LATE.
Defn: …/having loads of money.
3. Crooked ref often moved to net header for Chelsea (3-6)
OFF-CENTRE : Anagram of(… moved) REF OFTEN containing(to net) 1st letter of(header for) “Chelsea“.
5. Handle oddball (5)
CRANK : Double defn: 1st: … used to start an engine or motor; and 2nd: …/an eccentric or odd person.
6. Fine journey south of a US city (7)
CHICAGO : CHIC(fine/elegantly fashionable) + [ GO(to journey/to take a trip) placed below(south of, in a down clue) A ].
7. Moribund and bitter (9)
PERISHING : 1st: …/dying; and 2nd: Extremely cold/bitter, when referring to the wind or weather.
10. German diet fatty, male scoffing last of torte (9)
REICHSTAG : [ RICH(fatty/containing a large amount of fat, when referring to food) + STAG(a male deer) ] containing(scoffing) last letter of(last of) “torte“.
Defn: …/legislative assembly.
13. Past peak, supporting amateur actor, bitter leading man (5,4)
ALPHA MALE : [ ALP(a peak/a high mountain) placed above(Past …, in a down clue) + HAM(an amateur, and hence bad, actor) placed above(supporting …, in a down clue) ] ALE(a bitter beer).
My best shot at explaining “past” and “supporting”.
Defn: …/the dominant male in a particular group.
15. Challenge one in bed – early riser? (4,5)
TEST PILOT : TEST(to challenge/to check the characteristics of something) + [ I(Roman numeral for “one”) contained in(in) PLOT(a bed/an area of ground) ].
Defn: The first, or one of the first, to fly/rise above in a new aircraft, cryptically described as an …
17. Decisive action of snitch? (7)
TELLING : Double defn: 1st: …/has an definite effect or influence on something; and 2nd: …, one who informs on someone else, to the authorities, say.
19. Scent anger (7)
INCENSE : Double defn: 1st: To … using incense/a substance burned to produce a sweet smell; and 2nd: To make very angry.
21. Fifty musical boxes for sweetheart (5)
FLAME : L(Roman numeral for “fifty”) contained in(… boxes) FAME(the stage musical based on the musical film of the same name).
Defn: …/a lover.
22. English opener in competition (5)
EVENT : E(abbrev. for “English”) + VENT(an opener, or opening, through which or gas or liquid may flow out.
Lots of ticks today including, as always from Mudd, a smart crop of double definitions; 5d, 17d and 18a especially.
11a was my outright favourite with nods also to 16a, 2d, 7d and 21d.
Thanks for the midweek treat, Mudd, and to Scchua (needed help parsing 1a and 15d).
I wasn’t sure about the parsing of ALPHA MALE either, specifically what ‘Past’ was doing. I wondered if it meant that ALP was an old term for ‘peak’ but your parsing seems more plausible. I also wondered what ‘thin’ added to the def for BLANKET and missed the “triple def that wasn’t” bit of BOTTLENECK.
Favourite was the ‘early riser?’ def for TEST PILOT.
Thanks to Mudd & scchua
Thanks Mudd and scchua
Always good to see Mudd’s name in the banner and this one was another good ‘un. It was CATHOLIC that brought the wry smile in this one, in a typically Mudd way.
I like what looks like an impossible clue that when solved you wonder why one thought that it was – COWBOY was probably the key example of that today and after getting the COY part, still took a while for the WBO bit to sink in. ‘Past’ sort of works in 13d but is needed more for the surface than for the word play – I think that it would work just as well without it.
Finished in the SE corner with the cleverly defined TEST PILOT, FLAT-PACKED (another great clue) and BLANKET (which was probably easier in hindsight than either of those two but it hung out till last).
I rather warmed to CATHOLIC-works better after a couple of drinks maybe in o’Shaughnessy’s in Dingle
Thanks for the blog, a lot of good clues here , Diane @1 has most of my favourites.
Just a couple of quibbles, I admire your explanation of ALPHA MALE but I just think there are too many words for it to work nicely.
CATHOLIC does not really work even in a whimsical sense. My Chambers does not give HOLIC but does give AHOLIC or OHOLIC for this type of construction. I am struggling to think of any example without the A or O ??
I can think of a few whimsical uses of -HOLIC that people I know have used about their children: TELLY-HOLIC. TWITTER-HOLIC — or the latter referring to a past US president. I thought CATHOLIC was a good clue.
Most of this went in smoothly but we were left with 10dn where we needed a wordfinder for REICHSTAG. We did wonder if we were looking for some sort of legislative assembly but were slightly thrown off course by knowing that ‘Diet’ as a German noun should be spelt with a capital D – but that might have given too much away.
We liked BOTTLENECK. Scchua’s illustration put us in mind of the unfortunate choice of words in describing something as an enormous bottleneck – something of a contradiction in terms.
Thanks, Mudd and scchua.
Thanks scchua, I couldn’t get my head round the element ordering of 13d, wondered why the blanket was thin, and failed completely with 10d with a tentative REICHSMAN and wondered where the S came from. Coming here reminded me that the last time I failed to spot this “Diet” led to learning about the Diet of Worms which sadly was not enough for it to stick. Hopefully this time it will! Thanks Mudd, liked COWBOY and WEALTHY most.
Thanks for the fun and explanations.
With APLHA MALE, I looked at past meaning “after” and supporting meaning “under”.
I’m American and have never seen caviar spelled with an e! Learn something everyday!