Thank you to Tees. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1. Mary Jane left to spruce up clothes (6)
SPLIFF : L(abbrev. for “left”) contained in(… clothes) SPIFF(to spruce up/make stylish and attractive).
Defn: Cannabis/marijuana, or, in slang, Mary Jane
5. Bugs British character — and the rest — American sent back (8)
BACTERIA : B(abbrev. for “British”) + reversal of(… sent back)[AIR(character/an impression of quality) plus(and) ETC(abbrev. for “et cetera”/the rest) + A(abbrev. for “American”) ].
9. Dry egg mixed with suet for pig (6,4)
GREEDY GUTS : Anagram of(… mixed) [DRY EGG plus(with) SUET].
Defn: … as applied to a human.
10. Fox conserving energy having paws thus endowed? (4)
TOED : TOD(a fox) containing(conserving) E(symbol for “energy” in physics).
11. Naughty child brings sin into prominence (6)
TERROR : ERR(to sin/to go astray) contained in(into) TOR(a prominence/a hill).
12. Still revolutionary keeps a role for US right-wingers (3,5)
TEA PARTY : Reversal of(… revolutionary) YET(still/up to present or a specified time, as in “more problems are still to come”) containing(keeps) [A + PART(a role/a character, in a play or movie, say).
Defn: The political movement of conservatives/right-wingers within the US Republican Party.
13. Large horn from Bath area (4)
TUBA : TUB(a bath/bathtub) + A(abbrev. for “area”).
14. Welshwoman about to be circled by daring moggy (7,3)
PERSIAN CAT : [ SIAN(a feminine Welsh name) + CA(abbrev. for “circa”/about when refering to years or dates) ] contained in(to be circled by) PERT(daring/cheeky).
16. Director shows great intellect capturing scene after evacuation (10)
EISENSTEIN : EINSTEIN(Albert, a great intellect/a genius) containing(capturing) “scene” minus its inner letters(after evacuation).
Answer: Sergie, Soviet film director.
19. Bush with sharp spines: son lost much blood? (4)
GORE : “gorse”(a bush/shrub with sharp spines) minus(… lost) “s”(abbrev. for “son”).
21. Honcho regarded as not seeing straight (4-4)
BOSS-EYED : BOSS(honcho/the person in charge) + EYED(regarded/seen as).
23. Smartest copper brought to trial (6)
CUTEST : CU(symbol for the element, copper) plus(brought to) TEST(a trial/an examination of the qualities/characteristics of something or someone).
Defn: …/most stylish and attractive.
24. Roman historian left with climber (4)
LIVY : L(abbrev. for “left”) plus(with) IVY(a climbing plant).
Defn: English name for Titus Livius, …
25. Explosion in House as GOP offers way food’s pushed down (10)
OESOPHAGUS : Anagram of(Explosion in) HOUSE AS GOP.
Defn: The channel/… in one’s body.
26. Voracious woman in shock at emergency room (3-5)
MAN-EATER : MANE(a shock of hair) + AT + ER(abbrev. for “emergency room” in a hospital).
Defn: …, one who figuratively eats male sexual partners.
27. An artist embodies attendant spirit in city (6)
ANKARA : [AN + RA(abbrev. for “Member of the Royal Academy of Arts, an artist) ] containing(embodies) KA(an attendant spirit/the supposed spiritual part of a human being).
Defn: … in Turkey.
Down
2. Insane rave-up to involve northern arriviste (7)
PARVENU : Anagram of(Insane) RAVE-UP containing N(abbrev. for “northern”).
Defn: …./one who has recently gained power, success, wealth, etc. and is regarded as an upstart.
3. Upstanding character, anti-beer, having slipped? (9)
INEBRIATE : I(an upstanding/erect character/letter in the alphabet) + anagram of(…, having slipped ANTI-BEER) .
Defn: A drunkard, who, in this case, has slipped/lapsed from being one against drinking/an upstanding anti-beer character.
4. Entrance for bringing in antique article? (5)
FOYER : FOR containing(bringing in) YE(a pseudo-antique form of “the”, an article in grammar).
Defn: … hall in a building, say, a theatre.
5. Bishop Sheen in Montana perhaps seeing Crow (7)
BLUSTER : B(abbrev. for “bishop”, in chess notation) + LUSTER(how they in Montana, America spell “lustre”/sheen/glow).
Defn: …/to brag.
6. Tax case with Conservative going for suspension (9)
CESSATION : CESS(a tax/levy) + “action”(a case in a law court) minus(with … going) “C”(abbrev. for a member of the Conservative Party).
7. More paintings by Emin initially put up (5)
EXTRA : Reversal of(… put up, in a down clue) [ ART(of which paintings are an example) + X(symbol for mathematical multiplication/by, as in “2 by 2 = 4”) + 1st letter of(… initially) “Emin” ].
And Tracey Emin is a British artist.
8. Finer arts bias essentially causing stagnation? (7)
INERTIA : Internal letters, respectively, of(… essentially) “Finer arts bias“.
14. Does it move 14 Across to hedge? (9)
PUSSYFOOT : A PUSSY FOOT, that with which a cat moves/answer to 14 across.
Defn: …/to act in a non-committal way.
15. Man mentioned belligerent and dark lover (9)
NIGHTHAWK : Homophone of(… mentioned) “knight”(a man/piece on a chessboard) + HAWK(one who is belligerent/aggressive).
Defn: One who is wakeful/active in the night.
17. James in Iowa recreated Japanese island (3,4)
IWO JIMA : JIM(another form of the name “James”) contained in(in) anagram of(… recreated) IOWA.
18. Rudeness … upset consumer (3,4)
END USER : Anagram of(almost upset) [“Rudeness” minus its last letter(almost)].
20. Spider perhaps too short — snooker player one to save? (7)
RESCUER : “rest”(an example of which/perhaps is the “spider”, a long-legged support for a cue in snooker) minus its last letter(too short) + CUER(one who uses a cue/a snooker player)
22. Observer’s complaint about Liberal showing elegance (5)
STYLE : STYE(a complaint, viz. a swelling on the skin over an eye/observer) containing(about) L(abbrev. for a member of the Liberal Party).
23. Drink scrumpy occasionally with secretary (5)
CUPPA : 2nd, 4th and 6th letters of(… occasionally) “scrumpy” plus(with) PA(abbrev. for “personal assistant”/a secretary).
Defn: Informal term for a cup of tea.
Thanks, Tees and scchua!
Quite a few good ones.
SPLIFF, PERSIAN CAT, MAN-EATER, INEBRIATE (interesting def), PUSSYFOOT and RESCUER are some.
‘RES(t)’ seemed the only option for ‘spider perhaps too short’, but ‘too’ confused me for a while (I understand that the clue reads differently without that ‘too’.).
A super variety of clueing devices on show today from Tees. I struggled with INEBRIATE at the end, not seeing the ‘upstanding character’ = I which I should have remembered. Also fox=TOD doesn’t ring bells though, for such a useful combination of letters, I’m surprised I haven’t seen it before.
SPLIFF made me laugh; GREEDY GUTS has a lovely surface and the fodder (‘scuse pun) was nicely disguised; TUBA made me laugh and OESOPHAGUS is very creatively defined. I loved the construction of FOYER and the American indication in BLUSTER is splendidly used; the fodder in INERTIA makes for a credible phrase and whilst, like KVa, I was a bit thrown by ‘too’, RESCUER deserves mention for the lovely surface all based around spotting (another bad pun) ‘CUER’ in the solution. Great fun.
Thanks Tees and scchua
7d clued in Indian version as “additional gender deception without form” which I parsed as “ sex trap” without s & p. Is that any kind of “form”?
It took me a while to see “belligerent” as a noun so NIGHTHAWK was my LOI. PostMark@2 We have had TOD a few times. The Tyrus Mark Francois puzzle fairly recently and and I’m sure I have seen TROD with the fox round right somewhere. A very pleasant Sunday puzzle. Thanks Tees and sschua
Dilip@3 SP (starting price) and form are both betting terms which could indicate how much of a favourite a horse could be, but it’s a bit of a stretch, or sp for spelling?????
Dilip @3 a form can be a frame, so I expect it’s just referring to the outside letters, rather than sp in particular
Found this one quite tough and did need to ask Mr G to verify the name of the director.
My votes went to GREEDY GUTS, GORE and TUBA.
Thanks to Tees and to sschua for the review.
Thanks both. Needed assistance only with the previously unknown director, where the crossing letters were unhelpful, and I never considered intellect might refer to a person
Didn’t know the term BOSS-EYED and had to “reverse engineer” the meaning of ‘Mary Jane’ from wordplay. Everything else at least recognisable though few write-ins and the ‘to hedge?’ def for 14d wasn’t obvious until the penny dropped.
Favourite was INEBRIATE which qualifies as an &lit to me with all of the clue contributing to the wordplay. I also liked seeing GORE as the answer and his nemesis ‘Bush’ in the wordplay at 19a.
Thanks to Tees and scchua
Very enjoyable if a little more testing than the average Sunday. I have to admit to
A bunging in 1a and making the necessary assumption
B Googling the film director.
Otherwise all done and parsed with 21a plus 3&4d along with the linked 14a&d my winners in a strong field.
Thanks Tees and scchua.
I meant to say how clever it was to clue GORE using BUSH
Thanks scchua. Excellent as usual from Tees – nice mix of fairly easy and somewhat chewier clues, just right for a Sunday, I think.
PM @2/Petert @4 – I know Tod as the fox from the Disney film The Fox & The Hound, but apparently todde is also a Middle English word for fox, and Tod as a boy’s name comes from that (something to do with hair colour, I think).
Hello. Thanks all esp scchua.
Dilip, the clue you mention was the one submitted originally, but it was returned as faulty (with SP not equalling form, and quite right too) by the ed. So I wrote one that wasn’t faulty. Not sure therefore how it appeared in India. Maybe it went out on a different electronic ship.
Re EI(S-E)NSTEIN, as far as I know a person can be ‘an Einstein’ (i.e. a person of great intelligence) without actually being the man: ‘oh yeah that Dorries is a real Einstein’.
3dn is a sort of &lit I suppose, but not exactly tight (as it were), with the story as described by scchua. The term ‘to have a slip’ means ‘to go out and get sloshed despite trying to stay off the sauce’ in standard AA parlance. I don’t know how I know that.
Cheers
Tees
A bit challenging in places but most enjoyable. Thanks, Tees and scchua.
X=by=multiplication: You divide by as well as multiply by. Only did this this evening, I did Everyman this morning
Forgor ? after multiplication
Nicbach re 7dn: Collins definition 2, as in (a plank measuring) 4×2.