FALCON provides the fun this Easter Monday….
A solid set of clues that I enjoyed solving…. not totally sure about the parsing of 18a though.
Thanks FALCON
ACROSS
1. Near end of project, relocate part of the workforce? (5,5)
NIGHT SHIFT
NIGH (near) + [projec]T (end of) + SHIFT (relocate)
6. Letters he broadcast (4)
MAIL
9. Fancy that man entering running race (7)
CHIMERA
HIM (that man) entering (RACE)* (*running)
10. Dope unhappy, depressed (3-4)
LOW-DOWN
LOW (unhappy) + DOWN (depressed)
12. Plunder harbour causing misery (10)
SPOILSPORT
SPOILS (plunder) + PORT (harbour)
13. Section of extravagant cooking range (3)
AGA
[extrav]AGA[nt] (section of)
15. Not favouring American poetry (6)
AVERSE
A (American) + VERSE (poetry)
16. Ring back twice to express disdain (4-4)
POOH-POOH
(HOOP)< (ring, <back), twice
18. Novel – story about female, Greek character, cycling round France (4,2,2)
LIFE OF PI
LIE (story) about F (female), PI (Greek Character) cycling (O (round) + F France))
20. Not just a French trade show (6)
UNFAIR
UN (a, French) + FAIR (trade show)
23. Short step ladder (3)
RUN
24. Chaotic as I rebuilt cemetery (6,4)
BURIAL SITE
(AS I REBUILT)* (*chaotic)
26. Psychiatrist’s article a classical composer read aloud (7)
ANALYST
AN (article) + A + "Liszt" (composer, "read aloud")
27. French artist‘s uncanny sea mist (7)
MATISSE
28. Uniform happening to be short (4)
EVEN
EVEN[t] (happening, short)
29. Like nonsense? See this American film! (5,5)
FANCY PANTS
FANCY (like) + PANTS (nonsense)
Starring Bob Hope and Lucille Ball
DOWN
1. Pleasant Mediterranean resort (4)
NICE
2. Catch sight of golf members in lounge (7)
GLIMPSE
G (golf) + (MPS (members) in LIE (lounge))
3. Play bowls with one surprisingly unknown (3,7,3)
THE WINSLOW BOY
(BOWLS WITH ONE)* (*surprisingly) + Y (unknown)
4. Tries starter of electric car (6)
HEARSE
HEARS (tries) + E[lectric] (starter of)
5. Most of people working round base come next (6,2)
FOLLOW ON
(FOL[k] (people, most of) + ON (working)) around LOW (base)
7. A mostly forthright party delivering fruit (7)
AVOCADO
A + VOCA[l] (forthright, mostly) + DO (party)
8. Channel screening leader in Clare, a quiet Irish county (10)
LANCASHIRE
LANE (channel) screening (C[lare] (leader) + A + SH (quiet) + I (Irish))
11. Move carefully, changing the townscapes (5,4,4)
WATCH ONES STEP
(THE TOWNSCAPES)* (*changing)
14. Bespoke leotard? Am I eccentric? (6-4)
TAILOR-MADE
(LEOTARD AM I)* (*eccentric)
17. Arranged to repeat something by Offenbach, perhaps (8)
OPERETTA
19. To cool food, such may be blown (7)
FANFARE
FAN (to cool) + FARE (food)
21. Worker is wearing plaid, except for cap (7)
ARTISAN
IS wearing [t]ARTAN (plaid, except for cap)
22. Surfacing – Mother Carey’s first after sailor (6)
TARMAC
(MA (mother) + C[arey] (first)) after TAR (sailor)
25. State of confusion in Times Square (4)
MESS
LIFE OF PI: That’s how I parsed it too. Can’t see any gap.
LANCASHIRE
A minor omission: IR for Irish.
Thanks, Falcon and Teacow!
An enjoyable experience, thank you Falcon.
Never heard of Fancy Pants (film) nor The Winslow Boy.
The homophone for Liszt was a bit shaky, but most in cryptic crossword land are, so I won’t even mention it.
Enjoyable, gentle and fully parsed though had to guess at THE WINSLOW BOY, which happily was an anagram with all the crossers in place.
Thanks to Falcon and Teacow.
A confidence builder to start off the week though I wasn’t convinced about the parsing of 14a either; I suppose ‘cycling’ is a containment indicator as you’ve explained.
Favourites were the apt surface for AGA, THE WINSLOW BOY, which I remember from school and from a v. good ?1950’s British film and the misdirection of 8d which had me thinking I would need to know the name of some (to me) obscure ‘Irish county’.
Thanks to Falcon and Teacow
I was trying to parse “is wearing plaid” = “partisan” for 21D, which works structurally, but otherwise does not make much sense. Thanks for redirecting me to the (now obvious) parsing.
I’m another who parsed LIFE OF PI as did our blogger though I am more used to ‘cycling’ having a different effect. It was my only awkward parse – I didn’t know THE WINSLOW BOY nor that FANCY PANTS is a movie but was able to fill the gaps.
ARTISAN my favourite, along with TAILOR MADE, HEARSE, UNFAIR and, for once a 3 letter solution, RUN.
Thanks Falcon and Teacow
18A I see I wasn’t alone here in pausing at “cycling”, but the more I think about it the more impressed I am by Falcon’s use of it as a containment indicator. As others have said, it’s usually used as an indication that letters have to perform an ordered shuffle, but “cycling” = “going round” seems to me to be fair game.