Independent on Sunday 1748 Mog

Thank you to Mog. Definitions are underlined in the clues.

Across

1. Bull given snip chasing male vet? (5)

MEDIC : “edict”(bull/an official order issued by the Pope) minus its last letter(given snip) placed after(chasing) M(abbrev. for “male”).

Defn: … or veterinary surgeon, an example of/? a medical practitioner).

4. Keen to maintain excellent standard up to the midriff (5-4)

WAIST-DEEP : WEEP(to keen/wail in grief for a dead person) containing(to maintain) [AI(A1/first class/excellent, with the Roman numeral substitution) + STD(abbrev. for “standard”) ].

9. All the best Argentine red, then English port (7)

CHEERIO : CHE(Guevara, a red/Marxist born in Argentina) plus(then) E(abbrev. for “English”) + RIO(Brazilian port).

Defn: Like …, an expression of good wishes on parting.

10. Tackle drinks in a pair of pyjamas when study’s delayed? (3,4)

GAP YEAR : GEAR(tackle/equipment for a particular task) containing(drinks in) [A + 1st 2 letters of(pair of) “pyjamas” ].

Defn: A period when a student takes a period, usually an academic year, off from studies.

11. Show George, perhaps, helping to end devil (13)

DEMONSTRATION : [ ST(abbrev. for “saint”, an example of which/perhaps, is St. George) + RATION(a helping/an allotted amount) ] placed after(to end) DEMON(a devil/an evil spirit).

14. Call to lover overheard in wind? (4)

OBOE : Homophone of(… overheard) [ Oh, beau! ](a call to one’s lover).

Defn: An instrument in the wind/woodwind section of an orchestra.

15. Spy dog smuggles contents of plan in little bits (9)

MOLECULAR : MOLE(a spy occupying an important position in an enemy’s security organisations) + CUR(an aggressive or dirty dog) containing(smuggles) inner letters of(contents of) “plan“.

18. Opening of Lancashire furniture chain’s trending immediately (4,1,4)

LIKE A SHOT : 1st letter of(Opening of) “Lancashire” + IKEA(the Swedish retail furniture chain) + HOT(trending now/in current fashion).

19. American pier not quite in water (4)

AQUA : A(abbrev. for “American”) + “quay”(a pier/a platform projecting into water for loading and unloading ships) minus its last letter(not quite).

21. Way to work around imposed changes (5,8)

MODUS OPERANDI : Anagram of(… changes) AROUND IMPOSED.

24. Keeping in fashion behind bar for the most part (7)

STORAGE : RAGE(that which is in fashion/in vogue) placed after(behind) “stop”(to bar/to prevent) minus its last letter(for the most part).

26. Oddly miss old Islay, upland island for hopping (4,3)

LILY PAD : Letters in the odd positions deleted from(Oddly miss) “old Islay, upland“.

Defn: What you might describe as an island/a thing surrounded by water for frogs to hop to and from.

27. Field where they saw grouse coming in (9)

CARPENTRY : CARP(to grouse/complain about) + ENTRY(act of coming in).

Defn: …/an area of activity in which tools like various saws are used.

28. Play the crab, primarily sniping and doing little (5)

SIDLE : 1st letter of(primarily) “sniping” plus(and) IDLE(doing little or nothing/inactive).

Defn: Play/behave like the crab, specifically, walk sideways furtively.

Down

1. Blades ground for the kitchen staff (4)

MACE : Double defn: 1st: The outer covering of nutmegs, which look like blades/have the shape of leaves when detached, are ground to make this spice used in the kitchen (I can’t think of anything else that might fit); and 2:  … of the ceremonial kind or of a kind of weapon.

1: Blades before and after being ground:

  and 2: Ceremonial staff:

2. Drawn after capturing rook stranded up top? (11)

DREADLOCKED : DEADLOCKED(drawn/with opposing sides having the same scores) containing(capturing) R(abbrev. for “rook”, in chess notation).

Defn: With hair twisted in strands.

3. Plate in church boosting capital? Quite the opposite (6)

CHROME : CH(abbrev. for “church”) placed above(boosting …? Quite the opposite, in a down clue) ROME(capital city of Italy).

4. Spirit with punch seen around delta city (4,5)

WOOD NYMPH : W(abbrev. for “with”) + OOMPH(punch/the power to impress or attract, taking your breath away in the process) containing(seen around) [ D(letter represented by “delta” in the phonetic alphabet) + NY(abbrev. for “New York”, city in the USA) ].

5. Croon head off to uplifting cast piece (5)

INGOT : “sing”(… a soft low voice/to croon) minus its 1st letter(head off) + reversal of(… uplifting, in a down clue) TO.

Defn: … of solid metal.

6. Adept manoeuvres with cane, largely (3,5)

TAP DANCE : Anagram of(… manoeuvres) [ ADEPT plus(with) “cane” minus its last letter(largely) ].

Defn: …/rhythmic steps performed wearing shoes with metal pieces attached to the soles. And with a cane sometimes.

… more here: https://www.readersdigest.co.uk/culture/film-tv/10-best-movie-tap-dances

7. Matriarch at no point removes clothes (3)

EVE : “never”(at no point/not ever) minus its 1st and last letters(removes clothes).

Defn: According to the Bible, the very first matriarch/a venerable woman.

8. Dad took off, or mum left? Hard to explain (10)

PARANORMAL : PA(informal term for one’s dad/father) + RAN(took off/hurried away) + OR + MA(informal term for one’s mum/mother) + L(la. “left”).

Defn: …/beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding.

12. Unprepared setter’s going to crack into deep cryptic (3-8)

ILL-EQUIPPED : I’LL(I will/setter is/setter’s going to, with the setter using the self-referential pronoun) + [ QUIP(a crack/a joke) contained in(into) anagram of(… cryptic) DEEP ].

13. Drum with scowl, struggling to grasp current genre (5,5)

WORLD MUSIC : Anagram of(…, struggling) [ DRUM plus(with) SCOWL ] containing(to grasp) I(symbol for electrical current in physics).

Defn: … of music from non-Western coutries.

16. Really sozzled earl fronting political protest (9)

LITERALLY : LIT(sozzled/totally drunk) + E(abbrev. for “earl”) placed above(fronting, in a down clue) RALLY(a gathering of people making a political protest).

17. Article about milk had to turn people green (8)

NAUSEATE : Reversal of(… about) AN(article in grammar) + USE(to milk/to exploit) + ATE(had/took in food).

Defn: …/to make them look pale and sickly and wanting to retch.

20. Old folk? They’re sometimes right (6)

ANGLES : Double defn: 1st: …, specifically a Germanic people who came to England); and 2nd: In geometry, the space between 2 intersecting lines, in this case, measuring 90 degrees.

22. Fold suit and tie that is left out (5)

PLEAT : PLEA(a suit/a petition/a formal request) plus(and) “tie” minus(left out) “ie”(abbrev. for “id est”/that is).

23. Sharpness put wife off piece of cheddar (4)

EDGE : “w”(abbrev. for “wife”) deleted from(put … off) “wedge”(a piece in the shape of a well, wedge, in this case a piece of cheddar cheese).

Defn: …/an intense and biting quality.

25. Crew need underground rock for broadcast (3)

OAR : Homophone of(… for broadcast) “ore”(underground rock which is mined and then worked to yield valuable material).

Defn: A member of the crew of a rowing boat.