Thank you to Rosa Klebb. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1. It hurts to block relative almost free of habit (6)
UNCOWL : OW!(exclamation expressing “it hurts!”) contained in(to block) “uncle”(a relative) minus its last letter(almost).
Defn: To …/to remove part of a monk’s habit/garment, viz. the cowl.
4. Torment of Sahara’s sands (6)
HARASS : Hidden in(of) “Sahara’s sands“.
8. After review, small medical bill reduced for third party (3,4)
LIB DEMS : Reversal of(After review) [ S(abbrev. for “small”) + MED(short for “medical”) + “bill” minus its last letter(reduced) ].
Defn: The … in British politics, after the Conservative and Labour Parties.
9. Deadbeat doctor unconscious behind surgery (7)
DROPOUT : DR(abbrev. for “doctor”) + [ OUT(unconscious/dead to the world) placed after(behind) OP(abbrev. for “operation”/surgery) ].
11. Less careful solver recklessly snorting fresh line (10)
SLOVENLIER : Anagram of(… recklessly) SOLVER containing(snorting/inhaling, say, powdered drug) anagram of(fresh) LINE.
Defn: …/sloppier.
12. Regretted sounding vulgar (4)
RUED : Homophone of(sounding) “rude”(vulgar/impolite).
13. Manx cat fed by bishop sounds contented (5)
PURRS : “puss”(an affectionate term for a cat) minus its last letter(tailless like a Manx cat) containing(fed by) RR(abbrev. for “Right Reverend”, a formal address for a bishop).
Defn: … like a (Manx) cat.
14. Little person cuddling up (8)
NESTLING : Double defn: 1st: Any young person.
16. Dance with a cad in Australian town (8)
BALLARAT : BALL(a formal dance social) plus(with) A + RAT(a cad/an unpleasant person).
18. Boozer vacuously exposes nether regions (5)
PUBES : PUB(a boozer/establishment serving alcohol) + all inner letters deleted from(vacuously) “exposes“.
Defn: … of one’s body.
20. Sibelius perhaps beginning to nod after bit of fish (4)
FINN : 1st letter of(beginning to) “nod” placed after(after) FIN(a body part/bit of a fish).
Defn: A national, an example of which/perhaps is Jean Sibelius, Finnish composer.
21. Shoots as regiment runs amok (10)
GERMINATES : Anagram of(… runs amok) AS REGIMENT.
23. Technology’s magic is tackling and fighting system (7)
JUJITSU : IT(abbrev. for “information technology”)‘S contained in(… is tackling) JUJU(magic/magical power of certain objects in some West African religious practices).
24. Tough guy heartlessly hounding half-cut playwright (7)
STRINGY : “guy” minus its middle letter(heartlessly) placed after(hounding) “Strindberg”(August, Swedish playwright) minus the last 5 of its 10 letters(half-cut …).
Defn: …, refering to meat that contain tough fibres.
25. Some mediocre pony missing the Derby? (6)
EPONYM : Hidden in(Some) “mediocre pony missing“.
Defn: Something after whom something else is named, an example of which/? is the Derby, the horse race founded by an Earl of Derby, or the cheese made in Derbyshire.
26. Case of Chardonnay initially pleases female nonentity (6)
CYPHER : 1st and last letters of(Case of) “Chardonnay” + 1st letter of(initially) “pleases” + HER(pronoun for a female mentioned previously).
Defn: …/a person of no importance.
Down
1. Where men go to let out new sheep (5)
URIAL : “urinal”(a toilet fixture where men go/urinate into) minus(to let out) “n”(abbrev. for “new”).
Defn: … native to central Asia.
A ram:
2. Stiff chap in Bentley? (7)
CADAVER : DAVE(a chap’s/man’s proper name) contained in(in) CAR(an example of which is one made by Bentley Motors).
Defn: …/corpse.
3. Casanova runs after a winsome wanton (9)
WOMANISER : R(abbrev. for “runs”, in cricket scores) placed after(after) anagram of(… wanton)A WINSOME.
5. Maiden is more lovely without top (5)
AIRER : “fairer”(more lovely/more beautiful) minus its 1st letter(without top).
Defn: … or “clothes maiden”, in Northern England dialect, a frame on which clothes are hung to dry.
6. Clobber sappers in disgust (7)
APPAREL : RE(abbrev. for the Royal Engineers in the British Army, whose privates are called the “sappers”) contained in(in) APPAL(to disgust/to horrify).
Defn: …/a person’s clothing.
7. Cook oranges regularly with southern wine (9)
SAUTERNES : SAUTE(to cook by frying quickly in a little hot fat) + 2nd, 4th and 6th letters of(… regularly) “oranges” plus(with) S(abbrev. for “southern”).
Defn: Sweet white … form the Bordeaux region of the same name in France.
10. Name at end of letter tearing us apart (9)
SIGNATURE : Anagram of(… apart) TEARING US.
13. Commonplace introduction to poetic licence (9)
PLATITUDE : 1st letter of(introduction to) “poetic” + LATITUDE(licence/freedom from restriction for action and thought).
Defn: A …/a trite saying or topic.
15. Speciousness of fool with loveless past (9)
SOPHISTRY : SOP(a fool) plus(with) “history”(the whole series of past events) minus(…less) “o”(letter representing 0/love in tennis scores).
Defn: …/the state of being apparently true, but is actually false.
17. Freckles from time in Foreign Legion (7)
LENTIGO : T(abbrev. for “time”) contained in(in) anagram of(Foreign) LEGION.
Defn: Patch of skin darker than the surrounding skin, like a freckles, but is darker, does not fade and multiplies with age.
aka liver spots, but nothing to do with your liver.
19. Reportedly somewhat poor and surly (7)
BEARISH : Homophone of(Reportedly) “bare”(devoid of/lacking/somewhat poor).
21. Sentimental fling after finally ditching beau (5)
GUSHY : SHY(to fling/throw at a target) placed after(after) [ “guy”(beau/boyfriend) minus its last letter(finally ditching …) ].
Defn: Excessively ….
22. Mendicant disregarding black moth (5)
EGGAR : “beggar”(a mendicant) minus(disregarding) “b”(abbrev. for “black”).
GUSHY-I read it as
SHY after G U (finally ditchin-G bea-U)
Thanks, Rosa Klebb and scchua!
JUJITSU – the parse is missing the S – “Technology’s” = IT’S
JUJITSU
A minor omission in the blog
Technology’s=IT’s=ITS.
CASANOVA
An extended def possibly (if wanton’s ‘other’ meaning is considered. Dunno if the word is PC in that sense).
Parsed GUSHY as KVa@1, but your way works too, scchua
I read 21dn as KVa did.
Tiny typo in 24ac: the playwright is STRINDBERG.
I’m not used to meeting unfamiliar words in Rosa Klebb puzzles but here there were three: URIAL, maiden and EGGAR – all perfectly clued, so nothing to complain about. Thanks, Rosa.
My favourites today were UNCOWL, 13ac PURRS, 24ac STRINGY, 25ac EPONYM, 2dn CADAVER, 3dn WOMANISER (loved the alliteration),
13dn PLATITUDE, 17dn LENTIGO two (nice lift and separates) and 15dn SOPHISTRY.
Many thanks to Rosa and scchua.
Meant to add 1dn URIAL. 😉
Thank you scchua for your beautifully clear and illustrated blog. URIAL and EGGAR were both new to me and your pics are just superb. I think JUJITSU needs to have ITS (technology’s) contained in JUJU.
I had your parsing of GUSHY but KVa’s @1 is also plausible, maybe better grammatically?
Thanks all. Blog corrected.
[Sorry, slow to post. Been looking at the pictures.]
The playwright in 24a is StrinDberg, to be exact. Also while on the subject of the Nordics, strictly a Finn (20a) is an inhabitant of Finland who speaks Finnish as their native language, while Sibelius was a native Swedish speaker, and therefore a Finland-Swede. Together, they are Finlanders.
Here endeth the pedantry. Thanks, Rosa and scchua!
Strindberg has 10 letters
Oops! Thanks. Blog corrected for the miscount.
Top stuff from Rosa-I couldnt decide between BOARISH and BEARISH-the latter seemed to refer to stock market so I dived the wrong way.Everything else went in OK-all the pieces fitted perfectly.
Loved URIAL-knew the playwright and waited till I had 7d before I committed to which way to dive in 12.
More of the same please.
Plenty of opportunities to expand my horizons here: LENTIGO, EGGAR, URIAL, airer/maiden, Strindberg, Juju. But in most cases the wordplay was straightforward enough to send me in the right direction.
My dictionary tells me that LENTIGO is a freckle, so should it be singular in the clue? I initially thought 2d was CORONER (stiff chap), but couldn’t parse the rest. Also BARES for 18a, till the intersecting clues showed me it was wrong.
Thanks Rosa & scchua.
FrankieG@4
GUSHY
Agree with you that scchua’s parsing works all right.
Thanks Rosa and Scchua
17dn (LENTIGO): Chambers 2014 gives lentigo n (pl lentigines) a freckle or (as sing) freckles. I never expect setters to overrule Chambers.
[The plural may be compared with origines, plural of origo, from which we get the English word origin. This occurs in the phrase fons et origo, “the source and origin”.]
Wow, I thought that I had a pretty good general knowledge but I have never heard of the sheep in 1D.
5D: I have a clothes airer on which I hang my washing but I didn’t know the Northern version.
22D: also unknown to me.
Are the first three down clues related or is it just my dirty mind?
A urinal where men hold their manhood? Followed by a “stiff chap”; then a “Casanova womanizer”.
Not to mention “the Royal Engineers in the British Army, whose privates are called the “sappers” “
Like many of us, took the n out of urinal and went Really?, but yes there it was.
Pamela @18, appalling 😉 .
Thanks Rosa, top notch crossword as expected. There were many words that seemed unusual to me — UNCOWL, URIAL, AIRER, BALLARAT, and EGGAR but they were very clearly clued. I couldn’t, however parse GUSHY and STRINGY. My top picks were PURRS, PUBES, CADAVER (great surface), SAUTURNES (for once “cook” wasn’t an anagram indicator), and SIGNATURE. Thanks scchua for the blog.
Similar to Tony and others, there were several unknown words and phrases. I add NESTLING, used in relation to humans to the list. I have been to BALLARAT a long time ago. I found it cold and uninteresting.
I could not parse GUSHY, so thanks for the assistance.
My favourites have probably been covered, but here goes: HARASS, DROPOUT, BALLARAT, GERMINATE, WOMANISER, SOPHISTRY and PLATITUDE – all for their wonderful surfaces.
Eileen @5 mentioned that it is unusual for her to find unknown words in a Rosa Klebb puzzle. I am impressed. I always find RK using words or expressions unknown to me (often in a way that I wonder whether RK is demonstrating her own intellectual superiority).
Thanks Rosa Klebb – I always enjoy your puzzles and marvel at your skill as a setter. Thanks scchua for your thorough explanation.
Another top class puzzle from a first rate compiler. ‘Urial’ was unknown to me, but then many such ruminants are, and the solution was quite clear from the wordplay.
George – it just doesn’t sound like a creature, though, does it? Thank Goodness for impeccable (and witty) cluing. I see from the dictionaries that it’s an alternative spelling of ‘oorial’ – also unknown and equally weird. 😉
I didn’t enter 7d since, to me, wine is singular and the answer is plural.
john @ 24 Sauternes, with an S, is the name of the region which produces the eponymous wine. It’s not plural.
Loved the subtlety of some of these (both 13s and 15d especially) , thank you Rosa.
john@24, Sauternes (sic) is the name of the wine growing region this appelation comes from.
Pelham Barton @ 16, thanks for the info.
[Gdu – what pleasant manners you have ? ]
Thanks Rosa – enjoyed muchly; agree with Eileen that this was, in part, a little selcouth for this setter – but none the worse for that!
Many thanks both and all
@28 ? s/be one of the smiling emojis – but certainly not a ? (!!)