Thank you to Skinny. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1. Anticipate chopping all wood (6)
FOREST : “forestall”(to anticipate an event and take action to prevent or obstruct it) minus(chopping) “all“.
4. However stock rotates, one’s behind (8)
BUTTOCKS : BUT(however/though) + 1st letter goes to the end(… rotates) STOCK.
10. Arbitrator earned suspect votes (9)
REFERENDA : REF(short for “referee”, an arbitrator/judge) + anagram of(… suspect) EARNED.
11. Demolish stable and flat (5)
LEVEL : Triple defn: 1st: …/raze to the ground; 2nd: …/calm and steady; and 3: …/having a smooth horizontal surface.
12. One might take ore fragment from seam in error (5)
MINER : Hidden in(fragment from) “seam in error“.
Defn: …, an underground seam of mineral, that it.
13. Controlled ship, stuffed initially with preserved fish (9)
SKIPPERED : 1st letter of(… initially) “stuffed” plus(with) KIPPERED(preserved fish/cured a herring or other fish).
Defn: …/captained one.
14. Party involved in drink fiasco (5-2)
SCREW-UP : CREW(a party/a group of people taking part in a particular activity) contained in(involved in) SUP(to drink by sips).
16. Reveal 4 – low number (4)
MOON : MOO(low/sound made by cattle) + N(an indefinite number, as in ” there are n reasons for it”).
Defn: To expose/reveal one’s buttocks/answer to 4 across, to someone
19. A bird shedding hard patch (4)
AREA : A + “rhea”(a flightless bird) minus(shedding) “h”(abbrev. for “hard”).
21. Can we hear stew cooking? It’s a life-saver (3,4)
MAE WEST : Homophone of(… we hear) “may”(can/has the possibility to) + anagram of(… cooking) STEW.
Fore-runner of what’s under your seat in a commercial airplane:
… named after:
24. Organise the karate rally (4,5)
TAKE HEART : Anagram of(Organise) THE KARATE.
25. First of murderers – Cain – wild and frenzied (5)
MANIC : 1st letter of(First of) “murderers” + anagram of(… – wild) CAIN.
And Cain was, in the Bible, the first murderer.
26. Girl regularly entertained by French city’s spicy dish (5)
PILAU : 2nd and 4th letters of(… regularly) “Girl” contained in(entertained by) PAU(French city or commune).
27. Animals here include badger between outskirts of Milwaukee and Great Lake (9)
MENAGERIE : NAG(to badger/harass) contained in(include … between) [ 1st and last letters of(outskirts of) “Milwaukee” plus(and) ERIE(one of the Great Lakes in North America) ].
28. Bee flying with 25A feeling (8)
AMBIENCE : Anagram of(… flying …) [BEE plus(with) MANIAC(answer to 25 across) ].
29. Behead bears? Not us (6)
OTHERS : 1st letter deleted from(Behead) “mothers”(bears/gives birth to).
Down
1. Principal in favour of some turning up on time (8)
FOREMOST : FOR(in favour of/supporting) + reversal of(… turning up, in a down clue) SOME placed above(on, in a down clue) T(abbrev. for “time”).
2. Lots of oil here on fancy clothes (8)
REFINERY : RE(on/with reference to) + FINERY(fancy clothes/Sunday best).
3. Love god rebuffed by Romeo becomes increasingly irritated (5)
SORER : Reversal of(… rebuffed) EROS(Greek god of erotic love) plus(by) R(letter in the phonetic alphabet represented by “Rome”).
5. Heavy metal, you said? (7)
URANIUM : Homophone of(… said) “you”.
Defn: … element in chemistry whose symbol is U.
6. Call them regularly and help out United (9)
TELEPHONE : 1st and 3rd letters of(… regularly) “them” plus(and) anagram of(… out) HELP + ONE(united/as a single entity).
Defn: To … on the telephone.
7. Underground chamber opening in California state institution at last (6)
CAVERN : 1st letter of(opening in …) “California” + AVER(to state/declare) + last letter of(… at last) “institution“.
Modern-day underground chamber (and named after what it is):
8. They’re often dressed as revolutionary youths (6)
SALADS : Reversal of(… revolutionary) AS + LADS(youths/young guys).
Defn: … with sauces.
9. Becomes parody, as last of employees is demoted (4,2)
ENDS UP : [ SEND UP ](a parody/spoof) with last letter of(as last of) “employees” moved down in position(is demoted).
15. With a start, he’s held up inside store (9)
WAREHOUSE : W(abbrev. for “with”) + A + ROUSE(to start/startle hunted game from its lair or cover) containing(… inside) reversal of(…’s held up, in a down clue) HE.
17. Milk supplier sure went crazy (3,5)
WET NURSE : Anagram of(… crazy) SURE WENT.
Defn: …/woman who is engaged to breastfeed another’s baby.
18. Two sons’ 24 adhesive labels (8)
STICKERS : S,S(two x abbrev. for “son”) [ containing(TAKE) TICKER(informal term for “HEART“) ](answer to 24 across).
20. Cook starts to appreciate making a nice pasty (7)
ANAEMIC : Anagram of(Cook) [ 1st letters, respectively, of(starts to) “appreciate making” + A + NICE ].
Defn: …/unhealthily pale.
21. Monstrous dog devours a knight (6)
MUTANT : MUTT(a dog/a mongrel) containing(devours) [A + N(symbol for a knight, the chess-piece) ].
Defn: …/freakish.
22. One with purse covered in gold, returned in perfect state (6)
UTOPIA : Reversal of(…, returned) { [ I(Roman numeral for “one”) plus(with) POT(purse/winner’s prize money) ] contained in(covered in) AU(symbol for the chemical element, gold) }.
23. Key void in piece of space-station (6)
SKYLAB : “Key” minus its inner letter(void) contained in(in) SLAB(a large thick flat piece).
10
25. Little kid picked up strength (5)
MIGHT : Homophone of(… picked up) “mite”(little kid/small child).
A good challenge for me which I enjoyed. I liked the style, the misdirection and the links between clues esp between ‘tickers’ and TAKE HEART, MOON and BUTTOCKS and the clue for AMBIENCE. Tops among many include OTHERS (LOI), SALADS and ANAEMIC (because I misread the clue for ages and was thinking a pastry). Liked ‘piece’ for ‘slab’ too. Thanks scchua for a thorough and helpful blog and the clip and thanks to SKINNY.
Thanks scchua and Skinny.
Entertaining!
MOON, MAE WEST, TELEPHONE, STICKERS make my list.
Thanks Skinny for the fun Sunday puzzle! Thanks scchua for the blog of your unique style and high standards!
Liked the TAKE HEART-STICKERS combo (like Sofamore@1) and SALADS (lovely surface).
Looking at the ‘piece of space-station’, I thought the clue was telling a one-line story about SKYLAB but I think the setter didn’t intend it that way.
Hi all – just popping in to say there’s a very niche ghost theme going on with this puzzle. Nerdy types from the 80s may have an advantage over others…
Thanks Skinny for dropping by.
Theme: Maybe related to ORES, MINE, URANIUM …???
(despite my near-total theme-blindness, I tryyyyyyy…)
Thanks Skinny and scchua. Now back to puzzle to work out theme
Manic Miner!
Uranium Workings. The Menagerie. Skylab (Central) Cavern
Skinny @4 – brilliant! With my perennial theme blindness, I missed that initially but it leaps out at me now you mention it. Given me a bit of a proustian rush. Love it.
Very enjoyable puzzle even without that bonus. Thanks, Skinny and scchua.
(Central) Cavern
The Menagerie
Abandoned Uranium Workings
The Endorian Forest
Attack of the Mutant Telephones
Ore Refinery
The Warehouse
Skylab Landing Bay
Love the Theme Skinny .
And I found a theme!
Thanks for hint. Skylab was the giveaway – took me a while whilst solving to remember it and I had thought at the time “now there’s a blast from the past”
MN @10 – MANIC and MINER were the giveaways for me! Most of the level names came back to me while scouring the completed grid – amazed I remember them, it’s well over 30 years since I last played it.
@ widdersbel I have a horrible feeling it might be closer to 40! It was a tape player install to my spectrum. Ah those were the days – everyone of a certain age remembers that squealing install sound.
Thanks Skinny for a good dose of nostalgia. Now off to find an emulator for use on my phone
That was all very enjoyable and straightforward, but missed the theme. My only doubt was at 29A where I wasn’t sure that it was ‘mothers’ that was being beheaded, so thanks Scchua for the confirmation and Skinny for the puzzle.
Enjoyed solving this but the ‘niche’ theme was beyond me – maybe that’s no bad thing!
SALADS was my favourite clue with SCEW-UP and MOON hard on its heels.
Thanks to Skinny and to scchua for the review.
Nice one Skinny. I remember playing MANIC MINER on my ZXSpectrum.
Thanks all, and to scchua for the tremendous blog.
I’m so pleased the theme was spotted. Always been a favourite of mine. If I was going to choose any, it had to be that one, a stone-cold classic and a groundbreaker. Just goes to show that there’s still a lot of love for it, and for that era. For fans of the Spectrum squeal, you can relive it all here…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHn_BvTBALI