Thank you to Fed. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1. Oddly easier having first dealt with revolutionary Big Mac ingredient (9,6)
PROCESSED CHEESE : 1st, 3rd and 5th letters of(Oddly) “easier” placed after(having first) [ PROCESSED(dealt with/handled, as with a claim, say) + CHE(Guevara, Argentinian revolutionary) ].
Defn: …, Big Mac being the burger sold by McDonald’s, the fast food chain.
9. The woman making rare move to become Match of the Day pundit? (7)
SHEARER : SHE(pronoun for “the woman”) + anagram of(making … move) RARE.
Answer: Alan …, a football analyst/pundit on the BBC TV programme, Match of the Day.
10. Workable if making a design essentially obvious (7)
VISIBLE : “viable”(workable/feasible) with “a” replaced by(if making …) middle 2 letters of(… essentially) “design“.
11. Try to get whiskey glasses (3)
WOO : W(letter represented by “whiskey” in the phonetic alphabet) + OO(letters in the shape of a pair of spectacles/glasses).
Defn: …/try to win.
12. Biggest part of Last Leg is starting with introduction from Adam Hills nailing MPs? (11)
LEGISLATORS : [ L(the capital/upper case letter of/biggest part of “Last”) placed after(… starting) LEG IS ] plus(with) 1st letter of(introduction from) “Adam” + TORS(rocky hills).
13. Long-term strategy to control most of factory (6,4)
MASTER PLAN : MASTER(to control/to overcome) + last letter deleted from(most of) “plant”(a factory/a manufacturing place)
15. Channel took off by the sound of it (4)
FLUE : Homophone of(… by the sound of it) “flew”(took off/went off into the air, as with, say, a bird).
Defn: …/duct through which smoke and waste gases are released.
18. Having removed embarrassing smell, scientist brought back stink (4)
NIFF : Reversal of(… brought back) “boffin”(a scientist engaged in research and development) minus(Having removed …) “bo”(abbrev. for “body odour”/an embarrassing smell from someone’s body).
Defn: …/a bad smell.
20. Stupidly repeat cycle ignoring tip from Noddy Holder (10)
RECEPTACLE : Anagram of(Stupidly) [“repeat cycle” minus last letter of(ignoring tip from) “Noddy” ].
23. Perhaps Prince covers No. 1 from Peter Gabriel – ultimately having a try in various keys? (11)
ARCHIPELAGO : ARCHIE(an example of/perhaps someone with the name is the Prince who is the son of Prince Harry and Meghan) containing(covers) 1st letter of(No. 1 from) “Peter” + last letter of(… – ultimately) “Gabriel” plus(having) A + GO(a try/an attempt at doing something).
Defn: A chain or group of islands/keys.
And Prince and Peter Gabriel are singers.
25. Kid‘s newspaper (3)
RAG : Double defn: 1st: To tease; and 2nd: …, especially a low quality one.
26. Sketch crocodile for opening (7)
PROFILE : FILE(a line of people or things one behind another, an example of which is a crocodile, made up of schoolchildren in pairs) placed after(… opening) PRO(for/supporting, as in “pros and cons”).
Defn: …/outline.
27. Mackintosh possibly breaks – how many bits are missing? (7)
SHOWMAN : Hidden in(… bits are missing) “breaks – how many“.
Defn: An example of which/possibly is Cameron Mackintosh, the theatrical producer.
28. The idiotic teen clarified it (8,7)
DEFINITE ARTICLE : Anagram of(idiotic) TEEN CLARIFIED IT.
Defn: What .. is in grammar.
Down
1. Steep climbs with number on crew who can deliver (9)
POSTWOMAN : Reversal of(… climbs, in a down clue) SOP(to steep/soak in liquid) plus(with) TWO(a number) plus(on, in a down clue) MAN(to crew/to provide with a group of people to operate, say, a craft).
Defn: … mail, that is.
2. Taxing cash after banks rejected gold put up by America (7)
ONEROUS : “money”(cash) minus its 1st and last letters(after banks rejected) + reversal of(… put up, in a down clue) OR(the colour, gold in heraldry) plus(by) US(abbrev. for “United States”/America).
3. Occasionally meant wound is recorded (8)
ENROLLED : 2nd and 4th letters of(Occasionally) “meant” + ROLLED(wound/turned something around itself into the shape of a cylinder, tube or ball).
Defn: …/entered on a list or register.
4. Sierra regularly parking under branch (5)
SPRIG : S(letter represented by “Sierra” in the phonetic alphabet) + 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th letters of(regularly) “parking“.
As the song goes:
5. Shock retrospective rescued gallery (9)
DEVASTATE : Reversal of(retrospective) SAVED(rescued/retrieved from harm or danger) + TATE(art gallery in London).
6. Hard once a state captures a soldier (6)
HUSSAR : H(abbrev. for “hard”, as found on lead pencils) + USSR(abbrev. for the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or the Soviet Union, considered a state/country during its time) containing(captures) A.
7. Involve ball going into middle of green when spun (7)
EMBROIL : Reversal of(… when spun) [ ORB(something shaped like a ball) inserted into the centre of(going into middle of) LIME(a light green colour) ].
8. Pitchers meanwhile throw the quicker balls last of all (5)
EWERS : Respective last letters of(… last of all) “meanwhile throw the quicker balls“.
… with a bird theme.
14. Scramble panda car using energy to cover every area with time to complete previous case (9)
PRECEDENT : Anagram of(Scramble) [ “panda car” with “e”(symbol for energy in physics) replacing(using … to cover) all 3 of its(every) “a”(abbrev. for “area”) ] plus(with … to complete) T(abbrev. for “time”).
Defn: … in law whose resolution may or must be followed in subsequent similar cases.
16. Appearance made by em-cee performing without right info (9)
EMERGENCE : Anagram of(… performing) EM-CEE containing(without) [ R(abbrev. for “right”) + GEN(info) ].
17. Rose in bloom was obvious (5,3)
STOOD OUT : STOOD(rose/got up into an erect position) + OUT(in bloom/to blossom, as a flower does).
19. Bother to hide business leader’s confrontation (4-3)
FACE-OFF : FAFF(bother/fuss) containing(to hide) CEO(abbrev. for “chief executive officer”, a business leader/head of company).
21. Hundreds taking time on motorway in China (7)
CERAMIC : C,C(2 x Roman numeral for a “hundred”) containing(taking) [ ERA(a long period of time) placed above(on, in a down clue) MI(a major motorway in England, the M1, with the Roman numeral substitution) ].
22. Primate is upset with bishop, say, touring Italy (6)
SIMIAN : Reversal of(… upset) IS plus(with) MAN(a chess piece, an example of which/say, is the bishop) containing(touring) I(the International Vehicle Registration code for Italy).
Defn: …, specifically, an ape or monkey.
23. Journalist supporting American politician is excited (5)
AMPED : ED(abbrev. for “editor”, a senior journalist) placed below(supporting, in a down clue) [ A(abbrev. for “American”) + MP(abbrev. for a Member of Parliament, a politician) ].
24. Reversing Skoda estate, somewhat lost (2,3)
AT SEA : Hidden in(…, somewhat) reversal of(Reversing) “Skoda estate“.
Bit of a slow start but after PROCESSED CHEESE (nice misdirection) and DEFINITE ARTICLE went in, it flowed smoothly. I liked the replacement devices used in VISIBLE and PRECEDENT. I don’t watch the Channel 4 programme but I’m aware of Adam Hills’ Last Leg, so LEGISLATORS was clever, as was ARCHIPELAGO. I think SHEARER should be well known enough to make it fair to non-UK solvers. Also liked HUSSAR, RECEPTACLE and CERAMIC amongst many. Strange style in places but I’m a big fan. My Wolverhampton ear worm for Pauline in Brum 😉
https://youtu.be/YEOoXjdnOmw?si=zD5_wsOehmOOLCUm
Ta Fed & scchua for the colourful blog as always. Liked your SPRIG display
For once this was much easier to get into that previous Feds, which often leave me working through many clues before being able even to spot how one works. I thought the “e for a” trick in “panda car” was a remarkable spot, and lots of other excellent clues. Thank you Fed and Scchua for a wonderfully illustrative blog.
[A couple of points of trivia came to me from this. One is that the term “boffin” has caused anguish at the Institute of Physics, to the extent that they launched a “bin the boffin” campaign to get newspapers to drop the term (See here – all quite light-hearted in fact, and backed by good research).
The other is inspired by mention of Noddy Holder, of Slade, a British rock band from the Black Country for those outside our shores. If you visit the excellent art gallery in Walsall, not only will you be treated to a huge collection of Epstein sculptures, but also works by many other 20th century masters. And to cap it all, the lift will address you with the dulcet tones of Noddy Holder. ]
Thanks Fed and scchua
I had too many unparsed to enjoy it much.
One of the clues (I won’t say which for fear of spoiling) was very similar to one yesterday. Isn’t it up to the editor to pick up on this?
As is usually the case when Fed is the setter I found this difficult and it took me a while – and there were a few I couldn’t parse.
Liked: PRECEDENT, FACE-OFF (like the word faff), EMERGENCE, NIFF, PROCESSED CHEESE, CERAMIC
Thanks Fed and scchua
Strictly a DNF as I had simply no idea whether 27ac, with all possible crossers in place could be Snowman, or SHOWMAN or anything else that fitted with the Mackintosh reference. Though was totally au fait with the ingredient of, presumably, the other Scottish clan origin name of MacDonald’s Big Mac, which was the first one in. Couldn’t quite parse SPRIG, and thought that Leg appearing in the clue for LEGISLATORS was rather disappointing. Other than that, some splendid stuff this morning…
1d could just as well be POSTWOMEN if you take “crew” as a noun rather than a verb.
Loved LEGISLATORS (superb surface), ONEROUS (another lovely surface) and PRECEDENT (for the e for a device) among others.
Thanks Fed & scchua!
I found this easier to get into than previous Fed puzzle, just like JOFT@2, and got off to a flying start with PROCESSED CHEESE. Didn’t know Adam Hills was actually a person to make the clue cleverer, but that wasn’t needed to arrive at LEGISLATORS. Only remembered that there was a royal ‘Archie’ somewhere after getting ARCHIPELAGO from the crossers and the ‘LAGO’ ending. Surely yesterday’s answer was a different word Muffin@2, so just coincidence that the two answers were similar? It certainly didn’t spoil today’s enjoyment for me. A lot of invention from Fed and liked CERAMIC and DEFINITE ARTICLE amongst others. Thanks to Fed and Scchua.
Enjoyed this but thought postwomen better for 1D – treating “crew” as a noun, not a verb. I don’t see anything in the clue that avoids the ambiguity.
Nice pics!
(Hovis @6 typed faster than me 🙂 )
…and with both those MacDonald and Mackintosh allusions this morning, I’m reminded of that childhood “caught you there” joke when you were asked to repeat out loud a series of Scottish surnames that are carefully spelt out for you, until the moment that the word machinery becomes the next in the list, and unwittingly the victim of the joke pronounces it Mac Hinnery, or something similar. Time to get my hat now, of course…
Tomsdad @8
Differrent solution (just!), but very similar clue construction.
Not my cup of tea I’m afraid. We all have our pet dislikes in clues, and one of mine is using shapes of letters in wordplay (‘line’ for I, ‘ring’ etc. for O); I doubly dislike ‘glasses’ for OO in WOO – there’s nothing objectively wrong with it, it just annoys me. Too many other clues were solved from defn./enum. and I just couldn’t be bothered to work out the parsing.
Agree with Hovis@6 on POSTWOM[AE]N.
I did like the intersecting HUSSAR, VISIBLE, EWERS, along with one or two others.
Thanks Fed and scchua.
Enjoyable puzzle, neither too difficult nor too easy, it was just right for me 🙂
I had POSTWOMEN as the answer for 1d.
New for me: NIFF = stink; football pundit Alan SHEARER; theatrical producer Cameron Mackintosh – that said, I am on the Delfont Macintosh email list but did not know he is the owner of those 8 theatres. I think I saw something at one of those theatres last year.
I start to think that cryptic crosswords (both clues and answers) could do with less use of (or reference to) proper nouns, brand names, so-called celebrities. There are plenty of other ways to clue words such as mackintosh, shearer, processed cheese, etc. Using a name like Adam Hills + Last Leg in a clue like 12ac or Noddy Holder in 20ac doesn’t do anything for me as I never heard of them – or maybe it is a red herring for all I know. I’m not saying drop all references to proper nouns/people/places but in this case less is more for me 😉
Favourites: ENROLLED, DEFINITE ARTICLE, FACE-OFF.
Thanks, both.
Thank you. Luckily I filled in postwoman.
Which football fan doesn’t know Alan Shearer anywhere in the world with the EPL enjoying such a huge following? He is also common as an analyst in Supersport. I also wrote in POSTWOMEN due to ‘crew’ in the clue.
And there was me thinking that there must be a Pommie Adam Hills as opposed to the Aussie one appearing on UK TV. 🙂
Two helpings of the same setter today, but I don’t feel overfed. Unlike Michelle, I enjoy Fred’s characteristic lift and separate names like Adam Hills and Noddy Holder, but each to their own.
I really enjoyed this, but I like Fed (double Fed day as it’s Bluth in the Independent).
WOO made me grin, PROCESSED CHEESE took a few crossers then went in easily. I didn’t have a problem with POSTWOMAN.
Thank you to scchua and Fed
I also had trouble getting started but the bottom half took off fairly quickly once I got 18, 19, and 28, but with 27 remaining unsolved. The top half took longer with lots written in and unparsed. Now that I’ve finally seen the parsing I realise some of them are very complicated and I would never have got them without the crossers. LOI was 27 once I finally realised it was hidden in the clue! 1d was a “d’uh’” moment as I have been caught out by gender many times before – and me a feminist! Thanks to scchua and Fed for the work-out.
I love Fed’s innovation. What he does with PRECEDENT is a first for me. In pioneer and daring achievements the result may end up a bit long – same with the ingenious Adam Hills clue and ARCHIPELAGO – but we all love playing with words, so we should rejoice at this invigoration of our (sometimes potentially fusty?) hobby. Smashing stuff, Mr G.
Enjoyable Fed with the characteristic nod to popular culture, though perhaps at the expense of some rather wordy clues.
I liked the surfaces for DEVASTATE and STOOD OUT, the rather ingenious take on an anagram for PRECEDENT, the wordplays for PROFILE, ONEROUS and EMBROIL, and the very well-hidden SHOWMAN. Yes, the clue for 22 is almost identical to that in yesterday’s Picaroon (I don’t think that’s a spoiler, just a comparison). We have seen before ‘tip’ meaning ‘end’ as in the end of your finger. However, I don’t much like it as it is a recognised [Chambers] head selection indicator.
Thanks Fed and scchua.
Many thanks to Fed for a great and challenging solve, and to sschua for the colourful and informative blog. Liked too many to list but PRECEDENT was superb. AlanC @ 1 has already said it all…
[Special thanks to AlanC@ 1 for the earworm. The footage is so funny 😎. Also thanks to JOFT@ 2 for the trivia. I’m adding Walsall New Art Gallery to my list of things to see, if only for the lift 🤣].
That was challenging. I filled the grid but with a couple unparsed. I failed to spot the USSR in 6D, and 14D completely baffled me. In hindsight it is very clever. 28A made me smile.
Thank you fed and sschua
I liked 23a ARCHIPELAGO not least because of the Peter Gabriel reference (not that the solution was actually about any of his music!). The other two mentions I enjoyed were to Adam Hills in the clue for 12a LEGISLATORS (parochial reasons) and Noddy Holder (a talented man) in 20a RECEPTACLE. I take Michelle’s point @13 but like Petert@17 I quite like the clever inclusion of names from popular culture when they’re used judiciously in puzzles. Had trouble with the unfamiliar names – 9a SHEARER and in 27a Mackintosh for SHOWMAN. All fair enough though. I appreciated learning some parsings that I didn’t quite understand by coming to the blog. Thanks to Fed for the puzzle and scchua for the explanations.
Really enjoyed this. Thank you Fed. My favourite clues were the ones for ARCHIPELAGO and PRECEDENT.
And thank you scchua for a splendid and colourful blog.
And thank you to AlanC @1 for the earworm and video. I’d somehow never seen it before. As Pauline in Brum @22 suggests, it’s hilarious!
I don’t think we have niffs in this part of the world. I’d never heard of it, and Collins says it’s British slang.
Parsing PRECEDENT and LEGISLATORS was beyond me.
Last time I attempted a Fed it ended in tears, but today I managed to solve it all, and rather enjoyed it. Either it was easier or my grey matter was working more efficiently today.
Thanks for the pictorial, scchua.
Another POSTWOMEN here, so a dnf I suppose.
Failed to fully parse quite a few including VISIBLE and ashamed to say I couldn’t be bothered to unravel LEGISLATORS even though the various birds were all VISIBLE.
Enough to enjoy, though, so many thanks, both.
The curious thing that emerged from POSTWOMAN is that crew as a verb = MAN, as a noun = MEN (it was mentioned earlier but I though it worth repeating). I won’t fault Fed or the editor for the fact that in the grid it couldn’t be disambiguated by crossers, because it’s not an obvious ambiguity, and once you have one answer you move on.
I also was going to mention the near-identical clue. Speaking of coincidences, just two days ago I saw a random old episode of WILTY, and Noddy Holder was on. Previously, hadn’t seen him in years. Decades, maybe.
Oh my, this was all very clever. Very pleased to have completed this and the last few from Fed, l seem to be finally getting on his wavelength. Many favourites but now that l am spotting the replacements / substitutes clues my big ticks were for visible and precedent. Also, very much liked archipelago and niff. Lots to enjoy – thanks Fed and scchua
As with yesterday’s, unusually quick to complete but also unusually difficult to parse. New to me: NIFF, Cameron Mackintosh, SOP = “steep”. (At least in American English, sop means to soak up liquid — or the item that soaks it up — not to immerse or steep. Thus the Wallace Stevens poem “No possum, no sop, no taters.”) Had forgotten that sense of “crocodile” — again, not used in these parts. I also agree that POSTWOMAN and POSTWOMEN were equally valid solutions.
I’m relieved to discover that file/crocodile has nothing to do with my pet hate, rhyming slang.
I initially had POSTWOMAN then changed it to the plural, but realised that it could be either, for reasons elucidated above.
Thanks for the blog, VISIBLE was a neat trick and HUSSAR was clever with the former state.
I read that SHEARER was the only character that Spitting Image were unable to satirise, they could not spoof his epic banality so just used words he had actually said.
Surely the SHOWMAN is Solomon ?
Another POSTWOMEN. Enjoyed this, with AMPED, FACE OFF and WOO being particularly concise. PRECEDENT was somewhat the opposite. ARCHIPELAGO was my favourite; it took a long time for the penny to drop re keys. Thanks schuua and Fed.
GDU@31: so it’s not “crocodile tears” to (not) rhyme (in any accent) with dossiers for files? Guess I didn’t parse that one correctly then…
AlanC@1 I for one have never herd of Alan Shearer. I don’t follow sports in any country, including my own. Never heard of Adam Hills or Noddy Holder either.
Ronald@5 SHOWMAN is contained in “breakS – HOW MANy” Snowman isn’t.
Oh, that Gorgonzola cheese
It wasn’t very healthy I suppose
Our tom cat fell a corpse upon the mat
When the niff went up his nose.
Thanks, Fed and scchua.
Thanks Fed. Despite several unknown references I was able to solve/guess all of this and found it very enjoyable. I had the same issue as many with POSTWOMAN/POSTWOMEN; I generally believe that a letter in question should always be a crosser to eliminate ambiguity. My top picks were VISIBLE, ARCHIPELAGO, SHOWMAN (liked ‘bits are missing’ as a hidden indicator), DEFINITE ARTICLE, DEVASTATE, STOOD OUT, and CERAMIC. Thanks scchua for the colourful blog.
Valentine @35 – completely irrelevant here so probably will get deleted, but your rhyme reminds me of the famous ‘baited breath’ joke:
Cruel Clever Cat
Sally, having swallowed cheese,
Directs down holes the scented breeze,
Enticing thus with baited breath
Nice mice to an untimely death.
–Geoffrey Taylor
Roz@32 hmm think you are right about Solomon. Seems more like a Fed reference. Hopefully Fed will enlighten us at some point
I took had POSTWOMEN for 1d. Spent a while thinking it looks like POSTMAN works but how do I get 2 more letters. Then realised I was being a bit sexist and wrote POSTWOMEN. It was only after hitting Check All that I realised crew = MEN is somewhat sexist as well, so black marks all round for me today 😔
1d was one of the several I hadn’t parsed, but I now agree that there is nothing to choose between MAN and MEN.
A slog, in which many were left unparsed (and, like yesterday, reading some of the parsing on here was pretty mind-melting in itself) and I ended up progressing a few clues at a time after going away and then coming back to it more than once.
So a difficult one but worth the effort and satisfying to finish – albeit with a bit of assistance from WordWizard for a couple of clues.
That I was able to complete this one (a first for Fed!) is a milestone measure of my progress in this peculiar pastime – progress that has been substantially supported by this excellent site and its diligent volunteers. Thank you all!
Marty@38 he was a proper, what the Americans call a carny.
Well done Scraggs and Joffee , it is all a matter of practice and being stubborn.
Could someone explain what “nailing” is doing in 12 ac?
Sort of – LEG IS and A TORS nailing ( capturing) L , biggest part of Last.
Nailing is not really needed, all the parts have been put in the right order anyway.
I lose the will to live before I have finished reading this sort of clue.
Thanks Roz @43. I’m a long time solver, but certainly no expert. Happy to comment when I’ve struggled as much as when I’ve found it a write-in. Occasionally I’m grouchy about it but generally try not to be…
jeceris@44 – it is possible that “nailing” is just a link word between the cryptic content and the definition, equivalent to “giving” or “leading to”. Unnecessary apart from to give the surface sense.
I thought ‘cash after banks rejected’ = ‘one’ was an abridgement too far…
Sorry I’m late to the blog but W is not represented by “whiskey” in the phonetic alphabet. It’s actually in the NATO list of abbreviations for call signs…. Otherwise a good puzzle and blog. Many thanks to both,
Thanks scchua and thanks all.
Hovis @6 et al – yes, that’s an oversight that crew could be both man or men – I should have made the definition more explicit as to which was the desired answer.
The Showman I intended was Cameron Mackintosh who I think is much more well known than Solly.
To those who grumble about pop culture references: I’ve spent the last 40 or so years doing crosswords that reference things I know little of and care less for – and never grumbled about it. I’d never say, “that did nothing for me as I know nothing about cricket” because my attitude is always, “Oo, I’ve learned something about cricket!”
Beaulieu @12 each to their own and all that, but just so you know, line is not used for L because it resembles a line – but because it is a legitimate abbreviation for line.
Well said Fed. I get a bit fed up with those who proudly proclaim their ignorance of eg football and rock music, while we Philistines are expected to know a vast range of characters from classical mythology and scientific symbols as part of the essential toolkit of puzzle solving.
Fed@50 – I appreciate your taking the trouble to respond, but the character I typed was an upper-case I as in India – not a lower-case L (which I agree would be perfectly OK) – but the font in this site makes them appear pretty much identical.
(And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the constructions I mentioned – it’s just that I don’t much like them, but am quite happy with obscure pop culture references or inexact homophones.)
Beaulieu @50 ah… well, I’ve never seen line = I before… or at least, I don’t remember seeing it!
Whenever I see a name I’ve not come across, my first thoughts are to use it as part of the fodder. Obviously Mackintosh wasn’t.
The only ones I had heard of lacked the K.
FACE/OFF(1997) – directed by John WOO. Unintentional, I’m sure.
FrankieG @55 yes, unintentional.
I liked it, Fed being my favourite setter. A couple of NHOs in SOP and CROCODILE. I’m another who’d take popular culture over sailors and the like!
Thanks very much Fed for clarifications – great puzzle