Thankfully a breezy puzzle from Artexlen today.
An enjoyable steady solve. Thanks to Artexlen, and Happy New Year to all.
ACROSS
1. Risked opening originally unpopular type of wine (8)
VENTURED
VENT (opening) + U[npopular] (originally) + RED (type of wine)
6. Very much noble fellow making entry in empty diary (6)
DEARLY
EARL (noble fellow) making entry into D[iar]Y (empty)
9. Recalled exactly what one needs and beats high-achievers (6)
TITANS
IT< (exactly what one needs, <recalled) + TANS (beats)
10. One with rough coat, superior clothing according to Spooner (8)
WIREHAIR
HIGHER WEAR (superior clothing, according to Spooner)
11. Announced future outdoor event (4)
FETE
“FATE” (future, “announced”)
12. Shun a crowd merrily singing in the morning (4,6)
DAWN CHORUS
(SHUN A CROWD)* (*merrily)
14. Painting back of article with certainty it’s man-made object (8)
ARTEFACT
ART (painting) + [articl]E (back of) + FACT (certainty)
16. Bounteous land herd means to use regularly (4)
EDEN
[h]E[r]D [m]E[a]N[s] (to use regularly)
18. Pole pointed weapon heartlessly (4)
SPAR
SP[e]AR (pointed weapon, heartlessly)
19. People out to offend nurses electrify unoccupied patient beds, say (8)
TROLLEYS
TROLLS (people out to offend) nurses E[lectrif]Y (unoccupied)
21. Kitchen appliance inventor handled gym equipment (10)
KETTLEBELL
KETTLE (kitchen appliance) + BELL (inventor)
Alexander Graham Bell
22. Sack son carried in public (4)
OUST
S (son) carried in OUT (public)
24. That man left winter sports equipment outside in Nordic city (8)
HELSINKI
HE (that man) + L (left) + (SKI (winter sports equipment) outside IN)
26. Wife distressed lamented (6)
WAILED
W (wife) + AILED (distressed)
27. Books the property of that lady, not me (6)
OTHERS
OT (books, Old Testament) + HERS (the property of that lady)
28. Try hard setting floor covering on stone with diminished joy (8)
STRUGGLE
Setting RUG (floor covering) on ST (stone) with GLE[e] (joy, diminished)
DOWN
2. Frenchman turned European Green (5)
EMILE
(E (European) + LIME (green))< (<turned)
3. A rogue with street cred that’s hidden from rivals (5,6)
TRADE SECRET
(A + STREET CRED)* (*rogue)
4. Supporting soldiers, uplifting praise is excess (8)
RESIDUAL
RE (supporting soldiers, Royal Engineers) + ((LAUD (praise) + IS)< (<uplifting)
5. Curse those goats all over teenagers’ stuff? (4,4,3,4)
DOWN WITH THE KIDS
Cryptic definition
A play on words
6. Manage shots I had returned on court (6)
DIRECT
I’D< (I had, <returned) + RE (on) + CT (court)
7. Dust and clean, losing weight (3)
ASH
[w]ASH (clean, losing W (weight))
8. Put garland on certainly in casual manner (9)
LEISURELY
Put LEI (garland) on SURELY (certainly)
13. Missing no more, chess piece found under toilet (11)
OVERLOOKING
OVER (no more) + KING (chess piece) found under LOO (toilet)
Over/no more in the sense of being done/dead
15. Speak for a revolutionary with grudge (9)
REPRESENT
PER< (a, <revolutionary) with RESENT (grudge)
17. Learner of climbing, junior devotee (8)
FOLLOWER
(L (learner) + OF)< (<climbing) + LOWER (junior)
20. Starts demoting good people (6)
BEINGS
BE[g]INS (starts, demoting G (good))
23. Metal appropriate in auditorium (5)
STEEL
“STEAL” (appropriate, “in auditorium”)
25. Look for missing king and judge (3)
SEE
SEE[k] (look for, missing K (king))
Thanks Artexlen and Oriel
4dn: I took the initial word “Supporting”, together with the comma, as just indicating that the letters SIDUAL follow RE in a down clue.
Same thoughts as PB wrt RE SIDUAL. This all went in very smoothly with only KETTLEBELL giving serious need for head-scratching at the end. I thought OTHERS was delightful, along with OVERLOOKING and REPRESENT. I didn’t fully parse DIRECT – I did not consider the two word def ‘manage shots’.
Thanks Artexlen and Oriel
A joint solve between patient and visitor in hospital, but the only TROLLEYS we saw were in the crossword and no-one was out to offend the nurses.
A very pleasant solving experience with just enough challenge for it not to be a doddle. Nice to see a Frenchman other than Rene, although we took a while to see EMILE, as we did for KETTLEBELL. Favourites, though, were DAWN CHORUS, HELSINKI and OVERLOOKING.
Thanks, Artexlen and Oriel.
Happy new year
LEISURELY is a nice surface, and STEEL is nice and concise
I am afraid I did not understand the definitions in DOWN WITH…. or TITANS, nor do I understand how “exactly what one needs” is “it”. Would someone explain please? Anyway, a lucky guess in 9ac saved me from a DNF
Thanks Artexlen and Oriel
It’s funny. I pronounce FETE as fet as in mosfet being here in the US and couldn’t see that! Also never heard of WIREHAIR and can’t imagine ever using it. At some point I thought that could be WEREWOLF! . Thought the rest of it was a lot of fun. thank you all and happy new year.
9ac: ODE 2010 p 1866 gives titan a person or thing of very great strength, intellect, or importance: a titan of American industry, which I think is near enough to the required meaning. ODE p 929 gives it¹ 7 exactly what is needed or desired: they thought they were it | you’ve either got it or you haven’t.
I can’t help with DOWN WITH THE KIDS.
And, of course, Happy New Year to everyone.
Thanks PB@6. Yes, I thought of the TITAN definition you quoted and came to the opposite conclusion, namely it is not the same as high achiever. If it is close enough for you then I am happy to accept it.
And thanks for the definition of it. I had always thought differently about the meaning of “they thought they were it”. Interesting
AS@5: I thought of WIREHAIR as a type of dog. So werewolf was not far off
Martyn @4 – DOWN WITH THE KIDS (or yoof) is how people trying to act like they’re cool with teenagers – youth (yoof) pastors get described (and I say it about myself when I know some new vocabulary nobody else seems to know, because I’ve been youthworking for years, so hear that stuff). And kids are baby goats.