Thank you to Filbert. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1. Hospital department quick to bandage injury (8)
PHARMACY : PACY(quick/fast-moving) containing(to bandage) HARM(injury/damage).
5. Tricky opening golf range (6)
GAMBIT : G(letter represented by “golf” in the phonetic alphabet) + AMBIT(range/the scope of something).
Defn: …/an act calculated to gain advantage at the start of a situation, such as a chess game.
10. Tesla cracks concrete after flipping further down the road (5)
LATER : T(symbol for “Tesla”, unit of magnetic flux density in physics) contained in(cracks) reversal of(… after flipping) REAL(concrete/actual).
Defn: … in time.
11. Trot across circle then pause in circular dance (9)
ROUNDELAY : RUN(trot/to run at a moderate pace) containing(across) O(letter representing a circle) plus(then) DELAY(a pause/a period of time during which something is postponed).
12. Attract wrinkly men? It’s age (9)
MAGNETISE : Anagram of(wrinkly) MEN? IT’S AGE.
14. Tin-filling method demonstrated (5)
SHOWN : SN(symbol for the chemical element, tin) containing(filling) HOW(the method/the way to do something).
15. Criticise dyke builder’s mistake after rupture (4,3,1,5)
TEAR OFF A STRIP : [ OFFA(the Anglo-Saxon king who ordered the construction of the dyke/earthwork that roughly follows the border between England and Wales)’S + TRIP(mistake/misstep) ] placed after(after) TEAR(a rupture/split).
18. Superficially thuggish crook steals superior Renaissance painting (3,4,6)
THE LAST SUPPER : 1st and last letters of(Superficially) “thuggish” + anagram of(crook) STEALS + UPPER(superior/in a higher position or status).
Defn: … by Leonardo da Vinci.
22. Chambers occupied with circulating what lungs take in (5)
ATRIA : AT(occupied with/engrossed in, as in “at work”) + reversal of(circulating) AIR(what lungs take in when you breathe).
… in your heart:
24. Appreciate artist cutting chocolate bar for eating festival (5,4)
MARDI GRAS : [ DIG(to appreciate/to be keen on) + RA(abbrev. for “Royal Academician”, a member of the Royal Academy of Arts/an artist) ] contained in(cutting) MARS(a chocolate bar manufactured by Mars Inc.).
Defn: Last day of the Carnival festive season ie. the last day to stuff oneself with rich foods before the start of the Lent fast the next day. And that day’s given name comes from the French for “Fat Tuesday”.
25. Detective scrubs face for evening speech (9)
DISCOURSE : DI(abbrev. for “Detective Inspector”) + SCOURS(scrubs/cleans a surface by rubbing hard) + 1st letter of(face for) “evening”.
26. Two people checking story admit government stole (5)
EDGED : Two x ED(abbrev. for “editor”/person who checks stories for publication or broadcast) containing(admit) G(abbrev. for “government”).
Defn: …/moved quietly and surreptitiously.
28. Zip shortened on back of costume as much as required (6)
ENOUGH : “nought”(nothing/zip) minus its last letter(shortened) placed after(on) last letter of(back of) “costume”.
29. Toes vary wildly, accept hosts at bedtime (4,4)
STAY OVER : Anagram of(… wildly) TOES VARY.
Defn: Accept hosts/invites at bedtime.
Down
1. Malty hop puzzled expert crossing fields (8)
POLYMATH : Anagram of(… puzzled) MALTY HOP.
Defn: …/one having knowledge across many areas.
2. Creativity without which our world would be what? (3)
ART : Reverse clue: “earth”(our world/planet) minus(without) “ART“ gives(would be) “eh?”(like “what?”, an expression of inquiry).
3. Spooner’s rude manner, a somewhat dotty way to communicate (5,4)
MORSE CODE : Spoonerism of(Spooner’s) “coarse(rude) mode(manner)”.
Defn: Cryptically, the communication system consisting of dots and dashes.
4. City club maybe opening in Islington with volume right up (7)
CARDIFF : CARD(that which could/maybe belong to the suit of clubs in a deck of playing cards) + 1st letter of(opening in) “Islington” plus(with) FF(abbrev. for “fortissimo”, musical direction to play very loudly/to increase the playing volume right up).
6. Chain with eyelets at both ends (5)
ANDES : AND(with/in addition) + 1st and last letters of(… at both ends) “eyelets”.
Defn: …/range of mountains in S. America.
7. Boys initially distribute exam, one marked before new term? (6,5)
BALLOT PAPER : 1st letter of(… initially) “Boys” + ALLOT(to distribute/to apportion) + PAPER(a written exam).
Defn: Cryptically, that on which a voter marks his/her choice as to who gets a new term of office.
8. Tiresome noise from unhappy baby changing sides in cot (6)
TRYING : “crying”(noise from an unhappy baby) with “c”(left side/1st letter of “cot”) changing to “t”(right side/last letter of “cot”).
9. Force has ceremonial kit covering uniform (6)
DURESS : DRESS(ceremonial kit/uniform or other clothing worn on ceremonial occasions) containing(covering) U(abbrev. for “uniform”).
13. Powerful car adjusted, muting roars (4,7)
GRAN TURISMO : Anagram of(adjusted) MUTING ROARS.
Defn: Type of car designed for speed and luxury.
The name’s Martin … Aston Martin:
16. As usual, king enjoying Cambs town’s amenities? (9)
ROUTINELY : R(abbrev. for “Rex”/king) [OUT IN …](enjoying/taking advantage of …’s amenities) … ELY(town in Cambridgshire/Cambs).
17. Religious campaigner‘s vintage blue clothes for Easter (8)
CRUSADER : CRU(region in France producing high quality wine as is vintage/place where high quality wine is produced) + SAD(blue/feeling down) + 1st and last letters of(clothes for) “Easter”.
19. Like bog Bill is on (6)
ADMIRE : MIRE(a bog/swampy ground) placed below(… is on, in a down clue) AD(short for “advertisement”, an example of which is a handbill/bill).
20. Harass soldiers repeatedly, time after time (7)
TORMENT : { [ OR(abbrev. for “other ranks”/collectively, non-commissioned soldiers), MEN(soldiers/members of the military in general) ](soldiers repeatedly) + T(abbrev. for “time”) } placed below(after, in a down clue) T(abbrev. for “time”).
21. Total that is under 100 – someone helping with your golf? (6)
CADDIE : [ ADD(to total/to sum) + IE(abbrev. for “id est”/that is) ] placed below(under, in a down clue) C(Roman numeral for 100).
Defn: … by carrying your clubs and giving you playing advice.
23. E in solo transposed up a third throughout (5)
ALONG : The “E” in “alone”(solo/by oneself) changed to(transposed up) “G”(the musical note obtained by raising the note “E” by 2 tones/a major third).
Defn: …/all the way in a certain direction, as in “he ran all throughout the way from A to B”.
27. Quit with rude gesture for boss (3)
GOV : GO(quit/leave) plus(with) V(the rude gesture resembling the letter V made by pointing the first 2 fingers upward and the back of the hand facing outward).
Answer: Short for “governor”, the person in charge/boss.
Cool pics as ever scchua, nice touch with the Bond car (is that Clarkson driving?). And the harlequin caddie (aih, just came from doing a harlequin riff on the Everyman blog). For some reason, always thought a roundelay was a music form (cf, eg, madrigal), dnk it was a dance. Always a-learnin’. All is well, ta Filbert and scchua.
GIF – a ROUNDELAY is both of those things – song AND dance.
Super blog, scchua. I’m guessing Peter Sellers as the driver? He played 007 in that mash-up of Casino Royale in the sixties.
A Grand Tour of cryptic devices, from the ever-original, and ever-reliable, Filbert.
11(ac) defeated me, my gungadin was ROUNDALLY, my “pause” being “dally” instead of “delay”. Doh.
This is such a darned clever puzzle, I dally to make any quibbles: but, I am not so keen on ALONG = “throughout” in 23(d), or the syntax in 14(ac), SHOWN.
So what? It’s yet another gem from Fil.
TEAR OFF A STRIP and MARDI GRAS…..how does he invent such cunning clues, so often?
A pleasure, Filbert & scchua
I think 22 is an &lit.
I’ve never heard MAGNETISE to mean attract, but I see it is there even in my preferred pre-war dictionary, so fair dues.
ROUTINELY and TEAR OFF A STRIP were my top two today. Great puzzle and blog. I wasn’t sure about what a ROUNDELAY was either but I didn’t want to make a song and dance about it.
Another top notch puzzle from Filbert, and rare to see such a detailed blog, thanks scchua.
My favourite today also ROUTINELY, although aside from the cathedral is there much else to be out doing in Ely?
Filbert produces such great surfaces… 12a, 24a, 25a, 28a, 27d particularly.
Also enjoyed GAMBIT, ART, ANDES, ALONG, but so clever all round.
Great puzzle and blog. Incidentally it’s a minor third in 23D, unless it’s G sharp or E flat (my LOI so I had to think about it).
Ian @3: I had roundally initially too. Not sure why, since I’d certainly heard of a ROUNDELAY.
My parents are from New Orleans (they moved to Indiana before my birth–as an academic, my father had to go where the tenure track took him). That’s MARDI GRAS central, so I know the festival pretty well. I’ve never thought of the day as principally being about eating–parades, wild costumes, and general debauchery seem to dominate. But of course the onset of the Lenten fast is its origin. And one can never go to New Orleans without eating far more than is good for you, so there will perforce be food involved! (Etouffee, beignets, gumbo, jambalaya, bananas Foster, bread pudding, po-boys, muffalettas, and more gumbo, please and thank you.)
[Me @8: of course, unless you’re under 30 and/or actively looking for debauchery, Mardi Gras is literally the worst time for a visit to New Orleans. Don’t do it! Don’t even think about it! High prices, massive crowds, and the many charms of the city overwhelmed by the same.]