I found this quite hard-going in places but the clues were very well-constructed.
I had to resort to the clue annotation to explain a couple of them. I did spend a long time on 13D trying to work out in what context a flash could be a cat, only to realize eventually that wasn’t how the clue worked at all. I liked 8D for the cunning definition and misleading context.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | HAMPER |
Make challenging basket (6)
|
| DD | ||
| 4 | PILCHARD |
Dock sent back tough fish (8)
|
| Clip<(=dock) + hard(=tough) | ||
| 9 | LENS CAP |
Mobile places stocking new glass protector (4,3)
|
| Places* around n{ew} | ||
| 11 | SHINDIG |
Do replace content in slang with established language (7)
|
| Hindi replacing the content of s[lan]g | ||
| 12 | PADDINGTON BEAR |
He’s stuffed waffle to come close to encapsulating Belgium (10,4)
|
| Padding(=waffle) + (to near) around B{elgium}. I wasn’t aware that Paddington was a stuffed bear – I’d always assumed he was meant to be a real bear from Peru, so not entirely sure on the definition. | ||
| 14 | LATER |
Some cocksure talk retracted in future (5)
|
| Hidden, rev in cocksure talk | ||
| 15 | CASTIGATE |
Throw goes with current entryway carpet (9)
|
| Cast(=throw) + i(=current in physics) + gate(=entryway) | ||
| 18 | SINCERELY |
Polite sign-off after count (9)
|
| Since(=after) + count(=rely i.e. count on) | ||
| 20 | BATHE |
Swim club here ejecting old royal (5)
|
| Bat(=club) + h[er]e(=rejecting old royal, so remove the late ER). | ||
| 21 | PINBALL MACHINE |
After week, will he bin Pac-Man to play this? (7,7)
|
| &lit. ([W]ill he bin Pac-Man)*. The letter removal is indicated by “after”, the meaning being “use the letters after w{eek}”. | ||
| 25 | INGRATE |
Thankless sort chosen for office grind (7)
|
| In(=chosen for office, as in “Keir Starmer’s in, Rishi Sunak’s out”) + grate(=grind) | ||
| 26 | EXAMINE |
Appraise retro chopper from my collection (7)
|
| Axe<(=chopper) + mine(=from my collection) | ||
| 27 | TETHERED |
Secured Asian holiday with her newsroom boss … (8)
|
| Tet(=Vietnamese New Year, famously known from the “Tet Offensive”) + her + ed{itor} | ||
| 28 | UNLESS |
… if not one in France to a smaller extent (6)
|
| Un(=French for one) + less(=to a smaller extent) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | HOLY |
Only sounded religious (4)
|
| Hom of wholly(=only) | ||
| 2 | MANHATTAN |
Island cocktail (9)
|
| DD/CD | ||
| 3 | ENCODER |
Person making cryptic requires space, and fresh decor (7)
|
| En(=space in printing) + decor* | ||
| 5 | INSET |
Tiny map perhaps – it covers three points (5)
|
| It around N, S and E(=three compass points) | ||
| 6 | CHIANTI |
Fried item almost neutralising wine (7)
|
| Chi[p](=fried item) + anti(=neutralising). Anti for neutralising seems a bit odd – I assume it’s in the sense of an antiseptic or antigen i.e. something that cancels out something else. | ||
| 7 | ADDLE |
Confuse swaying steps with splits (5)
|
| [W]addle – swaying steps is a waddle that has “w{ith}” splitting i.e. leaving. | ||
| 8 | DOG BREEDER |
Who’ll make setters beg, ordered to set differently (3,7)
|
| (Beg ordered)* | ||
| 10 | PANACHE |
Suffer in pursuit of rubbish style (7)
|
| Ache(=suffer) after pan(=rubbish in the sense of “to pan/rubbish something”) | ||
| 13 | FLASHPOINT |
Following cat, duck plunged into drink where violence could flare (10)
|
| F{ollowing} + lash(=cat, as in cat o’ nine tails) + (pint(=drink) around o). | ||
| 16 | SPYWARE |
Last ones in company now spreading free bad apps? (7)
|
| Last letters of [compan]y [no]w in(=spreading) spare(=free) | ||
| 17 | ATTENTIVE |
Careful visiting temporary lodging I have (9)
|
| At(=visiting) + tent(=temporary lodging) + I’ve | ||
| 19 | EDAMAME |
Cheese, ramen, out-of-bounds fare for vegans (7)
|
| Edam(=Dutch cheese) + [r]ame[n]. Edamame is an Asian side-dish of soybeans. | ||
| 20 | BAHRAIN |
Monarchy curses fall (7)
|
| Bah(=curses as an exclamation) + rain(=fall) | ||
| 22 | NIGHT |
Man heading off when people go out? (5)
|
| [K]night. A chess piece is called a “man”. | ||
| 23 | LIEGE |
Superior pork pie brought round for one (5)
|
| Lie(=pork pie) + e.g.(=for one) | ||
| 24 | MESS |
Spot top scorer dropping back (4)
|
| Mess[i]. The def refers to being “in a spot/mess”. |
Minor error in blog for 22d. Definition is “when people go out?”.
Must remember to include Edam among the 4-letter cheeses along with Brie and Feta, it would have helped. As it was, stalled at the end by having mistyped the e of panache; another note to self: check for typos. I quite liked anti for neutralising, odd but inventive. Enjoyable in all, ta Mog and Neal.
COTD for me was 8D after spending ages trying to make an anagram of setters beg – the penny dropped.
Started well in NW corner but then ground mainly to a halt, but clues in retrospect were very fair. It’s surprising how many setters manage to get PADDINGTON BEAR into a crossword. He does come up regularly. Thanks M and N
Nice to see an inoffensive way to clue Tet. I overthought the top scorer and fruitlessly called up a mental list of composers and engravers.
I didn’t find this too bad other than the SE corner where an incorrect LESSEN didn’t help. Not come across TET before but it had to be. Thanks blogger for explaining.
Liked PINBALL MACHINE. I wasted quite a lot of my pocket money on the pac-man variety when I was a child.
Thanks MOH and NealH
I started off strong on this one, PADDINGTON BEAR was FOI, which helped having so many crossers, but I stalled out about halfway through and had to start using a lot of reveals.
2D – I’m not a fan of double definitions where the definitions are closely related, in this case the cocktail being named for the island
I enjoyed 5D, 8D, and 10D. Thanks Neal and Mog!
Popped in here to check my parsing of CHIANTI, but found blogger also lukewarm about ANTI=neutralising.
Not fond of MESSI=top scorer either. Yes, he has scored many goals. Others have scored more. But it was his all round game that made him the greatest. So really we’re equating scorer and footballer. Hmmm…
Anyway, good fun, thanks both.
Another who’s pleased to see TET defined correctly for a change. I’ve kvetched here about that one for years.
EDAMAME is vegan, yes, but plenty of us omnivores have eaten it from time to time. (As with so many other things, my enjoyment of it varies greatly depending on how it’s prepared.)
I agree with Clueless American about MANHATTAN as being a bit same-sidey, although “Island cocktail” is nicely misleading since it puts you in mind of piña coladas, Mai Tais, and the like. So if you treat it as a cryptic rather than double definition, it’ll just about fly.
TripleJumper – you’re right he has/had far more to his game, but as the top scorer for a major club side (Barcelona) and a major international side (Argentina) I think he deserves the description!
Thanks both. Overall, tougher than the average Monday puzzle Boo-boo, talking of which I share NealH’s dismay that PADDINGTON has been stuffed
Incidentally, though I took the clue for MESS to mean ‘top scorer’ in the sense of extremely proficient, Messi is the all-time top scorer for Barcelona, and also in La Liga, Spain’s premier division.