Thank you to Moo. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1. Remove last of ancient vehicles from the east (8)
SUBTRACT : Reversal of(… from the east, in an across clue) [ last letter of(last of) “ancient” + CART,BUS(2 types of vehicles) ].
5. Trouble in top boys’ school (6)
HARROW : Double defn: 1st: To distress; and 2nd: … in Greater London.
9. More than one finished cooked to a frazzle? (8)
OVERDONE : OVER(more than a specified number, eg., one) + DONE(finished/over with).
10. The Speaker’s destiny increasingly untroubled (6)
CALMER : Homophone of(The Speaker’s) “karma”(one’s destiny/fate resulting from one’s actions).
12. Complete quiet always for the poet (5)
SHEER : SH!(quiet!/an interjection to tell someone to be quiet) + E’ER(poetic form of “ever”/always).
13. Poet’s oath upset person with healing hands (9)
OSTEOPATH : Anagram of(… upset) POET’S OATH.
Answer: One who heals medical disorders by manipulating and massaging the skeleton and muscles.
14. Bottle of gin perhaps (6)
SPIRIT : Double defn: 1st: …/courage; and 2nd: An strong distilled alcoholic drink such as/perhaps, gin.
And … a bottle of gin could give you Dutch courage.
16. On reflection I think no American is threatening (7)
OMINOUS : Reversal of(On reflection) IMO(acronym for “in my opinion”/here’s what I think) + NO + US(abbrev. for the United States/American).
And … you don’t think POTUS is making threats (real or otherwise)?
19. Is Sarah making a hot sauce? (7)
HARISSA : Anagram of(… making) IS SARAH.
Defn: … from North Africa.
Sauce and main ingredient:
21. Relative in Lubyanka finally set free (6)
AUNTIE : Last letter of(… finally) “Lubyanka” + UNTIE(set free/release from bonds).
And … Lubyanka is the building in Moscow where your aunt might have been kept prisoner.
23. Utterly depressed by the Tories? (9)
DOWNRIGHT : DOWN(depressed/sad) plus(by) RIGHT(refering to a party with right-wing or conservative views, such as the Tories in the UK.
And … you could be totally put down by the Tory government.
25. Catch an Edith Piaf number (5)
SEIZE : Double defn: 2nd: The number 16 in French, the language of Edit Piaf.
And … you could catch/watch Edith Piaf in concert, singing one or more of her songs/numbers, like this:
26. Panorama first to report on end of the Observer (6)
VIEWER : VIEW(a panorama/sight) + [ 1st letter of(first to) “report” placed after(on) last letter of(end of) “the” ].
27. Feel uneasy about information in hospital grounds (8)
HESITATE : I(abbrev. for “information”) contained in(in) [ H(abbrev. for “hospital”) + ESTATE(grounds/a large area of land owned by one party) ].
28. Precocious girl devouring old books in LA (6)
LOLITA : [ O(abbrev. for “old”) + LIT(abbrev. for “literature”/collectively, books and other written works) ] contained in(in) LA.
Answer: The eponymous character in Vladimir Nabokov’s novel.
Humbert Humbert’s 12-year old nymphet:
… in Stanley Kubrick’s movie adaptation.
29. A model wife at this point leaving husband? In a way (2,2,4)
AS IT WERE : A + SIT(to model/pose for a painter or photographer, say) + W(abbrev. for “wife”) + “here”(at this point/location) minus(leaving) “h”(abbrev. for “husband”).
Down
1. Mate’s back, wanting an E (6)
SPOUSE : “espouse”(to back/to champion) minus(wanting) one, the first(an) “E”.
2. Reportedly second-choice goalie, one needing some protection (9)
BEEKEEPER : Homophone of(Reportedly) “B”(the second-choice, after “A”) KEEPER(like “goalie”, short for a goalkeeper).
… with PPE.
3. What’s specified in contract of theatre director on way up (5)
RIDER : Hidden in(of) reversal of(… on way up, in a down clue) “theatre director”.
4. Party type, as Queen Camilla is? (7)
CONSORT : CON(abbrev. for the Conservative Party) + SORT(a type/a kind).
Answer: What Camilla is to King Charles III.
6. A foreign national, from Turkey perhaps (9)
ANATOLIAN : A + anagram of(foreign) NATIONAL.
Answer: One from the Anatolian Peninsula, which forms part of Turkey.
7. Dance with sailor, keeling over after drink (5)
RUMBA : Reversal of(…, keeling over, in a down clue) AB(abbrev. for “able-bodied seaman”/a sailor) placed after(after) RUM(an alcoholic drink).
8. Ready for a fight? (3,5)
WAR CHEST : Cryptic defn: Reference to funds/money/ready in slang set aside for a conflict.
11. German chap baring bottom? (4)
OTTO : 1st and last letters deleted from(baring) “bottom”.
Answer: A masculine German name.
15. Regret Sun somehow on the rise again (9)
RESURGENT : Anagram of(… somehow) REGRET SUN.
17. Spring in Nigeria almost too hot (9)
ORIGINATE : Anagram of(… hot) [ NIGERIA + last letter deleted from(almost) “too” ].
18. Cast off wickedness? This woman won’t (3-5)
SHE-DEVIL : SHED(to cast off/discard) + EVIL(wickedness).
Answer: A female who is a source of evil, and thus one who is far from getting rid of evil.
20. Mythical vessel slowly heading off (4)
ARGO : “largo”(musical direction to play slowly and in a dignified style) minus its 1st letter(heading off).
Answer: The ship in which the mythical Greek, Jason, sailed in.
21. Cruel for a Cockney, being without guile (7)
ARTLESS : ‘ARTLESS(as a Cockney would pronounce “heartless”/cruel, dropping the “h”).
22. About to give up and go back (6)
RECEDE : RE(with reference to/about) +CEDE(to give up/to surrender).
24. Go round with something on your shoe? (5)
WHEEL : W(abbrev. for “with”) + HEEL(something on/part of your shoe).
25. Hard-up family thrown into street (5)
SKINT : KIN(family/relations) contained in(thrown into) ST(abbrev. for “street”).
Defn: …/having little or no money available.
OVERDONE
I read ‘more than one finished’ as
OVER and DONE (finished in two ways)
LOLITA
‘devouring and in’ work in tandem as an inclusion indicator?
HESITATE
‘about’ is redundant?
Liked SHE-DEVIL and BEEKEEPER
Thanks Moo and scchua
I agree with KVa@1: OVER (finished) + DONE (finished) (more than one “finished”)
“Karma” and “calmer” are not pronounced the same in my rustic dialect: KAR-MAH and CALL-MURR.
I always enjoy the clip-art and hyperlinks from scchua. Working these extras into a blog post takes some real effort, (which is why my own posts tend toward a “just the facts, ma’am” style).
I echo , the praise for scchua, [Cineraria@2], here. Good job , well done.
For me, “La vie en rose”, but ” No Regrets” is a great choice.
A very tough solve, I think; 8(d) WAR CHEST, got it, I get it, but not a great clue.
27(ac), HESITATE, using “information” to get the required [I]….. too many of these lazy plays in this crossword.
It’s a solid puzzle, but , more of a Boo than a Moo.
Blogger beats setter.
Apart from HARROW, in my opinion, being more of a posh boys’ school than top boys’ school, I enjoyed the puzzle as well as the blog. OVERDONE as parsed by KVa is very clever. I liked SHE-DEVIL too.
Loved it. Haters gonna hate. Rules are there to be broken. Crosswords are not ruled by the laws of physics. It’s a battle of wits between setter and solver by fair means or foul. Chin chin!
I was fooled by “Edith Piaf number” as I assumed there was a reference here to something specific to her, rather than just to France. I got OMINOUS but couldn’t parse it as I have never come across IMO before, only IMHO. I’m just too humble.
Is it all right to italicize “Observer” (26) if the answer makes no reference to the newspaper?
Congratulations to Moo and sschua.
Thanks Moo for a great set of clues. My top picks were OMINOUS, AS IT WERE, RUMBA, OTTO, SHE-DEVIL, and ARGO. I couldn’t parse SEIZE or ORIGINATE, not realising that hot could be an anagram indicator. The homophone in CALMER is a stretch for my ears and I didn’t like ‘of’ connecting the two definitions in SPIRIT but I’ve seen this before. Thanks scchua for the blog.
Mostly straightforward but in the end we were left with 17dn and 27ac – not helped by all the crossing letters being vowels, but we did parse them once we saw them.
Thanks, Moo and scchua.
My knowledge of French numbers ends at ten (and I’m not sure of the spelling of a few of those either), so that was today’s education. (I can count arbitrarily high in both German and Spanish, as well as of course English, and I remember just 1-10 in French and of all things Russian; that’s about the end of it. The spelling of the Russian is long gone from my memory.) But I did figure out that that was what was required, as no well-known Edith Piaf songs have titles that short.
I’m another for whom CALMER and KARMA aren’t even close enough to count as fudging it. But of course, complaining about that sort of thing is something I’ve sworn off, so count this as just a comment, not a complaint. I’m aware there are dialects that do elide that L, and many more that elide either or both of those Rs, but I do neither.
Thanks Moo and scchua
10ac: Is it possible that the definite article and capital S on “The Speaker” are intended to refer specifically to the Speaker of the House of Commons, and thus indicate that received pronunciation is to be used to compare the sounds?
27ac: We have discussed this before at some time in the past. i for “information” is not in the dictionaries – at least, on its own – but is often seen on the sign for an information desk in public locations.
A nice little challenge while awaiting the football (in front of the cricket). There were some sneaky ones in here. My dad was an apiarist and BEEKEEPER jumped out at me. I liked SHE DEVIL and ANATOLIAN.
Thanks Mooer and scchua
PB@10: Interesting observation, something I had not noticed. Chambers does list “I-way” meaning “the information superhighway,” and, of course, “IT” for “Information Technology,” which should be common knowledge by now.
Very enjoyable outing by Moo made more enjoyable by the illustrations (to say nothing of the explanations) from scchua.