Thank you to Serenos. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
8. Singer’s strong emotion in costume (8)
WHEATEAR : HEAT(strong emotion/passion) contained in(in) WEAR(outfit/costume).
9. Do not apply for ring (5)
ARENA : [ARE NA(abbrev. for “not applicable”)](do not apply/are not relevant or appropriate).
10. Bargain I secured in party (4)
SNIP : I contained in(secured in) SNP(abbrev. for the Scottish National Party, a political party in Scotland).
11. Steps in dog mess clearly marked (10)
SIGNPOSTED : Anagram of(… mess) STEPS IN DOG) .
12. Fraud involving press ticket (6)
COUPON : CON(a fraud/a swindle) containing(involving) OUP(press/a business that prints books, in this case, the Oxford University Press).
14. Yankee dropping in moving near jam pot (4,4)
MARY JANE : Y(letter represented by “Yankee” in the phonetic alphabet) contained in(dropping in) anagram of(moving) NEAR JAM.
Defn: Like “pot”, a slang term for marijuana.
16. Excuse me: shut away poison (7)
HEMLOCK : HEM(in written form, the sound of clearing the throat to attract someone’s attention, similar to saying “Excuse me”) + LOCK(to enclose securely/shut away).
18. David, say, has not succeeded as fortune-teller (7)
PALMIST : “psalmist”(a writer of sacred songs or hymns, in this case/say, King David of the biblical Book of Psalms) minus(has not) “s”(abbrev. for “succeeded”).
Defn: … who reads palms.
21. Extremely happy in financial district, not going anywhere (8)
ECSTATIC : EC(postal code for East Central London, that includes the City of London, part of that city’s financial district) + STATIC(remain as is/not going anywhere)
23. Rock band’s half season (6)
BASALT : 1st 2 of 4 letters of(…’s half) “band” + SALT(season/to add ingredients that add to the taste of food, in this case, to add salt).
Defn: Volcanic ….
24. Stamp coin on reverse, incising line (5,5)
PENNY BLACK : PENNY(a coin in UK currency equal to one-hundredth of a pound) plus(on) BACK(to reverse/go in the opposite of forward direction) containing(incising) L(abbrev. for “line”).
26. Scottish island? Objection: English (4)
BUTE : BUT(word introducing an objection/a disagreeing with) + E(abbrev. for “English”).
27. Join together, but it turns loose (5)
UNTIE : UNITE(to join together/combine) with reversal of(but … turns) “IT”.
28. Ill-educated, go in for rambling tirade (8)
IGNORANT : Anagram of(… for rambling) GO IN + RANT(tirade/a loud angry critical speech).
Down
1. Excelled protecting one note well: it may be hacked (8)
SHINBONE : SHONE(excelled/performed brilliantly) containing(protecting) [ I(Roman numeral for “one”) + NB(abbrev. for “nota bene”, denoting, in text, that the reader should note well/pay attention to what follows) ].
Defn: In sport, that which may be hacked/kicked or struck with a stick by one player on another.
2. Charge covering mass swindle (4)
RAMP : RAP(a criminal charge for a specific offence) containing(covering) M(abbrev. for “mass” in physics).
3. Concerned about a youngster’s sanity (6)
REASON : RE(with regard to/concerned about) + A + SON(an informal form of address for a youngster).
4. Birth almost taking a month, but this shouldn’t end in tears (7)
ORIGAMI : “origin”(birth/the beginning) minus its last letter(almost) containing(taking) [ A + M(abbrev. for “month”) ].
Defn: The “this” in the definition that involves only folding and no tearing.
5. Buzzer didn’t make much noise? (4)
WASP : [ WAS P(abbrev. for “piano”, musical direction to play softly) ](did not make much noise).
6. Two judges see a mess, after torturing outlaw (5,5)
JESSE JAMES : Anagram of(…, after torturing) [ J,J(2 x abbrev. for “judge”) + SEE A MESS].
Defn: American ….
7. As a precaution putting in last protein (6)
CASEIN : [ IN CASE ](as a precaution/as a provision against something happening or becoming true) with IN moved to the end( putting …last).
13. A classical language has spread outside old German province (10)
PALATINATE : [A + LATIN(a classical language) ] contained in(has … outside) PÂTÉ(a rich savoury paste/spread).
Defn: …, ruled by a palatine.
15. Memorial needs much slimming down for narrow inlet (3)
RIA : “Memorial” minus all but 3 letters(needs much slimming down).
17. Pretend not to see prune (3)
CUT : Double defn: 1st: …/to ignore; and 2nd: …/remove superfluous or unwanted parts.
19. Hairy bit of damage in small place I look after (5,3)
SPLIT END : S(abbrev. for “small”) + PL(abbrev. for “place”) + I + TEND(to look after/to care for).
20. Scuffle that is a problem for flock (7)
SCRAPIE : SCRAP(a scuffle/a minor fight) + IE(abbrev. for “id est”/that is).
Defn: …, ie. a disease affecting a flock of sheep.
22. Butcher has no time to train darling child (6)
CHERUB : Anagram of(… to train) [ “Butcher” minus(has no) “t”(abbrev. for “time”) ].
23. No good cycling on island, not much cover (6)
BIKINI : “g”(abbrev. for “good”) deleted from(No …) “biking”(cycling/riding a bike) placed above(on, in a down clue) I(abbrev. for “island”).
Defn: A two-piece swimming costume with ….
Named after the island in the Bikini Atoll, where nuclear bombs were once tested.
25. In speech, Oxbridge representative breathed hard (4)
BLEW : Homophone of(In speech) “blue”(Oxbridge representative/one who has represented Oxford University or Cambridge University in a particular sport).
26. Difficulty over bit of ribbon that may stick to one’s coat (4)
BURR : Reversal of(… over) RUB(a difficulty/problem in a situation) + 1st letter of(bit of) “ribbon”.
I have been looking forward to this setter’s second offering after the splendid debut in September. I ticked so many delightful clues, especially SIGNPOSTED, MARY JANE, PALMIST, BASALT, UNTIE, WASP, JESSE JAMES, CHERUB and BIKINI. More please.
I noticed BE WEIRD across the bottom row, highlighted by Paddymelon on the G site, and apart from the quirky style, like her I’m not sure if it has any significance.
Ta Serenos & scchua for the colour.
Enjoyable crossword, though I do wish the Graun would pension off this grid, which has four lights with a majority of unchecked letters and very few crossers giving the initial letters of the words they cross. For that reason I struggled for a long time before seeing SHINBONE. Entertaining blog from sschua as well.
Thanks, both.
Very nice puzzle. I got stuck at the end with CASEIN and ARENA, but finally got there. Couldn’t parse SHINBONE – seems a bit iffy to me. Favourites were ORIGAMI, SIGNPOSTED and MARY JANE. Many thanks to S & s.
Thanks Serenos and scchua
I had a slow start – FOI, clues taken in order, was JESSE JAMES – but once a few more went in it went smoothly. Some inventive clueing,a nd a lot of fun!
I wonder if Serenos didn’t know that BIKINI is an island. Its clue is a bit odd if he did.
One minor point – a RIA isn’t necessarily narrow. It’s a river valley that has been inundated by sea level rise (in the same way that a fjord is a flooded galcial valley). There are several in the southwest of England. Plymouth Hrabour is one, and it certainly isn’t narrow.
I liked the wordplay for SHINBONE, but was the definition a bit oblique? I don’t want to fall into the trap of blaming my own obtuseness on the setter, but I found this quite hard. In retrospect I liked ORIGAMI and PENNY BLACK. A very nicely illustrated blog as always.
Challenging, mostly because of odd usages of words. I’m not particularly a fan of that, but certainly fair. Thank you Serenos and Scchua.
On September 18th, I blogged Serenos’ first puzzle, which many of us thought remarkable for a début offering. Just two days later, the solution at 1ac in the Saturday Prize puzzle, by Enigmatist, celebrating his 250th Guardian crossword, was a repeat of the entry at 10dn (OCCLUDED FRONT) in the Serenos puzzle.
Orense was the pseudonym used by John Henderson for his puzzles in the FT …
Thx Eileen @7: I remembered your glowing blog. Paddymelon mentioned on the G site, that Serenos was in fact a very experienced setter, so that explains the polish.
I agree with muffin@4: I am looking out my window at the Derwent estuary, which is a RIA but is most certainly not narrow. Most of this went in OK, but I had real trouble with the NW. RAMP = swindle? NHO it, though no doubt someone will point to a dictionary somewhere. Not did I know a WHEATEAR. Thanks, Serenos and scchua.
It’s past my bedtime so I won’t go into the crossword here except to say I enjoyed it and if there is a nina at row 15, it could be related to related to mind-altering drugs and alternative stuff like palmistry.
Clearly this setter didn’t come down in the last shower. I wonder if he is Jeremy Mutch, with similar names/anagrams, ORENSO from the FT, EL SORENSO from the DT, posts as ORENSO-Jay on Big Dave’s crossword. Can’t do too many links here. But there’s this from Best for Puzzles (scroll down to Mutch.)
I don’t have any personal experience of this setter, if this is right, in the FT or DT. Maybe others have and can comment.
Eileen @7 I thought Orense was Jeremy Mutch, not John Henderson?? I would love to know who it is!
Eileen @7 I didn’t see your post when I posted @10. So much for my sleuthing. 🙁
Edit: And now Amdrew thinks it’s JM too, not JH.
Doesn’t matter. I liked the crossie. Beddie byes now..
Petert @5, unfortunately not so obtuse for me – memories of school football where hacking (kicking your opponents’ shinbones as hard as possible) seemed to be the dominant and accepted strategy, but I suppose that was the era of Norman “bites yer legs” Hunter.
Amdrew @11 and paddymelon @12- it seems you’re right, according to Michael Curl / Orlando, – not the first time I’ve been found with egg on my face. 🙁 My apologies all round.
(I still think the repeated OCCLUDED FRONT is not a coincidence, though.)
Loved this, especially the creative definitions – ‘it may be hacked’, ‘shouldn’t end in tears’ and ‘not much cover’.
Thanks to Serenos and scchua
No, TassieTim@9, I didn’t know RAMP=swindle either. I did know the WHEATEAR, but got so hung up on it being a human singer that I finally revealed it, and then kicked myself. The other reveal was CASEIN: love the clue but didn’t know the name of the protein. Also failed to parse PALMIST.
Whoever Serenos is, they’re a fine setter. Liked ARE N/A, WAS P, BUT E, BASALT, BIKINI and UNTIE. And an answer that actually is a Disease Of The Sheep! My last in was SHINBONE: I don’t play any of the games where hacking it is an acceptable tactic.
Thanks Serenos and scchua.
Like AlanC @1, I’d been really looking forward to a second appearance from Serenos and this was no disappointment.
I had a long list of ticks, reluctantly whittled down to MARY JANE, PALMIST, ECSTATIC, SHINBONE, ORIGAMI, JESSE JAMES, PALATINATE and SPLIT END.
Another who didn’t know RAMP = swindle.
Many thanks to Serenos and scchua.
Loved the crossword generally, but felt it was a little spoiled by some bonkers surface readings. Yankee dropping in moving near jam pot isn’t a sentence one’s likely to meet often!
Having got that of my chest, CASEIN & CHERUB are both examples of elegant cluing, and I had an unworthy thought that 28a might possibly be referring to the current occupant of the White House?
Many thanks, both.
I found this hard, could not get a start without checking letters. But appreciated the puzzle once it was done…. Needed this site for a few parsings
Nho RAMP=swindle, but fairly gettable. However I initially had BEEP for 5d (BEE-P), given that in my experience bees buzz and wasps don’t, and was thus flummoxed by 9a until I decided to use the check button. I think I prefer my answer.