The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/29873.
Alia, a relatively new addition to the Guardian stable, professes an aim to the easier end of the spectrum, and follows that here. The Australian usage in 1D and the ‘jazz legend’ (a debatable definition) in 21A were new to me, but apart from that it was not too taxing, with basic wordplay wrapped in sensible surfaces.
There was an error message when I loaded the blog to fifteensquared, but I cannot see any problem with the result.
| ACROSS | ||
| 8 | DOMINEER |
Individual who’s busy protecting pit boss (8)
|
| An envelope (‘protecting’) of MINE (‘pit’) in DOER (‘individual who’s busy’). | ||
| 9 | CACHE |
Hoard of money for the auditor (5)
|
| Sounds like (‘for the auditor’) CASH (‘money’). | ||
| 10 | I SAY |
Blimey, it’s actually devoid of content (1,3)
|
| ‘It’S ActuallY‘ minus the interior letters (‘devoid of content’). | ||
| 11 | ON THE TABLE |
Place for playing poker maybe up for discussion (2,3,5)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 12 | FODDER |
More rum accompanying fine food (6)
|
| A charade of F (‘fine’) plus ODDER (‘more rum’). | ||
| 14 | ON CAMERA |
Ace Roman possibly captured, in a way (2,6)
|
| An anagram (‘possibly’) of ‘ace Roman’. | ||
| 16 | ASUNDER |
In pieces, and sure to be rebuilt (7)
|
| An anagram (‘to be rebuilt’) of ‘and sure’. | ||
| 18 | LAPTOPS |
Track distance with the best computers (7)
|
| A charade of LAP (‘track distance’) plus TOPS (‘the best’). | ||
| 21 | OPERETTA |
Old jazz legend James covering a G&S work? (8)
|
| An envelope (‘covering’) of PER (‘a’) in O (‘old’) plus ETTA (‘jazz legend James’ – Etta James). The question mark is for the indication by example. | ||
| 23 | GOLFER |
Club owner about to strike back (6)
|
| A reversal (‘back’) of RE (‘about’) plus FLOG (‘strike’). | ||
| 24 | MALEFACTOR |
Delinquent fella with influence (10)
|
| A charade of MALE (‘fella’) plus FACTOR (‘influence’). | ||
| 26 | SOHO |
House in very central London neighbourhood (4)
|
| A charade of SO (‘very’) plus HO (‘house’); ‘in’ is misleading. | ||
| 27 | SLATE |
Criticise list of potential candidates (5)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 28 | TOILETRY |
Facecloth perhaps made from thin cotton sample (8)
|
| A charade of TOILE (‘thin cotton’) plus TRY (‘sample’). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | COP SHOPS |
Where you’ll see officers in the vicinity of Melbourne’s charity outlets? (3,5)
|
| A charade of C (circa, ‘in the vicinity of’) OP SHOPS (‘Melbourne’s charity outlets’ – an Australian and NZ term). | ||
| 2 | AIRY |
Well-ventilated farm building without windows in the middle (4)
|
| A subtraction: [d]AIRY (‘farm building’) minus the D (‘without winDows in the middle’). | ||
| 3 | RENOIR |
Gritty film genre led by extremely reputable artist (6)
|
| A charade of RE (‘extremely ReputablE‘) plus NOIR (‘gritty film genre’). | ||
| 4 | ORATION |
Important delivery definitely happening around 13:25, say (7)
|
| An envelope (‘around’) of RATIO (’13:25 say’ – the numbers are arbitrary, and ratios are often expressed with a colon) in ON (‘definitely happening’). | ||
| 5 | ACME |
Top component from system carefully lifted up (4)
|
| A hidden (‘component from’) reversed (‘lifted up’ on a down light’) answer in ‘systEM CArefully’. | ||
| 6 | SCRAP METAL |
Smart place for recycling industrial waste? (5,5)
|
| An anagram (‘for recycling’) of ‘smart place’. | ||
| 7 | CELLAR |
Good location to store wine, merchant declared (6)
|
| Sounds like (‘declared’) SELLER (‘merchant’). | ||
| 13 | DONER KEBAB |
OK beer and terribly second-rate takeaway food (5,5)
|
| A charade of DONERKEBA, an anagram (‘terribly’) of ‘OK beer and’, plus B (‘ssecond-rate’). | ||
| 15 | CHA |
Drink some horchata (3)
|
| A hidden answer (‘some’) in ‘horCHAta’. Horchata is also a drink. | ||
| 17 | EAT |
Have energy and tenacity at the outset (3)
|
| First letters (‘at the outset’) of ‘Energy And Tenacity’. | ||
| 19 | PLETHORA |
God features in prayer a lot (8)
|
| An envelope (‘features in’) of THOR (‘god’) in PLEA (‘prayer’). | ||
| 20 | CANTATA |
Preserve later Bach choral piece? (7)
|
| A charade of CAN (‘preserve’) plus TATA (see you ‘later’). The question mark is for the indication by example. | ||
| 22 | PRAISE |
Wage increase follows partner’s first commendation (6)
|
| A charade of P (‘Partner’s first’) plus RAISE (‘wage increase’). | ||
| 23 | GERBIL |
Grey rabbit regularly pursued by large rodent (6)
|
| A charade of GERBI (‘GrEy RaBbI regularly’) plus L (‘large’). | ||
| 25 | ACER |
Tree – one alongside river (4)
|
| A charade of ACE (‘one’) plus R (‘river’). | ||
| 26 | SEER |
Forecaster ultimately predicts the same weather (4)
|
| Last letters (‘ultimately’) of ‘predictS thE samE weatheR‘. |
Thanks PeterO.
I really enjoyed this, lots of laughs.
I did know Etta (James) in OPERETTA, (she sang in several genres, including jazz). Was a wake-up to PER for A, which we’ve had a few times recently.
I wish I hadn’t revealed my LOI PLETHORA. Tried to insert chins or noses in something. Nice misdirection as to the def (well, for me anyway). (I just went back over that and AI is using my comment. That’s really scary! Pity anyone who looks up PLETHORA and gets my failed attempt.)
FACECLOTH is a word which has many synonyms across the continents. Flannel, washer, washcloth, washrag etc.
This Aussie got {C)OP SHOPS but, while readily solvable, CACHE/CASH isn’t a homophone for us. So you win some, and lose some, just like the cricket. 🙂