Guardian 27,004 / Puck

This crossword from Puck was a nice Saturday challenge – mostly fairly straightforward with a tricky North East quadrant, we thought.

As you expect from this setter there were some clever bits of wordplay in this puzzle, e.g. in HEMMING and THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA, and I particularly liked NARRATOR and WEIGHTS.

Across

8. Clean sheet after playing against City (8)
SANTIAGO
O = “Clean sheet” (to keep a clean sheet is to have no goals scored against you) + (AGAINST)*
Definition: “City”

9. Fish in sea, side by side (6)
MARLIN
R and L (both “side”s) in MAIN = “sea”
Definition: “Fish”

10. Hospital ring doctor in Iran about lozenges (6)
RHOMBI
H = “Hospital” + O = “ring” + MB = “doctor” all in IR = “Iran” reversed
Definition: “lozenges”

12. Bridges, perhaps, behind schedule crossing a river (8)
LAUREATE
LATE = “behind schedule” around URE = “river”
Definition: “Bridges, perhaps” – referring to Robert Bridges. We thought of a lot of types of bridge or people called Bridge, and didn’t come up with him – fortunately the cryptic part was fairly clearly constructed, even if there are also a lot of possible rivers too.

14. Tiny bit drunk (6)
TIDDLY
Double definition: “Tiny” and “bit drunk”

16. Extensive opus is a composer’s first output (8)
SPACIOUS
(OPUS IS A C)*, with “output” as the anagram indidator, I guess to be thought of as “put out”
Definition:

17. Film about composer’s grave (7)
EARNEST
ET = “Film” around ARNE = “composer”
Definition: “Grave”

20. With this gym equipment, starts working out? (7)
WEIGHTS
A very nice &lit: (W THIS GE)* – the anagram fodder is W = “with” + THIS + GE = “gym equipment starts”
Definition: the whole clue

23. Bloomer made by demure female (8)
PRIMROSE
PRIM = “demure” + ROSE = “female” (presumably in the sense that any woman’s name could be clued by “female”…)
Definition: “Bloomer”

24. Puck’s mate, a horny beast (6)
IMPALA
I’M = “Puck’s” + PAL = “mate” + A
Definition: “horny beast”

27. Last rites performed by a third curate in short time (8)
VIATICUM
VIA = “performed by” followed by CU[rate] = “a third curate” in TIM[e] = “short time”. I got everything but the “performed by” bit, which had to be _I_, and didn’t think of “via” for that – isn’t “via” just “by” or “through”, and “performed by” would be “did via / performed via”?
Definition: “Last rites” (a new word for us)

28. Row about daughters’ scam? (6)
FIDDLE
FILE = “Row” (as in “rank and file”) around DD = “daughters”
Definition:

31. Puerto Rican gang has former bodyguards to listen in (6)
SHARKS
SS = “former bodyguards” around HARK “to listen”
Definition: “Puerto Rican gang” (from West Side Story)

32. Reporter recalled rubbish article paper finally published (8)
NARRATOR
Very nice: ROT = “rubbish” + A = “article” + [pape]R = “paper finally” + RAN = “published”, all reversed
Definition: “Reporter”

Down

1. Cut top off gum tree (4)
GASH
G[um] = “top off gum” + ASH = “tree”
Definition: “Cut”

2. Halt baseball team’s rise (4)
STEM
METS = “baseball team” reversed
Definition: “Halt”

3. Motherless cat’s reason for visiting dentist? (6)
CAVITY
MACAVITY, from Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, without MA = “mother”
Definition: “reason for visiting dentist?”

4. Wild sex, so heartlessly cruel this pair might have been rowing (7)
COXLESS
(SEX SO CL)*; the CL is from C[rue]L = “heartlessly cruel”
Definition: “this pair might have been rowing”

5. A friend keeps motherless cat with tip of tail cut off (8)
AMPUTATE
A MATE = “A friend” around PU[ma] = “motherless cat” + T[ail] = “tip of tail”
Definition: “cut off”

6. Native American penguin population starts increasing slowly in number (8,2)
CREEPING UP
CREE = “Native American” + PINGU = “penguin” + P[opulation] = “population starts”
Definition: “increasing slowly in number”

7. Reservations to see film Red (8)
MISTRUST
MIST = “film” + RUST = “red”. (There was a recent film called “Red”, about retired secret agents.)
Definition: “Reservations”

14, 11, 26, 25, 13, 21. Book Pam’s meeting with Ed? (3,3,3,3,3,3)
THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA
A reverse clue, but you need to do a bit of work to get what the answer would clue: “Pam’s meeting with Ed?” might be PAMED, which could be split as PA = “old man” + MED = “sea” or THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA
Definition: “Book”

15. Men stray? I’d suspect explosive outcomes from their goings-on (10)
DYNAMITERS
(MEN STRAY ID)*
Definition: “explosive outcomes from their goings-on”

18. Tune by drunk, having no weaknesses (8)
AIRTIGHT
AIR = “Tune” + TIGHT = “drunk”
Definition: “having no weaknesses”

19. Display sort of cow, as seen in novel (8)
SHOWCASE
(COW)* = “sort of cow” + AS, all in SHE = “novel” (an H. Rider Haggard novel: little read now, I think, but one of the best-selling novels of all time)
Definition: “Display”

22. Three males in Gabon, skirting the border? On the contrary (7)
HEMMING
HE M M = “Three males” + IN + G = “Gabon”
Definition: “skirting the border? On the contrary” gives you “bordering the skirt”, which nicely describes hemming a skirt.

24. Weak batting partnership? (6)
INFIRM
IN = “batting” + FIRM = “partnership?””
Definition: “Weak”

29. Uninteresting fish? That’s about right (4)
DRAB
DAB = “fish?” around R = “right”
Definition: “Uninteresting”

30. John Major’s beginning to appear vaguely threatening (4)
LOOM
LOO = “John” + M[ajor] = “Major’s beginning”
Definition: “to appear vaguely threatening”