Not my cup of tea, but I’m sure others will have enjoyed it. Help on a couple, please.
I’m not keen on these types of puzzles: an unhelpful grid because of the theme; gateway clues that don’t fall into place straight away (for me at least); and then all but one of the acrosses being examples of the gateway clues. And if you don’t live in The Great Wen, then you could be a bit stymied.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
5 Boy admitting film-maker’s rank
STATION
One of the gateway clues, and one I couldn’t see immediately (in my defence, there are lots of ‘film makers’). Jacques TATI in SON.
7 6D 5A possibly smells unpleasant
BOROUGH
And here’s the first of our STATIONS: it’s not one of the well-known ones, but it’s BO for ‘body odour’ or ‘smells’ and ROUGH. Not sure what ‘possibly’ is doing in there.
10 6D 5A terminal in Essex welcomed by one from these shores
BRIXTON
The last letter of ‘Essex’ inserted in BRITON.
11 6D 5A closures to perturb Chelsea professional, one given to ranting
BALHAM
A charade of BAL for the last letters of ‘perturb Chelsea professional’ and HAM, as in HAM ACTOR, I think – one who’s likely to overact, or ‘rant’.
12 6D 5A to prohibit drink at last
BANK
A charade of BAN and K.
13 6D 5A authority appealed to writer and advanced nationalist
BARBICAN
I think that this is a charade of BAR, BIC and A and N, with the BAR bit coming from a ‘court authority’. Perhaps someone has a better idea.
15 6D 5A: card applied to barrier
BARKING
Another BAR, this time in its ‘barrier’ sense. Followed by KING for the playing ‘card’.
17 6D 5A behind new city roundabout
ARSENAL
A charade of ARSE, N and LA reversed.
20 6D 5A later reviewed in court
WATERLOO
An insertion of (LATER)* in WOO.
22 6D 5A individual avoids on the way back, to an extent
OVAL
Hidden reversed in individuaL AVOids.
25 6D 5A employees skirting ring road
MORDEN
An insertion of O and RD in MEN.
26 6D 5A centrally located amidst Thames development
EAST HAM
Hieroglyph is asking you to insert A for the central letter of ‘located’ in (THAMES)*
27 6D 5A sheltered personality outside
MILE END
Another insertion: of LEE in MIND.
28 6D 5A game: one slight error
RUISLIP
A charade of RU, I and SLIP. Although I didn’t like the theme, this at least gives me a chance to share the first verse of one of my favourite John Betjeman poems:
Gaily into Ruislip Gardens
Runs the red electric train,
With a thousand Ta’s and Pardon’s
Daintily alights Elaine;
Hurries down the concrete station
With a frown of concentration,
Out into the outskirt’s edges
Where a few surviving hedges
Keep alive our lost Elysium – rural Middlesex again.
Down
1 Finch from America departing for a Greek peninsula
ATTICA
The ‘Finch’ is ATTICUS Finch, the lawyer and protagonist in To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. Although the ‘America’ might have prompted you in the right direction, we need that for the wordplay: remove US and add A. And no, you can’t have a bird link, because the bird’s not the answer. However, I haven’t been able to do one for ages, so setters take note, please.
2 Playfully asking to hide from nanny, say
GOATSKIN
This was my favourite today. (ASKING TO)* with ‘playfully’ as the anagrind.
3 Bishop, having donned vestment, heartily execrates thief
ROBBER
An insertion of B in ROBE followed by R for the middle letter of ‘execrates’. ‘Heartily’ is a bit of a stretch, but I saw where the setter was coming from.
4 Source of fossil fuel changed climate? No time’s left
COAL MINE
(CLIMA[T]ENO)* Good surface.
6 Box extremely stupid person
TUBE
I’m afraid I can’t see this, and only got it because I’d got STATION and it couldn’t be much else. Is it something to do with ‘idiot box’ for the television?
8 African dynasty again reviewed borders
GHANAIAN
An insertion of HAN for ‘dynasty’ in (AGAIN)*
9 Insults regularly send up boss
SNUBS
Alternate letters of SeNd Up BoSs.
14 Exquisite food in the form of 6Ds?
MACARONI
I think this is a dd, with the first part referring to the use of MACARONI to describe an 18th century dandy; but again, help welcome.
16 Heavily involved in poverty: food banks
KNEE-DEEP
An insertion of NEED in KEEP for ‘food’. As in ‘I give my Dad £50 a week for my keep’. I wish.
18 Removes jumper, having been ordered stout
ROOTS OUT
A charade of ROO for the young Australian ‘jumper’ and (STOUT)*
19 New York museum hosting vacuous Orwellian artist
MONET
An insertion of ON for the outside letters of ‘Orwellian’ (in other words with the content removed) in MET for the NY museum.
21 Lecturer wearing enrolled nurse’s undergarments
LINENS
A charade of L, IN (‘she was in blue’) and ENS.
23 Horrified windbag has taken sandwiches
AGHAST
Hidden in windbAG HAS Taken.
24 Politician flanked by eleven Zulu warriors
IMPI
An insertion of MP in II, because there isn’t such a warrior as an XMPI …
Many thanks to Hieroglyph for this morning’s puzzle.
Oh, I dunno, Pierre, I found this quite fun. I got BANK without definition, then BALHAM and the penny dropped, tho’ I thought for a bit they were all going to begin with ‘B’
A TUBE of Smarties is a ‘box’, I s’pose, and Chambers has ‘an extremely stupid person’ as the 12th (!) definition of the same word.
Hey I’ve been on expat duty for 30 years and still loved this as London was the main centre of activity for me in the 70s.And I still love it. TATI is a popular filler in puzzles so STATION fell immediately followed by BANK and WATERLOO-from then on it werent gonna be tram stations-further confirmed by MACARONI.
This should be a hit with lovers of the bus driver’s prayer
Great for a Monday.
Chambers gives tube=”extremely stupid person”, which is news to me. Also tube=box=television, as in “what’s on the box tonight”, and cf programme The Tube, with Jools Holland teal.
Oops: “teal”= “et al”
13A Bar is “authority appealed to”.
Not getting often to London, took a while to work out the gateway. Had no idea of this pejorative meaning of TUBE, but obviously it was the answer.
Agree with Pierre’s parsing of 14D.
18D don’t know where the “young” came from, roo is simply an abbreviation of kangaroo, a young kangaroo is a joey.
Haven’t seen a puzzle with so many gateway links for yonks, don’t mind them every now and again, this one was fine, I thought.
Thanks to Hieroglyph and Pierre.
gwep @6: Roo is Kanga’s baby offspring in the Winnie the Pooh stories.
I solved a couple of thematic wordplays quickly, and got the gateways from that.
@7Goujeers I really should read them; but there is no indication of the age of the animal in the clue and the adjective “young” has been gratuitously inserted into the parsing.
If you listen to Alan Brazil on Talksport in the mornings, you will often hear dumb people (aka footballers and pundits) referred to as ‘tubes’. Perhaps it’s Scottish slang?
At 7A I thought the clue referred to rotten boroughs, eg Old Sarum- population nil-which is where the probably comes in. Therefore I thought this was quite clever.
I’m afraid I resorted to the tube map to help. It didn’t. I couldn’t find a station ending in O. What a tube!
Thanks to setter and blogger.
Solved Brixton which gave away the gateway clues, then I went and did something interesting. The leaves falling off the ash tree outside are fascinating.
I like Hieroglyph’s puzzles and this was good fun.
@GeordyGordy
I think Mr. Brazil would probably spell it “choob”.
Must dash; Passport to Pimlico just starting (again)
Thanks to Pierre&Hieroglyph
Got delayed by the first 6 stations starting with B – thought they all would be. The theme was up my street though, so enjoyed a nice start to the week. Thanks to S&B
Well, I finished it, which is always a good sign. Didn’t even have to look at a tube map. Got 26ac early, and from that twigged the theme, although I couldn’t for the life of me parse 6dn. Thanks for all the explanations. 14dn was my LOI. I guessed it must be a type of pasta, but for some reason, the correct one kept eluding me.
I really enjoyed this, though I made things difficult for myself by confidently entering B at the start of all across clues after getting the first few. Guess that makes me a TUBE (an expression I’ve never heard, but it’s in Chambers so it’s gotta be legit, I guess).
I’m glad that none of the stations were the ones where the tube stops before the end of the line and you have to get off and wait for another one – such as Golders Green and the hated Kennington!