I’ve mixed views about this one. For example I liked the anagram indicators ‘snarled’ in 12a and ‘reprise’ in 20d but was unhappy with 22a and 23d as indicated below. I was also a little concerned about the wordplay in 2d and 6d in that, whilst accurate, it was somewhat convoluted.
The use of ‘one’ to give ‘I’ appeared in three clues and the use of initial letters occurred in five clues. I would have preferred it if these repetitions had been avoided.
Across
1 SALAD BAR SA (South African) LAD (boy) BAR (bank)
5 SCRAWL S[ycophant] CRAWL (stroke)
10 AROMA A (to, in Italian) ROMA (Italy’s capital)
11 CHIPOLATA I (one) POL (US politician) in CHAT (natter) A
12 APHRODITE *(HOP IT DEAR)
13 SPOON P[rison] in SOON (presently)
14 SLEDGE S[lice] L (left) EDGE (side)
15 STOPPER S[tand] TOPPER (hat)
18 DESCENT ESC (escape) in DENT (hollow)
20 RIDDLE [g]RIDDLE (hot plate with last letter of cooking removed)
22 ACRID C (caught) in ARID (flat) – I do not think that ‘flat’ and ‘arid’ are synonymous
24 CALCULATE *(A CUTE CALL)
25 INVENTIVE I (one) N (new) VENT (release) IVE (I have)
26 ZEBRA BR (brown) in ZEA[l] (enthusiasm is not quite complete)
27 TYPIST cd
28 POLEAXED POLE (European) AXED (sacked)
Down
1 SEAMAN SEAM (join) A N (navy)
2 LOOPHOLES HOL in *(POOLE) S
3 DIAMOND WEDDINGS cd
4 ARCHIVE A RC (Roman Catholic) HIVE (busy place)
6 CROSSWORD PUZZLE CROSS (peeved) W (with) P (soft) ZZ (zeds) in *(LOUDER)
7 ALAMO A LA MO[de] (up to date except about French)
8 LEARNERS L (left) EARNERS (workforce)
9 DIVERS dd
16 PILLAR BOX cd
17 IDEALIST I (one) DEAL (buy and sell) IS T[empt]
19 TACTIC TACT (diplomacy) [n]IC[e]
20 RELIEVO *(ROLE IVE)
21 DEMAND DEM (Democrat) AND (with)
23 REV UP d&cd – since when did ‘anger’ equate with ‘rev up’? I can find no support for this in the standard references.
Found this tough at first, then when I found CROSSWORD PUZZLE, it began to come together. Last answer CHIPOLATA, snag = sausage was new to me, apparently an Australian usage originally. Liked POLEAXED and the puzzle as a whole.
Thanks Gaufrid. In 3d, the clue says “A time” (singular) but the solution has “weddings” (plural). Would the clue perhaps have been more accurate if it had said “Times”?
Hi verbose
I wondered that but then decided that as ‘mates’ was plural the plural answer was justified (assuming the mates are not just a single couple in a marriage).
H’m. Perhaps I’m being nit-picky but even granting multiple marriages and mates, I don’t see how “weddings” == “A time”. Oh well.