A pleasant start to the week from ARMONIE…
Nothing proved too taxing today, though 28a took a while. As usual with ARMONIE all the clues were lovely, we particularly liked 10a.
Thanks ARMONIE
Across
1 A celebrant transformed place of worship (10)
TABERNACLE
(A CELEBRANT)* (*transformed)
7 Previously working with engineer (4)
ONCE
ON (working) + CE (engineer, civil engineer)
9 Girl follows Pip in the afternoon (4)
EMMA
[pip] EMMA (afternoon, PM)
10 Arachnophobe to avoid blunder with alien (4,6)
MISS MUFFET
MISS (to avoid) + MUFF (blunder) with ET (alien)
11 Trouble in gold market (6)
ORDEAL
OR (gold) + DEAL (market)
12 Cut open many a knight (8)
LANCELOT
LANCE (cut open) + LOT (many)
13 Propositions made in place of business (8)
PREMISES
Double definition
15 You can bet on this move (4)
TOTE
Double definition
17 Clergyman finds one in retreat (4)
DEAN
A (one) in DEN (retreat)
19 I put in memo for hazelnut chocolate (8)
NOISETTE
(I SET (put)) in NOTE (memo)
22 Tarzan? He rebuilt a place of pilgrimage! (8)
NAZARETH
(TARZAN HE)* (*rebuilt)
23 Wet sensation (6)
SPLASH
Double definition
25 Band has drinks with ecstasy for entertainment (10)
STRIPTEASE
STRIP (band) has TEAS (drinks) with E (ecstasy)
26 Penny has butter like a shot (4)
DRAM
D (penny) has RAM (butter)
27 City destroyed in attempt to retain love (4)
TROY
TRY (attempt) to retain O (love)
28 Incur terse treatment of auditor (10)
SCRUTINEER
(INCUR TERSE)* (*treatment)
Down
2 Doctor married lover (7)
ADMIRER
(MARRIED)* (*doctor)
3 Oriental romance raised cheer (5)
ELATE
(E (oriental, eastern) + TALE (romance))< (<raised)
4 Anonymous man gets measles badly (8)
NAMELESS
N (man, knight in chess) gets (MEASLES)* (*badly)
5 Daydreams involving flying fortresses (7,2,3,3)
CASTLES IN THE AIR
Double definition
6 Fur showing that ‘ussy’s wealth (6)
ERMINE
[h]ER (‘ussy) + MINE (wealth)
7 Rotten soldier hides money from eccentric (3-6)
OFF-CENTRE
(OFF (rotten) + RE (soldier)) hides CENT (money)
8 Revolutionary source for cigar (7)
CHEROOT
CHE (revolutionary) + ROOT (source)
14 Rectify a municipality’s dishonesty (9)
MENDACITY
MEND (rectify) + A + CITY (municipality)
16 Dissipated girl’s locked up (8)
MISSPENT
MISS (girl) + PENT (locked up)
18 One forcing payment from performer (7)
EXACTOR
EX (from) ACTOR (performer)
20 Italian opera the French see in proportion (2,5)
TO SCALE
TOSCA (italian opera) + LE (the french)
21 Matches underwear with a spouse’s, initially (6)
VESTAS
VEST (underwear) + A + S[pouse] (initially)
24 Left Middle Eastern port weighed down (5)
LADEN
L (left) + ADEN (middle eastern port)
Thanks to Armonie and Teacow. A fairly gentle start to the week apart from the parsing of EMMA which, even after the blog was posted, I had to look up online to confirm, never having heard of Pip Emma before.
Thanks both. I put promises for 13a but, of course, could not parse it. PIP EMMA comes fro WW1 Royal Flying Core signal for P and M ergo afternoon.
OOPs should have been Corps!
Thanks to Armonie and Teacow. Enjoyable as expected from this setter. Pip EMMA was new to me also, as was SCRUTINEER (a poll-watcher or challenger in the US) but the latter was gettable from the clues.
Gentle Monday fare. Never heard of pip Emma though l got it from checkers. FOI the easy 5d.
I still do not understand Emma!? Ok, there is apparently someone called Pip Emma but how does afternoon / PM fit in?
It was new to me too Steve @6. Like the NATO alphabet, early 20th century British signallers had their own names for letters, with “pip” being for P and “emma” for M, making “pm” (i.e. afternoon) pip emma.
Thanks Armonie and Teacow
Agreecthat it was a straightforward puzzle to kick off the week. Hadn’t seen a NOISETTE as the chocolate but have seen PIP EMMA in crosswords before.
Finished in the SE corner with SPLASH (a clever double definition), SCRUTINEERS (which was quite tough to spot) and MISSPENT the last few in.