An absorbing puzzle with some difficult clues.
The surface readings were very good apart from 1 across, which didn’t quite work for me. There were some clever devices – I liked 22, 25 and 14D particularly.
| Across | ||
| 1 | WILD CARDS | Maybe competitors in US open state highway through remote area (4,5) |
| Ca(=Callifornia) + Rd in wilds. Wild cards are entrants given special permission to compete in a tournament for which they wouldn’t otherwise qualify. | ||
| 6 | CELEB | Big name spread throughout France: le Boursin? (5) |
| Hidden in FranCE LE Boursin | ||
| 9 | ERASMUS | Theologian‘s revolutionary answer to “what are problems?” (7) |
| (Sums are)< | ||
| 10 | SHEBANG | Report following female subject’s affair (7) |
| Bang after she | ||
| 11 | TANGO | Hit a couple off golf tee (5) |
| Tan(=hit) + go[lf]. Tango is tee in the phonetic alphabet. | ||
| 12 | DISORIENT | Around love, Tinder is designed to confuse (9) |
| (Tinder is)* around o | ||
| 14 | HAD | Did trick make number disappear from cards? (3) |
| Ha[n]d | ||
| 15 | FUNDAMENTAL | Basic pay for one relying on brainpower (11) |
| Looks like a CD but it’s actually a simple charade. Fund(=pay for) + a(=one) + mental(=relying on brainpower). | ||
| 17 | GREAT CIRCLE | Sly recce at girl’s large girth (5,6) |
| (Recce at girl)*. Great circle is a mathematical term for the largest circle which could be formed on the surface of a sphere. | ||
| 19 | SEE | Any one of three parts of lovely spot (3) |
| Lo, v and Ely can all be see in some form or other. | ||
| 20 | PUNCTILIO | In blurred pic, Luton’s one fine detail (9) |
| I in (pic luton)* | ||
| 22 | EMBER | Coal surplus from last month, if shown 24 (5) |
| December shown in brief would be Dec, leaving ember as the surplus. | ||
| 24 | IN BRIEF | Hot pants cut to be short (2,5) |
| In(=hot) + brief[s] | ||
| 26 | SUSPEND | Stay in small pigsty, perhaps, in south of France (7) |
| S(mall) pen in Sud | ||
| 27 | THEME | Money divides you, once it’s a recurring subject (5) |
| M(oney) in thee | ||
| 28 | ENDOSCOPY | Patient examination of butt, thus reflected by mirror (9) |
| End + so< + copy | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | WHEAT | Married couple have a diet of cereal (5) |
| W(ife) + h(usband) eat(=have a diet of) | ||
| 2 | LEARNED | Scholarly poet like Carroll, Lew? (7) |
| Sort of cryptic hint for Lear, Ned(=Edward Lear). | ||
| 3 | COME OFF IT | Result from match that’s most unlikely (4,3,2) |
| Result from match = come of fit | ||
| 4 | RESIDENTIAL | Depression fills Israeli moving relative to a home (11) |
| Dent in Isreali* | ||
| 5 | SIS | Family member spies … (3) |
| DD. SIS is the Secret Intelligence Service. | ||
| 6 | CHEER | … pop star, absorbing audience’s last hurrah (5) |
| Cher around [audienc]e | ||
| 7 | LEANEST | Most unproductive place for meadowlark’s eggs? (7) |
| CD/DD. Lea is a word for meadow, so a place for a meadowlark’s eggs might be a lea nest. | ||
| 8 | BAGATELLE | Trifle dish cracked by temperature on expensive oven (9) |
| Belle(=dish, a slightly derogatory term for a good-looking woman) around(=cracked by) T(emperature) on Aga. | ||
| 13 | STAR CROSSED | In play, dress actors as lovers, like Romeo and Juliet (4-7) |
| (Dress actors)* | ||
| 14 | HIGH POINT | The best bit on a trip east, perhaps (4,5) |
| High(=on a trip) + Point (of which East is one). | ||
| 16 | ELEVENSES | Tea and biscuits, besides a bit of scripture, fed by English clergyman (9) |
| E ven in Else + s[cripture] | ||
| 18 | ENNOBLE | Distinguish between Lenny, Toby and Glen’s coats (7) |
| Inner letters of [l]enn[y] + [t]ob[y] + [g]le[n], | ||
| 19 | SUBZERO | Negative rehash of Suez, involving British soldiers in retreat (7) |
| Suez* around B(ritish) + OR< | ||
| 21 | TRICE | Flash group of people, born to be Conservative (5) |
| Tribe with b[orn] changed to C[onservative] | ||
| 23 | RUDDY | Damned healthy-looking (5) |
| DD | ||
| 25 | FOE | Heading north east from the opposing side (3) |
| (E(ast) Of)< | ||
*anagram
Excellent stuff, as always from Filbert. Favourites include the excellent anagram for STAR-CROSSED and the lovely clue for SEE. Looking at the completed grid, I spotted HEATH hidden in first column, then EDEN hidden in the third. Thought there must be some hidden theme but looks like this was by chance.
Thanks to Filbert and Neal.
Absolute gem again from Filbert. Difficult to pick favourites. 19a is very very clever. 13a is a brilliant surface for the anagram and 4d isn’t far behind.
Thanks all.
Sorry Should be 13d!
A good challenge from Filbert, but it was all gettable without help. A puzzle of four quarters for us; we got the NE and SW corners fairly quickly then struggled a bit with the NW and finally the SE corner. But it was the SE corner that yielded most of our favourites – SEE, EMBER, SUSPEND, ENDOSCOPY and SUBZERO, though we also liked ERASMUS and ENNOBLE.
Thanks, Filbert and NealH.
Good crossword with a nice variety of clues.
I ticked TANGO, SEE, ENDOSCOPY, STAR-CROSSED and BAGATELLE. I thought the ‘temperature on expensive oven’ to give AGA T was a bit misleading in a down clue.
Thanks Filbert and NealH.