Very swift solve, solidly clued, fine Tuesday fare.
Not the most challenging Falcon ever but about par for a Tuesday, I think. ‘Cofferdam’ needed a few crossers, but otherwise only the SE corner gave pause. Thanks to Falcon a brisk morning stroll.
| Across | ||
| 1 | ELDER | Appearing embarrassed, the Parisian, retiring senior church member (5) |
| Reversal of RED (‘appearing embarrassed’) + LE (Fr.’the’). | ||
| 4 | COFFERDAM | Bid breaking record, a million for a watertight structure (9) |
| OFFER in CD +M[illion]. | ||
| 9 | PARVENU | Social climber in usual place, snubbed (7) |
| PAR (‘usual’) + VENUe (‘place’, shortened). Pretty much the identical clue appeared last week. | ||
| 10 | VITAMIN | Very with it, old dictator’s food supplement (7) |
| V[ery] + IT + Idi AMIN of un-fond memory. | ||
| 11 | COUNTERFEITER | Forger in Tenerife court punished (13) |
| Anagram (‘punished’) of TENERIFE COURT. | ||
| 14 | HOOD | American gangster, legendary outlaw (4) |
| Double def. Robin HOOD, of course. A bit close, perhaps? | ||
| 15 | SCINTILLA | Trace calls in it abroad (9) |
| Anagram (‘abroad’) of CALLS IT IN. | ||
| 18 | CHALLENGE | Question engineer by vestibule in church (9) |
| C of E contains HALL (‘vestibule’) + ENG[ineer]. | ||
| 19 | ISLE | Man, perhaps, in his lederhosen (4) |
| Hidden in ‘hIS LEderhosen’. | ||
| 21 | PRETERNATURAL | Beyond what is normal, parterre aunt laid out by lake (13) |
| Anagram (‘laid out’) of PARTERRE AUNT + L[ake]. | ||
| 24 | INSTANT | Immediate flash (7) |
| Doule def. | ||
| 26 | CONSIGN | Hand over prisoner and make your mark (7) |
| CON[vict] +SIGN (‘make your mark’). | ||
| 27 | TRAVERSAL | Crossing a line behind dramatist (9) |
| A + L[ine]after Ben TRAVERS, old farceur. | ||
| 28 | ORGAN | Agency, good in Algerian port (5) |
| G[ood] in ORAN. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | ESPY | Face of estate agent’s watch (4) |
| E (1st letter, ‘face’ of ‘Estate’) +SPY (‘agent’). | ||
| 2 | DIRECTORATE | Members of the board, unswerving, hold forth (11) |
| DIRECT (‘unswerving’) + ORATE (‘hold forth’). | ||
| 3 | RHESUS | Monkey rushes out (6) |
| Anagram (‘out’) of RUSHES. | ||
| 4 | COURTESAN | No curates condemned mistress (9) |
| Anagram (‘condemned’) of NO CURATES. | ||
| 5 | FEVER | Onset of flu always brings this? (5) |
| F (1st of ‘Flu’) + EVER (‘always’) w whole clue def. | ||
| 6 | ENTREATY | Appeal of centre at York (8) |
| Inclusion in ‘cENTRE AT York’. | ||
| 7 | DAM | First man heading off for weir? (3) |
| Biblical 1st man aDAM without 1st letter. | ||
| 8 | MIND-READER | Psychic may cause collier to be full of fear (4-6) |
| DREAD in MINER. | ||
| 12 | TELESELLING | Briefing about the French and English way of marketing goods (11) |
| TE.LLING (‘briefing’) around LES (Fr. plural ‘the’) + E[nglish]. | ||
| 13 | CHECKPOINT | Make sure to indicate border crossing (10) |
| CHECK (‘make sure’) + POINT (‘indicate’). | ||
| 16 | IDENTICAL | Similar in every detail, papers a client misplaced (9) |
| ID (identity ‘papers’) + anagram (‘misplaced’) of A CLIENT. | ||
| 17 | ALIENATE | Cut off, ET scoffed (8) |
| ALIEN (‘ET’) + ATE (‘scoffed’). | ||
| 20 | PRONTO | Quickly suspicious of giving support to voting system (6) |
| ONTO (‘suspicious of’) after P[roportional] R[epresentation] (‘voting system’). | ||
| 22 | NOTES | Written messages attack uprising (5) |
| Reversal (‘uprising’) of SET ON (‘attack’). | ||
| 23 | ANON | Rule clubs ignored after a while (4) |
| cANON (‘rule’) without C[lubs]. | ||
| 25 | SPA | Mineral spring in southern Pennsylvania (3) |
| S[outhern] + P[ennsylvani]A. | ||
*anagram
Thanks Grant, all very straightforward as you say. Having two DAMs in the NE, with the same meaning, seems a bit careless – 7d could have been DIM for variety.
Thanks Falcon and Grant
Pretty simples … and all done relatively quickly in a couple of short sessions grabbed during the day. Didn’t know the playwright TRAVERS nor the COPPERDAM and couldn’t fully parse PRONTO.
First in was ELDER and last one in was that PRONTO.