A reasonably straightforward puzzle, though with a few rather tricky constructions that took some working out.
There’s only one really obscure word, at 14a, where the wordplay is clear enough to allow the usual tactic of making up a word and then confirming it means what you want it to. I wasn’t quite convinced by the grammar of 3d, but no doubt someone will find a way to justify it. Thanks Poins for the challenge.
Definitions are underlined; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | TRANSECT | Cut across north London area entering course almost on time (8) |
| N (North) + SE (London area: prefix for postcodes in south-east London), inserted into TRAC[k] (course; almost = last letter removed) + T (time). | ||
| 5 | V-SIGNS | Verse on placard leads to first of soldier’s offensive gestures (1-5) |
| V (verse) + SIGN (placard) + first letter of S[oldier]. V-sign = two-finger gesture: it can mean victory (appropriately enough for the recent VE Day anniversary), peace, or the number two, but can also be used as an insult. It all depends on context and which way the hand faces. |
||
| 10 | SUCCOUR | We object over scoundrel receiving commanding officer’s help (7) |
| US (the object form of “we”, so “we object”), reversed (over); then CUR (scoundrel) containing (receiving) CO (commanding officer). | ||
| 11 | NEUTRAL | Essentially, only describing time touring Utah as indifferent (7) |
| Middle letters (essentially) of [o]NL[y], containing (describing) ERA (time), itself containing (touring = around) UT (abbreviation for the US state of Utah). Indifferent = impartial = neutral. |
||
| 12 | U-BOAT | University club maintaining old submarine (1-4) |
| U (University) + BAT (club = weapon) containing O (old). | ||
| 13 | SLINGSHOT | Supporter photographed with a catapult (9) |
| SLING (supporter, e.g. for a broken arm) + SHOT (photographed). | ||
| 14 | ATTITUDINISE | Titian’s day quite ruined after rejection of queen to adopt a pose for effect (12) |
| Anagram (ruined) of TITIAN’S + D (day) + [q]UITE, rejecting the Q (queen). I’m not sure why anyone thought it necessary to invent such a word, but clearly someone did because the dictionaries recognise it. |
||
| 18 | SKIPPING ROPE | Deliberately missing work to stuff extremely rude child’s plaything (8,4) |
| SKIPPING (deliberately missing) + OP (short for opus = work) stuffed into the extreme letters of R[ud]E. | ||
| 21 | BALACLAVA | Bill stopping dance to find girl’s hat (9) |
| AC (short for account = bill), inserted into (stopping) BALL (dance), then AVA (girl’s name). | ||
| 23 | NAIVE | Natural theology originally dismissed as simplistic (5) |
| NATIVE (natural), dismissing the T which is the first letter (originally) of T[heology]. | ||
| 24 | LINEAGE | Pedigree Pomeranian’s tail interrupting story time (7) |
| LIE (story) + AGE (time), with the last letter (tail) of [pomerania]N inserted (interrupting). | ||
| 25 | INITIAL | “Essential to contain it” I alleged at the beginning (7) |
| Hidden answer in (essential to) [conta]IN IT I AL[leged]. | ||
| 26 | AVERSE | Reluctant to assert the limits of science (6) |
| AVER (state firmly = assert) + first and last letters (limits) of S[cienc]E. | ||
| 27 | IMAGINES | Thinks of ancient sorcerers hiding in trees, powerless (8) |
| MAGI (ancient sorcerers) hiding in PINES (trees) without the P (power). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | TISSUE | Developing its use in an intricate structure of connected items (6) |
| Anagram (developing) of ITS USE. As in body tissue, or as in a tissue of lies. |
||
| 2 | ANCHOR | Article on soldiers holding up church as a source of stability (6) |
| AN (indefinite article) + CH (church) + OR (other ranks = soldiers). Because this is a down clue, the elements are stacked vertically, so OR is holding up CH and AN is on top of that. | ||
| 3 | SHORTSTOP | Briefly stay with baseball player (9) |
| SHORT (brief) + STOP (stay), though I can’t see how the grammar works with “briefly” not just “brief”. Close fielding position in baseball, between second and third base. |
||
| 4 | CHRISTIAN NAMES | Devised this in car with celebrities Richard and Judy perhaps (9,5) |
| Anagram (devised) of THIS IN CAR, then NAMES (celebrities). The surface suggests a well-known couple of UK daytime TV presenters. | ||
| 6 | SLUNG | Tossed last of melon into punch (5) |
| Last letter of [melo]N inserted into SLUG (punch = hit). Tossed = slung = thrown casually. |
||
| 7 | GERSHWIN | Curiously his reputation ultimately grew as a composer (8) |
| Anagram (curiously) of HIS + last letter (ultimately) of [reputation]N + GREW. George Gershwin, US composer. |
||
| 8 | SPLATTER | Display prominently in small dish (8) |
| S (small) + PLATTER (dish). I wasn’t sure about the definition but Chambers includes it. Perhaps in the newspaper sense of “splash” with front-page headlines. |
||
| 9 | ANTIQUARIANISM | Against joining eccentric marquis in a study of old artefacts (14) |
| ANTI (against) + anagram (eccentric) of MARQUIS IN A. | ||
| 15 | IMPENDING | About to happen as mischievous child gets close (9) |
| IMP (mischievous child) + |
||
| 16 | ISABELLA | Religion endlessly engrossing murder victim’s girl (8) |
| ISLA[m] (religion, without the end letter) containing (engrossing) ABEL (murdered by his brother Cain in the book of Genesis). | ||
| 17 | VIOLENCE | Answer extracted from girl in French church with unjustifiable force (8) |
| VIOL[a] (a girl’s name, with the A for answer removed) + EN (French for “in”) + CE (Church of England). | ||
| 19 | MINION | Dependant‘s note not entirely acceptable (6) |
| MINI[m] (musical note; not entirely = last letter removed) + ON (acceptable, as in “that’s just not on”). | ||
| 20 | REALMS | Fields of study with reference to charitable donations (6) |
| RE (with reference to) + ALMS (charitable donations). | ||
| 22 | CHAOS | Cleaner, without foundation, gets so upset causing utter confusion (5) |
| CHA[r] (cleaner) without the foundation (bottom = last letter in a down clue) + SO reversed (upset = upwards in a down clue). | ||
A few head-scratching moments made this a fun albeit a quick solve. Agree that “brief” seems a better fit in 3d.
Thanks to Poins and Quirister.
A headscratch and a cheat with a wordfinder for 14a. with the rest complete I lost the will to batter out the anagram.
3d could work if one treats ‘short’ as an adverb, which seems to be acceptable even in UK English e.g to be caught short, to run short etc.
Thanks to Poins and Quirister
All prety straightforward. ATTITUDINISE was one of our last ones in after we guessed it had something to do with attitude and checked in Chambers. And we just stuck in SHORTSTOP at 3dn without thinking whether if should be ‘brief’ or ‘briefly’.
Favourite was SHIPPING ROPE.
Thanks, Poins and Quirister.
Agree with “brief” backers.
25A I think “essential” indicates not that the answer is simply within the words “contain it I allege”, but that it is “essential” to the phrase, meaning it is the middle seven letters of the phrase (with five letters before and five after). The same as the use of “essential” in the clue to 11D.
15A ENDING rather than END.
I think this is the best Poins crossword I have done.
Thanks to Poins and Quirister.
gwep @4: thanks for pointing out my slip on 15a. Now corrected.