Plenty to enjoy in Falcon’s crossword this morning.
I breezed through about half of the easier clues and had some good thinking to do on some of the trickier ones. Clever wordplay and a good mix of clue types. My port knowledge has expanded and also hadn’t heard of the MORSE WALRUS but the clue led me to look up the right thing. Thanks to Falcon!
Across
1 Trainee astronaut accepted as different (5,5)
SPACE CADET
(ACCEPTED AS)* (*different)
7 Depressed having to leave Irish port for one in Scotland (4)
WICK
WICK[low]
WICKLOW is an Irish port. Removing (having to leave) LOW (depressed) leaves you with WICK, a Scottish port.
9 Tiny Scottish page shed tears (4)
WEEP
WEE (tiny, Scottish) + P (page)
10 Habit one may have got into in the African bush (6,4)
SAFARI SUIT
Cryptic definition
11 Rare models reassembled (6)
SELDOM
(MODELS)* (*reassembled)
12 Knight and son seen dancing in folly (8)
NONSENSE
N (knight) + (SON SEEN)* (*dancing)
13 Speed up pace working with Italian (4,2,2)
STEP ON IT
STEP (pace) + ON (working) + IT (Italian)
15 Spots name inside card (4)
ACNE
N (name) inside ACE (card)
17 Threesome heading for this South American port (4)
TRIO
T[his] (heading for) + RIO (South American port)
19 Dog show – lead out first of entries (8)
AIREDALE
AIR (show) + (LEAD)* (*out) + E[ntries] (first of)
22 Calling earnestly about one petitioner (8)
CLAIMANT
CLAMANT (calling earnestly) about I (one)
23 Courteous Central European covering it (6)
POLITE
POLE (Central European) covering IT
25 Go to record album (4,6)
MAKE TRACKS
Double definition
26 With last of deliveries, spinner gets close (4)
STOP
[deliverie]S (last of) + TOP (spinner)
27 Bridge player held in low esteem (4)
WEST
[lo]W EST[eem] (held in)
28 Incantation certain to leave one mesmerised (10)
SPELLBOUND
SPELL (incantation) + BOUND (certain)
Down
2 Penny about to send message giving excuse (7)
PRETEXT
P (penny) + RE (about) + TEXT (to send message)
3 Boy carrying bow shown in papers below trophy (5)
CUPID
ID (papers) below CUP (trophy)
4 Bond guarding a second window (8)
CASEMENT
CEMENT (bond) guarding A + S (second)
5 The exact object (8,7)
DEFINITE ARTICLE
DEFINITE (exact) + ARTICLE (object)
6 Bully in party ran Treasury (6)
TYRANT
in [par]TY RAN T[reasury]
7 Desolate area used to be traversed, principally, by antelope (9)
WASTELAND
WAS (used to be) + T[raversed] (principally) by ELAND (antelope)
8 Trick involving lips, deep red (7)
CRIMSON
CON (trick) involving RIMS (lips)
14 Striking almost immediately involves pit (9)
PROMINENT
PRONT[o] (immediately, almost) involves MINE (pit)
16 Offer of support also broadcast (8)
PROPOSAL
PROP (support) + (ALSO)* (*broadcast)
18 Free issue (7)
RELEASE
Double definition
20 Lengthen lease on floor (3,4)
LET DOWN
LET (lease) on DOWN (floor)
21 Morse in action arresting large American (6)
WALRUS
WAR (action) arresting L (large) + US (American)
24 Rope produced by lad initially leading donkey round (5)
LASSO
L[ad] (initially) leading ASS (donkey) + O (round)
For 22A, I had gone for plainant (synonymous with plaintiff).
Could not be parsed though.
Great Monday fun as usual from Falcon. But I couldn’t for the life of me parse 21dn WALRUS; so thanks, Teacow. And thanks as usual to Falcon.
Nope, I’d never heard of ‘morse’ or CLA.MANT either, not without help.
I did like DEFINITE ARTICLE, just on general crossword principles, and MAKE TRACKS & BRIDGE the same: not hard but fun, as it should be.
Thanks to both, as aye.
Thanks Falcon and Teacow
Pleasant start to another work from home week and without being too difficult, didn’t take up too much time, even though there was a little kick in the tail.
Was another who hadn’t come across the alternative name for a walrus before and CLAMANT was also a new term for me. Took a while to work through the Irish and Scottish port at 7a. Liked MAKE TRACKS and SPELLBOUND.
Finished in the SW corner with MAKE TRACKS, and the unknown pair – WALRUS and CLAIMANT.
Thanks to Falcon and Teacow. Enjoyable. I did not know either of the ports for WICK and had to look up morse-WALRUS, but I did remember clamant for CLAIMANT and my LOI was MAKE TRACKS.
A rapid start with all the acrosses in the top half entered without second thoughts, then we slowed down a bit. We had to check WALRUS in Chambers, and CLAIMANT was our last one in after thinking about ‘plainant’ and being surprised to find in Chambers that it is an actual word, if archaic. An enjoyable solve, though.
Thanks, Falcon and Teacow.
Reasonably speedy and very enjoyable.
Couldn’t parse 14 and 22 so thanks for help. Loi Walrus!