As so often nowadays, a tidy crossword from Tees with some very nice clues. Nothing too difficult, but still I had to think quite hard at times.
Definitions in indiared, underlined. Anagram indicators in italics.
The rather unusual grid (so few Acrosses and so many Downs) led me to expect something, especially with the unches at the top and the bottom. And as I was solving, they seemed to be filling up nicely to make two words, but that never led to anything in the end. The long answer suggested that all sorts of fairground attractions would be there, but that idea leads to nothing apparently.
| ACROSS | ||
| 9/10/24 | ALL THE FUN OF THE FAIR | Total entertainment — everything being enjoyed by blondes? (3,3,3,2,3,4) |
| If the blondes (the fair) are enjoying everything, they’re having all the fun | ||
| 11 | UNSOPHISTICATED | Green, coup d’état his sin, taken out (15) |
| (coup d’état his sin)* | ||
| 12 | ALEUTIAN ISLANDS | Archipelago, East Indian, with us all on the move (8,7) |
| (East Indian us all)* — an archipelago in Alaska | ||
| 15 | ENDEMIC | Death tally back with hospital gone from local area (7) |
| end (c{h}ime)rev. — if two things tally, you could say they chime — excellent surface | ||
| 18 | ENGRAVE | Appendix in the middle given serious cut (7) |
| {App}en{dix} grave | ||
| 20 | RUSSIAN ROULETTE | Game in which loser first to take lead? (7,8) |
| CD so good that I’m almost converted (but not quite), relying on the two pronunciations of ‘lead’ | ||
| 23 | GOOD-FOR-NOTHINGS | Lazy people in vain occupying property (4-3-8) |
| good(for nothing)s — for nothing = in vain | ||
| 26 | ELEMI | Fragrant resin found in diesel emissions (5) |
| Hidden in diesEL EMIssions | ||
| 27 | INTENTION | Failure to concentrate missing out at end (9) |
| in{at}tention — it’s missing-out “at” — I like this clue | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | SATURATE | Planet almost consumed in flood (8) |
| Satur{n} ate | ||
| 2 | ÉLYSÉE | Palace in cathedral city and diocese (6) |
| Ely see — the Élysée Palace, where the French President lives | ||
| 3 | CHAP | Bloke, hot, better going outside (4) |
| c(h)ap | ||
| 4 | AFRICA | First person caught in a far-off land (6) |
| (I c) in (a far)* | ||
| 5 | ON STRIKE | In or out (2,6) |
| A batsman who is in, on strike, is at the crease — a member of a trade union may be out or on strike — a nice clue (although as with all such neat double definitions one wonders if it’s been done before) — in both baseball and cricket you can be in but not on strike, so should there not have been a question mark somewhere? — but perhaps there are other games where a person batting is definitely on strike, although I can’t think of any | ||
| 6 | TORC | Ornament Celts originally placed under rocky hill (4) |
| tor C{elts} — this is a torc | ||
| 7 | STOTINKA | Foreign coin to add in among Jamaican notes? (8) |
| s(tot in)ka — ska is the Jamaican music — a stotinka is a Bulgarian coin worth a hundredth of a lev | ||
| 8 | MENDES | Film director does repairs round house at last (6) |
| mends round {hous}e — Sam Mendes | ||
| 13 | TEMPI | No good avoiding casual employment rates (5) |
| tempi{NG} | ||
| 14 | LEGAL | Right on a length (5) |
| leg a l — leg = on in cricket, and the surface also suggests cricket | ||
| 16 | DISCOVER | Find dance almost dead (8) |
| disco ver{y} — very = dead as in ‘dead gorgeous’ | ||
| 17 | CONTRAIL | Skyline against one lake (8) |
| contra 1 l — skyline in the sense of a line in the sky | ||
| 19 | EVENSONG | Service for example including meat, not the heart (8) |
| e(ven{i}son}g | ||
| 20 | REGRET | Feel remorse having run over bird (6) |
| r egret | ||
| 21 | OPORTO | Ducks seen outside harbour town and city (6) |
| 0(port)0 — a city in Portugal — you live and learn: I never realised that Porto, the football team once managed by Mourinho, was the same place | ||
| 22 | TENNIS | Slip catch turned game (6) |
| (sin net)rev. — I should have thought a sin was something a bit bigger than a slip, but in some senses they are just about equivalent | ||
| 24 | See 9 Across | |
| 25 | HUNT | Fish for any number stored in shed (4) |
| hu(n)t — hunt = fish? I suppose it does, in the sense of fishing for information | ||
Very good. No real problems. In 25d, I took the definition as “Fish for”. Thanks both.
Another fine Tees crossword – thank you to him and John
Relatively gentle for Tees, I thought. However, I couldn’t see 15A at all; it had to be either Endemic or Ecdemic and I went for the latter, so a DNF. Well done John for working that one out. Thanks Tees and John.
Good fun from Tees and I enjoyed the anagrams. Did not parse ENDEMIC, chimed was not going to occur to me.
At the time, parsed DISCOVER as DISC{O} + OVER. Still not sure but leaning towards your parsing.
Thanks to Tees and John.