Thank you to Falcon. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1. Colour scheme in side corridor (5)
DECOR : Hidden in(in) “side corridor“.
4. Material needed by friend, organ cleaner (6,3)
COTTON BUD : COTTON(a natural facbric/material) plus(needed by) BUD(or buddy/a friend).
Defn: …, your hearing organ(s), that is.
9. Ideal head of popular Spanish region (7)
PARAGON : 1st letter of(head of) “popular” + ARAGON(region in north-eastern Spain).
10. Ruminant studied, highly valued reportedly (3,4)
RED DEER : READ(studied, as in “I read Law at Oxford”) + homophone of(… reportedly) “dear”(highly valued/treasured).
11. In Wellington, buy exotic bird (6,7)
YELLOW BUNTING : Anagram of(In … exotic) WELLINGTON, BUY.
Defn: … from eastern Asia.
14. Gem in ring set by friend (4)
OPAL : O(letter representing a ring/circle) plus(set by) PAL(a friend).
15. Utterly depressed? True (9)
DOWNRIGHT : DOWN(depressed/sad) + RIGHT(true/correct).
18. Singer‘s hit – score rearranged by producer, ultimately (9)
CHORISTER : Anagram of(… rearranged) HIT – SCORE plus(by) last letter of(…, ultimately) “producer“.
19. Fell in chamber after retiring (4)
MOOR : Reversal of(… after retiring) ROOM(a chamber).
21. Having plenty of money on respectable poker hand (8,5)
STRAIGHT FLUSH : FLUSH(having plenty of money) placed after(on) STRAIGHT(respectable/upstanding, in character).
The highest straight flush, aka a royal flush:
24. Round, helping to produce speech (7)
ORATION : O(letter representing “round”/circular) + RATION(a helping/a portion doled out).
26. County‘s routine win (7)
RUTLAND : RUT(routine/a pattern of behaviour that’s become dull) + LAND(to win, as “he’s the favourite to land the gold”).
Defn: … in the East Midlands, England
27. Absolve former partner facing single charge (9)
EXONERATE : EX(a former partner) plus(facing) ONE(a single) + RATE(a charge/a price paid for something).
28. One identifies bishop and rook pocketed by small child (5)
MITRE : R(abbrev. for “rook” in chess notation) contained in(pocketed by) MITE(a small child).
Down
1. Prepare training information (4)
DOPE : DO(to prepare, eg. a meal, as in “the restaurant doesn’t do lunch on weekdays”) + PE(abbrev. for “physical education”/training to make pupils fit).
Defn: …, especially if confidential.
2. Suck up to groom with act of kindness (5,6)
CURRY FAVOUR : CURRY(to groom a horse with a curry comb) plus(with) FAVOUR(an act of kindness, more than is due).
3. Royal English feast (6)
REGALE : REGAL(royal/majestic befitting of a monarch) + E(abbrev. for “English”).
Defn: …/to lavishly supply with food and drink.
4. State capital in New England, a leader in trade pact (9)
CONCORDAT : CONCORD(capital city of New Hampshire State, in the New England region of the US) + A + 1st letter of(leader in) “trade“.
5. Starts to time his round, old bobby’s beat (5)
THROB : 1st letters, respectively, of(Starts to) “time his round, old bobby’s”
6. Commonplace, a penny-farthing years ago (8)
ORDINARY : Double defn: 2nd: Historically/years ago, American name for the penny-farthing bicycle.
7. Extra purchase? Sounds like it (3)
BYE : Homophone of(…? Sounds like it) “buy”(a purchase/something bought).
Defn: … in cricket, a run scored off a ball without it being hit with the bat.
8. Blush over a Conservative being intentionally offensive (10)
DEROGATORY : Reversal of(over, in a down clue) [GO RED](to blush/to have one’s complexion turn red, due to feeling embarrassed) + A + TORY(a member of the British Conservative Party).
12. Having a cheerful outlook, popular goatherd worried about nothing (2,4,5)
IN GOOD HEART : IN(popular/fashionable) + anagram of(… worried) GOATHERD containing(about) O(letter representing 0/nothing).
13. Jasper, perhaps a jester (10)
TOUCHSTONE : Double defn: 1. A piece of the mineral, jasper, used to test and identify precious metal alloys; and 2nd: A name, an example of which/perhaps, is that of the court jester in Shakespeare’s play, As You Like It.
16. Staff employed by church (9)
WORKFORCE : [WORK FOR](currently employed by/in the employ of) + CE(abbrev. for the Church of England).
17. To make light of note is easy at first (8)
MINIMISE : MINIM(a note in a music score) + IS + 1st letter of(… at first) “easy“.
20. Copper with most unusual habit (6)
CUSTOM : CU(symbol for the chemical element, copper) plus(with) anagram of(… unusual) MOST.
22. Woman upset after husband suggests dye (5)
HENNA : Reversal of(… upset, in a down clue) ANNE(a woman’s name) placed below(after, in a down clue) H(abbrev. for “husband”).
23. Wife dropped from golf club side (4)
EDGE : “w”(abbrev. for “wife”) deleted from(dropped from) “wedge”(a golf club for hitting out of a bunker or hitting a highly-lofted shot.
25. Bother American before function (3)
ADO : A(abbrev. for “American”) placed above(before, in a down clue) DO(a social function/a get-together).
No quibbles: a most enjoyable Tuesday puzzle. Thanks, Falcon and scchua
Thanks Falcon and scchua
Back to a more typical early week puzzle after yesterday. Some clever clues throughout and an English county that I don’t think that I have come across before.
Liked the WORK FOR CE and a couple of the double definitions – 6d and 13d.
Finished in the SW corner with CHORISTER, TOUCHSTONE and MINIMISE as the last few in.
I was also relieved to have a gentler workout today. CONCORDAT was the only one which had me scratching my head momentarily. Hailing from the E.Midlands myself, Rutland posed no problem but I needed the crossers to be sure. Finished in that quadrant with EDGE.
I liked CURRY FAVOUR, THROB, CUSTOM and YELLOW BUNTING best and it was interesting to learn of the dual meanings of both TOUCHSTONE and ORDINARY here in the super blog.
Thanks Falcon for a solid, enjoyable puzzle and to Scchua.
re 26a, whether Rutland is a county is a subject for lengthy discussion. Its status has been “messed about” for over 50 years. Have followed this as my grandfather was born in Stamford the 1880’s where his father was a publican. I agree that this was a relief after yesterday’s (easy Monday?) puzzle. Thanks Falcon and Scchua
Interlude
In Madras (now Chennai),where I live, there’s an area called Rutland Gate, a relic from the Raj times. Somehow it has escaped renaming in Tamil, a pet scheme of the political bosses.
A pleasant crossword — I liked RED DEER, HENNA, and EXONERATE, especially their surfaces. I guessed RUTLAND from the crossings — the name’s familiar because it is a city in Vermont, a New England state next to New Hampshire. Thanks to both.
Thanks Falcon & Scchua.
In 8 down I thought that “over” indicated the reversal of “GO RED”, rather than its placement.
psmith, thanks for pointing it out. Blog corrected.
Thanks to Falcon and Scchua. I was not familiar with FELL as a kind of landscape. Apparently, that’s a uniquely British use of the word.
Otherwise a good puzzle, although I did need some help with Touchstone.
Took me two sittings to finish this off and thanks to Scchua for parsing the top of 8d which I didn’t fathom. After 28a, my immediate thought for 16d was CROZIER, but not enough letters but WORKFORCE ended as my favourite anyway. Still obsessed by the church organ, it took some time to get 4a which unlocked the top row even though 1a was my FOI. Great puzzle from Falcon.