A rather rudimentary blog today, I’m afraid. I stayed up till midnight to solve the puzzle but did so against a background of the shocking news from America, which made it quite difficult to concentrate.
It’s mostly straightforward but one piece of parsing eludes me, so it’s over to you.
Thanks to Paul for the puzzle.
Definitions are underlined in the blog.
Across
1 Race to eat a hot dog in America? (6)
HURRAY
HURRY (race) round A – I puzzled over this for ages, looking up ‘hurray’ in American dictionaries, to see if it meant a snack, then realised that I was looking at it the wrong way round: apparently, a hotdog in America can be ‘an interjection erxpressing approval or gratification’ (not in Chambers or Collins but I found it online)
9 Prayer an hour after midnight inspiring music, initially (4)
IMAM
I AM (an hour after midnight) round M[usic] – the definition is to be read as pray-er: the imam leads the prayer in a mosque
10 A picture forged: active safety measure (10)
PRECAUTION
An anagram (forged) of A PICTURE + ON (active)
11 Alpine rocks from a mountainous country (6)
NEPALI
An anagram (rocks) of ALPINE
12 Reportedly sudden surge of oil getting pan cleaner? (3,5)
LOO BRUSH
Sounds like lube rush (sudden surge of oil) – pan and loo both slang for toilet
13 Determination and spirit after first of defeats — one’s beaten (5,4)
STEEL DRUM
STEEL (determination) + D(efeats) + RUM (spirit)
15, 23 Might it be worth an offence in football? (4,5)
FOUL THROW
A reverse anagram (foul) of WORTH
16, 17 Paramour slightly off-centre? (1,3,2,3,4)
A BIT ON THE SIDE
Cryptic definition
21 Present US president’s a cow (8)
HEREFORD
HERE (present) + (Gerald) FORD (US president)
22 Magic of spring, might you say, in table of data? (6)
MATRIX
Sounds like May tricks (magic of spring)
24 Longest of three years in penthouse, debauched (10)
HYPOTENUSE
Y (years?) in an anagram (debauched) 0f PENTHOUSE
25, 20 Dope accessing superlatively exceptional region under threat (10)
RAIN FOREST
INFO (dope) in RAREST (superlatively exceptional)
26 Inadequate place to go in dirty dwelling (6)
SCANTY
CAN (place to go – yet more slang for toilet) in STY (dirty dwelling)
27, 4 Joined in action with mystical characters, those perhaps responsible for movement? (6,6)
STEWED PRUNES
WED (joined) in STEP (action) + RUNES (mystical characters)
Down
2 Start off bit before a dance (5)
RUMBA
[c]RUMB (bit) + A
3 A page worked in practical (7)
APPLIED
A P (page) + PLIED (worked) – definition as in maths
5 Grounds covered by area, so natural (6)
REASON
Contained in aREA SO Natural
6 Awfully famous old picture? (9)
NOTORIOUS
Double definition, the second referring to the Hitchcock film
7 Upcoming clips about America in union (7)
SPOUSAL
A reversal (upcoming) of LOPS (clips) round USA (America)
8 Spruce in deep hole removed (4-6-3)
WELL-TURNED-OUT
WELL (deep hole) + TURNED OUT (removed)
14 Long way after English, unknown Portuguese greeting French author (5,4)
EMILE ZOLA
E (English) + MILE (long way) + Z (unknown) + OLA (Portuguese greeting)
16 A couple of affirmatives for primates (3-4)
AYE-AYES
A couple of affirmatives for these primates.
A better parsing is A YEA YES – thanks WordPlodder @20 (I saw it myself @21!)
18, 1 Literary villain, one requesting a lift across northern suspension bridge, heading for trouble (7,7)
HUMBERT HUMBERT
THUMBER (one requesting a lift) in HUMBER (estuary in Northern England crossed by a suspension bridge) + T(rouble) – HUMBERT is the villain in ‘Lolita’. Edit: see a better parsing @34 – thanks, Andrew. I wasn’t happy with the ‘across’ in my version
19 Worshipped, whether bound for heaven or hell? (7)
DEIFIED
I can’t see how this works: there’s IF (whether) in there but I can’t see the rest of it. Edit: ‘bound for heaven or hell’ indicates that it’s a palindrome – thanks to Ivor Flitman, Hovis and Penfold, comments 1-3
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