Thank you to Tees. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
9. Develop complex (9)
ELABORATE : Double defn: 1st: To add more detail to, say, a theory, policy, or basic story line; and 2nd: Involving many complicated parts and details.
10. Dunce Tees had nothing invested in it (5)
IDIOT : I’D(Tees’d/Tees had, with the setter using the self-referential pronoun) + [ O(letter representing 0/nothing) contained in(invested in) ] IT.
11. Red 6 held back in trade centre as 9 is in catalogue (7-8)
MARXIST-LENINIST : Reversal of(… held back) SIX(6) contained in(in) MART(trade centre/market) + reversal of(as … is/is held back like 6 in the first half of the clue) NINE(9) contained in(in) LIST(a catalogue/a register of items).
Defn: …/Communist embracing Marxism-Leninism.
12. Killer in wood, wife smiled devilishly in repose (5,3,7)
DUTCH ELM DISEASE : DUTCH(one’s wife, especially among Cockneys, from “duchess”) + [ anagram of(… devilishly) SMILED contained in(in) EASE(repose/in a state of comfort) ].
Defn: …, specifically elm trees.
15. Aircraft enclosure‘s energy supplied with sodium battery (7)
NACELLE : E(abbrev. for “energy” in physics) placed after(supplied with) [ NA(symbol for the chemical element, sodium) + CELL(a battery/a device for converting chemical energy into electricity).
… enclosing the jet engine.
18. Nuclear installation on river unstable at core (7)
REACTOR : Reversal of(abbrev. for “river”) + anagram of(unstable) AT CORE.
20. Not all there spreading nepotism among subordinate officers (3,6,6)
NON COMPOS MENTIS : Anagram of(spreading) NEPOTISM contained in(among) NON-COMS(short for non-commissioned officers, subordinate to commissioned officers).
Defn: …/not mentally sound.
23. Unorthodox ideas after blood found in Icelandic parliament (7,8)
LATERAL THINKING : LATER(after, in time) + KIN(blood/familial relations) contained in(found in) ALTHING(the Icelandic parliament).
26. Cat wants mouse’s heart brought in as soon as (5)
OUNCE : Middle letter of(…’s heart) “mouse” contained in(brought in) ONCE(as soon as, as in “once you have done the first step, go on to …”).
27. Clear directions when entering old address (9)
EXONERATE : N,E(abbrev. for “north” and “east”, two directions) contained in(when entering) [ EX-(prefix signifying “old”/former) + ORATE(to address/to give a speech) ].
Defn: …/to absolve from blame.
Down
1. Rook on wet earth trapped by head islander (8)
BERMUDAN : [ R(abbrev. for “rook” in chess notation) placed above(on, in a down clue) MUD(wet earth/a soft sticky mixture of earth and water) ] contained in(trapped by) BEAN(informal term for one’s head).
2. Polly run over, which stops involvement (6)
PARROT : [ R(abbrev. for “run” in cricket scores) + O(abbrev. for “over”, again in cricket scores) ] contained in(which stops) PART(involvement/contribution to an action or situation).
3. Reduced ambition to join one native group (4)
HOPI : “hope”(ambition/aspiration) minus its last letter(Reduced …) plus(to join) I(Roman numeral for “one”).
Defn: …/tribe in North America.
4. Transport ecstasy left for political alliance (6)
CARTEL : CART(to transport/to convey by, well, a cart) + E(abbrev. for the drug, Ecstasy) + L(abbrev. for “left”).
Defn: Alliance between political parties.
5. Footballer put off allows goal in (8)
DEFENDER : DEFER(to put off/to delay to a later time) containing(allows … in) END(goal/objective).
6. Sometimes dotty characters supporting feminine state? (4)
FIJI : I,J,I(characters/letters having dots/dotty sometimes, viz. when written in lower case) placed below(supporting, in a down clue) F(abbrev. for “feminine”).
Defn: … in the Pacific Ocean.
7. Limit broken: industrious worker becoming aggressive (8)
MILITANT : Anagram of(… broken) LIMIT + ANT(an industrious worker in an ant-hill).
8. United in mess, bust possibly (6)
STATUE : U(abbrev. for “United’) contained in(in) STATE(informal term for a “mess”/an untidy state).
Defn: An example of which/possibly is a “bust”.
13. Tragedy to be denied sacred books — are you listening? (5)
HELLO! : “Othello”(a tragedy authored by Shakespeare) minus(to be denied) “OT”(abbrev. for the Old Testament, sacred books in the Bible).
Defn: Like “Are you listening?”, an expression to get someone’s attention.
14. Underworld Society brought up ghost (5)
SHADE : HADES(the underworld/the underground abode of the dead in Greek theology) with “s”(abbrev. for “Society”) moved to the top of the word(brought up, in a down clue).
Defn: Literary term for a ….
16. Insincere talk about on street? It’s true! (8)
CONSTANT : CANT(insincere/hypocritical talk) containing(about) [ON + ST(abbrev. for “street”) ].
Defn: …/faithful.
17. Tree forced flat to sprawl among scattered pears (8)
ESPALIER : LIE(to sprawl/to lie with arms and legs outstretched) contained in(among) anagram of(scattered) PEARS.
Defn: Tree forced to grow flat, say, against a wall.
19. Reconciled where gender is not fixed? (8)
RESIGNED : Anagram of(… not fixed) GENDER IS.
Defn: … with/accepting something that one can’t do anything about.
20. Our highest military man with grip on opponent? (6)
NELSON : Double defn: 1st: Cryptically, refering to the statue of Admiral Nelson standing on his monumental Column high above Trafalgar Square, London, and presumably above any statue of an English military man; and 2nd: … in the wrestling ring.
21. Southern fan guards principal in Harrow train (6)
SCHOOL : S(abbrev. for “southern”) + COOL(to fan/to create a current of air that will effect cooling) containing(guards) 1st letter of(principal in) “Harrow“.
22. Island where Brown consumes excellent whiskey (6)
TAIWAN : TAN(brown colour) containing(consumes) [ AI(A1/of an excellent grade, with the Roman numeral substitution) + W(letter represented by “whiskey” in the phonetic alphabet) ].
24. Impolite daughter taken down felt remorse (4)
RUED : RUDE(impolite) with “d”(abbrev. for “daughter”) moved to the end of the word(taken down, in a down clue).
25. Swede regularly entered Portugal (4)
NEEP : 2nd, 4th and 6th letters of(regularly) “entered” + P(International Vehicle Registration code for Portugal).
Defn: A dialect name for the vegetable, ….
A light and pleasant Sunday puzzle which nicely compensates for a dark and nasty day.
Full marks to the setter for the brevity of the clueing. DUTCH ELM DISEASE and LATERAL THINKING were my top two.
Many thanks to Tees and to scchua.
This took me a while to get going, partly because I found the 4 x fifteen letter across answers hard to crack. Not in good form as I didn’t understand the ‘dotty characters’ in 6d either; seems obvious now of course.
Favourites were working out the parsing of MARXIST-LENINIST and LATERAL THINKING (v. appropriate). I’d forgotten it today but I’ll try to remember the ‘Icelandic parliament’ for next time – some hope I’m afraid.
Thanks to Tees and scchua
I enjoyed this puzzle very much.
Thanks all
Like WordPlodder @2 I really struggled with this (though the ‘dotty characters’ at 6D was my second one in) and I needed to consult the wordlist several times. 20A was very clever, though it was my last one in! Thanks Tees and Scchua.
One definition slightly surprised me today, leading to some learning. I’ve always thought a CARTEL was a business grouping and I read that the word has two roots: the Italian cartello for an agreement between warring nations, typically regarding treatment of prisoners, from the 1690’s and then the German Kartell, first used in 1846 to describe efforts to standardise tariffs and standards between railway companies.
I’ll also confess to raising half an eyebrow at hope for ambition, feeling that the latter has a certain element of planfulness but I guess aspiration covers both.
I found the long ones challenging Like WordPlodder but also thoroughly satisfying to crack – particularly MARXIST-LENINIST although LATERAL THINKING probably takes the COTD for the remarkable inclusion of the Icelandic parliament. Aren’t there some odd words out there for political assemblies? Diet, Tynwald, Dail, Seym, Duma…
I also ticked SCHOOL, FIJI for the dotty device, ESPALIER for the splendidly disguised definition and HELLO for the clever removal. And how nice to see another OUNCE (in both puzzle and blog); it’s interesting, considering they are both Himalayan and both bywords for elusiveness that ounces and Yetis appear so often in crosswords.
Thanks Tees and scchua
Another enjoyable Sunday puzzle. Thanks to Tees and scchua
Found this a little tricky in places and I did have to look up both the Icelandic parliament and the aircraft enclosure – neither of which I’m likely to remember!
Plenty of good stuff and my top two were DUTCH ELM DISEASE & HELLO.
Thanks to Tees and to scchua for the review.
We also found this a little tricky in places, needing a bit of 23. We did know the Althing, though (one of us having visited Iceland many years ago). 12ac held out on us for ages as we kept thinking the killer in the wood was a character from some dark fairytale – a real pennydrop moment when we got the answer.
Postmak@5: Chambers Compact Thesaurus has hope as a synonym for ambition.
Thanks, Tees and scchua.
Good puzzle. Found it quite tricky & needed 3 letter reveals to finish. Couldn’t parse one or two as well.
Thanks all
Thanks Tees, I solved this very slowly and I was quite satisfied as the unknowns revealed themselves. Favourites included FIJI, NEEP, and HELLO. I played “guess then parse” with the 4 long ones — it worked pretty well. Thanks scchua for the blog.