Thank you to Bobcat. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1. Bobcat’s ready: you sound unprepared (9)
IMPROMPTU : I’M(contraction of “I am”/”Bobcat is”, ie. with the setter using the self-referential pronoun) PROMPT(ready/immediate, as in “a ready answer to your question”) + homophone of(… sound) “you“.
6. Part of PIN derives from dates at middle school (5)
THIGH : Middle letter of(… at middle) “dates” + HIGH(short for “high school”).
Defn: …/leg.
9. He takes time to replace front of arch (5)
THIEF : T(abbrev. for “time”) replacing(to replace) 1st letter of(front of) “chief”(arch-/prefix signifying “principal”).
Defn: … illegally.
10. Dubious new curate settled in (9)
UNCERTAIN : Anagram of(… settled) [ N(abbrev. for “new” + CURATE) ] + IN.
11. Speaker’s examination holds two thirds of Conservatives to account after recall (10)
ORATORICAL : ORAL(a spoken examination) containing(holds) [ 4 out of 6 letters of(two thirds of) “Tories”(members of the Conservative Party in the UK) plus(to) reversal of(… after recall) AC(abbrev. for “account”) ].
Defn: …/relating to the speaker/orator.
12. Abandon issue in conversation (4)
CEDE : Homophone of(… in conversation) “seed”(issue/offspring).
Defn: …/give up
14. Unduly long odds of Daley’s uncontrolled dive taking first place (7)
SPINDLY : 1st, 3rd and 5th letters of(odds of) “Daley” placed after(… taking first place) SPIN(an uncontrolled dive/revolving descent of a aircraft.
Defn: …/tall and thin.
15. Fancied horse in one of the Classics (7)
PEGASUS : Cryptic defn: A winged horse in Classical Greek mythology.
17. I’m sorry to be taken aback by retraction of girl’s word of praise (7)
HOSANNA : Reversal of(… to be taken aback) OH!(like “I’m sorry”, an apology for having made a mistake) plus(by) reversal of(retraction of) ANNA(a girl’s name)‘S .
Defn: … in Christianity.
19. Apparently empty box provides source of amusement (7)
CARTOON : [O(letter representing 0/nothing) contained in](Apparently empty) CARTON(a small, light box).
20. Unfinished article on vacuous mystery story (4)
MYTH : “The”(article in grammar) minus its last letter(Unfinished …) placed after(on) “mystery” minus its inner letters(vacuous …).
22. Set a nice clue about Mass for Christian unity (10)
ECUMENICAL : Anagram of(Set) A NICE CLUE containing(about) M(symbol for “mass” in physics).
25. Musical work about Desperate Dan initially striking gold is rejected. I’m crushed! (7,2)
TRODDEN ON : Reversal of(… is rejected) { NONET(a musical work for nine voices or instruments) containing(about) 1st letters, respectively, of(… initially) “Desperate Dan” plus(striking) OR(gold colour in heraldry) ] }.
26. The best student’s thought ahead (5)
IDEAL : L(letter displayed by a learner/student driver) placed after(… ahead) IDEA(a thought/a notion).
27. Third-rate writer wanting recognition for repetitive composition (5)
CANON : C(letter indicating third-rate, after A and B) + ANON(put at the end of writing to indicate that its originator’s identity is withheld/wanting recognition).
Defn: …, with the same melody repeated in overlapping passages.
28. Get to grips with tone of opening piece (6,3)
MASTER KEY : MASTER(to get to grips with/to gain control of) plus(with) KEY(the tone/pitch of a musical piece or one’s voice).
Defn: …/a thing that opens any lock or security device.
Down
1. Beginning to be keen on securing second term for Trump (5)
INTRO : INTO(to be keen on/to be interested in) containing(securing) 2nd letter of(second term for) “Trump“.
2. Rights to seclusion in lavatories broached by couple opening club in Milan (9)
PRIVACIES : PRIVIES(lavatories/toilets located in a small shed outside a house) contained in(broached by) 1st 2 letters of(couple opening) “A.C. Milan”(a professional football club based in Milan).
3. Getting rid of potential wordplay for “diagonal” lacking an “a” (10)
OFFLOADING : Reverse clue/potential wordplay: Anagram of(OFF) LOADING = [ “diagonal” minus(lacking an) “a“].
4. Need religious correspondent to remove line on possible cathedral location (7)
PAUCITY : “Paul”(religious correspondent/writer of the Epistles/Letters of Paul, some of the books in the New Testament of the Bible) minus(to remove) “l”(abbrev. for “line”) plus(on) CITY(a town created a city by charter, and usually containing a cathedral/a possible cathedral location).
Defn: …/a lack of.
5. Family man failing to finish off poisoner is set free (7)
UNCLASP : “uncle”(a family man/a blood relation) minus its last letter(failing to finish off) + ASP(a poisoner/a poisonous creature, specifically, this variety of snake).
6. Novice losing footing in alpine region (4)
TYRO : “Tyrol”(an alpine region, specifically, in West Austria and North Italy) minus its last letter (losing footing …, in a down clue).
7. Mirror supplies base to support Independent publication (5)
IMAGE : E(in maths, an abstract number that is the base for natural logarithms) placed below(to support, in a down clue) [ I(abbrev. for “Independent”, a non-member of any political party) + MAG(short for “magazine”, a periodical publication) ].
Defn: …/a thing regarded as an accurate representation of something else, as in “the eyes are the mirror of the soul”.
8. Dependants damn individual short of capital (7-2)
HANGERS-ON : HANG!(like “damn!”, an expression of anger or frustration at someone or something) + “person”(an individual/someone) minus its 1st letter(short of capital).
13. Artfully rig agendas to create unjustly favourable impression (10)
AGGRANDISE : Anagram of(Artfully) RIG AGENDAS.
14. Following a particular plan could become mechanistic without sources of novel ideas (9)
SCHEMATIC : Anagram of(could become) [ “mechanistic” minus 1st letters, respectively, of(without sources of) “novel ideas” ].
16. Undertake surprise audit to identify arrangement of men on board (4-5)
SPOT-CHECK : SPOT(to identify/to recognise) CHECK(an arrangement of pieces/men on a chessboard where a player has placed his/her opponent’s king under direct attack).
Or does “check” refer to the black and white squares on which the pieces are placed?
18. Prison implicated in a peculiar secret (7)
ARCANUM : CAN(slang for “prison”) contained in(implicated in) [A + RUM(peculiar/odd) ].
19. Unions associated with Attlee and Freud (not the Liberal)? (7)
CEMENTS : “Clements”(plural of “Clement”, the first names of Attlee, former British PM, and Freud, British Liberal MP and broadcaster) minus(not the) “L”(abbrev. for “Liberal”, a member of the Liberal Party).
Defn: I’m not sure about this. “cement” and “union” as nouns are not synonymous – the former achieves the latter; and unlike “cement”, “union” cannot be a verb.
21. Old Norse character finds god at bottom of mountain (5)
THORN : THOR(the hammer-wielding god in Scandinavian mythology) plus(at) last letter of(bottom of, in a down clue) “mountain“.
Defn: …/letter in the Old Norse alphabet.
23. Money expressed in pounds sterling more often than not (5)
LOLLY : Cryptic defn: L(or £/symbol for pounds sterling/English money unit) appears in the solution more often than the other letters (3 out of 5).
Defn: Slang for …
24. Elevated element of Scandinavian idolatry (4)
ODIN : Hidden in(element of) reversal of(Elevated …) “Scandinavian idolatry“.
Defn: A widely revered god/elevated element in Scandinavian idolatry/mythology.
Thanks Bobcat and scchua.
19dn: I wondered about this too, but Chambers 2014 gives “a bond or union” among the definitions of cement as a noun.
Some quite tough parsing and I couldn’t work out PEGASUS, INTRO (didn’t understand the ‘second term’ bit) or LOLLY. Like our blogger I wasn’t sure about CEMENTS either so thanks to PB @1 for the clarification. Took a long time to get THIGH and TYRO at the end.
Really liked the nothing in CARTON for ’empty box’. Good to have our feline related Nina as icing on the cake.
Thanks to scchua and Bobcat
Enjoyed this grid and the Nina too, with which I agree wholeheartedly.
Took a long time getting started again but answers in the lower half of the grid trickled through steadily and then, with the help of that Nina, I could complete with 18d, my LOI.
Some very interesting ideas here though full parsing of a few eluded me (9a, 1d, 7d, 14a). Agree about cement/union but I did like the clue, along with
I liked 27a, 4d and 6d.
Thanks to Bobcat and Scchua for filling in said gaps.
I mused over the definition of 9a. I assumed ‘he takes’, naturally. But could it plausibly be ‘he takes time’ with ‘t’ performing double duty, making reference to procrastination being time-thief?
I think there is more to 15A than first meets the eye, as “one of the Classics” can also refer to any of the five main flat races in the UK horse racing season.
Thanks for the blog , I also pondered a long time over 15 AC thinking it had to be some racehorse link.
A lot of very interesting ideas here as DIane says, CARTOON was my favourite.
Not such a fiendish puzzle from Bobcat as his initial one in the FT. Lots to like about this . I needed the excellent blog to parse quite a few clues .learnt a new word:THORN.
I think Hosanna also appears in the Old Testament so Judaic as well as Christian.
Thanks to setter and blogger for the usual high standard.
Found CANON, PRIVACIES, SPOT-CHECK, LOLLY and ODIN.
SPOT-CHECK: Check seems to indicate a direct attack on one’s opponent’s king, as you have said.
Diane@4: An interesting bit on time-thief 🙂
Rudolf@5: Agree. If ‘one of the Classics’ indicates any of the races you have mentioned as well as classical Greek mythology, then calling PEGASUS a cryptic def seems more justified.
Correction: Found CANON, PRIVACIES, SPOT-CHECK, LOLLY and ODIN interesting.
My favourites were the ones I felt had an elegant simplicity to them e.g. IMPROMPTU, MYTH, IDEAL, UNCLASP, and TYRO. Most of this crossword, however, was too convuluted for my tastes. I don’t envy scchua for having to parse this puzzle. Thanks to both.
Can someone point out the Nina please?
Greg,
It reads horizontally across the belly of the grid.
Thanks Bobcat and scchua
CATS ARE GREAT … hmmm – 😮
Found this quite tough both to complete the grid as well as to parse quite a few of them – ended up needing help here to see how SPINDLY, TRODDEN ON and HANGERS-ON worked.
Think that 15a was a really neat clue with the misleading classic English horse races surface and the Greek myth related cryptic definition.
After a longer than normal, but very enjoyable, battle I finished in the NE corner with IMAGE, THIGH (very trickily defined) and CEDE.
Thanks, I think my Nina blindness is due in part to my poor handwriting, especially in squares that aren’t crossers. I tell myself it doesn’t matter if it’s illegible, I won’t be needing it later.
I agree with Tony at 10.
I’ll avoid this setter in future.