Thank you to Bobcat. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1. Key operative to restrain drunk at hearing (6)
TYPIST : Homophone of(… at hearing) [ “tie”(to restrain/to bind) + “pissed”(slang for “drunk”/totally intoxicated) ].
Defn: …/one operating/working at a keyboard.
4. Conspicuous action by way of inaction (8)
STRIKING : An industrial action that is/by way of a refusal to work/not working/state of inaction.
9. Sweet that’s hard for a sweet Fanny Adams (6)
NOUGHT : “nougat”(a sweet made from sugar or honey, nuts, and egg white) with “h”(abbrev. for “hard”) replacing(that’s … for) “a“.
Defn: … as a euphemism for the expletive “Sweet FA”/nothing at all.
10. Research facility cut back just to make a pile in Scotland (8)
BALMORAL : Reversal of(… back) LAB(short for/cut of “laboratory”/a research facility) + MORAL(just/ethical).
Defn: A pile/castle in Scotland.
12. Establish feature of Beethoven’s concertos (8)
ENSCONCE : Hidden in(feature of) “Beethoven’s concertos“.
Defn: …/settle in a comfortable place.
13. One in three fails to finish large drink (6)
TRIPLE : “triplet”(one in/of a set of three similar things) minus its last letter(fails to finish).
Defn: …, ie. 3 times as large as a standard drink.
15. Few can perform this sort of work in bars (7,5)
CHAMBER MUSIC : Cryptic defn: Collectively, sort of musical compositions/works in/divided into bars which can/only be performed by a small group of musicians.
18. Entryphone is malfunctioning — too much pressure (12)
HYPERTENSION : Anagram of(… malfunctioning) ENTRYPHONE IS.
Defn: …/high blood pressure.
21. Remain at base and keep quiet (3,3)
LIE LOW : LIE(to remain, as in “to lie in bed in the morning”) plus(at) LOW(base/despicable).
Defn: …/keep a low profile.
22. I’d forgotten headquarters of American networks sideline academia (8)
AMNESIAC : 1st(head) 2 letters out of 8, respectively, of(quarters of) “American networks sideline academia“.
24. Brass fastener for jewellery (8)
NECKLACE : NECK(brass/impudence) + LACE(a fastener/a cord for tying up, say, a shoe).
25. Folk from French city cycling around centre of cottage hospital (6)
ETHNIC : NICE(a French city) with its last letter put to the front(cycling) containing(around) middle letter of(centre of) “cottage” + H(abbrev. for “hospital”).
Defn: Describing something characteristic of a population group of people with the same cultural background or descent, as in “folk dancing”.
26. Time of sadness if Moggy takes the lead? (8)
TOMORROW : “sorrow”(sadness/grief) with TOM(a male moggy/cat) replacing its 1st letter(if … takes the lead).
Defn: …, in this case, the day after today.
27. Creature born violet repeatedly shedding skin (6)
ORIOLE : “born” minus its 1st and last letters(shedding skin) plus(repeatedly) “violet” minus its 1st and last letters(shedding skin).
Down
1. “X” to refuse to admit Conservative’s infiltrated faction (8)
TENDENCY : TEN(number whose Roman numeral is X) + DENY(to refuse to admit that something is true) containing(…’s infiltrated) C(abbrev. for member of the Conservative Party).
Defn: …/a group within a larger political party or movement.
2. Blue sort applying pressure to Red? (8)
PRUSSIAN : P(abbrev. for “pressure” in physics) plus(applying … to) RUSSIAN(traditionally a Communist/Red).
Defn: … of colour.
3. Perhaps Etonian Member of Parliament’s packing here — axed for blatant error? (9,6)
SCHOOLBOY HOWLER : SCHOOLBOY(an example of which/perhaps is a student attending Eton School/an Etonian) + [ OWL(a member of a “parliament”, a group of them) contained in(…’s packing) “here” minus its last letter(axed) ].
Has, as the clue says, there been a Member of Parliament, an Etonian old boy, who’s been sent packing for a blatant error?
5. Tailless crawler (4)
TOAD : “toady”(a crawler/one who behaves obsequiously to try to gain favour) minus its last letter(Tailless).
Answer: A tailless creature, in this case certain frogs, who might crawl when they’re not jumping. Also, a contemptible person, as a crawler/toady is.
6. Electrical device internally warming tree home is spaced out (9,6)
IMMERSION HEATER : Anagram of(… spaced out) [ 5 inner letters of(internally) “warming” + TREE HOME IS ].
7. Break in elevated note encapsulating Queen’s sound (6)
IRRUPT : Reversal of(elevated, in a down clue) [ TI(n music, a note in the sol-fa scale) containing(encapsulating) PURR(sound made by a Queen, a female cat) ].
Defn: …/enter violently and suddenly.
8. One close to hotel with topless woman’s a clubber (6)
GOLFER : GOLF(a code representing the letter G, that comes before/is close to H, represented by “hotel”, in the phonetic alphabet) plus(with) 1st letter deleted from(topless, in a down clue) “her”(pronoun for a female/woman, as in “he loves her”, or a possessive pronoun for a female/”woman’s” as in “he loves her smile”).
Defn: …/one using clubs to play in a particular sport like this player and Player:
11. Second automobile salesman turns up. Scram! (7)
SCARPER : S(abbrev. for “second” in time notation) + CAR(automobile) + reversal of(… turns up, in a down clue) REP(short for “representative”, an example of which is a salesman).
Defn: …/get going!
14. Patrons failing to comprehend odd bits of Euro duties (7)
CUSTOMS : “customers”(patrons/clients or purchasers) minus(failing to comprehend) 1st and 3rd letters of(odd bits of) “Euro“.
Defn: …/charges imposed on imports into or exports from a country.
16. Vegetable pie almost needs no time to cook (8)
PIMIENTO : “pie” minus its last letter(almost) plus(needs) anagram of(… to cook) NO TIME.
17. Could it transport one up at Oxford? (8)
UNICYCLE : Cryptic defn: A on-wheeled mode of transport for one person you could find up at Oxford, an English university/uni for short.
19. Tree on top of the world (6)
PLANET : PLANE(a tall spreading tree) placed above(on, in a down clue) 1st letter of(top of, in a down clue) “the“.
20. Image maker wants fairy queen uplifted by players, capturing essence of Purcell (6)
WEBCAM : Reversal of(… uplifted, in a down clue) MAB(in English and Irish folklore, a fairy queen said to control dreams) placed under(by, in a down clue) W,E(abbrev. for “west” and “east”, respectively, representing 2 of the players in bridge) containing(capturing) middle letter of (essence of)”Purcell“.
Defn: …/a video camera that allows its images to be seen online.
23. Return to Sender (4)
ECHO : Cryptic defn: Reflect back/return to sender whatever sounds he/she makes or maybe sings, say, the Elvis Presley song “Return To Sender”.
I didn’t quite get it all out. I couldn’t parse four. I wasn’t expecting an adjective as the solution to 25a. I liked the “headquarters” in 22a — haven’t seen this before.
Thanks Bobcat & scchua.
I have a few quibbles with some answers but, at 26A, does “time” really mean the same as “tomorrow”. I’ll see you at 5 o’clock tomorrow”. “5 o’clock” is the definitive time; “tomorrow” is a broader indicator of roughly when.
Also 14A: “duties” are the fees charged by “customs”. I cannot see how they mean the same thing.
Thanks scchua
Quite an original set of clues so thanks to Bobcat who was a little more accessible than in previous puzzles.
For 20d “C” from essence of Purcell should be added to E and W. I think CUSTOMS for duties is quite acceptable .Excellent blog so thanks to Scchua .
Thanks SM. Blog corrected.
Time can refer to a period as well as a moment.
26a – TOMORROW – “Time of sadness if Moggy takes the lead?” – Is Bobcat making a prediction about a future leader of the Tories?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Rees-Mogg
‘During the 2019 general election, Rees-Mogg was criticised after an interview with LBC’s Nick Ferrari during which he said it would have been “common sense” for residents to flee the Grenfell Tower fire, ignoring fire brigade advice to stay put. Several hours later, Rees-Mogg said he “profoundly apologised” for his comments. Rees-Mogg subsequently made fewer media appearances throughout the rest of the election campaign … fuelling speculation in the media that he was under orders from Downing Street to keep a low profile … Later in the campaign, in an interview with Boris Johnson, Ferrari asked Johnson: “Where is Moggy? […] I don’t see him anywhere.” Johnson responded that Rees-Mogg was campaigning actively around the country.’
TOMORROW will certainly be a sad day if that £$%# ever becomes PM. Heaven forfend. Here’s The Rees-Mogg Singalong Extravaganza…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkogmYkfhUQ
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/customs
‘Noun – customs (countable and uncountable, plural customs)
1 (in the plural) The duties or taxes imposed on imported or exported goods. “Customs of £200 were due on all the wine we took back from France.”
2 (in the singular or uncountable) The government department or agency that is authorised to collect the taxes imposed on imported goods.
3 The process of going through customs checks at a border checkpoint.
4 The location at a border checkpoint where customs checks are carried out.’
Thanks for the blog, a very enjoyable puzzle , AMNESIAC is very clever with the use of headquarters.
Very good blog on some hard clues to parse. For 20D, I think the “WE” element is not inverted (only “MAB”), but rather a reference to the teams in bridge: “we” versus “they,” which are written as headings on the scorepad.
Thanks Bobcat for the challenge. I found this difficult and I revealed both TOAD and STRIKING. I didn’t get all the parsing and overall I had to guess more than I like. I did have favourites including TYPIST, AMNESIAC, TOMORROW, CUSTOMS, and PLANET. Thanks scchua for the blog.
Thanks Cineraria. I’ve amended the blog, but not entirely following your suggestion.
I’m with Tony @10 on this one; I found it tough and took a long time to get it out. Funnily enough TOAD and STRIKING were my last in too and before that I’d almost given up on TOMORROW and ECHO. All eventually parsed (more or less) and with no real obscurities or a theme I knew nothing about so I can’t complain. Another hard one, but I liked NOUGHT.
Thanks to scchua for the as ever detailed and colourful blog and to Bobcat
I read through the clues about 9pm, and decided it was too tough to attempt before bed. Your blog affirmed my decision – some of these clues would have taken time to solve. I note SM”s comment @3: “Bobcat … was a little more accessible than in previous puzzles”. Wow!
Thanks Scchua for a great explanation of a varied and difficult set of clues.
This puzzle broke me. Lots of learnings
Martyn@13
I have given you the wrong Impression.
Bobcat is one of the most difficult setters and I usually take ages to complete a Bobcat puzzle; the early one were fiendish with a blank sheet of paper after 10 minutes. What I meant was that he seems to have mellowed. I still find his puzzles hard but this one was just a little more accessible. Perhaps I was having a good day or I was more on his wavelength for this puzzle.
I’m with Anil@15. A quick run through yielded two answers and the realisation that I was wasting my time. Respect to scchua and anyone else who managed to solve it. I’ve changed Bobcat to DNA on my list of setters.