Independent on Sunday 1756 Filbert

Thank you to Filbert. Definitions are underlined in the clues.

Across

1. Physio service, 75 cents? (7)

MASSEUR : MASS(a service in church) + 3 out 4 letters of(75 cents out of 100 cents) “Euro”(each subdivided into 100 cents).

Defn: A physiotherapist or … in short.

5. Le Petomane’s act reportedly gut-related? (7)

GASTRIC : Homophone of(… reportedly) “gas trick”(how you might describe the performance/act by Le Petomane, French flatulist and entertainer or “fartiste” who could seemingly fart at will).

9. Sea creature, according to Spooner a funny sponge? (9)

KITTIWAKE : Spoonerism of(according to Spooner) “witty”(funny) “cake”(an example of which is the sponge cake).

Winged creature living by and feeding from the sea:

10. Italy’s first secretary bites lip (5)

PRIMA : PA(abbrev. for “personal assistant”/secretary) containing(bites) RIM(lip/outer edge of an object).

Answer: “first” in Italian or “most important” in English.

11. Over-involved head briefly beat popular boy (5-8)

HEATH-ROBINSON : “head” minus its last letter(briefly) + THROB(to beat/to pulse) + IN(popular/in fashion) + SON(form of address used by an older person for a boy).

Defn: …/ridiculously over-complicated in design or construction.

Contraption to solve the problem of conveying peas to mouth:

13. Golf, say, with out of place AMG label (4,4)

BALL GAME : Anagram of(out of place) AMG LABEL.

Defn: An example of which/say is golf.

15. Get from the internet ‘vapour’ having entered ‘term for vapour’ (6)

STREAM : STEAM(the vapour into which water is converted by heat) containing(having entered) last letter of(term for/conclusion of) “vapour“.

Defn: … data such as video and audio material in a steady continuous flow.

17. Dram nearly £25 in Japan (6)

NIPPON : NIP(a dram/a small drink of spirits) + “pony”(informal term for a sum of £25) minus its last letter(nearly …).

Defn: Japanese name for …, translated as “Land of the Rising Sun”.

19. Decline sandwiches with thanks in simple speech (4,4)

BABY TALK : BALK(to decline/to be unwilling to accept) containing(sandwiches) [ BY(with/next to, as in “he was standing with me when it happened”) + TA!(informally, “thank you!/thanks!”) ].

22. One of our members ought to fancy Dr Beale (8,5)

SHOULDER BLADE : SHOULD(ought to/obliged to) + anagram of(fancy) DR BEALE.

Defn: …, ie. a component part of our skeleton.

25. English singer given zero help with the lyrics (5)

ERATO : E(abbrev. for “English”) + RAT(a singer/a betrayer who ‘sings’ to the authorities) plus(given) O(letter representing 0/zero).

Defn: …, in the form of the Muse of lyric and love poetry.

26. Element of graphic art seen all over the place (9)

MANGANESE : MANGA(graphic art/a Japanese style of comic books and graphic novels) + anagram of(… all over the place) SEEN.

Defn: A chemical ….

27. Parliament showing some weakness: Etonians (7)

KNESSET : Hidden in(some) “weakness: Etonians“.

Defn: … of Israel.

The clue’s surface a comment on the UK Parliament?

28. Comply with authority, with fist shaken internally (7)

SATISFY : SAY(authority/power to influence or act) containing(with … internally) anagram of(… shaken) FIST.

Down

1. Big fish mostly produce nothing (4)

MAKO : “make”(to produce/create) minus its last letter(mostly …) + O(letter representing 0/nothing).

2. Something carried, by girls at Cheltenham? (7)

SATCHEL : Hidden in(carried, by) “girls at Cheltenham“.

Defn: … Ladies’ College, the all-girls’ school in Cheltenham.

3. Cast starts to extemporise in a TV show (5)

EVITA : Anagram of(Cast) [ 1st letters, respectively, of(starts to) “extemporise in” + A TV ].

Defn: … on stage and adapted for the cinema.

4. Dictator’s sat on ass, saving carbon, making traffic slower (4,4)

ROAD HUMP : Homophone of(Dictator’s) “rode”(sat on/astride, say, a horse) + “chump”(an ass/a foolish person) minus(saving) “C”(symbol for the chemical element, carbon).

Defn: Part of a road designed for making traffic slow down/go slower.

5. Hooter raised after game continues (4,2)

GOES ON : Reversal of(… raised, in a down clue) NOSE(informally called a “hooter”) placed below(after, in a down clue) GO(a strategy board game, thought to originate from China, and now closely associated with Japan).

6. Concession on that man’s tax for dodgy reason (9)

SOPHISTRY : SOP(a concession/a little something, maybe a bribe, given to prevent someone causing trouble) placed above(on, in a down clue) HIS(that man’s/belonging to him) + TRY(to tax/to put a strain on).

Defn: …/a clever but false argument, with intention to deceive.

7. Soldiers claim to protect lives in later edition (7)

REISSUE : RE(abbrev. for the Royal Engineers, soldiers in the British military) + SUE(to claim/to formally request or demand) containing(to protect) IS(lives/exists).

8. Shackles on a donkey drag continuously (5,5)

CHAIN SMOKE : CHAINS(shackles/restraints) placed above(on, in a down clue) MOKE(a donkey).

Defn: … on cigarette after cigarette.

12. Cut your tree after serious complaint (1-4,5)

T-BONE STEAK : [ ONE’S(your/belonging to you/one) + TEAK(a hardwood tree) ] placed below(after, in a down clue) TB(abbrev. for “tuberculosis”, a serious medical complaint).

… thus called.

14. Thorough checks an advantage when using Tinder? (4,5)

GOOD LOOKS : [GOOD LOOKS](thorough checks/careful examinations).

Defn: …, the dating app, in this case, an especially attractive appearance.

16. Surgeon reformed by a new boss (8)

SAWBONES : Anagram of(reformed by) A NEW BOSS.

Defn: Informal term for a ….

18. Will checking hold up a teacher, initially, during lesson? (7)

PROBATE : [ ROB(to hold up/to take property unlawfully from someone using threats or violence) + A + 1st letter of(…, initially) “teacher” ] contained in(during) PE(abbrev. for “physical education”, a lesson in school).

20. Bitter golfer takes five, three taken by most (1,6)

A LEVELS : ALE(bitter/a strongly flavoured beer) + ELS(Ernie, South African professional golfer) containing(takes) V(Roman numeral for “five”).

Defn: British examinations in which most candidates take 3 subjects.

21. Ticket for every child except the last (6)

PERMIT : PER(for every/each, when expressing rates) + “mite”(a small child) minus its last letter(except the last).

23. Dad mounted pictures out of consideration (5)

APART : Reversal of(… mounted, in a down clue) PA(like “dad”, an informal term for one’s father) + ART(collectively, works of human creativity, including pictures, painting, and such like).

Defn: …, indicating that something is set aside/not being considered, as in “Apart from a parking offence, his record is clean”.

24. Fishy end for puzzle, see (4)

EELY : Last letter of(end for) “puzzle” + ELY(the see/seat of authority of the Bishop of Ely of the Church of England).

And see … that’s the last clue/end of this puzzle.