Thank you to Coot. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1. Steal animal’s morsel (7)
SNIPPET : SNIP(a steal/something of good value/a bargain) + PET(a tame animal kept for companionship or pleasure).
5. Perhaps Norma had some food – a common function (7)
OPERATE : [ “opera”(an example of which/perhaps is Norma, by Bellini) + “ate”(had some food) ] minus one of the “a”s(a common).
9. Nobody‘s free to swap spectacles for monocle ‘by right’ (5)
LOSER : “loose”(free/unattached) with “oo”(letters shaped like a pair of glasses/spectacles) replaced by(to swap … for …) “o”(letter shaped like a monocle) plus(by) R(abbrev. for “right”).
Defn: …/someone who frequently fails.
10. Papers misrepresented a client’s twin (9)
IDENTICAL : ID(short for identification/papers identifying a person) + anagram of(misrepresented) A CLIENT.
: “Differentness in Identicalness”.
11. Negotiate gender reassignment legislation? (8)
TRANSACT : TRANS(short for “transgender”/one who has his/her gender identity reassigned, from that associated with his/her sex at birth) + ACT(a piece of legislation/a law).
12. Foul made by Rodri in action against Hearts (6)
HORRID : Anagram of(… in action) RODRI placed after(against) H(abbrev. for the suit “hearts” in card games).
15. Face–lift: what does it achieve? (9)
ELEVATION : Double defn: 1st: …/the side of an object that faces the viewer; and 2nd: What that results from/is achieved by raising something from a lower to a higher level.
17. Drops off suits when leaving Poland (5)
EASES : “pleases”(suits/satisfies) minus(when leaving) “PL”(the ISO 2-letter code for Poland).
Defn: …/decreases in amount or value.
18. Corporation’s e-ticketing limits start (5)
ONSET : Hidden in(… limits) “Corporation’s e-ticketing“.
20. Darker Cornish paintings maybe more popular if very quietly forgotten (9)
SWARTHIER : SW(abbrev. for “South-West”, used to indicate that part of England in which Cornwall is) + ART(one form of which are paintings) + “hipper”(more hip/more popular/trendy) minus(if … forgotten) “pp”(abbrev. for “pianissimo”, a musical instruction to play very quietly).
22. Suspects party underlings blame the SNP’s leaders (6)
DOUBTS : DO(a party/a social function) + 1st letters, respectively, of(…’s leaders) “underlings blame the SNP“.
23. Takes off underpants in interviews? (8)
DEBRIEFS : DE-(prefix indicating the act of taking off/removing, as in “to debug”) BRIEFS(underpants such as Y-fronts or knickers).
Defn: Debriefings/…, during which questions are asked of someone about a completed mission or undertaking.
26. Showy elderly relative does initially impressive cartwheels (9)
GRANDIOSE : GRAN(an informal term for one’s grandmother, one of one’s elderly relatives) + anagram of(… cartwheels) [DOES + 1st letter of(initially) “impressive” ].
27. Vote against party (5)
BEANO : [ BE A NO ](to cast a “no”, not a “yes”, vote/to vote against).
Defn: …/a noisy festive celebration.
28. Checks Nadal’s OK to be introduced to supporters (7)
RESISTS : SI(“OK”/yes, in the language of one with the Spanish surname, Nadal, a famous example being Rafael, the tennis player) contained in(to be introduced to) RESTS(supporters/objects that provide support).
29. Healthy reward a few gathered after clean-up (4,3)
TIDY SUM : Homophone of(… gathered) “some”(a few) placed after(after) TIDY(a clean-up/act of making something neat and orderly).
Defn: Healthy/a satisfactory size or amount of, say, profit/gain/reward.
Down
1. Mo Salah’s top clips noted abroad (5,6)
SPLIT SECOND : 1st letter of(…’s top, in a down clue) “Salah” + anagram of(… abroad) CLIPS NOTED.
Defn: …/a moment in time.
2. At home, one assumes Mum exercises well (2,5)
IN SHAPE : IN(at home/not out) + A(article for “one”/a single item) contained in(assumes) [ SH!(an exclamation requesting someone to be silent/to be mum) + PE(abbrev. for “physical education”/exercises and sports taught in schools) ].
3. Prunes and other fruit delivered (5)
PARES : Homophone of(… delivered) “pears”(example of fruit other than prunes).
Defn: …/removes unwanted parts.
4. Extremely anxious fool’s suspect ethics (10)
TWITCHIEST : TWIT(a fool/idiot) + anagram of(suspect) ETHICS.
Defn: …/angstiest/antsiest.
5. Not yet settled or not quite married? (4)
OWED : “or” minus its last letter(not quite) + WED(married/joined).
Defn: …/describing an unpaid debt.
6. Once abstinent drifter admitted becoming party animal? (9)
EXTROVERT : EX-(prefix indicating “once”/formerly) + TT(abbrev. for “teetotal”/abstaining from alcohol) containing(admitted) ROVER(a drifter/wanderer).
Defn: …/one who loves to socialise.
7. Fits current trousers (7)
ACCORDS : AC(abbrev. for “alternating current”, a type of electric current) + CORDS(trousers made of corduroy fabric).
Defn: …/matches.
8. Flip cover that’s slippery (3)
EEL : Reversal of(Flip, in a down clue) LEE(cover/shelter).
Defn: Fish ….
13. Conflict in shared bedroom occupied by bewildered setters (6,5)
DESERT STORM : DORM(short for “dormitory”, a large bedroom shared by a number of people) containing(occupied by) anagram of(bewildered) SETTERS.
Defn: … that was part of the Gulf War.
14. Teenage gamine periodically sought for modelling contract (10)
ENGAGEMENT : Anagram of(… sought for modelling) [TEENAGE + 1st, 3rd and 5th letters of(… periodically) “gamine” ].
Defn: …/an agreed employment for a specific period.
16. Sex during tap dancing used contorting abilities (9)
APTITUDES : IT(a euphemism for “sexual intercourse”) contained in(during) [ anagram of(… dancing) TAP + anagram of(… contorting) USED ].
Defn: Natural ….
19. Queen interrupting settles protests (7)
SQUEALS : QU(abbrev. for “Queen”) contained in(interrupting) SEALS(settles/brings to a definitive conclusion).
21. Frozen wildernesses found over in Room 101 (3,4)
ICE CAPS : Reversal of(over in, in a down clue) [ SPACE(room/empty area) + CI(Roman numeral for “101”) ].
… that are melting away.
24. Wild storm engulfs the centre of Newbury (5)
RABID : RAID(storm/an attack by troops on a fortified place) containing(engulfs) middle letter of(the centre of) “Newbury“.
Defn: …/fanatical.
25. Expressions of excitement issue over the Tannoy (4)
OOHS : Homophone of(.. over the Tannoy, a public address system, named after the company that makes such) “ooze”(to issue/to seep out of).
26. Fishy item in bagging area (3)
GAR : Hidden in(in) “bagging area“.
Answer: Short for “garfish” or “garpike”.
Liked LOSER, ELEVATION, SPLIT SECOND and OOHS.
TRANSACT
If we consider the ‘gender reassignment legislation?’ as one block to lead to ‘TRANS ACT’
it parses better, I feel.
Thanks Coot and Scchua!
Good puzzle. Creative. Some intricate parsing which schuaa has explained thoroughly as well as some indicators and tricks that were new to me. I parsed TRANSACT as the blog has. Seems straighforward. Can’t really name a toppie but I did like ‘or not quite married’, the spectacles, Nadal’s ‘si’ and ‘be a no’. Thanks schuaa and Coot.
I found this a real struggle. For me it was a puzzle to be admired but not one that I can say I enjoyed. Thanks anyway.
The ‘glasses for monocle’ device is, to me, a new way of deleting an O and, like Sofamore, I enjoyed ‘… or not quite married’. The amorous tap dancing contortions made me smile. Not that it matters enormously but I, like KVa, viewed ‘trans act’ as a Thing when parsing; it all ends up with the same result.
Other likes go to IDENTICAL, DOUBTS, RESISTS, SPLIT SECOND, PARES, EXTROVERT, DESERT STORM, ENGAGEMENT and ICE CAPS.
Thanks Coot and scchua
I rather liked the ‘glasses for monocle’ device and have sometimes wondered similar could be used elsewhere. It was a struggle to begin with but eventually everything slotted into place nicely, so thanks Coot and Scchua (liked the photos).
Would someone explain what the ‘s is doing in fool’s at 4d for me please?
I started this very slowly and failed on a few at the end, but understood them after a few letter reveals in the online app. For a while I thought I was going to finish with a very sparsely populated grid. Glad I persisted and almost got there.
Thanks to Coot and scchua.
21d ICE CAPS – I first came across the SPACE CI = Room 101 trick when Methuselah used it in February last year. I thought it was a brilliant spot then. I still do…
…Eccles had this in 2017:…
…’Room 101 returns, suggesting objects being eliminated from the world (7)’ – That was even better, giving both the premise of the show, and the climatic meaning.
rocket@6
TWITCHIEST
The fool’s becomes ‘fool has’ in the cryptical reading. Many don’t like this device but this is
a standard crossword trick and worth remembering.
(TWIT has ETHIC* )
rocket @6: the ‘s is linking ‘fool’ and (ethics)*. It’s an abbreviation for ‘has’ in the cryptic grammar. It’s perfectly valid and often used, even if not everyone’s favourite device. Coot could have avoided it by using ‘with’ if he’d wanted to.
Ha! KVa – almost 100% snap!
🙂
@10
* It should be ‘cryptic reading’ instead of ‘cryptical reading’. Typo.
An enjoyable Sunday solve – my last two had to be ELEVATION and SQUEALS, although I wasn’t entirely sure of their parsing until coming here. I also liked the ‘glasses / monocle’ trick, Room 101, and the Cornish paintings.
Coot’s previous Indy outings have included a theme – but I didn’t notice one here. I am, however, highly unobservant of such things…
Thanks Coot & scchua
Thanks to Cot 😉 and schua (whoops, my carbon copy didn’t copy) 😀
Kva & Postmark, thanks for the explanation(s). I think I’ll have to just accept it. Simply because ethics* follows twit I don’t get why he/she “has” it. Trivial I suppose really. It was a very good puzzle just past my limits of difficulty.
Needed our blogger’s help to parse the last four letters of 20a but I was well away in a vision of Ross Poldark in the Cornish sea so was happy enough in my ignorance! My favourite was the conflict in the shared bedroom.
Thanks to Coot and to schuaa for the review.
Very tough in places for a gentle Sunday run out. Again one of those that having finished you wonder quite why you struggled. Thanks Coot and SCC
Had to check everything letter by letter, tearing hair out, to figure out what I’d got wrong. I never moan about homophones but… I had CORS as the expressions of excitement for the soundalike issue “cause” until I finally got there.
All good apart from that. thanks Coot.
Special thanks to scchua for the picture of the 26d which I’ve entered in countless crosswords without ever knowing what one looks like. Now I do. Thank you, kindly.
Many thanks to scchua for a superb blog and to everyone else for solving and commenting.
Amoeba@14 – you are correct, no theme this time.
Pete HA3@19 – apologies for the ambiguity. I could argue that the synonyms involved in your alternative would be a little ‘stretchy’ but that would be me missing the point. Any ambiguity is to be avoided. Unfortunately, picking up alternative solutions can be very hard to do even with numerous test solves.
Coot@20. No worries. I got extra enjoyment from “debugging” my solution.
Thanks Coot, I enjoyed this quite a bit. It was slow going at times but everything fell into place eventually, albeit with a bit of guessing. My top picks were OPERATE, TRANSACT, DEBRIEFS, IN SHAPE, and DESERT STORM. Thanks scchua for filling in my parsing gaps.
Lots of great stuff in here, Coot!
I don’t usually like the ‘glasses’ for OO thing usually but was delighted to see it actually used in a clever way here. Loved the wordplay in BEANO though it was a bit too clever for the NHO def for me stopped me solving that one. I thought the symmetrically placed 3-letter fishes were a cute touch I haven’t noticed anyone commenting on. Got a good chuckle on “not quite” meaning “half” in 5d.
Didn’t care for what read to me as an indirect anagram in ENGAGEMENT, nor the extra S in TWITCHIEST but I know these are things people do.
The real comment I showed up to make is whether at any point you noticed you have by my count ten different S-suffixed words in this grid. I point it out mainly because it’s an easy thing to avoid if you’re keeping an eye on it while gridding.
Congrats on a nice puzzle!