ARTEXLEN kicks off the week…
A solid and enjoyable puzzle, perfect for a Monday morning.
Thanks ARTEXLEN!
ACROSS
1. Illness mostly found in horses spreads (10)
MARMALADES
MALAD[y] (illness, mostly) found in MARES (horses)
7. Found singer in audition (4)
BASE
"bass" = BASE (singer, "in audition")
9. Show off dress twirling round (4)
BRAG
(GARB)< (dress, <twirling round)
10. Crumpled old tenner secures one cut of meat (10)
TENDERLOIN
(OLD TENNER)* (*crumpled) secures I (one)
11. Guy consuming books for role (6)
MANTLE
MALE (guy) consuming NT (books)
12. Detective shot following arrest to overturn organised crime (8)
BANDITRY
(DI (detective) + TRY (shot)) following (NAB)< (arrest, <to overturn)
13. Occupy gathering group with a craft collection (8)
FLOTILLA
(FILL (occupy) gathering LOT (group)) with A
15. Sit on free pew away from outsiders (4)
RIDE
RID (free) + [p]E[w] (away from outsiders)
17. Regularly picked Apple social media site as top (4)
APEX
A[p]P[l]E (regularly picked) + X (social media site)
19. Performing trio seem boring (8)
TIRESOME
(TRIO SEEM)* (*performing)
22. Land snake constricts tense bird (8)
BOTSWANA
BOA (snake) constricts (T (tense) + SWAN (bird))
23. Dire amateur gently boxes (6)
URGENT
[amate]UR GENT[ly] (boxes)
25. Got trousers on the Parisian wearing just pants? (10)
BARELEGGED
BAGGED (got) trousers (RE (on) + LE (the, Parisian))
26. Deserve attention with first from Newcastle (4)
EARN
EAR (attention) with N[ewcastle] (first from)
27. Adorn part of skateboard (4)
DECK
28. Shrewd holding spear in domineering manner (10)
STRIDENTLY
SLY (shrewd) holding TRIDENT (spear)
DOWN
2. Type of post Irishman Brian unwrapped then erected (7)
AIRMAIL
(LIAM (Irishman) + [b]RIA[n] (unwrapped))< (<erected)
3. Small child’s pronounced strength (5)
MIGHT
"mite" = MIGHT (small child, "pronounced")
4. Coffee line adopted by railway recently (8)
LATTERLY
LATTE (coffee) + (L (line) adopted by RY (railway))
5. Fellow and park officer after beginning to track animal keep in touch (4,2,1,8)
DONT BE A STRANGER
DON (fellow) and (RANGER (park officer) after (T[rack] (beginning to) + BEAST (animal)))
6. Not married, appearing to be discerning (6)
SEEING
SEE[m]ING (appearing, not M (married))
7. Learner taken in by deceptive person in attempts to win games (9)
BILLIARDS
(L (learner) taken in by LIAR (deceptive person)) in BIDS (attempts to win)
8. Mixed slammer with wine (7)
STIRRED
STIR (slammer) with RED (wine)
14. Taxes kept being changed — OMG, WTF?! (9)
TEXTSPEAK
(TAXES KEPT)* (*being changed)
16. Crushed, Edward is forbidden from socialising (8)
GROUNDED
GROUND (crushed) + ED (Edward)
18. Irreverent teacher contracted again (7)
PROFANE
PROF (teacher) + ANE[w] (again, contracted)
20. This writer’s beginning to refine aluminium ore (7)
MINERAL
MINE (this writer's) + R[efine] (beginning to) + AL (aluminium)
21. Trainees dance at the wings in musical show (6)
CADETS
D[anc]E (at the wings) in CATS (musical show)
24. New information intercepted by soldiers (5)
GREEN
GEN (information) intercepted by RE (soldiers)
Thanks Artexlen and Teacow!
Liked BOTSWANA, BARELEGGED and TEXTSPEAK (does the surface mean ‘taxes kept changing’?).
A fun solve. Especially liked 25a BARELEGGED, seeming to have”trousers”(UK) & “pants”(US) in the same clue. But it’s “pants”(UK), & it’s not an anagrind either.
Thanks A&T
Fortunately anagrams of “just” seem unlikely, so I wasn’t misdirected by BARELEGGED for too long. Thanks, both.
A solid puzzle indeed. BRAG was my favourite. Thanks Artexlen and Teacow
Thanks for the blog, good set of neat clues.
Just wearing pants does not mean BARELEGGED in many parts of the UK .
To this Canuck, wearing just pants means going topless, which is the opposite of 25a barelegged. Divided by a common language again.
Thanks Artexlen and Teacow.
To me, too, pants and trousers are synonymous.
I’ve eaten my pants.