Thursday seems to have crept up on me this week; sorry I’m a little late.
Some very smart clues from Flimsy today; only one or two I’m not 100% sure about.
ACROSS
1. ALPHABETIC Not a misprint – an anagram of aabcehilpt, i.e. the letters of alphabetic in alphabetical order
7. POST Posit [assume] minus I [one]
9. STEM Not as sure as I might be on this one: Steam [move fast] minus a – giving stem for ‘race’, as in offshoot or family branch?
10. SUGGESTION Anagram of g(ood) I guess not
11. TUNDRA Reversal of nut [head] + Dr [doctor] + a(rea) to give the kind of habitat favoured by caribou
12. TEETOTAL Anagram of to Attlee
13. PERFECTO Perfect [as a verb, meaning finish] + (tr)o(ut) to give a kind of cigar
15. REED Cryptic definition of the reed found in certain wind instruments
17. BEAU Sounds like bow [knot]
19. EDIFICES Hidden in endangerED IF ICE Spreads
22. SUBPOENA Anagram of up on base to give a legal writ – very nice surface
23. TAI CHI Anagram of China it minus n(ew) to give the martial art
25. LIFE JACKET Another clever &lit – anagram of I fleet surrounding (‘protecting’) jack [sailor]
26. LAND Lad [boy] incorporating n(ew) to give ‘land’ in the sense of a people or kingdom
27. HEFT Anagram of the f(ine)
28. EAR TRUMPET Anagram of a mutterer incorporating p [piano, ‘quiet’ in musical notation]
DOWN
2. LETTUCE Let [give permission to] + reversal of cut [divide] + e(astern)
3. HUMID (Patc)h + anagram of mud I
4. BISMARCK Double definition referring to the famous German and the US city
5. TIGHTROPE WALKER Anagram of take pole right w(obbling) r(oof) – a slightly contrived &lit
6. CLEVER Cleaver [chopper] minus a(irforce)
7. POT POURRI Rather weak double definition – hash in the sense of a mixture, I think? Initially I suspected a reference to cannabis (‘pot’ or ‘hash’) but then I can’t see where pourri comes in…
8. STORAGE Store [shop] incorporating Ag [the chemical symbol of silver] to give a ‘charge for keeping’ – the use of ‘store’ strikes me as a bit weak
14. FRUMPIEST F(emale) + anagram of Im upset R(egina) [queen]
16. DICTATOR Splendidly misleading double definition: one who dictates to a scribe or stenographer, and a tyrant or despot – such as the Kenyan President Daniel Arap Moi…
18. ERUDITE E(nglish) + rude [impolite] incorporating it
20. ENHANCE Anagram of can (S)heen
21. BERATE Be + rate [judge] to give a colloquial term meaning to rebuke, tell off or berate
24. ISLAM I + slam [criticise]
Thanks for the blog, Ringo.
I was a bit unsure about 9a too, but I think your parsing is correct. Chambers gives STEM as “a race or family”, among other things.
And in 7d, apparently POTPOURRI originally meant a mixed stew, hence a hash.
Very elegant crossword from Flimsy, who is perhaps not the most prolific setter on planet Earth (that’s someone else …) but one whose output may be summarised by: “its quality is inversely proportional to its quantity”.
Faultless cluing with many highlights, the neat 10ac (SUGGESTION) for me being one of the very best.
Many thanks, ringo, for the blog.
And many thumbs up for Flimsy!
[even if I have no more than two of them …. :)]
I think 15A may be two definitions- with “wind” as the verb. Like Chambers’ definitions of “reel” as “to waver” and “to wind on a reel”. Right?