Solving time: intermittent
Solved on and off on the tube last Sunday with only 18A refusing to yield until I got home. Not sure I’ve fully worked out the wordplay for EXTRAVAGANZA.
Across
| 5 | OBE,R,ON – The surface doesn’t make a lot of sense to me: “King’s award, right-on?” – not even in America I think. |
| 9 | S,HARP – Unsure which British musician named SHARP is being referred to — wikipedia has more than one: who’s the obvious choice? |
| 12 | GRAN,D,SLAM – Good clue (and incidentally it was my mother’s mother who died). GRAND SLAM ref. tennis and I think rugby and probably other sports. |
| 13 | D(R)OLL – clean wordplay but the surface seems a bit strained: what does “What’s right inside a child’s toy” mean? |
| 14 | EXTRAVAGAN[t],ZA[p] – def is “a show”. I think the wordplay means to remove T from EXTRAVAGANT and replace it with ZA[p]. But I could be wrong. |
| 18 | TRANSFER LIST – complex surface with complex wordplay: def is “This shows who may leave a club” and (s[on], first learnt)* |
| 24 | WHIRLIGIG – two meanings |
| 25 | STO(R)M – R in most* |
| 27 | REIN,DEER=rev(reed) |
Down
| 1 | RESIGNED – quite different two meanings |
| 3 | RA(P)ID – often clued similarly. |
| 4 | NO OIL PAINTING – double/cryptic def. I quite liked defining a watercolour in terms of what it isn’t. |
| 6 | BULL,DOZER – one of my last answers: BULL and “bunk” both mean nonsense. |
| 11 | COMBAT FATIGUE – PC term now is PTSD — anyway, smooth surface with two meanings (one cryptic). |
| 16 | PINAFORE – well-hidden in “gaP IN A FOREst”. |
| 17 | ST(R)EAMER – typical way to clue this (same category as 3D). R is “centre of AntaRctic”. |
| 19 | THE WHO – first answer: blindingly obvious since the World Health Organization is invariably referred to as WHO. |
| 20 | ST,RIPE – I like “all set” cluing RIPE. |
| 23 | ISB(E)N – E in nibs*: v. popular cryptic dramatist. |
EXTRAVAGANZA
This is I think Extravagant – t, zap mostly.