This was another excellent crossword by Redshank full of nice twists and turns, including the inevitable subtraction anagrams. After today’s FT blooper one cannot expect Jed to write another blog. Therefore I am happy to be a last minute stand-in.
Across:
1 CABARET CAT (jazz fan) around BARE (with nothing on) – def: nightspot
5 UT SUPRA Hidden answer, backwards: [peculi]AR PUSTU[les] – def: as above
9 MOLAR MO (how to work, modus operandi) + {LR (both sides, left and right) around A} – def: grinder
10 ENUMERATE E NUM[b]ER (food additive, without B (British)) + A + TE (note) – def: list
11 BATTLE-AXE {[la]B[our] + ATTLEE (PM)} around A X (cross) – def: old woman
12 DUTCH (THAT COULD minus A LOT)* – def: language
13 IN LOCO PARENTIS (CAN SENIOR PILOT)* – def: with kids under his wing?
18 MASSAGE PARLOUR (A PARAMOUR’S LEGS)* – def: where etc. (the whole clue)
20 THONG (TONIGHT’S)* minus IT’S – def: sexy strip
22 SAFETY PIN (FAN IS)* around E-TYP[e] (sports car, short) – def: security device
24 TRIUMVIRI TRIUM[ph] (win, mostly) + V (victory) + IRI[s] (flag, not quite) – def: top classical group
25 ACT UP T (homophone of TEA) inside A CUP (where it (tea) should be, “in a cup”) – My CoD (among many contenders) – def: carry on
26 ROMANCE (CAN)* inside ROME (capital) – def: love affair
27 HUNDRED H (hospital) + (UNDER)* + D (director) – def: old part of county (Irish)
Down
1 COME BY B (baron) replacing D (duke) in COMEDY (play) – def: find
2 BELL TENTS (LENT)* inside BELTS (zones) – def: temporary shelters
3 RURAL R (river) URAL (Russian river) – def: how that river appears on a map / of the country
4 TREMATODE {TREAT (deal) around M (millions)} + OD (overdrawn) + E (euros) – def: fluke
5 U-TUBE U (uranium) + TUBE (underground) – def: trap
6 SPEEDWELL (WEED)* inside SPELL (time) – def: Veronica
7 PLAIT A G (good) I (one) combined with PLAIT could lead to A PIGTAIL – def: intertwine
9 AMETHYST (MATE’S)* around THY (your, old) – def: what’s in ring (a gemstone)
14 ORANGEMEN (ANGER)* inside OMEN (portentous event) – def: Loyalists
15 ADAM FAITH ADAM (first man) + F (fair-headed, ie the first letter of ‘fair’) + A + (HIT)* – def: the clue as a whole, though the surface is probably beyond the truth
16 TRUMPETER TRUMP (Donald) + ET (and, foreign, in French) + ER (ruler) – def: perhaps Nellie (the Elephant)
17 IMITATOR Hidden solution: [l]IMIT A TOR[y] – def: he does [thx, PB @1]
19 SNIPED SPED (raced) around NI (province, Northern Ireland) – def: shot from cover
21 OPIUM PIU (more, in Italian) inside [r]OM[e] – def: duller, ie something that makes dull
22 SKIVE S (south) + K[orean] + IV (four) + E (quarter, East) – def: avoid
23 TWAIN TIN (can) around WA (Washington) – def: Mark (Twain, the writer)
Thanks (again) Redshank and Sil for the blog.
17dn: I think the defintion is “He does”: you would say of an impressionist “He does Tommy Cooper” (or whoever).
Further to 1: can anyone explain why I keep missing out the second I when typing the word “definition”? Usually I manage to spot it before submitting but not this time. Apologies anyway.
Thanks, PB.
You’re right about 17dn.
As to missing out the second I in definItion, that also happens to me – over and over again.
In fact, it happened just now, too ….. 🙂