An enjoyable puzzle, with the right half yielding more easily than the left. Thanks to Phssthpok. Definitions are underlined in the clues. [[The pictures at the bottom have unidentified links to the puzzle. Please enclose any comments on them in double brackets. Thank you.]]
Across
1 A king transfixed by cheerful prayers (6)
ROSARY : { A + R(abbrev. for “Rex”;Latin for “king”) } contained in(transfixed by) ROSY(bright and cheerful).
Answer: A series of prayers counted as they are recited with a string of beads of the same name.
4 Undermine film with quite even characters (5,3)
PSYCH OUT : PSYCHO(the classic Hitchcock film) plus(with) the 2nd and 4th letters of(even characters) “quite“.
9 Child caught in heaven (5)
SCION : C(abbrev. for “caught”, in cricket) contained in(in) SION(or Zion, the city of God where his elects go to;heaven).
10 They patronise beginning of Easter, crossing part of threshold in church (9)
CLIENTELE : { 1st letter of(beginning of) “Easter ” contained in(crossing) LINTEL(a horizontal beam;a part of a door;a threshold) } contained in(in) CE(abbrev. for the Church of England).
11 Papers could be getting easier? (7)
DOSSIER : Cryptic defn: Reference to a doss;an easy task that requires little effort, giving a whimsical adjective “dossy”, and a comparative of that adjective.
12 Index of success in game (7)
FOOTSIE : S(abbrev. for “success”, to be found as part of an acronym, but I can’t find a reference to a stand-alone abbrev.) contained in(in) FOOTIE(or footy, an informal name for the game of football).
Answer: A nickname for the Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index.
13 First man to become a mother (4)
ADAM : A + DAM(the female parent of an animal, usually of domestic livestock).
14 Officer‘s punishment is substantial (8)
CORPORAL : Triple defn., I think: 1st: A non-commissioned office in the military; 2nd: A type of (bodily) punishment; and 3rd: An obsolete word for corporeal;tangible;of substance.
17 Apprehended and barred after exchange with PC (8)
EXPECTED : “excepted”(barred;excluded from) with “p” replacing “c” and vice versa(after exchange).
Defn: Anticipated;awaited with fear or dread, as in “he apprehended the coming exams”.
Answer: Though you could expect something without being apprehensive about it.
19 Pretty short message? (4)
TWEE : “tweet”(a message on Twitter, the social networking site) minus its last letter(short).
Answer: Excessively sweet or pretty.
22 Might this event provide sexy spectacles in pages? (5,2)
PHOTO OP : { HOT(sexually exciting, as in “hot pants”) + OO(letters that look like spectacles;glasses) } contained in(in) PP(abbrev. for “pages”).
Answer: Short for “photo opportunity”, a chance celebrities seek to have their photographs taken. Nice surface, as often these result in sexy pictures appearing in the newspapers or magazine pages.
24 Marine carnivore mounts attack on quarry (7)
LAMPREY : LAM(to attack;to thrash) plus(on) PREY(quarry;victim).
Answer: A blood-sucking fish:
25 Mellivorous creature: the male is very loud with a protuberance (9)
HEFFALUMP : HE(third person pronoun for a male) + FF(abbrev. for “fortissimo”, a musical instruction to play very loudly) plus(with) A + LUMP(a rounded protuberance).
Answer: The honey-eating;mellivorous creature in the Winnie the Pooh stories, though only imagined by Pooh (and Piglet), but not appearing.
26 Gem of a wicket (5)
AGATE : Double defn: 2nd: A small door or gate, especially one near or part of a larger one.
27 Crack a pole’s centre when under canvas outside (8)
TALENTED : The middle letter of(centre) “pole’s ” contained in(… outside) TENTED(under canvas;under a tent). I initially didn’t consider the “‘s” when trying to explain “l”.
Answer: Very accomplished;talented, as in “a crack shot”.
28 Spill beans and meat following first two parts of recipe (6)
REVEAL : VEAL(meat from a calf) placed after(following) the first 2 letters of(first two parts of) “recipe “.
Down
1 Review rules aid surplus (8)
RESIDUAL : Anagram of(Review) RULES AID.
Answer: Describing what is left over.
2 Orderly gets rid of untidy heap (9)
SHIPSHAPE : SHIPS(gets rid of by sending away – sometimes literally by ship, as in “the convicts were shipped off to Australia”) + anagram of(untidy) HEAP.
Defn: As an adjective, though used as a noun in the surface reading.
3 Was in charge of police offensive (6)
RANCID : RAN(was in charge of;managed, eg. an organisation) + CID(abbrev. for the Criminal Investigative Department of the police).
Answer: Nasty;offensive, as in “rancid remarks”.
5 When mixing ripple puff, it’s appropriate to show self-restraint (5,5,3)
STIFF UPPER LIP : Anagram of(mixing) RIPPLE PUFF, IT’S.
Answer: Self-restraint in expression of emotion in the face of adversity, reputedly a characteristic of the British.
6 Fraud on cruise line (7)
CONTOUR : CON(a swindle;a confidence trick) placed above(on, in a down clue) TOUR(a pleasure trip;a cruise if taken on a ship).
Answer: A line on a map joining points of the same elevation.
7 Heeds call to attract attention of Turkish men (5)
OBEYS : O(a call;an exclamation to attract the attention of) BEYS(in modern Turkey, a form of address corresponding to the English “Mr.”).
8 Abstainer renounces love beside lofty seesaw (6)
TEETER : “teetotaller” minus(renounces) { “o”(representing 0;love in tennis scores) plus(beside) “tall”(lofty) }.
Defn: To move back and forth, or up and down.
10 C-collared by this new technology! It’ll make you go green (6,7)
CARBON CAPTURE : Cryptic defn: Reference to what this new environment-friendly technology does: to CAPTURE(to collar;to seize, eg. a fugitive) CARBON(the element whose chemical symbol is C), found in waste carbon dioxide, and to store it where it does not get into the atmosphere.
15 What a baggage-handler might do with small letters (5-4)
LOWER-CASE : LOWER CASE( What a baggage handler might do in offloading a suitcase from, say, an airplane hold or a train luggage van).
16 Agreed to be perfectly healthy (4,4)
VERY WELL : Double defn: 1st: An expression signifying agreement.
18 Turn over a new leaf and get degree in organic compound (7)
PTOMAIN : PTO(abbrev. for “please turn over” to a new page;a leaf in a book) plus(and get) MA(abbrev. for a Master of Arts degree) + IN.
Answer: Alternatively spelt “ptomaine”, an organic compound, any of a group of amines produced by decaying organic matter.
20 Lifts flaming issue (6)
UPSHOT : UPS(lifts;raises to a higher level) + HOT(flaming;burning).
Defn: An outcome;a consequence;a result.
21 Pink albino’s declaration (6)
IMPALE : I’M PALE(what might be declared by an albino;a person with congenital absence of pigmentation, resulting in abnormally white or milky skin).
Defn: To pierce/stab, alternatively, to prick lightly with eg. a sword or rapier, depending on which dictionary you refer to.
23 Waste away before pale extremities are amputated (5)
OFFAL : OFF(away;not here) placed above(before, in a down clue) “pale” minus its 2 outermost letters(extremities are amputated).
Answer: Waste;refuse;rubbish.
===================================================================
For answer to pic1 and 6 please click here, for pics3 and 8 here and here respectively, and here.
Many thanks, scchua, and well done … undossy to solve and to parse IMHO!
EXPECTED, PHOTO OP, HEFFALUMP, CONTOUR and IMPALE were wonderful clues
in an exceptional puzzle today. Many thanks, Phssthpok.
Thanks for the blog, sschua. A very enjoyable solve from Phssthpok, though PTOMAIN defeated me (never would have come up with PTO).
[[Pics 1 & 6 are the Simpsons (Ashlee & Jessica, O.J. & family), but the link to the puzzle eludes me. Pic 2 is from The CLIENT[ELE], which starred Pic 5’s Susan Sarandon (who, incidentally, IMPALEd herself with a knife in the vampire flick The Hunger). Pics 3 & 8 appear to be in SHIPSHAPE (though I suspect you of a more indirect link). Pic 4 is Matt Damon, who played the title role in The TALENTED Mr Ripley, which is also the source of Pic 7.]]
[[Keeper, well done. You’re right about pics 2,5,4,7. I’ve added links under the pics to the answers to the rest.]]
Thanks for the blog.
For 12ac I had a DD for “index of success” and “game” (footsie is that flirty game where you rub feet…)