A fairly easy one from Peto, restoring some confidence after the drubbing from Gaff earlier this week. Steady progress for most part, with the NW quadrant providing some resistance.
I couldnt satisfactorily parse a couple of clues (18ac, 4d) and needed some help from Geoff to clarify.
| Across | ||
| 1 | BETROTH | Promise to marry novelist after a wager (7) |
| ROTH (novelist, a few who share this surname, e.g. Philip Roth, Henry Roth) after BET (a wager) | ||
| 5 | DEPOSES | Gives testimony showing newspaper boss returns with models (7) |
| DE (newspaper boss – ed , returns) POSES (models) | ||
| 9 | SOMME | Miles covered by a remarkable runner (5) |
| M (Miles) covered by SOME (remarkable, as in “… that was some racing..”) – River Somme in France. | ||
| 10 | RELUCTANT | Unwilling to bend rule to get Brown into court (9) |
| Charade of RELU (anagram of rule, bend – anagrind) [TAN (brown) in CT (court)] | ||
| 11 | EXPATIATE | Go into detail about former head embracing return of old reading aid (9) |
| EX (Former) PATE (head) embracing ITA (old reading aid, Initial Teaching Alphabet) | ||
| 12 | MANIA | Object about including article on new craze (5) |
| MIA (object – aim, about – reversed) including [A (article) on N (new)] | ||
| 13 | LEERS | Refuse to bear rector’s suggestive looks (5) |
| LEES (refuse, as in sediments in beer, say) bearing R (rector) | ||
| 15 | THINK TANK | Consider translation of Kant as a source of ideas (5,4) |
| THINK (Consider) TANK (anagram of Kant) | ||
| 18 | OVERTURNS | Upsets remaining performers (9) |
| OVER (remaining) TURNS (performers) | ||
| 19 | ROODS | Crosses road carrying ducks before first of shots (5) |
| RD (Road) carrying OO (ducks) before S (first of shots) – Refers to the Crucifix meaning of Cross. | ||
| 21 | PERIL | Left by a detective to protect the Queen from danger (5) |
| L (left) by [PI (detective, Private Investigator) protecting ER (Queen)] | ||
| 23 | STEEL BAND | Musicians form it for support after soprano joins large company (5,4) |
| Charade of [TEE (Support) after S (Soprano)] L (large) BAND (company) | ||
| 25 | PROMINENT | Standing out in favour of conservationists maintaining colliery (9) |
| [PRO (in favour of) NT (conservationists – National Trust)] maintaining MINE (colliery) | ||
| 26 | TRIAL | Test of hearing (5) |
| Double definition | ||
| 27 | RESPECT | Peter’s worried about cocaine in particular (7) |
| Anagram of PETER’S around C (Cocaine) | ||
| 28 | REPINED | Expressed discontent long after soldiers died (7) |
| [PINE (long) after RE (soldiers)] D (died) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | BOSWELL | Smell deception involving Welsh diarist (7) |
| BO (Smell, Body Odour) SELL (deception) involving W (Welsh) – Reference to James Boswell, Biographer of Samuel |
||
| 2 | TIMEPIECE | Watch me cutting it back a bit (9) |
| ME cutting TI (it back) PIECE (a bit) | ||
| 3 | OVERT | Fellow almost shown up in public (5) |
| rOVERT (Fellow – TREVOr, almost, shown up – reversed) | ||
| 4 | HEREAFTER | In future try speaking about . . . . (9) |
| HERE (sounds like HEAR, meaning ‘try’ in court) AFTER (about). See #3,#5 comments below. <Original entry – Not sure about the parsing for this .. the “HERE” part is probably a reference to the homophone of HEAR (try, as in hearing in a court, ‘speaking’ referring to the homophone) – the “AFTER” potentially refers to the next clue 5d which starts with “…search” as though to indicate a continuation of 4d – the clue comes “AFTER” 4d. Seems a bit too contrived for my liking so would appreciate if anybody had a better go at this one.> | ||
| 5 | DELVE | . . . . search for Dutch girl around lake (5) |
| D (Dutch) [EVE (girl) around L (lake)] | ||
| 6 | PACEMAKER | He leads with a horse in form – just the opposite (9) |
| MAKE (form) in PACER (horse) – Refers to long distance foot races where a pacemaker leads the race for most part, usually in pursuit of a record of some sort. | ||
| 7 | SWAIN | Young man saw model home (5) |
| Charade of SWA (anagram of saw – model) IN (home) | ||
| 8 | SETBACK | Check to determine support (7) |
| SET (determine) BACK (support) | ||
| 14 | SATELLITE | Spread of latest lie is dependent on another (9) |
| Anagram of LATEST LIE | ||
| 16 | INSPECTOR | Lestrade for instance is concerned with power in part (9) |
| IN (concerned) with P (power) in SECTOR (part) – Sherlock Holmes character reference. | ||
| 17 | ADORATION | A deep love of America shown by Ford’s last speech (9) |
| A (America) D (Ford’s last) ORATION (speech) | ||
| 18 | ON PAPER | Working with Norm to frame exercises in writing (2,5) |
| ON (working) PAR (Norm) framing PE (exercises) | ||
| 20 | SADDLED | Ready to ride in charge at start of Derby (7) |
| SADDLE (charge) D (start of Derby) | ||
| 22 | ROOTS | Sources also turned up in the centre of Warsaw (5) |
| OOT (also – too, turned up) in RS (centre of Warsaw, middle two characters) | ||
| 23 | SPENT | Writer found in street exhausted (5) |
| PEN (writer) found in ST (street) | ||
| 24 | LET-UP | Become less ambivalent at the end over supporting the French (3-2) |
*anagram
Thanks Turbolegs
I think the definition in 24dn is simply ‘become less’ with the wordplay being:
LE (the French) [ambivalen]T (ambivalent at the end) UP (over).
Thanks Geoff .. edited it now. Probably just rushed through it without giving it enough thought.
For 4dn, is it not simply “after”=”about”? Chambers Thesaurus gives “about” as synonym for “after” as in “ask after someone”
Thanks Peto and Turbolegs
Thanks for your efforts, Turbolegs (bit of a typo — Boswell was the biographer of Samuel Johnson). I agree with what you said — I too was gubbed by Gaff. Very enjoyable, elegant surfaces, Peto. I was a bit hesitant about 6dn, though: I own the tail of a racehorse, and have never yet heard the term ‘pacer’ in the real world.
I agree with peterj @3 re “after” = “about”. Chambers gives “concerning” as a meaning of “after”, and the Compact OED gives “in allusion or reference to”.
@4 – Thanks Hornbeam. Inadvertent error that.
@3, @5, – Thanks Peter / Tom. I will edit the parsing to reflect your comments. Much appreciated.
I would have thought that the letter count for 24D should be(3,2)giving let up.
(3-2) gives let-up which is a noun and does not sit well with the definition of ‘become less’.
Thanks to Turbolegs and Peto