Good stuff from Poins, no gimmicks – just sound clues all the way. Thanks Poins.
| Across | ||
| 1 | STAR-CROSSED | Dogged by ill luck when second store card’s lost (4-7) |
| anagram (lost) of S (second) and STORE CARD | ||
| 7 | BAM | Fairy queen taken aback by hoax (3) |
| 9 | ON ICE | Against having reserve kept in readiness (2,3) |
| ON (against) with ICE (reserve) | ||
| 10 | IN A BAD WAY | Seedy head of Interpol to arrest wife within 24 hours (2,1,3,3) |
| I (head, first letter, of Interpol) NAB (to arrest) W (wife) in A DAY (24 hours) | ||
| 11 | CHAPLAINS | Conservative fools accommodating outspoken clergymen (9) |
| C (conservative) then HAS (fools) containing (accomodating) PLAIN (outspoken) | ||
| 12 | LEAVE | Abandon in open country on the outskirts of Val-d’Oise (5) |
| LEA (meadow, open country) on Val-d’oisE (ouskirts, first and last letters of) | ||
| 13 | SLENDER | Feeble is a Shakespearean character (7) |
| double definition – character for Merchant of Venice | ||
| 15 | NASH | Remains a follower of northern poet (4) |
| ASH (remains) follows N (northern) – any one of several poets of that name, most probably Ogden Nash | ||
| 18 | USES | Contemplates missing start of exercises (4) |
| mUSES (contemplates) missing starting letter | ||
| 20 | MONTANA | Helping to make Vermont a naturist state (7) |
| found in (helping to make) verMONT A NAturist – definition is ‘state’ | ||
| 23 | SLASH | A wee cut (5) |
| double definition | ||
| 24 | NARRATIVE | Bishop taking note during local’s story (9) |
| RR (right reverend, bishop) with A (note, of scale) in NATIVE (local) | ||
| 26 | ASPERSION | When being without one leads to a disparaging remark (9) |
| AS (when) PERSON (being) contains (without) I (one) | ||
| 27 | ENTER | Record books kept by a fellow needing no introduction (5) |
| NT (books, of Bible) in (kept by) pEER (a fellow) missing first letter (needing no introduction) | ||
| 28 | LIE | Extremely insightful about English fiction (3) |
| InsightfuL (extreme letters of) reversed (about) then E (English) | ||
| 29 | EMERALD ISLE | Foreign leader lies about close of firm in Ireland (7,4) |
| (LEADER LIES)* anagram=foreign containing (lies about) firM (close of, last letter) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | SHOWCASE | Indicate condition of exhibit (8) |
| SHOW (indicate) CASE (condition) | ||
| 2 | ANIMATED | Full of excitement about Ian getting married (8) |
| IAN* anagram=about with MATED (married) | ||
| 3 | CREEL | Native American lad’s beginning to make a basket (5) |
| CREE (native American) L (beginning of lad) | ||
| 4 | OLIVIER | Old instrument originally kept by organ player (7) |
| O (old) then I (origin, first letter, of instrument) in LIVER (organ) | ||
| 5 | SWANSON | Starts to search Wikipedia to get answer about old film star (7) |
| S W (starts of Search Wikipedia) with ANS (answer) ON (about) = Gloria Swanson | ||
| 6 | DEADLY SIN | Pride, for instance, evident in Underwood’s batting (6,3) |
| DEADLY (nickname for Derek Underwood, cricketer) ‘S IN (batting) | ||
| 7 | BOWMAN | Tell for instance of British women detained in an Arab country (6) |
| B (British) then W (women) in in (detained in) OMAN (Arab country) – William Tell, archer | ||
| 8 | MAYHEM | Mother on edge after Yolanda’s debut causes chaos (6) |
| MA (mother) on HEM (edge) after Y (debut, first letter, of Yolanda) | ||
| 14 | DISCHARGE | Princess finally gives order to fire (9) |
| DI (princess) giveS (final letter of) CHARGE (order) | ||
| 16 | RADIATES | What The Sun does to help over cutting costs (8) |
| AID (help) reversed (over) in (cutting) RATES (costs) | ||
| 17 | CAREFREE | Unconcerned when soldiers turn up in church to take Frank (8) |
| RA (Royal Artillery, soldiers) reversed (turn up) in CE (Church, of England) with FREE (frank) | ||
| 19 | SUNRISE | Dawn’s boy heard at the beginning (7) |
| SUN sounds like (heard) ‘son’ (boy) with (at) RISE (the beginning) | ||
| 20 | MIRANDA | Girl collapsing in Drama (7) |
| (IN DRAMA)* anagram=collapsing | ||
| 21 | ASSAIL | Be indisposed after animal attack (6) |
| AIL (be indisposed) after ASS (animal) | ||
| 22 | SAMPLE | Small enough to try out (6) |
| S (small) AMPLE (enough) | ||
| 25 | AHEAD | Self-possession shown by amateur in the lead (5) |
| HEAD (self possession) following (shown by) A (amateur) | ||
*anagram
Thank you, PeeDee, for blogging. You’re right – nothing fancy, but an enjoyable and gettable puzzle with some very good surfaces. I’m sure it’s been done before, but I did like SLASH. Knowing Deadly Derek Underwood may well have been a stretch for many, but the definition was clear enough, I suppose. I’ve been waging a one-man campaign for setters to ditch DI for ‘Princess’ (she died, you know) but they pay no attention to me.
Many thanks to Poins, who, together with his wife, I had the pleasure of meeting yesterday at the Derby S&B.
[In 2ac, PeeDee, I’m sure you meant to say that BAM (a hoax) is a reversal of MAB, the Fairy Queen.]
Thanks Kathryn’s dad – fixed now. For 14dn is your objection that Di should be clued as ‘former princess’ or similar, or is it that it is disrespectful as her death is too recent?
No, just that I couldn’t stand the woman and the way that the Daily Mail and Express used to fawn over her. Completely illogical, I know, but it still triggers a little switch in my head every time I see it clued.
An enjoyable Sunday morning solve. I didn’t know BAM as a hoax and got it from the reversal of “Mab”, and I didn’t know SLENDER as a Shakespearean character but got it from the definition of “feeble”. CAREFREE was my LOI after ENTER.
Kathryn’s Dad @3 – sometimes I think the “I just don’t like it” is the most honest justification there is, and in its way the most logical.