A definite mixture today with some very easy clues and some that presented far more of a challenge. In fact one (28ac) has defeated me completely apart from the definition.
23dn didn’t work for me and I wasn’t too enamoured with 26ac where a very obscure word is used as part of the wordplay to get a slightly less obscure answer. Fortunately I knew the latter having met it several times before in crosswords.
Across
1 Petition god to intervene in flood (8)
PLETHORA – THOR (god) in (to intervene) PLEA (petition)
6 After a time, head into the wind storm (6)
ATTACK – A T (time) TACK (head into the wind)
9 It is good manners to swap hands and teeth (6)
MOLARS – MORALS (good manners) with L & R (hands) swapped
10 Continent lost in ocean’s not cold (8)
ATLANTIS – ATLANTI[c]’S (ocean’s not cold)
11 Part of telescope / belonging to Leonard (4)
LENS – double def.
12 Does parish assembly write poems? (10)
RHAPSODIES – an anagram (assembly) of DOES PARISH – for me, the inclusion of ‘write’ in the clue gives a different definition with the answer being ‘rhapsodise’ but of course this will not fit into the grid due to 8dn
14 Software contracts are not clear (8)
APPARENT – APP (software) AREN’T (contracts are not)
16 Stain short piece of clothing (4)
SCAR – SCAR[f] (short piece of clothing)
18 Make into chips / to gamble (4)
DICE – double def.
19 In Iran some detainees are held hostage for money (8)
RANSOMED – hidden in ‘iRAN SOME Detainees’
21 Collectively, planes expose smuggling (3,7)
AIR TRAFFIC – AIR (expose) TRAFFIC (smuggling)
22 Cheat picked up in prison (4)
CELL – a homophone (picked up) of ‘sell’ (cheat)
24 Is a lemon chopped up into flour? (8)
SEMOLINA – an anagram (chopped up) of IS A LEMON
26 Model is cantankerous when knight is exchanged for rook (6)
ORRERY – ORnERY (cantankerous) with N (knight) changed to R (rook)
27 Caps recipe for chopping vegetables (6)
BERETS – R (recipe) in (for chopping) BEETS (vegetables)
28 Trophy cases confuse success with time (3,5)
THE ASHES – I’ve no idea about the parsing of this one – Edit: SHEATHES (cases) with S (success) and T (time) swapped (confuse … with) – Thanks Byron @ comment #1 – but is S a valid abbreviation for ‘success’? I cannot find it in Chambers, Collins or COED.
Down
2 Ladies find empty space untidy (5)
LOOSE – LOO (Ladies) S[pac]E (empty space)
3 Sheer canvas wrapping tore box (11)
TRANSPARENT – TENT (canvas) around (wrapping) RAN (tore) SPAR (box)
4 Former pupil started to play with saw (8)
OBSERVED – OB (former pupil) SERVED (started to play)
5 Actually a South African plain (2,1,6,2,4)
AS A MATTER OF FACT – A SA (South African) MATTER OF FACT (plain)
6 Finally map junction (2,4)
AT LAST – ATLAS (map) T (junction)
7 Brown / belt (3)
TAN – double def.
8 Adjust camera without a view of outbreak of bad behaviour (5,4)
CRIME WAVE – an anagram (adjust) of CAMER[a] VIEW
13 Sure thing to occupy non-smoker with party rattles (11)
DISCONCERTS – DISCO (party) CERT (sure thing) in NS (non-smoker)
15 In peril, give out authorisation (9)
PRIVILEGE – an anagram (out) of PERIL GIVE
17 Tale of a new European Commission prize (8)
ANECDOTE – A N (new) EC (European Commission) DOTE (prize)
20 Bold to invade murderer’s chambers (6)
CABINS – B (bold) in (to invade) CAIN’S (murderer’s)
23 Stout or beer moved right to the end (5)
LARGE – if the R is moved to the end it becomes ‘lager’ (beer) – this one doesn’t quite work for me
25 Be obliged to love us (3)
OWE – O (love) WE (us)
28a, Sheathes confusing the T and the S.
Thanks Gaufrid and Phssthpok. I agree this is a bit of a mixture. 23d seems to indicate the reverse (Beer or stout moved right to the end – LAGER). 5d was a bit clunky (so much of the word play depends on the synonym for “plain”). I did like 1a.
I agree with almost everything Gaufrid says — but I was quite happy with 23dn LARGE and 26ac ORRERY. The one that didn’t appeal to me was 22ac CELL. However, it was a good work-out, as ever with Phssthpok.
Thanks, Gaufrid.
I read 12ac as you did and didn’t in fact, think any further than RHAPSODISE. My stubbornness meant that I didn’t see the obvious anagram in 8ac.
This made me grumpy and probably less tolerant than I might have been of some dodgy definitions: to dice means to cut into cubes, not chips; an atlas is a collection of maps, not a single map and I’m not keen on stain = SCAR.
I reached the same conclusion as Byron re 28ac but couldn’t think of any context in which S = success. I had similar doubts about B = bold, then realised that I see it every day on my word processor, though not in any of my dictionaries.
I liked the construction / surface of 19ac: I was puzzled at first by the definition – I’d only known ‘ransomed’ as meaning ‘redeemed’ – but Chambers has, confusingly, for ‘ransom’, ‘to pay, demand or accept ransom’.
Thanks to Phssthpok for the challenge.
Hi Eileen
I agree with you entirely regarding dice and atlas but didn’t mention it because, apart from the surface of 19ac, I couldn’t find anything positive to say about the puzzle to offset yet more criticism.
However, Chambers has under ‘scar’: “any mark or blemish” so I was prepared to accept ‘stain’ as a synonym.
I have already commented on the S=success and I too cannot find B=bold in any of the usual references though, as you say, we see it most days or even everyday.
One niggle, at least for me, that hasn’t been mentioned is cluing TRAFFIC by ‘smuggling’ in 21ac and I’m not sure that LOOSE is exactly ‘untidy’ in 1dn. However, this did not prevent the clues from being solved.
Went for the wrong ending in 12, I’d still say that as a standalone clue the answer given is wrong.
Thought Lens weak notwithstanding it took me ages to twig 🙂
Merci Gaufrid and the unpronounceable one.
Isn’t 12 meant to be taken as..
After you have made an ‘assembly’ of ‘Does parish’, you ‘write’ [in] a word meaning ‘poems’?
So ‘write’ is just a link word between the play and the def – “Do this…write that [into the grid]”
Just about works!
Thanks Gaufrid for explaining a few.
For 2d I think you meant LOO + SE, rather than LOOS (e.g. “I’m going to the Ladies/LOO”).