Mostly straightforward. Thanks, Flimsy.
| Across | ||
| 1 | PARLIAMENT |
Diet for a group of owls (10)
A double definition. Diet is a term for a parliamentary assembly, as in Germany and Japan. A parliament is the collective term for a group of owls. |
| 7 | DRAB |
Flipping poet’s boring (4)
A reversal (flipping) of bard |
| 9 | TOOL |
Extremely large instrument (4)
TOO plus L for large. |
| 10 | RHETORICAL |
Over-elaborate start to reforms, ethical or otherwise (10)
An anagram (otherwise is the indicator) of R, the first letter (start) of reforms, ethical and or. |
| 11 | BIKINI |
Cycling with bottom falling off one’s swimming costume (6)
Biking minus its last letter (bottom falling off) plus I, the roman numeral representing one |
| 12 | TAHITIAN |
Artist embracing a hot islander (8)
Titian is the artist. Insert A and H for hot |
| 13 | SHANGHAI |
Place in China to force someone on board a ship (8)
A very simple double definition. |
| 15 | OATH |
Reluctant to ignore Latin appeal to god (4)
Loath, or reluctant, with L for Latin removed |
| 17 | AGAR |
Fish is after a jelly (4)
GAR, a species of fish, following the letter A |
| 19 | BACKDROP |
Collapse after second scene (8)
DROP, or collapse, following BACK, in the sense of support, or second. |
| 22 | SEMOLINA |
Cooked sole, main food (8)
An amagram (cooked) of sole and main |
| 23 | NEGATE |
Deny information’s returned and put away (6)
A reversal (returned) of gen (information) plus ate, or put away |
| 25 | GLASSMAKER |
Skilled worker ordering large masks (10)
An anagram (ordering) of large and masks |
| 26 | EMMA |
Novel heroine’s problem? Matchmaking, to an extent (4)
Contained in (to an extent) the third and fourt words of the clue |
| 27 | ENVY |
Resent leaders in Europe now voting “yes” (4)
The first letters (leaders) of the last four words of the clue |
| 28 | NETWORKING |
Clear on forming business contacts (10)
NET (clear, or after deductions, as opposed to gross) plus ON or working, as opposed to off |
| Down | ||
| 2 | ABOLISH |
Doctor has boil to remove (7)
An anagram (doctor is the indicator) of has and boil |
| 3 | LULLI |
French composer – calm one (5)
Lull, a period of calm, plus I, the Roman numeral again. |
| 4 | AIRTIGHT |
Impenetrable expression by drunk (8)
AIR (expression, or demeanour) plus TIGHT (drunk) |
| 5 | ELECTRIC BLANKET |
One might go on before one goes off (8,7)
A cryptic definition. Goes off refers to falling asleep. |
| 6 | TROPHY |
Work with hospital in attempt to get prize (6)
OP (opus, or work) plus H for hospital inserted into TRY, or attempt |
| 7 | DRIFTWOOD |
Drive with golf club? That’s in the water, probably (9)
DRIFT (as snow is driven into snowdrifts) plus WOOD, a type of golf club |
| 8 | ADAMANT |
Notice a soldier – time to be firm (7)
AD (notice) plus A MAN (soldier) plus T for time |
| 14 | NERVOUSLY |
Surely no savage boxes very timidly? (9)
An anagram (savage) of surely and no, surrounding, or boxing, V for very |
| 16 | SCENARIO |
Awful noise – car’s design (8)
An anagram (awful is the indicator) of noise and car |
| 18 | GREMLIN |
Evil cause of problems affecting Merlin wing, ultimately? (7)
An anagram (affecting) of Merlin and G, the final letter (ultimately) of wing |
| 20 | OTTOMAN |
German sitting on fellow’s chest (7)
Otto, a common given name in Germany, plus man, or fellow |
| 21 | HITMAN |
Naughty hint about mother: he might take her out (6)
An anagram (naughty) of hint with Ma (mother) inserted |
| 24 | GREEK |
Queen absorbed by nerd’s language (5)
R (regina) inserted into geek. or nerd |
Nice easy one this. I agree with David and Linda that it was mostly straightforward. I tend to think of an Ottoman as a low, backless couch rather than a padded chest (of course it is both), but the wordplay was clear. For 7d I was thinking of ‘I don’t catch your drift?’ and ‘What are you driving at?’ as synonymous – and, on checking derivations, I see that the two words share a common root. You learn something every day if you solver cryptic crossword puzzles!
Thanks setter and bloggers.
Surely 3D is wrong: the French composer was Lully not Lulli. My copy of Gove (admittedly, not the New Grove)has no entry under Lulli
Meic we had exactly the same thought as you and it held us up for a while. However, on checking we discovered that Jean-Baptiste Lully was born Giovanni Battista Lulli. He is known by both names, though Lully is by far the more familiar. Our brief is to explain, not express a view, but speaking personally I think that using the less familiar variant spelling of a relatively obscure composer is unsatisfactory.
And never believe what Gove tells you: he’s barking mad (oh, that’s Michael!)
The composer in 3 down was originally Italian, born Giovanni Battista Lulli. He Gallicised his name to Jean-Baptiste Lully when he became a naturalised French citizen. So the Italian spelling is not technically wrong, though I would have thought he is almost universally known as Lully (at least outside Italy).
3 down definition is “French Composer”. Once Lulli became French he was Lully. I cannot see how Lulli fits the definition.
There were plenty of options for 3down and 9across that would have been far less controversial – eg lathi and any of dozens of other words or lassi and any of lots of other words. Why the compiler chose as he did is known only to him.
Thanks Flimsy and D&L
Found this pretty straightforward as well when I got to it today.
Didn’t know of the French composer and had to look him up – seems that he was LULLI until he was 30 and changed his name nearly 10 years after being in the court of Louis XIV – reckon that is fair cop to have this spelling and verified by the crosser in any case. He was certainly a prolific writer.
Had used the US definition of DRIFT to drive livestock away from their usual pasture to graze further afield – we used the word DROVING for it here.
Finished in the SW with AGAR, GREMLIN and SEMOLINA only because that was where the 20 minute journey had left me.
Thanks D&L and Flimsy.
I looked into 3dn like the other contributors above.
All I can add is that when he was LULLY, he was French, and when he was LULLI, he was Italian.
So I think that the clue should have said ‘Italian’ for that spelling.
Last in was OATH – only because I was only aware of the alternate spelling of LO(A)TH before now.