I found this to be challenging for a Monday with a mixture of easy and tricky clues. I had a couple of minor quibbles but it was mainly sound with some occasionally complicated wordplay.
| Across | |||
| 1. | Plane‘s second pilot returned and arrived a little late(7,5) | ||
| Sopwith Camel | S + PO< + with + came + l[ate] – I think PO is short for pilot officer | ||
| 10. | In Leipzig, no bleeding base!(7) | ||
| Ignoble | Hidden in “LeipzIG NO BLEeding” | ||
| 11. | Taps vessel, taking notes and getting agitated(7) | ||
| Churned | CH (cold + hot taps) + urn + ED (musical notes) | ||
| 12. | Car crashed into a hole outside, as delayed lunch guest might say(1,5,3,1,5) | ||
| I could eat a horse | (Car + a hole outside)* | ||
| 14. | Reverse into horse hunter’s companion(3,3) | ||
| Gun dog | Undo in GG | ||
| 15. | Old naval personnel welcome revolutionary Yanks(8) | ||
| Wrenches | Che in WRENS | ||
| 18. | Bets hard, affecting spreads(8) | ||
| Breadths | (Bets hard)* | ||
| 19. | Does musical about vacant house(6) | ||
| Cheats | Cats around h[ous]e | ||
| 22. | Small fine accepted by writer – now theatre needs to change song(5,2,3,5) | ||
| Smoke on the water | S(mall) + OK in me + (now theatre)* | ||
| 24. | University of the stars gets out of the south(7) | ||
| Austral | Astral around U | ||
| 25. | Deserve to miss writer being thrown back in river for going too far(7) | ||
| Extreme | (Mer[i]t)< in Exe | ||
| 27. | Carol retries a dance before Irish event(6,6) | ||
| Easter Rising | (Retries a)* in front of sing(=carol) | ||
Down |
|||
| 2. | Corbyn’s sphere(3) | ||
| Orb | Hidden in cORByn | ||
| 3. | One pulling out to go with stop light up(6) | ||
| Weeder | Wee + red< | ||
| 4. | Saying little historian’s son leaves navy(8) | ||
| Taciturn | Tacitu[s] + RN | ||
| 5. | Musical‘s cast mostly replacing beginning of show, keeping a little distance(3,4,4) | ||
| Chu Chin Chow | Chuc[k] replacing the s in show around inch – musical based on Ali Baba, which doesn’t seem have been staged much since the 1940s. | ||
| 6. | No damage around house(5) | ||
| Manor | Mar around no | ||
| 7. | Having no cover, left bodyguard to lounge around inside(7) | ||
| Lidless | L + SS around idle | ||
| 8. | No good replacement for foundation of furious clergyman’s benefice(6) | ||
| Living | NG replaces D in livid | ||
| 9. | Say something of little weight out loud(8) | ||
| Announce | hom of an ounce | ||
| 13. | Google down early – somehow misses a prime minister(5,6) | ||
| Lloyd George | (Google d e[a]rly)* | ||
| 16. | Fellow more interested in painting getting stronger(8) | ||
| Heartier | He + artier | ||
| 17. | Author‘s third-rate manager(8) | ||
| Chandler | C + handler – detective writer of great prose but rambling, incomprehensible plots | ||
| 18. | Travel money loan picked up just as discussed(3,4) | ||
| Bus fare | Sub< + hom of fair – I'd challenge whether a subscription is really a loan | ||
| 20. | One interrupting ogre’s cry(6) | ||
| Shriek | I in Shrek | ||
| 21. | Pokes fun at bum(6) | ||
| Cheeks | DD – cheeking being used as a transitive verb as in “He was cheeking me” | ||
| 23. | Replaces old street in America(5) | ||
| Ousts | O(ld) + St in US | ||
| 26. | Unopened surprise barrel(3) | ||
| Tun | [S]tun | ||
Thanks for blog-well pleased to see a decent puzzle on a Monday.
Chu Chin Chow was a bit too obscure for me, but when on googling I realised this was the centennial of the original production, I suddenly saw a lot more centennials — 1, 27, 13. Perhaps they are more.
Ian SW3 @ 2: You’ve got all of them. I initially intended to have some more, but just about everything else was some episode involving heaps of bodies and that all seemed too depressing, so I left it at the four you found.
Thanks to NealH for the review. I’d point out that “sub” isn’t just “subscription” – it does also mean “loan”.
Obviously unintentional, but there is another centenary – 13dn became Prime Minister in 1916.
Nothing too difficult, but a bit of head-scratching required for a few of the clues. Thanks, Alchemi and NealH.
I took that as intentional, and I believe Alchemi has confirmed that it was.
Allan_c & Ian: Yes, it was me confirming it earlier. I forgot to change my name from the last time I was blogged in another paper.
Oops, didn’t read things properly. Reminder: Ensure brain is working before typing!
This was one of those puzzles where I got stuck after only a few answers, put it away for a few hours and then everything slotted into place, although the bottom right corner took a while to finish.
Didn’t think 5dn was that obscure. I remember hearing bits of it on the radio in my youth. 22ac, on the other hand, I’d never heard of.
I am extremely late to the party, so almost certainly no-one will read this comment.
I found this one of the harder puzzles by a setter who is close to my Top 10.
On my print-out a lot was left blank, too much actually.
Good to see a fine clue for ‘Smoke On The Water’ which tells the story of a devastating fire during a Deep Purple concert in the South of France way back when.
However, I am not convinced about 12ac.
Does ‘Car crashed into a hole outside’ really mean (CAR + A HOLE OUTSIDE)*?