Io is the master, no doubt about it as far as I am concerned. This time he kindly lets me finish with the grid filled and everything explained. Thank you Io.
Every clue is my favourite.
| Across | ||
| 1 | BOB HOPE | Comedian’s outside broadcast hard work, live screening (3,4) |
| OB (outside broadcast) H (hard) OP (work) all inside (screened by) BE (live) | ||
| 5 | CARDIFF | City Road, near which one’s pulled into greasy spoon (7) |
| RD (road) with (near which…is) I (one) inside CAFF (greasy spoon) | ||
| 10 | THE WHOLE SHEBANG | Great rockers on stage introducing woman forbidding everything! (3,5,7) |
| THE WHO (great rockers) on LEG (stage) containing (introducing) SHE (woman) BAN (forbidding) | ||
| 11 | BEDAUB | Smear campaign initially BBC denied, due a wrangle (6) |
| anagram (wrangle) of BBc missing (denied) C (initial letter of campaign) and DUE A | ||
| 12 | VENETIAN | Blind drunk in event one’s opening? (8) |
| A (one) inside (opening) anagram of(drunk) IN EVENT | ||
| 13, 15 | ONLY WHEN I LAUGH | No way in hell that’s funny – it’s repellent comedy (4,4,1,5) |
| anagram (thats funny) of NO WAY IN HELL then UGH (its repellent) – definition is sort of &lit too | ||
| 17, 19 | LIQUID NITROGEN | Quiet old inn (not yet closed) girl somehow means to preserve (6,8) |
| anagram (somehow) of QUIET OLD INN with GIRl (not yet closed, missing last letter) | ||
| 21 | VENA CAVA | Dorsally, Maeve’s heart contains almost completely empty vessel (4,4) |
| mAEVe (heart of) contains VACANt (completely empty, almost) all reversed (dorsally, in a back-like way) | ||
| 23 | ERSATZ | Fake tigers at zoo limits (6) |
| foud inside (de-limited by) tigERS AT Zoo | ||
| 25 | NIGHT ON THE TILES | Mah-jonggathon for drunken stopouts? (5,2,3,5) |
| double/cryptic definition | ||
| 26 | ISODONT | Emphatically, compiler does not like a set in line (7) |
| I SO DON’T (the compiler emphatically does not) – having straight and even teeth (a set) | ||
| 27 | OFTENER | Something that eases section off with increased regularity (7) |
| sOFTENER (something that eases) missing (with…off) S (section) | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | OCHRE | Brown is right in the firing line (5) |
| R (right) in OCHE (the firing line, marker for throwing position in darts) | ||
| 3 | HOW SAY YOU | This foreman may be asked to store gold for auditor? (3,3,3) |
| sounds like (for the auditor) house Au (store gold. chem symbol) – what the foreman of the jury may be asked | ||
| 4 | POOH-BAH | Character at Savoy I’m surprised to see in lead? That is a surprise! (4-3) |
| OOH (I’m surprised) inside (to see in) PB (lead, chem symbol) than AH (that is a surprise) – character from The Mikado, a Savoy Opera | ||
| 6 | ASHANTI | With a will not one African (7) |
| SHAN’T (will not) following (with) A then I (one) – people from Ghana | ||
| 7 | DEBIT | Cryptically take a little sum out of a bank account? (5) |
| DE-BIT (take a little, cryptically) | ||
| 8 | FANDANGLE | What comes after me with New England accessory? (9) |
| FA (what come after me, music) with ENGLAND* anagram=new | ||
| 9 | HEAVEN ON EARTH | “Effort to pull not at all cunning” – the essence of Anthony Eden (6,2,5) |
| HEAVE (effort to pull) NONE (not at all) ART (cunning) with antHony (essence of, centre letter) | ||
| 14 | NAIVETIES | Artless states of North America with which I’m associated? (9) |
| NA (North America) with which I’VE TIES (I have ties, am associated) | ||
| 16 | A DOG’S LIFE | Notice son of Paris swelling ego up, being miserable (1,4,4) |
| AD (notice) with FILS (son in French, of Paris) inside (swelling) EGO reversed up | ||
| 18 | DRAGOON | By force, make GP continue suppressing onset of asthma (7) |
| DR (doctor, GP) GO ON (continue) contains (suppressing) Asthma (onset of, first letter) | ||
| 20 | THE SELF | I left force, subdued by aforementioned individuals (3,4) |
| L (left) F (force) following (by) THESE (the aforementioned individuals) | ||
| 22 | APHID | A sucker, I enrolled for a doctorate? (5) |
| I entered (enrolled for) A PHD (doctorate) | ||
| 24 | THEME | Topic 20? (5) |
| THE ME (self) | ||
*anagram
definitions are underlined
I agree with PeeDee’s introduction which exactly sums up my views on this lovely surprise Wednesday treat – thank you very much to IO and PeeDee too
21a you need to mention that ‘dorsally’ indicates the ‘backing’ of the elements that make up the solution.
Thanks PeeDee
Io at his best! (You have a typo in your solution for 8dn which is reflected in your completed grid.)
For once, I can’t agree with crypticsue – I had to give up on this one. 🙁
Thanks to PeeDee for the necessary bits of enlightenment and Io for the bits I could do.
I had to concede defeat on this one, too. Before I did, though, found much to like & give me some laughs. Favourites were 1, 5, 10 & 25 ac; 4 & 16 d.
Thanks a lot Io & PeeDee.
Nice solve with a few really good laughs.
This setter is at his best when he gives you a sporting chance of completing in non-geological time – which this one did.
Actually – in fairness – he often bungs in a few easy embeds in a tough puzzle – which I then fail to spot. This time there was (from memory) only one – and I actually latched straight onto it.
Many thanks both. BTW PD – I agree with your preamble – having filled a grid with answers he makes the most of every one.
Thanks PeeDee and Io.
Wow, that was hard work!
I found no across solutions on my first pass with OCHRE my first in. And then it took another 6 visits to grind out my victory over this setter.
But oh what quality. There’s not a single clue that could be called mundane. There’s a wealth of techniques here and mixing within clues.
My only gripe was “me” instead of “mi” in 8 down without a(n) homophone indicator.
The rest are all my favourites.
Hello Hamish
me is a variant spelling (in English) of mi so a homophone is not really required.
Thanks Io and PeeDee
Indeed an excellent crossword which I started the day after publication, got about a third done – hit the wall and only really picked it up on a country trip yesterday and gradually prised it out over the course of the day. (so glad that I don’t have to prepare a blog in a timely manner – so well done PeeDee on doing that !!)
Agree that every clue is a gem – basically because they involve so much work to solve and when you look back over it on completion, you appreciate the masterly use of his wording that leaves absolutely no doubt as to what the answer is – and then wonder why it took so long to unravel it.
For me, the puzzle had really revolved around 10a, which I was convinced was the name of a band. Finally was able to get it out as my third to last in, after finally realising that THE WHO were only the first 40% of the answer. DEBIT and the brilliant HOW SAY YOU then finished off a superb challenge.
This felt like an attempt at the summit when I’ve only just got to base camp. Still so much to learn…