I predict that some will have some difficulties with this offering from Juno. For the second time this week this took me the wrong side of 20 minutes, 5 over my target, at least partly due to trying to parse the last down clue. I think I have only blogged Juno once before, and I struggled a bit then as well.
There was plenty to enjoy here. My COD candidates are 12 and 22 across, for their surfaces and misdirection respectively. Thanks Juno, I look forward to our next encounter.
Across
1. Some strudel I saw in food shops (5)
DELIS – Hidden inside {stru}DEL I S{aw}.
4 Lay outside on new hat (6)
BONNET – BET (lay, as in lay a wager) outside ON and N{ew}.
9 One slip ruined Greek character (7)
EPSILON – Anagram (ruined) of [ONE SLIP]. EPSILON is the fifth letter of the Greek alphabet.
10 Fellow otherwise from whom charity benefits? (5)
DONOR – DON (fellow, in more ways than one!) and OR (otherwise).
11 Card game for ladies or gents (3)
LOO – Double definition, the first a card game with forfeits, the second a public convenience or lavatory.
12 Man types out Acts of Settlement (8)
PAYMENTS – Anagram (out) of [MAN TYPES] – nice surface!
15 Instruments, etc, MP restores after damage (13)
SPECTROMETERS – Anagram (after damage) of [ETC, MP RESTORES].
17 Wine is something Highlander tosses to catch (8)
CABERNET – CABER (something a Highlander might toss) and NET (catch).
18 Articles about hotel leading to a surprised response (3)
AHA – The articles are both A, surrounding (about) H{otel} (phonetic alphabet).
20 Eight carat ring someone not from this world possesses (5)
OCTET – CT (carat) inside (possessed by) O (ring) and ET (extra-terrestrial – someone not from this world).
22 More than one top vehicle conks out (7)
CARDIES – CAR (vehicle) and DIES (conks out). CARDIES is short for cardigans (plural), a kind of ‘top’ that I find myself wearing more often than before.
23 This composer’s shop associated with singing style? (6)
BARBER – An &Lit clue referring to Samuel Barber (US Composer) and to the Barber Shop singing style of cappella close harmony as exemplified by the Barber Shop Quartets most popular around the turn of the 20th century.
24 Material from track given name (5)
LINEN – LINE (track) and N{ame}.
Down
1. One might have a second, outstanding, large register (8)
DUELLIST – DUE (outstanding) and L{arge} and LIST (register).
2 Rope, behold, used to catch donkey? (5)
LASSO – LO (behold) ‘catching’ (containing) ASS (donkey)
3 Explosive component to season: about to go past favourite (9)
SALTPETRE – SALT (to season) and RE (about) around (to go past) PET (favourite). As everyone knows, SALTPETRE (potassium nitrate) is a key ingredient of gunpowder. Hopefully, no budding terrorists ill have learnt anything from this blogging item.
5 Cockney’s to have aged (3)
OLD – {h}OLD. To have is to hold, and any word starting with an aitch can be made cockney in Crosswordland by dropping the aitch. Personally, I find it a bit tiresome and lazy, but that’s just my opinion.
6 Regret tenancy holding this girl up (7)
NANETTE – Reverse (up) hidden (holding) in {regr}ET TENAN{cy}.
7 Change one’s act? (4)
TURN – Double definition.
8 Nothing but Bond seen in this TV programme? (4,7)
ONLY CONNECT – ONLY (nothing but) and CONNECT (bond). ONLY CONNECT is the thinking person’s quiz show on TV in the UK, and may not be familiar to our overseas solvers.
13 Voting to relocate local tree (9)
ELECTORAL – Anagram (to relocate) of [LOCAL TREE].
14 Killer who has a cheek, interrupting crime (8)
ASSASSIN – SASS (cheek) inside (interrupting) A SIN (crime).
16 Demanding person’s coat, Rex out of order (7)
EXACTOR – Anagram (out of order) of [COAT, REX].
18 Like Flight of the Bumblebee? A thing to play it on endlessly (5)
APIAN – A (a) PIAN{o} (thing to play it on, endlessly, i.e. drop the last letter). APIAN is of or relating to bees.
19 Tease company doctor (4)
COMB – CO{mpany} and MB (doctor).
21 From out of one’s mouth, pull part of one’s foot (3)
TOE – Homophone (from out of one’s mouth), sounds like TOW (pull). I struggled parsing this initially, which added to my time. I suspect some will just biff it, but one can’t get away with that when blogging!
I completed this comfortably inside of 10 minutes, but it could have been quicker if I hadn't entered 10ac as "COPULA", which left the intersecting down clues a lot harder to make head or tail of! When the impossible has been eliminated, whatever remains, however probable, must be the truth, so the light did eventually dawn.
This felt to me like an absolutely irreproachable crossword in the modern style, with a battery of the latest cryptic tricks resulting in perfect surfaces and not a few laughs; the GK (literally in one case) was also pitched at an excellently erudite level, while never stooping to obscurity. I really liked the wordplay in both 24 and 25ac, but full marks to the definition parts of 11dn and 27ac too, and their seamless marriage into the cryptic. 13/10 to the setter, would solve again.
ACROSS
1 Such as Chesterton, maybe, entertaining with his stirring article (8)
EGGWHISK - E.G. G.K. [such as | (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton, maybe], "entertaining" W HIS [with | his]
5 Can pocket valuable? Hardly! (6)
TINPOT - TIN [can] + POT [pocket]
9 Seafood etc barman mostly prepared (8)
CRABMEAT - (ETC BARMA{n}*) ["prepared"]
10 Carbonated drink bottles finished round roof (6)
CUPOLA - COLA [carbonated drink] "bottles" UP [finished]
12 Toy bear’s in bunk (12)
FIDDLESTICKS - FIDDLE STICK'S [toy | bear's]
15 He passed on book two in series of books (5)
OBIIT - B II [book | two] in O.T. [series of books]
16 Cancels course if ill, unable to return displays (9)
NULLIFIES - Hidden reversed in {cour}SE IF ILL UN{able}
18 Jailed by judge, ex-pupil’s assisted crime (6,3)
INSIDE JOB - INSIDE [jailed] by J O.B. [judge | ex-pupil]
19 Stop at sea to tell some tales? (3,2)
LIE TO - double def
20 Designates perimeter of park especially for winter sport (5,7)
SPEED SKATING - (DESIGNATES P{ar}K*) ["especially"]
24 Running without queen’s backing (2,1,3)
IN A ROW - reversed W/O RANI [without | queen]
25 Cried several times over, with husband involved in plot (8)
BOOHOOED - O O O O ["several (four) times", over], with H [husband] "involved"], in BED [plot]
26 Partner of old politician getting into film for free (6)
EXEMPT - EX [partner of old] + MP [politician] "getting into" E.T. [film]
27 Biased when accepting Houses of Parliament as constitutional asset? (8)
ASHPLANT - ASLANT [biased] when accepting H.P. [Houses of Parliament]. I didn't know that an "ashplant" was a walking stick, but such would certainly prove an asset while going on a "constitutional".
DOWN
1 Watch Italian sides being eliminated after football upset (4)
ECCO - reversed {s}OCCE{r} [football]
2 Get stuck into the butter! (4)
GOAT - or GO AT [get stuck into]. The butter as in "the creature that butts".
3 Awkward when first on diet of meat sandwiches? (3-6)
HAM-FISTED - 1ST [first], "sandwiched" by HAM-FED [on diet of meat]
4 What’s amusing by reputation? (8,4)
STANDING JOKE - JOKE [what's amusing] by STANDING [reputation], &lit I guess
6 Time to leave to pick up cold tongue? (5)
INUIT - IN{t}UIT [to pick up, minus T for time]. "Cold tongue?" as in "language spoken in a cold region"
7 Banned for plagiarism in second edition (10)
PROSCRIBED - PRO [for] + CRIB [plagiarism] in S ED. [second | edition]
8 Radio station’s run repeated broadcast (10)
TRANSISTOR - (STATION'S R R*) ["broadcast"]
11 Ringer that’s incorporating end for our now cordless sockets (12)
BELLYBUTTONS - BELL YON'S [ringer | that's] "incorporating" BUTT [end]. The sockets left by our cut umbilical cords!
13 In short, “garish” is appropriate for style of French king (5,5)
LOUIS SEIZE - LOU{d} ["in short", garish] + IS SEIZE [is | appropriate]
14 King and I set makes for cracking musical (4,2,4)
KISS ME KATE - (K I SET MAKES*) ["for cracking"]
17 Move inch by inch? (6-3)
ISLAND-HOP - an "inch" being an island, a lovely cryptic def
21 Band ultimately mean to raise flag (5)
DROOP - {ban}D + reversed POOR [mean]
22 What’s oddly featured by satellite state (4)
IOWA - W{h}A{t} by IO [satellite (of Jupiter)]
23 Approach of mine having commercial appeal (4)
ADIT - AD IT [commercial | appeal]. "Of mine" as in "in a mine".
