A slightly tardy post today, so apologies for that. No excuses here though: this was all entirely tractable and everything fell into place smoothly. There were a couple that I’ve marked as cryptic definitions, where it’s quite posible I’ve missed something else going on.
| Across | ||
| 1 | BEHINDHAND | What’s found in hole with labourer being late? (10) |
| (EH in BIND) + HAND | ||
| 7 | LAPP | Scandinavian picked up drink (4) |
| homophone of “lap” | ||
| 9 | AGATHA | Follow closely backing in Scandinavian pop group for woman (6) |
| TAG< in A–HA | ||
| 10 | READY-MIX | Set note with cross characterising some ingredients? (5-3) |
| READY + MI + X | ||
| 11 | INTRIGUE | Plotting in Italy disrupted, e.g., Turin (8) |
| (EG TURIN)* | ||
| 12 | COYOTE | Animal is evasive before observation having head obscured (6) |
| COY + [n]OTE | ||
| 13 | IDLE | Member of comedy team / not working (4) |
| double definition, with the comedy team member being Eric Idle, of course | ||
| 15 | UNDERCOVER | How a book may be found in secret? (10) |
| double definition | ||
| 17 | BOTTICELLI | Artist getting limited credit in waterside accommodation on large island (10) |
| (TIC[k] in BOTEL) + Large + Island | ||
| 19 | TASK | Give mission to some unit as kudos (4) |
| hidden in [uni]T AS K[udos] | ||
| 20 | GEISHA | Hostess of a sort wearing a lot of clothes (6) |
| ISH in GEA[r] | ||
| 22 | REGIONAL | Like some food say on island following recipe with bit of lavishness (8) |
| Recipe + EG + IONA + L[avishness] | ||
| 24 | SAVANNAH | Vehicle found in Arab capital by hot scrubland (8) |
| (VAN in SANA) + Hot. Sana or Sana’a is the capital of Yemen | ||
| 25 | WEALTH | A rolling condition? (6) |
| cryptic definition, I think, as in “rolling in it” | ||
| 26 | MYTH | Fancy article curtailed? There’s no truth in it (4) |
| MY + TH[e] | ||
| 27 | DERBYSHIRE | Red herb is cultivated around yard in rural location (10) |
| Yard in (RED HERB IS)* | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | EGG ON | Incite say Indian to leave area (3,2) |
| EG + GO[a]N | ||
| 3 | INTERCEPT | Check pet cretin mistreated (9) |
| (PET CRETIN)* | ||
| 4 | DJANGO UNCHAINED | Source of music provided by a charity say with free film (6,9) |
| Disc Jockey + A + Non-Governmental Organization + UNCHAINED | ||
| 5 | AIRHEAD | Fool? One that might be apparent, we hear, with capital (7) |
| homophone of “heir” + HEAD | ||
| 6 | DUAL CARRIAGEWAY | A radical era guy recreated around Western transport feature (4,11) |
| Western in (A RADICAL ERA GUY)* | ||
| 7 | LAY BY | Parking facility / to keep for future use (3,2) |
| double definition | ||
| 8 | POINTLESS | Request to reduce gesturing in TV quiz show (9) |
| POINT LESS | ||
| 14 | DROMEDARY | Creature roamed freely in plain (9) |
| ROAMED* in DRY | ||
| 16 | OSTEOPATH | A manipulator of blades etc? (9) |
| I think just a cryptic definition, as in shoulder blades | ||
| 18 | LURCHER | Dog, one enjoying food with name Rex? (7) |
| from LUNCHER, but with Rex instand of Name | ||
| 21 | STASH | Band keeping close to airport for drugs consignment (5) |
| [airpor]T in SASH | ||
| 23 | ALTAR | Site of worship in Malta restored (5) |
| hidden in [m]ALTA R[estored] | ||
* = anagram; < = reversed; [] = removed; underlined = definition
A good IoS puzzle. I had the most difficulty in the SE corner and it took me a while to get the crossing cryptic definitions for WEALTH and OSTEOPATH. I entered GEISHA from the definition so thanks for parsing it.
I parsed 22a as R+EG+IONA+L with IONA being the island. Otherwise I’m not sure where the “A” comes from.
Thanks Simon for the blog and Hypnos for a nice Sunday puzzle
Howard, you are spot on with your parsing of 22ac. I have the bad habit of reading only the parts of a blog that relate to clues I have been unable to parse or have had trouble with.
Thanks, all. In retrospect that’s how I parsed it while solving, but then I stumbled a little while blogging. I’ve updated that one now.