Right up to Crosophile’s usual standard. There is one clue I don’t understand but as usual I’m sure it will be explained and I’ll feel a fool.
More clues than usual seem to rely on homophones. Not a criticism, just an observation.
Sorry, I’m rather late today. Slept right through my clock radio. Don’t know why.
Definitions in italics.
Across
1 Sprayed with water front and back (5)
DEWED
‘front and back’ refers to the fact that ‘dewed’ is a palindrome
4 Fluid left, say, to be eaten by insects, shrinks (8)
ANALYSTS
(l say)* in ants
10 Astronaut’s first love and maybe a step forward for the rocket industry (9)
AEROSPACE
A{stronaut} Eros pace — Eros is the God of Love — the ‘maybe’ refers to the step forward, since it is only possibly forward
11 Sachet, we hear, for processed meat? (5)
MINCE
“sashay” — the homophone here is of a word in the clue
12 Wednesday in trouble after Ed’s sent off and not on side (7)
ENDWAYS
(W{ed}nesday)*
13 Final sections of River Dee next to point (6)
DELTAS
delta S — D = delta (is it? surely it’s the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet and corresponds to D, but is not the same thing?)
15 Half of the fourth Doctor Who is in the vault (4)
TOMB
Tom B{aker} — I’m not a Doctor Who fan I’m afraid and had to go to this week’s Radio Times to discover that Tom B was the fourth Doctor Who
17 Mao ultimately intervened in revolutionary rice plan for China (9)
PORCELAIN
{Ma}o in (rice plan)* — china not China, strictly, but this is quite acceptable: it’s the other way round, when something which needs a capital is omitted for the sake of the surface, which is not
19 Desert used to be centre for sitatunga antelope (9)
WASTELAND
was {sita}t{unga} eland
20 Many a pigment fades according to report (4)
DYES
“dies”
23 Quaint heartless dignity like countryside alliance … (6)
TWEEDY
twee d{ignit}y — is Crosophile getting a bit political here?
24 … in jodhpurs and also strapped footwear (7)
SANDALS
hidden in jodhpurS AND ALSo
27 One part of Hispaniola originally holding apples in Treasure Island (5)
HAITI
h{olding} a{pples} i{n} T{reasure} I{sland} — Haiti is one part of Hispaniola, or is it? So far as I can see it only was, originally, in which case ‘originally’ is doing double duty in the clue. I leave it to you to read the Wikipedia article. It’s late, and I can’t plough all through it.
28 Me with inner ailment that’s spread to back – chemist’s dispensing unit required? (9)
MILLIGRAM
Sorry, quite bewildered here — the definition seems clear, but as to the wordplay it looks as if ‘Me’ refers to the answer and is ‘mm’, inside which is ill (agri)rev., but what agri is I can’t say — I’ll leave it like this and hope for inspiration before I finish — no, none came [as Gaufrid explained soon after the blog was posted, it’s mi [anglicised me, the note] round ill, then (marg)rev. Quite obvious really, as I predicted]
29 Made fresh water last somehow, caught in the act (8)
DESALTED
(last)* in deed — had never heard of the word but both it and the wordplay make this fairly obvious
30 Expresses no interest over influence with new intake? (5)
YAWNS
(sway)rev. round n
Down
1 Citadel in ruins in a manner of speaking (7)
DIALECT
(Citadel)*
2 Broadcast circled round the globe (5)
WORLD
“whirled” [circled round]
3 Consternation when doctrine is adopted in time of revolution (6)
DISMAY
d(ism)ay — time of revolution refers to the time taken for one revolution of 2dn
5 Want something to do if making loaf say? (4)
NEED
“knead”
6 Slept after head dropped, being loaded (8)
LUMBERED
{s}lumbered
7 Like rising truancy in Bedlam asylum? (9)
SANCTUARY
(as)rev. (truancy)* — the anagram indicated by ‘in Bedlam’
8 Puts foot down over partner’s sprog (7)
STEPSON
steps on
9 Sort of animal liking a fight taking time out for drink (9)
MARSUPIAL
martial with the t [time] removed and replaced by sup
14 Make bent over rather short like an old maid (9)
PRUDISHLY
p(rudish)ly — ‘Make bent’ = ply as in pliers, ‘over’ = around, ‘rather short’ = rudish
16 I is sent out after disrupting yes – time sir closed books… (9)
MYSTERIES
(yes time sir – i)*
18 … School captain? Glad I is messin’ with her! (4,4)
HEAD GIRL
(Glad I her)* — I think it’s messin’ rather than messing because Crosophile has needed to use street lingo (“I is”) to make the surface work
19 What The Observer did with long leader on David touring Thailand (7)
WATCHED
(w ache D{avid}) round T — it’s the observer not The Observer here
21 Many a plant with seeds causes a mess in innards (7)
SESAMES
hidden in cauSES A MESs
22 Redrafted one new duty in a state (6)
UNTIDY
(1 n duty)*
25 This points to a right barney (5)
ARROW
a r row
26 Descartes’ conclusion questioned by Sartre ultimately or his partner (4)
AMIE
“am I?” {Sartr}e — referring to “I think therefore I am” — amie is the feminine of ami, so is a female friend or a male’s partner
*anagram
Thanks John
28ac is ILL (ailment) in MI (the sol-fa note anglicized as ‘me’ in the clue) MARG (spread) reversed (to back)
Thanks John and Crosophile, this setter frequently has some intricate theme or Nina but I’m damned if I can see it today.
There was some clever cluing here but there were a few that I wasn’t overly happy with. I agree with John’s ” does d=delta?” comment, I don’t think “sashay” and “mince” are similar styles of walking, and I think “sprayed with water” is a poor way to describe how dew is formed.
I also couldn’t parse MILLIGRAM so thanks again Gaufrid.
Thank you John.
There were a few that jarred with me here, but I think with D = DELTA the setter is on firm ground. A, Alpha; B Bravo; C Charlie; D Delta … the NATO phonetic alphabet. Agree with others about ‘sashay’ and MINCE; not quite the same thing where I come from. But I liked DISMAY in particular.
And thanks to the setter as well.
Hi Flashling @#2. Nina hint#1: contents of some rows.
Hmmm thanks CP but it’s beyond me. Good job i don’t work at GCHQ as a code breaker.
Thanks K’s D, I’d forgotten about the NATO phonetic alphabet.
Well, I’m even less likely to get a job at GCHQ than flashling, so the only thing I can see is DANA and EMIN hidden is the first two of the across rows, so I’m going for a tribute to outstanding women of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
I think we might need nina hint #2 soon …
Thanks Crosophile for the puzzle and the Nina hint@5: very nice. Thanks also to John for the blog. I parsed 28dn but needed to come here for the explanations of 11ac and 14dn.
May I offer Nina hint number 2: five of the six rows containing a given number of letters.
Of course I meant 28ac.
Well spotted, Pelham Barton. it’s a hugely underwhelming anagram [4,9].
Crosophile @11: I had only spotted the link between the five rows. I had not linked them to the timing of your appearances in the Independent.
🙂
PS Many thanks for the blog, John, And thanks too for other comments
Can we have hint no. 3 please, or even better, explain what the Nina is, as I can’t for the life of me get what people are talking about.
Look at row 5 and comment #12. No, I did not spot it.
PS Row 1 does the same, I see now.
I still have no idea, I’m afraid. If a hidden message is this hidden, then there may just be a question: why is it there? To be fair, it didn’t detract from the puzzle, but then the supposition is that it’s just there for the setter.
DEWED+ANALYSTS, ENDWAYS+DELTAS etc are anagrams of my LAST WEDNESDAY in the month slot. Probably best kept as a secret nina. Sorry!
I don’t see anagrams that easily, obviously a disadvantage when solving. (I recall seeing an interview with Stephen Sondheim many years ago, himself a keen puzzle fan. In the fifties he was walking down the street in New York and saw a sign being erected saying “cinerama”. His first thought was that the word was an anagram of “American”.)
No need for apologies, Crosophile – thank you for explaining it.
Where the cobbler works – by a Sheffield club…
We’re glad that we visited the site this evening. We didn’t finish the puzzle last night and had no time this morning for the last few clues to be filled in. We only got around to completing it whilst waiting for a film to start this afternoon. We failed completely to spot the nina – well done to those who did!
We will forgive Crosophile for 1ac which we didn’t like, as the overall construction of the puzzle was amazing.
Thanks Crosophile and thanks to John – we needed your help in parsing 19d. It was obvious when it was pointed out!