I found this to be somewhat of a 22ac. Seeing all the 11s in the across clues I decided to start with 24dn and work backwards. I didn’t solve the key 11dn when I first reached it but 26ac gave me the theme and then 11dn was entered immediately afterwards.
The rest of the across entries went in rather quickly then all that remained was to return to a couple of down clues that I hadn’t solved during my first pass through them.
Across
6 11 contest seen erupting in North-West (key zone) (8,5)
VIENNESE WALTZ VIE (contest) plus an anagram (erupting) of SEEN in NW (North-West) plus ALT (key) Z (zone)
8 Specialist gardening: I must follow book on it (6)
BONSAI B (book) ON SA (it) I
9 11 comes with any decent plot? (3,5)
THE TWIST cryptic indicator
10 11 contents of Empty Quarter, with appropriate resident? (8)
SARABAND SAND (contents of Empty Quarter) around ARAB (with appropriate resident)
12 Old man enclosing a yard for fruit (6)
PAPAYA PAPA (old man) around (enclosing) A Y (a yard)
14 11 revolutionary book overlooked (4)
REEL RE[b]EL (revolutionary book overlooked)
15 11 functionary holding new one (5)
CONGA COG (functionary) around (holding) N (new) plus A (one)
16 Surreptitious movement, with head dropped. Python? (4)
IDLE [s]IDLE (surreptitious movement, with head dropped) Eric of that ilk
18 Tool transactions: have to pay pound (6)
TROWEL TR (transactions) OWE (have to pay) L (pound)
20 11 (if you dont mind) (6-2)
EXCUSE-ME double def.
22 11 lack rocks round a large set of gardens (8)
CAKEWALK an anagram (rocks) of LACK around A KEW (a large set of gardens)
25 Consumer industry to scoff about film (6)
RETAIL RAIL (scoff) around (about) ET (film)
26 11 dirty weekend in Inverness? (8,5)
HIGHLAND FLING cryptic indicator
Down
1 Bird to enjoy bath, marine animals not having left up front (3,7)
SEA SWALLOW SEA[l]S (marine animals not having left) WALLOW (enjoy bath)
2 Discussions at dinner table about alcohol causing chest pain (6)
ANGINA ANA (discussions at dinner table) around (about) GIN (alcohol)
3 Fails to be in time, interrupted by son (4)
ISN’T IN T (time) around (interrupted by) S (son)
4 Little point coming up amidst large amount of water for flower (5,3)
SWEET PEA WEE (little) PT (point) reversed (coming up) in (amidst) SEA (large amount of water)
5 Bass landing on bass? Thats a setback (4)
BLOW B (bass) LOW (bass)
6 Spoil translation of Voltaire, excising 24 (7)
VIOLATE an anagram (translation of) of VOLTAI[r]E (Voltaire, excising 24 {king})
7 Estimated splitting variable quantities with keenness (5)
ZESTY EST (estimated) in (splitting) ZY (variable quantities)
11 Charlie participating in some European trip (5)
DANCE C (Charlie) in (participating in) DANE (some European)
13 Petitions rubbished a plant (10)
POINSETTIA an anagram (rubbished) of PETITIONS plus A
15 Odd clue showing (say) Picasso mostly involved and responsible (8)
CULPABLE an anagram (odd) of CLUE around (showing
involved) PABL[o] ((say) Picasso mostly)
17 Marceau’s article on his activity I ignored being an unthinking creature! (7)
LEMMING LE (Marceau’s article) M[i]MING (his activity I ignored)
19 Measure of boxer: knocking head off in opening (5)
REACH [b]REACH (knocking head off in opening)
21 Concern about a full bottle (6)
CARAFE CARE (concern) around (about) A F (full)
23 Expected gully to be drained, which makes you nervous (4)
EDGY E[xpecte]D G[ull]Y (expected gully to be drained)
24 Governors family: good (4)
KING KIN (family) G (good)
I agree that this was towards the easier end of Phi’s spectrum but it was enjoyable nonetheless. SARABAND was my LOI after I saw how the wordplay worked because I either didn’t know or had forgotten the dance.
Many thenks, Gaufrid, for explaining words I got but failed to justify to myself: 8ac and 2dn. As one for whom every puzzle is a major challenge, I learn something new every day.
This time I got the theme straight away, but got bogged down with 4,5 and 7dn especially – clear enough now.
Not having heard of the empty quarter and having convinced myself that a saraband was something you wore rather than a dance, I found 10 a bit of a struggle. I kept trying to come up with words that had [v]acan[t] in them, which got me nowhere. I eventually checked the def of saraband, only to discover my first thought had been right all along.
Sorry to be a thickie, but could someone please explain why Empty Quarter is sand? Otherwise once I got over the shock of 1ac – starts with a V, 2nd word W—Z (!!!) is all fell out fairly easily, for a Friday.
It’s not Empty Quarter – it’s contents of Empty Quarter i.e. sand. The Empty Quarter is an area of desert in the Middle East.
Thanks, NealH – I didn’t know that. Another triumph for pooled knowledge!
Agreed, rather easy on the Phi scale. I had my doubts about ana being particularly connected with the dinner table; I never understood 9ac until I thought about it; had never heard of the Empty Quarter; and wasn’t sure about full = f. But very enjoyable.
I don’t know what it is about Phi’s crosswords, but even if the final time is fairly good (for me) it still takes longer to get started than with other setters. Of course here you had all the 11s to cope with, so no wonder I was a bit slow to start, but even so I always find this is the case.
Thanks Gaufrid for standing in for us. We are not where we should be due to fog so we have been able to access the puzzle and the blog.
It took us a little while to get into but once we had 4d and 7d the theme opened up.
Thanks Phi.
Gaufrid – you’s the man! Stepping into the breach again….what would we do without you?! An easy stroll from Phi; I danced through it swiftly until 10 stopped me mid-bop. A phun phuzzle.