Top puzzle, this one, imho. There’s one I can’t parse, though.
Kairos has got the knack of what most folk expect from the IoS crossword. Nothing too obscure; good variety of devices; one or two smiley moments; makes you work a bit sometimes. And of course some trademark church-related questions.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Leave sons drinking beer in trade events
CLEARANCE SALES
A charade of CLEARANCE for ‘leave’ in its nounal sense and ALE in SS for ‘sons’.
10 French joiner houses college servant in African country
EGYPT
The French ‘joiner’ is ET, for ‘and’. In the middle of that is GYP, which is a term that always confuses me. It’s essentially Oxbridge, but in Cambridge it means the small kitchen at the end of the corridor for use by students; in Oxford, I think it’s what Cambridge students call their ‘bedder’. Whatever, they are all spoilt too much.
11 Department I can ring up for meals on wheels provider
DINING CAR
(D I CAN RING)* with ‘up’ as the anagrind.
12 Endlessly deride Peg working in house
SCORPIO
I’m not rightly sure about this one. The definition is a ‘house’ of the zodiac. SCOR is SCOR[N], I think, but the PIO bit I can’t parse. Peg is Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy, but I don’t think that’s what Kairos had in mind.
13 Came over and annoyed my boss
CROSSED
A charade of CROSS and ED, the latter being the crossword editor of the IoS, who is of course Kairos’ boss (at least in Crosswordland).
14 Old physician sheltered by church
LEECH
I had to go and have a furtle on the internet to fully understand this one. It’s not in fact as I first thought the blood-letting annelid worm; it’s a Middle English, now archaic, word for ‘physician’. A charade of LEE and CH, but I’m struggling to make LEE mean ‘sheltered’. ‘Sheltered side’ perhaps, or just ‘shelter’.
16 Something cheesy created by crew in production of Hamlet
EMMENTHAL
An insertion of MEN in (HAMLET)* I’d always – and so would Sainsbury’s and Tesco – spell it EMMENTAL, but both spellings are accepted.
19 A time in vehicle providing municipal service
WATER MAIN
Took me a while to see this, but it’s A TERM in WAIN. Think John Constable and hay.
20 Received the heart of great pope back
ROGER
Another one it took me ages to work out. POPE GREGORY I was also known as ‘Gregory the Great’; reverse him and you’ve got YROGERG, whose ‘heart’ is ROGER. And that’s what pilots say to air traffic controllers to acknowledge that they have ‘received’ the instruction to descend, climb, turn, or whatever.
22 React in despair when Republican unseats Democrat
RESPOND
Change R for D in DESPOND.
25 In favour of lottery returns in advance
FORWARD
A charade of FOR followed by a reversal of DRAW.
27 Hampers passes involving one international player
HANDICAPS
An insertion of I CAP in HANDS.
28 Mad group of teachers meeting heads of third year
NUTTY
A charade of NUT for the left-leaning teachers’ union and TY for the first letters of ‘third year’.
29 The greatest influences for a range of artists?
PRIMARY COLOURS
A charade of PRIMARY for ‘the greatest’ and COLOURS for ‘influences’ in its verbal sense gives you a ‘range’ that artists might use. As long as it consists only of red, yellow and blue. Unless you’re a photographer, when it’s cyan, magenta and another one that I can’t remember.
Down
2 Broken tea trolleys the French abandoned in Bury
LAY TO REST
(TEA TROL[LE]YS)*
3 Misbehave with a sheep after swallowing cocaine
ACT UP
Not recommended, obviously. Unless it’s properly dark and you’re at the edge of the field where no-one can see you. An insertion of C in A TUP.
4 Cassiopeia’s daughter is with capital attorney
ANDROMEDA
AND for a rough synonym of ‘with’ followed by ROME and DA for ‘district attorney’
5 Pessimist‘s opposing choices adopted by commander
CYNIC
An insertion of Y and N in CIC for ‘commander-in-chief’.
6 New rounds ordered for evening drink
SUNDOWNER
(NEW ROUNDS)* Based on the premise that you shouldn’t get the G&Ts fired up until the sun has gone down. Whoever came up with that premise deserves a slap.
7 Movies edit out loud musical flourishes
LICKS
[F]LICKS. As in guitar licks, mostly, I think.
8 Good person left to eat hearty dessert
STRUDEL
An insertion of RUDE in ST and L. ‘She’s in rude health.’
9 Plant stand supporting head of tulip
TEASEL
Since it’s a down clue, it’s T for the first letter of ‘tulip’ above EASEL.
15 Not quite listen to announcement of name for instrument
HARMONICA
HAR[K] followed by a homophone of MONIKER for ‘name’.
17 Declaration of inmates edited
MANIFESTO
(OF INMATES)*
18 Expensive bit of lace hidden by a sailor in part of church
HIGH ALTAR
A synonym of ‘expensive’ is followed by L in A TAR.
19 Duke leaves custody in frigate perhaps
WARSHIP
WAR[D]SHIP
21 Watched the queen coming back with cheap American whisky
RED EYE
A reversal of EYED ER. I’d only known the expression for the condition you’re in when landing in foreign parts and being 8 hours out of your time zone, but dictionaries confirm the definition. Perhaps the two things are related.
23 Part of 10 is in a mess
SINAI
(IS IN A)* The peninsula that is part of EGYPT and links Africa and Asia.
24 Record of homework filled in by up-and-coming artist
DIARY
An insertion of RA reversed in DIY for ‘home work’. You’d know any DIY projects I’d done in our house because they’d be crooked and have blood on them.
26 Type of movement constrained by electron donor
RONDO
Hidden in electRON DOnor.
Fine puzzle, which I enjoyed solving and blogging. Thank you to the setter.
My reading of 12ac was SCOR(N) + PI(N) +O(N) Pin= peg, on= working.
The primary colour you couldn’t remember was yellow for photographers. For physicists, the primary colours are red, green and blue.
Thanks, Dormouse.
A fine puzzle with no problems. I couldn’t parse Scorpio either, but guessed it correctly. I have been coding websites much lately, and have to write “color” everywhere, the computers that run the web understanding only American English. It is troubling, I have been caught using “color” in standard English. Fortunately in 29A, it didn’t fit.
Thank you, Kairos, and especial thanks to Pierre for taking time to document our struggles on a bank holiday Sunday morning.
Is it just me, or is the arithmetic in the anti-spam device below getting harder? 🙂
Thanks Kairos and Pierre. I did enjoy this puzzle but needed help with some of the parsing, in particular RED EYE and SCORPIO. Favourites were LEECH, WATER MAIN, HARMONICA and EGYPT (a college servant was called a gyp at Cambridge, a scout at Oxford).