An enjoyable start to the week from VELIA…
Lovely mix of clues today with some great surfaces. Lots to enjoy here, with the amusing 19a, and a Spoonerism chucked in for good measure.
Thanks VELIA!
1 Bill’s singing well (7)
INVOICE
Double (cryptic) definition
IN VOICE (singing well)
5 Refrain from supporting self- admiration (6)
FOREGO
FOR (supporting) + EGO (self-admiration)
11, 14 Director’s short time in quarantine not bad (7,9)
QUENTIN TARANTINO
(T (short time) IN QUARANTINE NOT)* (*bad)
12 Bound to enter convenient old cinema (7)
FLEAPIT
LEAP (bound) to enter FIT (convenient)
13 Berserk UK mostly came apart (5)
AMUCK
(UK + CAM[e] (mostly))* (*apart)
14 See 11
15 Neutrois calling for broadcast (12)
TRANSMISSION
TRANS (neutrois) + MISSION (calling)
19 Filthy rich “saint” fiddled with the tops of innocent teenagers – yes, that’s religion! (12)
CHRISTIANITY
(RICH)* (*filthy) + (SAINT)* (*fiddled) with I[nnocent] T[eenagers] Y[es] (tops of)
22 Pages in pioneer recipe for sausage (9)
PEPPERONI
PP (pages) in (PIONEER)* (*recipe)
24 Spiked, like some shoes (5)
LACED
25 First link with big man flu uncovered (7)
INITIAL
[l]IN[k] [w]IT[h] [b]I[g] [m]A[n] [f]L[u] (uncovered)
26 Contents of Illinois omelettes are nauseating (7)
NOISOME
[illi]NOIS OME[lettes] (contents of)
27 Out of true fondness, Jack and Jane finally got married (6)
SKEWED
[fondnes]S [jac]K [jan]E (finally) + WED (got married)
28 Notice lines likely to cause problems (7)
ADVERSE
AD (notice) + VERSE (lines)
2 Venus may be infiltrated by a mole (6)
NAEVUS
(VENUS)* (*may be) infiltrated by A
3 Unfashionable clothing in the suburbs (9)
OUTSKIRTS
OUT (unfashionable) + SKIRTS (clothing)
4 Old city displaced Pole chasing stable home (14)
CONSTANTINOPLE
(POLE)* (*displaced) chasing (CONSTANT (stable) + IN (home))
6 Billy or Danny may be Indian (5)
OCEAN
Triple (cryptic?) definition
Billiy Ocean (singer/songwriter), Danny Ocean (from Ocean’s 11) and Indian Ocean
7 Once pictures start to get legal, leaving little to the imagination (8)
EXPLICIT
EX (once) + P[ictures] (start) to get LICIT (legal)
8 Either retiring or extroverted (8)
OUTGOING
9 One in four supporting Swedish top team (5)
SQUAD
QUAD (one in four) supporting S[wedish] (top)
10 On a diet, perhaps, including those in charge above (14)
AFOREMENTIONED
(ON A DIET)* (*perhaps) including FOREMEN (those in charge)
16 Last 23 to go round moon (9)
SATELLITE
(LAST + ELITE (answer to 23d))* (*to go round)
17 They doubt coronavirus’s origin in infected bats, ultimately (8)
SCEPTICS
C[oronavirus] (origin) in SEPTIC (infected) + [bat]S (ultimately)
18 Trigger for Spooner is someone experimenting with flagellation (4,4)
TRIP WIRE
“whip trier” (someone experimenting with flagellation, “Spoonerism”)
20 Cast parts but not the lead (6)
ACTORS
[f]ACTORS (parts, but not the lead)
21 Kind of snake seen in summer (5)
ADDER
23 Obscene literature includes the best! (5)
ELITE
[obscen]E LITE[rature] (includes)
Yes, I agree Teacow that 19ac was amusing with its two anagram indicators, but I admired 27ac SKEWED where the def ‘out of true’ was cleverly hidden in the rest of the wordplay. Thanks to you and Velia for the enjoyment.
I didn’t know ‘Neutrois’ for TRANS or the OCEAN of the ‘Danny’ variety. There wasn’t anything else I found too obscure, but there were some very good surfaces, eg for CHRISTIANITY and nicely hidden defs, eg for SKEWED as pointed out by Tony Dee @1 and my favourite and LOI, the almost invisible ‘above’ for AFOREMENTIONED. A good Spoonerism added to the enjoyment.
Thanks to Velia and Teacow
I found this unusually difficult by Velia’s standard, but I got there (perhaps from the wrong side of the bed). Like Tony Dee I especially enjoyed 19ac and 27ac. Also learned a new word, Neutrois, which Velia put to good use. 10dn AFOREMENTIONED was neat, too. Thanks for a good Monday, Velia and Teacow.
Thanks, Velia, for a challenge that was right up my alley with all those cinematic references. 11ac and 14ac were my FOI so was primed for Danny Ocean. Suspected SATELLITE and TRIPWIRE were films but have yet to see ADVERSE. Somewhat shamefaced, then, that ACTORS was my LOI. Kept thinking of iron (cast), not lead, so was misled, as it were. Like Tony Dee and WordPlodder, I enjoyed 27ac and in common with Hornbeam, 18ac was new to me, along with 2d. Thanks also to Teacow.
Neutrois was a new word for us (not in Chambers 13th Ed) but we got 15ac without difficulty and didn’t really need to google for neutrois. A steady and not unduly taxing solve; favourites were SKEWED, AFOREMENTIONED and, for its topical surface, SCEPTICS.
Thanks, Velia and Teacow.
Thanks, Velia for a more-challenging-than-usual crossword. Liked the surfaces for CHRISTIANITY and SCEPTICS and enjoyed OUTSKIRTS and ACTORS particulary. Got INITIAL but couldn’t parse it and missed SKEWED altogether but thanks to Teacow for making it plain as day.
Thanks Velia and Teacow
Was away from printers for a couple of days last week so only got to this one much later. As others have said, a very enjoyable solve and a tad harder than the usual Monday serving. Surface readings were a standout with 19a being so relevant down here – costing a certain Australian papal executive his job. Thought that 17d was also cleverly topical as well.
A good array of clueing devices throughout and the new term for me in ‘neutrois’. 18a was an excellent Spoonerism that raised a grin when I saw it.
Finished in the NE corner with FOREGO (love this word, always brings back memory of a racehorse broodmare that produced a number of excellent sprinters when I first started following horse racing a life time ago), FLEAPIT (another clever construction) and the superb triply-defined OCEAN as the last one in.
Thanks, perhaps for spooner you can split words but I dont have too many references for tripwire being trip wire?