Another Sunday Teeser. Thanks to Tees. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1 Bloomer from servant in base with Poles touring States (5-4,5)
8 Epitaph for cricket side in Harrogate location? (5)
RIPON : RIP(abbrev. for “Rest In Peace”, the common epitaph) + ON(leg side/the half of a cricket field behind a right-handed batsman when in position to receive the ball).
Defn: A city in the Borough of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England..
9 Pretty good UN school assembly (2,6)
NO SLOUCH : Anagram of(… assembly) UN SCHOOL.
11 Mistakenly call the malignant hag (7)
HELLCAT : Anagram of(Mistakenly) CALL THE.
12 Nocturnal creature needs attention following an illness (3,4)
ANT BEAR : EAR(attention/willingness to listen) placed after(following) [AN + TB(abbrev. for “tuberculosis”, the disease that usually affects the lungs)].
13 Improvised German newspaper article sent over (2-3)
AD-LIB : Reversal of(… sent over) [BILD(the German tabloid newspaper) + A(an article in grammar)].
15 Found priest quiet, nursing wound (9)
ESTABLISH : [ELI(Biblical priest) + SH!(in interjection for someone to keep quiet)] containing(nursing) STAB(a wound made by stabbing).
17 Can it go on spreading? (9)
CONTAGION : Anagram of(…spreading) CAN IT GO ON.
Answer: A disease that can spread from one person to another.
20 Tennis call Don overturned (3,2)
NOT UP : Reversal of(… overturned) [PUT ON](to don/to wear).
Defn: A call given by the umpire in a tennis match when a player has not played the ball before it bounces twice.
21 Material broadcast in disputed region (7)
KASHMIR : Homophone of(… broadcast) “cashmere”(material made from the wool of goats, a breed originally from Kashmir).
VICOMTE : VI(Roman numeral for “six”, indicated by the prefix “sex-” as in “sextuplets” from the Latin for “six”) plus(with) COMTE(Auguste, French philosopher).
25 He has dog rolling barrel (8)
HOGSHEAD : Anagram of(… rolling) HE HAS DOG.
26 Rasta unity also seen in Independent twice (1-3-1)
I-AND-I : AND(also/plus) contained in(seen in) I,I(twice the a. “Independent”, describing a politician not belonging to any party).
Defn: Term used by Rastas, short for Rastafarians referring to the one-ness of God and all humans. The term is often used to mean “you and I” or “we” among Rastas.
27 Business leaders sincere: mikados corrupt (8,6)
DECISION MAKERS : Anagram of(… corrupt) SINCERE: MIKADOS.
Down
1 This as basis for the annual blow-out? (8,4)
BIRTHDAY CAKE : Cryptic defn: Refering to the base upon which sit the candles one blows out on one’s once-a-year occasion.
2 Very quietly brought into AA, left in dismay (5)
APPAL : PP(abbrev. for “pianissimo”, a musical direction to play very softly/quietly) contained in(brought into) [AA +L(abbrev. for “left”)].
3 Venomous type, man attracting firm support (4,5)
KING COBRA : KING(a piece/man on a chessboard) plus(attracting) CO(abbrev. for “company”, a commercial firm) + BRA(short for “brassiere”, underwear support for the female bosom).
4 Any degenerates get involved with Zulu banker? (7)
YANGTZE : Anagram of( … degenerates ) ANY + anagram of(… involved) [GET plus(with) Z(represented by “Zulu” in the phonetic alphabet)].
5 Cold as princess taken with street worker (7)
DISTANT : DI(short for the name Diana, once the Princess of Wales) plus(taken with) ST(abbrev. for “street”) + ANT(one of a breed of social insects, specifically one belonging to the worker caste).
6 Main threat stole lead from trader with uranium (1-4)
U-BOAT : BOA(a stole/a long thin decorative scarf) + 1st letter of(lead from) “trader” placed below(with ) U(symbol for the chemical element, uranium).
7 The claims that could be made by such as Paracelsus (9)
ALCHEMIST : Anagram of(… that could be made) THE CLAIMS.
10 Doctor has pie prepared as medical speciality (12)
ORTHOPAEDICS : Anagram of( … prepared) DOCTOR HAS PIE.
14 Yearns to have house on or very close to sea (9)
LONGSHORE : LONGS(yearns for) plus(to have) HO(abbrev. for “house”) + RE(on/with reference to).
16 Bachelor, single friend, providing skeleton service? (4,5)
BONE CHINA : B(abbrev. for “Bachelor”) + ONE(single) + CHINA(friend, from rhyming slang, china plate/mate).
Defn: A meal service/a matching set of crockery items used in serving a meal made from this type of porcelain. “skeleton” is there to hint at “bone”.
18 National Prime Minister twice having day out (7)
ISRAELI : “Disraeli”(Benjamin, who served twice as the Prime Minister of the UK) minus(having … out) “d”(abbrev. for “day”).
Defn: … of Israel.
19 Nothing venerable arising from Las Vegas? (7)
NEVADAN : Reversal of( … arising, in a down clue) [NADA(nothing/zilch) + VEN(abbrev. for “Venerable”, used as a title for a venerated person).
Defn: … which is in the US state of Nevada.
22 African male in perfect health ingests arsenic (5)
MASAI : [M(abbrev. for “male”) + AI(A1/in perfect health/physically fit, with the Roman numeral substitution)] containing(ingests) AS(symbol for the chemical element, arsenic).
24 The London Eye? (5)
I thought across clues 8, 23 and 26 were a bit iffy at the time, but fair enough in retrospect. Thanks Tees and Scchua.
Never heard of “Not up” -well not in tennis anyway!
Didnt like MINCE either-close but no Havana.
But (D)ISRAELI was definitely onside.
And I liked the Reggae clue.
I enjoyed all of it – even though my eyes are brown 😉
Thanks to Tees and scchua
All fairly straightforward, although the SE corner held us up a bit. Also, we’d not heard of NOT UP as a tennis term and we couldn’t parse U-BOAT.
But there was a lot to like. ESTABLISH, HOGSHEAD, BIRTHDAY CAKE and ALCHEMIST were among our favourites.
Thanks, Tees and scchua.
Most enjoyable puzzle of the of the last week for me, all in and three parsings missed. I got stuck with BISH as PRIEST in 15ac and VICE as SEX in 23ac, and the cricket side also escaped me. My grandad worked in the East End and brought much rhyming slang to our family gatherings, hence MINCE was a write in for me, as was BARE BONES as a sloppy first pass on 16d, but soon corrected. Thanks Tees and scchua.
At the end I gave up with 24dn and 26ac still to get. But I have come across NOT UP in Azed a few weeks ago and I remembered it.
The most important information concerning anything is that Southampton today absolutely murdered Manchester City 1-0. Well yesterday actually, as I see my clock has gone around a day without my permission. I blame the EU, because I’ve been told to by Rupert Murdoch.
Thank you for your interest and kind remarks. NOT UP you would under normal circumstances by now, i.e. six days into Wimbledon, be familiar with I am sure, even if you were not (as some sort of well-rounded person) already. I can’t see why tennis isn’t possible where football is mind you. Or where sport drinking is. God after a few Guinesses I really do start to wrote like Proti Patel spokes. Thank The Maker for Mike ‘Hansard’ Hutchinson.
Sleep tight. I think I might have to.