I found this quite hard going with the longer clues proving to be quite a struggle.
1 across was particularly difficult with lots of short words, each of which had numerous possibilities. There was a smallish tribute to the late Vera Lynn, although just a couple of clues as far as I can tell (unless you count cliff as well). 8 down was very clever and difficult to work out without a few crossing letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | AS THE CASE MAY BE | Carried on board, or stored in hold, depending on circumstances? (2,3,4,3,2) |
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DD – different things that could happen to a case. |
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| 9 | CARTOUCHE | Anxiety about pet in case of bullets (9) |
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Care around touch |
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| 10 | ABATE | Adult temptation said to subside (5) |
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A{dult} + hom of bait |
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| 11 | CLIFF | Richard so named 151 females (5) |
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CLI (=151 in Roman numerals) + f{emale} twice – ref to Cliff Richard |
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| 12 | POTENTIAL | Latin poet breaking promise (9) |
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(Latin poet)* |
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| 13 | ARRIVING | Four in a Republican cartel reaching destination (8) |
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IV in a r{epublican} ring |
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| 14 | IMOGEN | Girl lasts in sumo wrestling among island people (6) |
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[Sum]o [wrestlin]g in I{sland} men |
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| 17 | DROPSY | Falls down with unknown ailment (6) |
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Drops + y(=unknown, used in algebra along with x and z) |
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| 19/6 | WELL MEET AGAIN | Fortunate encounter an achievement in song 16 made famous (4,4,5) |
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Well(=fortunate) + meet + a gain |
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| 22 | REFERENDA | Arbitrator stopped early and fixed votes (9) |
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Refere[e] + nda* |
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| 24 | OSMAN | Turkish leader invests son in Arab land |
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S{on} in Oman. Never heard of Osman but he appears to be have been an emir who founded the Ottoman dynasty. |
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| 25/7 | WORLD BEATING | As Johnson spins response misrepresents a right big let-down (5-7) |
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(A r{ight} big let-down)* – maybe he means world beating in terms of infection rates? |
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| 26 | HEY PRESTO | Here to spy producing tricky words? (3,6) |
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(Here to spy)* – tricky in the sense of relating to a magic trick |
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| 27 | PRESIDENT ELECT | Drunken client pestered one coming into office (9-5) |
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(Client pestered)* |
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| DOWN | ||
| 1 | ALCOCK AND BROWN | Pioneers flying in a country raise toast (6,3,5) |
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Cock(=raise) in a land + brown(=toast). Not entirely sure about cock for raise – you can cock a weapon but that's more to do with preparing the firing mechanism than lifting the weapon. |
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| 2 | TERRIER | Row about stray dog (7) |
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Tier around err |
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| 3 | ETON FIVES | Game is on TV — fee outrageous (4,5) |
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(Is on TV fee)* |
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| 4 | AL CAPONE | Mobster needs beer having eaten chicken (2,6) |
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Ale around capon |
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| 5 | EJECTA | Etna’s insides become black, containing cold material thrown out (6) |
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Etna with the middle letters replaced with jet around c{old} |
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| 6 | AGAIN | See 19 Across |
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See 19 Across |
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| 7 | BEATING | See 25 Across |
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See 25 Across |
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| 8 | WELLINGTON BOOT | Water thus rising further round end of garden? Wear this (10,4) |
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(Welling to boot) around [garde]n |
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| 15 | MELBOURNE | Girl carried round university city (9) |
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Mel + Borne around U{niversity} |
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| 16 | VERA LYNN | Singer very nearly changed name (4,4) |
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(V{ery} nearly)* + n{ame} |
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| 18 | OFFEROR | Assassin perhaps: or one selling shares (7) |
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Offer (=one who offs people) + or |
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| 20 | EN MASSE | As one‘s despicably mean, small tips for servants materialise (2,5) |
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Mean* + s{mall} + s[ervants materialis]e |
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| 21 | INCHED | Made slow progress: stole quietly away (6) |
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[P]inched |
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| 23 | RIDES | Gets lift in Kalahari desert (5) |
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Hidden in kalahari desert |
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In 1dn “cock” may refer to the idea of raising an eyebrow quizzically, or wearing a hat at an angle
I thought this was tricky for a Tees, and especially on a Monday when we traditionally expect our crosswords to be a little kinder to the solver. As enjoyable as ever so worth a bit of a battle – and the use of Tippex in a couple of places where I originally barked up the wrong tree
Thanks to Tees for the crossword and NealH for the blog
Thanks Tees and NealH
Pace Stevo67 @ 1, I think cock = raise comes from early firearms, eg fllintlocks, which you would cock by raising the striker before releasing it with the trigger. Maybe the other meanings stem from that.
… and it’s what dogs do with their legs.
Agree it was a rather tough challenge and, as crypticsue says, as enjoyable as ever.
Favourites were WORLD-BEATING, EJECTA, VERA LYNN and PINCHED.
Many thanks to Tees and NealH
I made a good steady fist of this, finally coughing to a halt with 1d, 25a/7d and 14a unsolved.
I too had to look up Osman, once parsed, and shamefully have never heard of Alcock & Brown – though I twigged the answer would be aviation pioneers. Zero aids/cheats today though, which is good for me!
Was barking up the wrong tree entirely with IMOGEN; I was looking for islanders along the lines of Samoan, Tongan etc. The parsing is like a scrapbook!
REFERENDA, HEY PRESTO and PRESIDENT ELECT were faves.
A nice start to the week; thanks Tees and NealH
I meant INCHED (not pinched} @4, of course.
We made steady progress on this, helped by 16 and 19/6 which were practically write-ins when taken together. We vaguely knew of OSMAN but had to check and were surprised to discover it was a personal name, not a title. WORLD-BEATING raised a smile.
Thanks, Tees and NealH.
@5 EggCustard – I felt the same about IMOGEN, and the parsings for VERA LYNN and EN MASSE as well. My least favoutire was 1a – it just doesn’t seem to be a phrase of particular note, not one I’d recognise or that would ring any sort of bell if I read it anywhere. It’s just a chunk of a sentence to me. Was it a catchphrase for a literary detective/policemen or anyone else for that matter?
I very much enjoyed the rest though. Thanks Tees and NealH.