Tees has become a regular IoS setter recently. I found this more tricky than many a Tees puzzle, but that could just have been me being a bit mentally sluggish this morning.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
cad clue as definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) removed
definitions are underlined
Across
9 Oppressed by false story about new mark
UNDERLINE
A charade of UNDER and N inserted into LIE.
10 Wizard seen here complete in fresh and bracing sea air
OZONE
A charade of OZ for the Wizard that Dorothy and her friends sought and ONE.
11 Pipe radius used in Shard
CHIRP
An insertion of R in CHIP.
12 No place as rowdy as Floridian location
PENSACOLA
(NO PLACE AS)*
13 Guinness for one presented by east German plant
ALECOST
A charade of ALEC (Guinness) and OST for the German word for ‘East’.
14 Opera composer uses percussion instrument in one
BELLINI
A charade of BELL, IN and I.
16 Old Cambodian king with me featured in 60 Minutes
KHMER
A charade of K and ME inserted into HR. The country is Kampuchea (anglicised to Cambodia); the people are Khmer. Most folk would know this word through the Khmer Rouge regime.
18 Place with yard to keep supplying
PLY
A charade of PL and Y.
19 Maybe goat without tail comes to steep-sided hill
BUTTE
BUTTE[R]. Goats have been known to butt. The word is North American usage (and, interestingly, seems to be etymologically related to the ‘butt’ sense).
20 Diet has military group shedding tons
REGIMEN
REGIMEN[T]
21 Say Bovary at this point hosting love-in
HEROINE
An insertion of O and IN in HERE. The reference is to Emma Bovary, Flaubert’s character.
23 Centaur moving home is in two minds
UNCERTAIN
A charade of (CENTAUR)* and IN.
25 African location where enthusiast returning lives
TUNIS
A charade of NUT reversed and IS for ‘lives’.
26 Missile guided back to English business
TRADE
A charade of DART reversed and E.
27 Keen-eyed ancillary on Russian river
OBSERVANT
A charade of OB and SERVANT. The OB is a Western Siberian river, the seventh longest in the world.
Down
1 Some Russian music fan, insane, completely losing head
NUTCRACKER SUITE
No shortage of nuts this morning. This is a charade of NUT, CRACKERS and [Q]UITE. ‘He’s quite/completely mad, that Tees fellow.’
2 Counselling had with husband leaving bad habit
ADVICE
A charade of [H]AD and VICE.
3 Coded text in tomb upset woman
CRYPTOGRAM
A charade of CRYPT and MARGO reversed.
4 Cheap containers
TINPOT
Tow containers in fact: a TIN and a POT.
5 Sea eagle gets between horses in coastal town
HERNE BAY
An insertion of ERNE in the two ‘horses’: H and BAY. Seaside town in Kent, pop. 38,563.
6 Travel always upset canvasser
GOYA
A charade of GO and AY reversed. GOYA painted on canvasses, didn’t he? I might have had a flirt with a question mark at the end of this clue to indicate its whimsical nature.
7 Settler: one individual held in veneration
COLONIST
One where the parsing is in the punctuation: a charade of COLON, I and ST for ‘one held in veneration’.
8 Specifically what makes blood thicker than water?
RELATIVE DENSITY
A (not particularly) cd.
15 Room for experimentation in political choice?
LABORATORY
The ‘political choice’ might be LAB OR A TORY. With apologies to the Lib Dems.
17 Tricky fellow‘s raving maniac imprisoning soldier
MAGICIAN
An insertion of GI for ‘soldier’ in (MANIAC)*
18 Figure given by Defense Department
PENTAGON
A dd.
21 Frank does cutting-edge work over time
HONEST
A charade of HONES and T. ‘Over’ works because it’s a down clue.
22 Article to accompany one-on-one in Ancient Greek
IONEAN IONIAN
Edit: as Bob and Clare point out below, the answer is in fact IONIAN, with the parsing as Bob explains
A charade of I, ONE and AN.
24 Whirl about a bit more elegantly
REEL
Hidden in moRE ELegantly.
Many thanks to Tees for this Sunday’s puzzle.
I had Ionian for 22 down. 1 on 1 plus an.
I also had Ionian. I suppose they both work. 17 had me stumped at first, as I used RE and MANIAC and got AMERICAN but couldn’t see why he was a tricky fellow at first!
Thank you, both. IONIAN is given as the correct solution. I did say I was feeling sluggish.
Thanks to Tees for another great Sunday puzzle – lots to enjoy but I’ll have to pick 6d, my nearest seaside town, a place that has increased in excitement since lockdown when I only go there once a month to collect my husband’s repeat prescriptions
Thanks also to Pierre for the blog
I assumed 7D must be Colonist but I failed with the parsing – how silly. Very enjoyable so thanks Tees and Pierre.
I hope your sat-nav works, crypticsue, when you’re picking up those repeats. Herne Bay is to be found at 5dn …
Thanks for the blog. My brain went on a go slow for 13. I’d solved it but couldn’t parse it because once my brain had decided that ‘Guinness for one’ was ALE rather than ALEC, I couldn’t work out where the C was coming from and my brain wouldn’t let go and think anew.
I did exactly the same, Bluth!
Many thanks for the puzzle and blog – really enjoyed it.
Fooled for ages by the old “punctuation as wordplay” trick for COLONIST before I eventually twigged. Others in the NE held me up as well, with the not so difficult OZONE my last in.
Harder than usual for a Sunday and satisfying to eventually have everything in. Clue of the day to GOYA; first use of ‘canvasser’ for an artist that I can remember.
Thanks to Tees and Pierre
So cross about Goya! I couldn’t do it.
It was my last one in, Val – it was cleverly disguised.
Thanks, especially for parsing of colon which we couldn’t see. Not very keen on ozone which is a component of sea air but not a synonym (sorry, a chemist speaking), and laboratory seemed very laboured (excuse the pun).