*=anag, []=dropped, <=rev.

Very tough puzzle by Scorpion, I thought.   There were three I didn’t fully understand.

Across

7  Mincer:  cryptic definition.
8  Heighten:  he + (the gin)*
9  Leo Minor:  Odd letters of sleep + minor.
10 Bistro:  (Brit[ish] + so)*
11 Meat Loaf:  (fame a lot)*.   I found the “arrests” a bit confusing and didn’t seem to add much to the clue.
12 Cherry:  C[las]h + err + y.   I think cherry is sometimes used to mean a ball in cricket.
13 Arthur’s Seat:  Didn’t understand this apart from camelot = (King) Arthur’s seat.   The clue was “Camelot providing attraction in former home of Thunderball player ?”
18 Posses:  posses[s]
20 Snowball:  Snob around w + all.
22 Aghast:  Hidden.
23 Improper:  Rope in (prim)*.
24 Pittance:  Pitta + even letters of snacked.
25 Shiraz:  Hairs* + z.

Down

1  Pikelet:  Cryptic def.  Had to do reveal to get this since I’ve never heard of pikelet meaning a type of food.  I thought it was a small fish.
2  Scimitar: (armistice - e)*
3  Bronco:  B + roo around nc.
4  Big Bucks:  Big Buckinghamshire + pile (of money).
5  Chaste:  t in chase.
6  Ferrari:  Fear around RR (Rolls Royce) + i.
8  Herefordshire: Here + for + d + (heirs)*.
14 Hesitant:  He’s + titan with t moved to end.
15 Ambrosia:  Didn’t get this at all.  Clue was “Seaman in Wales once caught leaves - delicious food”.  Delicious food is obviously the def, but I didn’t understand the other wordplay.
16 Rough it: Didn’t understand this either. Clue is “Three characters together in retreat live basically”.
17 Glue Ear:  (U E + large)*.
19 Scatty:  Scat + t[enb]y.
21 Oppose:  Op + pose.

After thirty minutes with the puzzle, I didn’t get 21ac and 24ac and 16dn. Any of my readers may please post the answers.

Across

1 DESCRIBE - des, crib, E

5  HECTIC - ethi (anag. of E, itch), C

10 SATSUMA - a, must, as reversed This fruit is new to me. I got it from wordplay.

13 DELFTWARE - de(L, FT, w.)ar,e

18 TALENT SCOUTS - talents, C(out)S ‘bent’ in the sense of talent; it is an adj. qualifying gifts in the surface reading; the def. is “(Those) who look for ones with the bent”

21  not solved - (On edit) The clue is: Clerk on fixed programme to jail trafficker (9)

23 LINER - two def.

24 not solved - (On edit) The clue is: Barnet’s cleaner - bogus collection largely (7)

25 OPENING - anag. of pig, none

26 SENTRY - sen(-d), try

27 PENTAGON - pe(n, tag)on(-y) I am not happy with the surface reading.

Down

1 DUSTER, two def.

2 SATIRE - I take ‘Swift writing’ as ‘writing by Swift’ which I know is satire. But I don’t see how ‘a bore’ fits

3 ROUGH-HEWN - anag. of ‘how hunger’ but not a very pleasing surface reading

4 BOARDING SCHOOL - cryptic def. -‘to get one’s head down’ = to fall to = to begin to eat

6 EVENT - even, t

7 TEA PARTY - anag. of ‘ape ratty’, again not a very satisfying surface reading

8 CAT’S EYES - (trademark) these are reflectors embedded in road surface to make traffic lanes visible at night

9 FOLLOW YOUR NOSE - there was some hold-up in my solving as I first put in ‘follow one’s nose’

15 INTELLECT - two def.

16 not solved - (On edit) The clue is: More people possibly turning to sit-ups (8) 

17 PLANTAIN - (to)plant, AI, n

19 ENDING - reversed letter string from ‘campaiGN I’D NEgotiated’

20 DRAGON - drag on

22 INNER - (-d)inner, ref. to ‘inner sole’ (On edit) The reason why I didn’t get some answers is this solution is wrong. I now realise that the correct answer is (-s)UPPER. The clue was: Meal without starter, complementing to sole perhaps (5) Now, does this exclude my answer?

Apologies for the problems you all experienced yesterday in trying to reach the blog - it was out of action for pretty much for the whole day. Unfortunately the problem was at the server end, that is, with the company that hosts the site rather than with the blog itself, so there was nothing I could do to fix things, which was somewhat frustrating. I’m now trying to find out from the hosting company what the problem actually was and if it was solved satisfactorily.

Neil

Solving time: 12 minutes

Pleasant thematic start to the week, reminiscent of Altair’s puzzles, for those of an age.  A nice puzzle for those wanting to find their way into cryptics and themed puzzles.  With my purist’s hat on, I have a few reservations.

Hadn’t heard of 8 down before and not keen on 12 across as it part-uses an answer already in the grid.  13 across doesn’t quite work for me, either.  Nevertheless, good fun and thanks to Auster for a nice challenge.

Mood music:  Bad Penny Blues by the late, wonderful and incomparable Humphrey Lyttelton.  RIP Humph.

ACROSS     (*) = ANAGRAM  -  (R) = REVERSAL     (CD) =  CRYPTIC DEFINITION

1.   EMBOSS    EM (R)  +  BOSS (Master)

4   VACANT    VA (Virginia)  +  CANT

9   OPEN         O + PEN  (How to address the writer!)

10  ACCESSIBLE  ACCESS (Gate) = IB (1B) + LE   Definition = 9 across 

11  CANDID   CANDID (ATE)

12  OPEN BOAT  OPEN (9) + OB (R) + AT  I don’t like to see a word used again in a puzzle.

13  INGENUOUS  I presume  this is supposed to be INGENIUS with the second “I” replaced by a homophone for “You” (U), but what about the “O”. 

15  FREE  Double def

16  UNDO  Hidden answer - Discovered at just about works for me as a container indicator.

17  ASSASSINS  ASS + ASS (Fools) + IN (as in cricket) + S (Start to spinners) 

21  STALE AIR     ALE inside STAIR

22  SECURE   SEE around CUR

24  DAY-TRIPPER  (CD)

25  AJAR  A + JAR

26  HAS A GO    HA(S) + SAGO (Pudding loved by grannies loathed by schoolkids)

27  PATENT   PATIENT minus I

DOWN

1   EXPLAIN     EX + PLAIN

2   BONED       I don’t think this needs explanation!

3   SPANDAU  SP (Spanish - NOT in Chambers though!) + AND + AU  Prison where Rudolf Hess was held for many years.

5   ANSWER   A NSW (There are states outside the USA, you know!)  + RE (R)

6   ACID BURNS  A C.I.D. + BURNS

7   TILLAGE    TILL + AGE

8   OCTOPUS STRAPS   OCT + OPUS + STRAPS  Never heard of ‘em!

14  ENDPLATES  N PEDESTAL (*)

16  UNTEACH   U (Turn) +  CAN’T HE (*)

18  AUSTRIA    AUSTRALIA minus AL (Gore)

19  NOR’EAST  SENATOR (*)

20  GAPING    GA + PING

21  CRANE    RAN inside CE

Last time I wondered if C had gone a step too far with his capitalisation.
This time I wonder if he has gone a C too far.