Usual great stuff from Bradman. In particular I liked PRONOUNCE, COLORADO, LOTUS-EATER.
The left of the grid came together slower than the right. APOGEE was not so familiar, and the incomplete 13a in the online puzzle added to the confusion (it turned out to be only a missing enumeration after all). The parsing for a couple of clues is still foggy, I’m sure someone will soon enlighten me.
Across
9 PRONOUNCE PRONOUN (you or I, possibly) CE (church)
10 CLEAN E (drug) in CLAN (fraternity)
11 GROUPIE sounds like ‘grew pea’
12 DENTURE DENT (pit) URE (river). Well-concealed definition here, with the deceptive ‘river mouth’. One of the last to get solved.
13 ETA ATE (had) reversed
14 ARTICULATED dd
17,18,19 CLOSE-RUN THING d&cd. ‘close’ = enclosed grounds around a cathedral. Another great clue.
21 MONOTHEISTS (THOSE INMOSTS)*
23 FIT I (current) in FT (our paper)
25 FLANNEL dd. Overdone praise (soft soap), and a washcloth (something commonly found in bathroom).
27 STAINER STAIN (mark) ER (the Queen). Refers to Sir John Stainer.
28 RICIN RIC(e) (food) IN (because of). I was trying to equate ‘in’ with ‘because’ at first, then realized it had to be ‘because of’.
29 NUMBER TEN That’s center of government (10 Downing Street), how does the rest work? Update: Ingenious bit of wordplay – ‘noxious at the outset’ is NO X or NUMBER TEN. Thanks, Gaufrid (comment #2).
Down
1 APOGEE EGO (self-importance) reversed, in APE (beast)
2 COLORADO COLOR (issue with American racists, i.e. ‘color’ written the American way) ADO (fuss)
3 COMPLACENT COMPLIMENT (a bit of flattery) – IM + AC (bill)
4 ANNE A N (o)NE. Bradman creates great clue surfaces; this one is a case in point – basic wordplay for a simple word, used to lovely effect.
5 MENDICANTS MEN (fellows), + DIS (hell) around CANT (hypocrisy)
6 SCAN SCAN(t)
7 RESULT (ULSTER)*
8 UNDERDOG UNDER (working for) COOK (do) G (first letter of ‘Gastropub’)
15 TORTELLINI TORT (wrong) ELL (length) IN I (Italy, from the international vehicle code)
16 LOTUS-EATER (AUSTERE LOT)* &lit. A brilliant anagram.
17 CAMP FIRE CAMP (extravagant) FIRE (launch)
20 INFINITE IN (at home) FINE (excellent wine) around IT (being).
22 NUANCE NU(is)ANCE
24 THRONG R in THONG (very scanty attire)
26 NONE The last one to go into the grid and I’m not sure if I have got it fully. NONE is “a service in the Roman Catholic Church formerly read or chanted at 3 PM”, a new meaning of the word for me.
27 SHMO Hidden in ‘fooliSH MOments’ &lit.
29ac: ‘noxious’ in the sense a number is a poisonous chemical that numbs one when administered…
Hi shuchi
29a ‘noxious at the outset’ is NO X or NUMBER TEN
26d is a homophone of ‘nun’, I think (‘broadcast’ being the homophone indicator).
Thank you both. I had toyed with the noxious = NUMBER idea but it didn’t explain the TEN.
I am kicking myself for not being able to see NO X, I had a feeling it would be something really clever like this 🙂 . Thank you for explaining, Gaufrid.
I thought that “noxious at the outset” glanced at the first part of the phrase NUMBER TEN, ignoring the latter part. But my explanation, given offhand, was speculative and completely missed the cleverness of it all.
Thanks, Shuchi.
Rishi, I’m sure you’re right in your interpretation of 26dn but all my dictionaries confirm the pronunciation of NONE in that sense as ‘known’.
16dn is a great & lit!
You’re right about NONE — sorry!
I’m sorry, too – it was a great clue!
Many thanks for an enjoyable puzzle.
A very enjoyable puzzle, as others have said, with 16dn being outstandingly good. Thanks Bradman, and shuchi for the blog.
“None” – meaning the ninth hour from sunrise, i.e. normally 3pm – is confusingly a cognate of the word “noon”, meaning midday. I don’t know what strange etymological process brought that about.
Nice puzzle, but putting in “scar(ce)” for 6d didn’t help.