A typically mixed bag from Gordius, with some reasonable clues but a lot of what I think is rather loose wordplay, and not much wit to compensate. Specific niggles listed below..
| Across | ||||||||
| 1. | COUNSEL | (UNCLE SO)*, and a Dutch uncle offers advice, so I think this is an attempt at an &lit that doesn’t quite work. | ||||||
| 6. | SUFFOLK | OFF reversed or “switched” in SULK. Constable painted in Suffolk, but “Where Constable” is a poor definition | ||||||
| 9. | OVERRAN | ERR in O VAN | ||||||
| 10. | UNCTION | [j]UNCTION | ||||||
| 11. | POSSESSED | Double definition – The Possessed is (the English title of) a novel by Dostoevsky, so “with the” it’s a “Russian novel” | ||||||
| 12. | PLAID | P (softly) + LAID, &lit (sort of) | ||||||
| 13. | RELIT | TILER reversed | ||||||
| 15. | GYMNASIUM | (MANY MUGS I)* | ||||||
| 17. | CHARLATAN | CHAR (Charles, “not e s”) + A TAN. A liberty too far in my opinion. | ||||||
| 19. | EXPAT | (TAX EP)*. EP is a record, so this is an indirect anagram, albeit an easy one. | ||||||
| 22. | TORUS | Homophone of “Taurus” | ||||||
| 23. | MORSE CODE | [Inspector] MORSE (detective) + CODE (rules). | ||||||
| 25. | CAHOOTS | CA (accountant) + HOOTS (warns), and a reference to the coalition government. | ||||||
| 26. | USEABLE | (BLUE SEA)* | ||||||
| 27. | EXPRESS | PR in SEXES* | ||||||
| 28. | TRACHEA | (CHAR TEA)* &lit | ||||||
| Down | ||||||||
| 1. | CROPPER | Double definition (as in “come a cropper” for one of them) | ||||||
| 2. | UTENSIL | U[-turn] + SILENT* | ||||||
| 3. | SERGE | SERGEANT less ANT | ||||||
| 4. | LONGSIGHT | Double definition – it’s a scary-sounding district of Manchester | ||||||
| 5. | SQUID | S[even] + QUID. I had to look up Loligo – after which the answer was obvious. | ||||||
| 6. | FACEPLATE | Spoonerism of PLACE (position) + FATE | ||||||
| 7. | ORIGAMI | OR + MAGI<+ I | ||||||
| 8. | KINGDOM | DOING* in K M | ||||||
| 14. | TELESCOPE | (COST PEEL E)* | ||||||
| 16. | MINOR SUIT | Double definition – clubs is a minor suit in Bridge etc | ||||||
| 17. | CUTICLE | TIC[k] in CLUE* | ||||||
| 18. | AIRSHIP | AIRS (songs) + HIP (with it) | ||||||
| 20. | POOH-BAH | [Winnie-the-]POOH + BA + H. Pooh-Bah is a character in The Mikado who holds all the public offices in Titipu apart from Lord High Executioner. | ||||||
| 21. | THERESA | THERE’S A (“one does exist”), and there seem to be several saints called Theresa (or Teresa, Therèse, etc) | ||||||
| 23. | MASTS | T in S. Another dodgy defintion – “on board ship” does not define “masts”. | ||||||
| 24. | ENEMA | ENEM[y] + A. A slightly tasteless one to finish on. | ||||||
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