It’s always the hardest part of the blog, thinking what to put here, the crosswords are always perfectly done.
A rare word or too today but in truth not too much for a reasonable solver to have difficulty with.
Thanks as ever to Everyman
Across
1 A loveless attitude in part of church? (4)
APSE
A & love taken from P(o)SE – attitude
3 Juice oozed and maybe went to the ground (8)
STUMBLED
STUM – unfermented grape juice & BLED – oozed
10 Endless wine with party in Italian city stadium (9)
ASTRODOME
Endless wine AST(i) & DO for party in ROME
11 Nonsense about retiring player (5)
ACTOR
Reversed – retiring CA for about & ROT for nonsense
12 Flier restricted by weather once (5)
HERON
A hidden – restricted by weatHER ONce
13 Gloomy feeling, low, eats heart of loser (9)
MOODINESS
MOO for cows lowing & DINES – eats & the heart of (lo)S(er)
14 Girl is very good about drink – there’s a lot of water in it (11)
MISSISSIPPI
MISS for girl & IS & SIP for drink & PI crosswordese for very good from pious I think – being rather too good
18 Remissness from priest taken in by dodgy doctrine (11)
DERELICTION
ELI for priest inside a dodgy DOCTRINE*
21 Meet bridge opponents in front of bar (9)
ENCOUNTER
In bridge East and North are opponents & COUNTER for bar
23 Animal caught in rain, dripping (5)
INDRI
Hidden in raIN DRIpping – it’s a type of lemur
24 Tension, missing opening? It’s hairy (5)
TRESS
Start missing from (s)TRESS
25 What bowler needs joining cricket side – to be alert (2,3,4)
ON THE BALL
ON – the leg side in cricket & THE BALL is something the bowler needs
26 More unusual ordeal, most unfriendly in manner (8)
REMOTEST
MORE* unusually & TEST for ordeal
27 Confusion in words transmitted, short of time (4)
Down
1 Hate a man being nasty, much disliked person (8)
ANATHEMA
A nasty [HATE A MAN]*
2 Mock one rebel, having posed first (8)
SATIRISE
SAT for posed & 1 & RISE – to rebel
4 Mark the man who provides such reliable evidence? (3,6,5)
THE GOSPEL TRUTH
Cryptic def
5 Ambition rising, I’m turning up in American city (5)
MIAMI
AIM reversed & I’M reversed
6 Communication in character from landlord (6)
LETTER
Triple definition
7 Compulsion of the upper classes to appear in finery? (6)
DURESS
U for upper class inside DRESS for finery
8 County ramble going in direction of gale (8)
DOWNWIND
Irish county DOWN & WIND – to ramble
9 One with false tears I observed in place in parliament expressing condolences (14)
COMMISERATIONS
[1 & false TEARS* & I] all inside COMMONS for part of parliament
15 Disposed to be at home – a hundred and wrinkled (8)
INCLINED
IN – at home & C for hundred & LINED – wrinkled
16 What could baffle e.g. dim man? (4,4)
MIND GAME
A baffled [EG DIM MAN]*
17 Soldiers perhaps around hostile eastern islands (8)
ANTILLES
ILL for hostile & E(astern) all inside ANTS for soldiers perhaps
19 Explosive Conservative – Conservative almost becoming bully (6)
HECTOR
H(igh) E(xplosive) & C(onservative) & TOR(y)
20 Cry from cats finally getting best milk (6)
SCREAM
(cat)S finally & CREAM – best milk
22 Ahead, prepared for trouble (5)
UPSET
UP for ahead & SET for prepared
STUM was a new word for me.
27a MESS. ‘ Message’ minus ‘age’.
Thank you Everyman for an enjoyable puzzle and flashling for a helpful blog.
STUM was also new to me, apparently from the Dutch stom for ‘dumb’ (stumm in german?), I guess because the juice is not yet bubbling, I only knew the word ‘must’ for unfermented grape juice, moût here in France.
We were dog tired doing it, but it troubled us greatly. Stum was a challenge, but the top half was the hardest we’ve done since the new guy came in . Did it all though.
14a ; PI is not just crosswordese, it has its own entry in Chambers and I have heard it used, although it’s now very old-fashioned
I’m sorry don’t quite know what happened with the clue for mess. I’d written quite a lot but it seems to have gone walkies
I was surprised to see STUM in an Everyman, even if the answer was fairly obvious. Apart from that one clue all pretty straightforward, and all as enjoyable as ever.
I was hoping for more clarity on clue 4D
I viewed it as a “straight” clue and was worried that I was missing something clever along the way.
I have marked 12A as VG (very good) in the margin. Not very taxing but I like the neatness of a clue that reads well.
If anyone sees this can they perhaps help me understand 19D. HECTOR. I know the word as a man’s name but not the connotation of bully. I also don’t get the H(high) from the clue. Thanks a lot. Otherwise a fun puzzle.
Hi CalmTom. To hector someone is to harangue them loudly and persistently. HE stands for high explosive. I also thought it a little unfair not to give us a specific clue for the H.
Took a bit longer than usual but in time to go bowling. I remember stum coming up 2 or 3 weeks ago maybe not in everyman. This new compiler realy gets the mind working. Keep it up
I found this incredibly hard and thought the clues a bit obscure for me
Never heard of stum, pi, HE (thought that meant diplomat) or Eli as priest , indri ,Hector all new to me meaning it was no easy task
I obviously need to read more ..never had so many learnings in a puzzle
I liked 6d tho and 17d
Great crossword. Really enjoyed this. My favourites were moodiness and Mississippi.
I wasn’t sure if 27 ac was right but then I found that Flashling wasn’t either. Thanks Pinky for confirming it.
Stum was in the back of my mind somewhere, and I have heard of hector as a bully. But never heard of indri.
Bit like the All Blacks this morning. Started badly & struggled most of the way but got there in the end. Like Vanessa quite a few new terms for me meaning I couldn’t parse them all. Still fun
For the life of me I could not get the gospel truth. Only thing I could for in was the compel truth 🙁 Also didn’t get apse though I’d parsed the clue correctly just couldn’t think of a synonym for attitude that would fit.