There were lots of very entertaining clues here.
Impressively, every answer and most clues pertained to the theme, which might be termed consumables – food, drink and to a lesser extent drugs. I liked 24D for the clever use of Cambridge University and 1D was also quite a neat use of the pop group. It was also nice to see something quite modern like a videogame developer in 4D.
| ACROSS | ||
| 9 | ANISE |
Flavourful herb from Japan is emetic (5)
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Hidden in "Japan is emetic" |
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| 10 | CHAMOMILE |
Sort of brew having mocha shaken at length (9)
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Mocha* + mile(=length). Chamomile is a variant spelling of camomile. |
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| 11 | SHALLOT |
Bulb will go out at last (7)
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Shall(=will) + last letters of "go out" |
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| 12 | ABALONE |
Area with endless rubbish shellfish (7)
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A{rea} + balone[y](=rubbish) |
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| 13 | CHOCOLATE |
Sweet gossip about flipping crazy drug (9)
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(Chat(=gossip) around loco<(=flipping crazy)) + E{cstasy}(=drug) |
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| 15 | OFFAL |
Mercian king with large heart? (5)
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Offa(=king of Mercia, responsible for Offa's dike) + l{arge}. Heart would be an example of offal, so the question mark is required. |
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| 17 | MEAT AND POTATOES |
Basics of tapas: do not eat ’em messily (4,3,8)
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(Tapas do not eat em)* |
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| 20 | BHANG |
Preparation of hemp source for burlap drape (5)
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B[urlap] + hang(=drape) |
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| 21 | PINTO BEAN |
Piano playing on beat in pulse (5,4)
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P{iano}(=musical abbrev) + (on beat in)* |
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| 23 | RUM BABA |
One spirited dance employing belly muscle (3,4)
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Rumba(=dance) around ab{ductor}(=belly muscle). A rum baba is a cake soaked in alcohol, so could be said to be "spirited". |
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| 25 | TROTTER |
Adder biting Rex’s foot (7)
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Totter(=adder in the sense of someone adding or totting up) around R{ex}(abbrev used when referring to kings) |
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| 27 | GINGER ALE |
American soldier and general organised mixer (6,3)
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GI(=General Infantryman, an American term for a soldier) + general* |
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| 28 | FANTA |
Fizzy drink‘s cool, cheers! (5)
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Fan(=cool, as in to fan yourself) + ta(=cheers i.e. thanks) |
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| DOWN | ||
| 1 | CAPSICUM |
Top remix of music group covering Red Hot Chili Peppers (8)
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Cap(=top) + music* |
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| 2 | PINA COLADA |
Detective, sloshed and nursing a cola cocktail (4,6)
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PI(=private investigator) + (and* around (a cola)) |
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| 3 | VEAL |
Sides of vinaigrette and animal meat (4)
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V[inaigrett]e + a[nima]l |
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| 4 | ICE TEA |
Refresher course finally penned by ICT and videogame developer (3,3)
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([Cours]e in ICT) + EA. EA is an abbrev of Electronic Arts, a video game developer responsible for titles such as The Sims. |
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| 5 | JALAPENO |
Sent north into Nepal, a jobber carries source of spice (8)
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Hidden, reversed in "into nepal a jobber" |
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| 6 | ROMA TOMATO |
Finishing touches for bitter amaretto from morsel at centre of stone fruit (4,6)
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[Bitte]r [amarett]o [fro]m + atom(=morsel, used colloquially) + at + [st]o[ne] |
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| 7 | MISO |
Miffed if supposed onyx principally paste (4)
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M[iffed] i[f] s[upposed] o[nyx] |
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| 8 | CEREAL |
Breakfast show having multiple episodes broadcast (6)
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Hom of serial |
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| 14 | ORANGEADES |
Drunk and so eager for soft drinks (10)
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(And so eager)* |
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| 16 | FLORENTINE |
Behold! Split cracks thin biscuit! (10)
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(Lo(=behold) + rent(=split)) in fine(=thin) |
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| 18 | DOPIAZAS |
Cook pizzas, half-heartedly throwing in essential ingredient of Bangladeshi curries (8)
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Do(=cook) + (pi[z]zas* around [Bangl]a[deshi]) |
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| 19 | SANGRIAS |
Betrayed resistance leaders in interrogation after several punches (8)
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Sang(=betrayed) + r{esistance}(=abbrev used in science) + i[nterrogation] a[fter] s[everal] |
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| 20 | BORAGE |
Leaves right on time after bop cut short (6)
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(R{ight} + age(=time)) after bo[p] |
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| 22 | NUTMEG |
Set up a French trademark for one footballer’s trick (6)
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Un<(=French for "a") + tm(=abbrev of trademark) + e.g.(=for one) |
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| 24 | MINT |
Newton admitted to Cambridge University with zero marks? (4)
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N{ewton}(=abbrev from physics where it is the unit of force) in MIT. MIT, along with Harvard, is located in Cambridge in Massachusetts. |
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| 26 | ORFE |
Swimmer given gold with firsts in freestyle events (4)
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Or(=old or heraldic term for gold) + f[reestyle] e[vents] |
Loved everything about this puzzle. Thanks Bluejacket and also NealH for the write-up.
Quite an achievement to get all defs and nearly every surface part of the theme making this a very enjoyable solve. Not too tricky and some v. nice constructions, particularly JALAPENO, FLORENTINE, SANGRIAS, CHOCOLATE, OFFAL, and TROTTER. Thank you Bluejacket and NealH for the blog.