The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/30096.
I suspect that the couple of quibbles that I have now will evaporate with a little more time to ponder – certainly, there are several definitions and wordplays that I saw at first as problematic, but which on a little reflection revealed themselves as perfectly valid. There are many excellent clues here, and with some time to reflect I think my admiration for the puzzle will only increase.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | PROFITS |
Professional adds up money (7)
|
| A charade of PRO (‘professional’) plus FITS (‘adds up’). | ||
| 5 | EXAMPLE |
Model paper plane’s not one (7)
|
| A charade of EXAM (‘paper’) plus ‘pl[an]e’ minus AN (‘[ha]s not one’). | ||
| 9 | POTPOURRI |
Pocket tip and mostly split collection (9)
|
| A charade of POT (‘pocket’ eg. snooker) plus POUR (‘tip’) plus RI[p] (‘split’) minus its last letter (‘mostly’). | ||
| 10 | TOTED |
Did carry tons having ends of feet on either side (5)
|
| An envelope (‘on either side’) of T (‘tons’) in TOED (‘having ends of feet’ – questionable grammar?). | ||
| 11 | SEED |
Descendants to get diamonds (4)
|
| A charade of SEE (‘get’ as understand) plus D (‘diamonds’). | ||
| 12 | BIG BROTHER |
Ubiquitous leader is great alongside fellow union member (3,7)
|
| A charade of BIG (‘great’) plus BROTHER (‘fellow union member’). The definition refers to George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. | ||
| 14 | BREECH |
Awkward delivery bowled here; front of crease is rough (6)
|
| A charade of B (‘bowled’) plus REECH, an anagram (‘is rough’) of ‘here’ plus C (‘front of Crease’). A breech birth is a baby leaving the womb bottom first, which may lead to complications. | ||
| 15 | RES8ERVE |
Soldiers wait on order (7)
|
| A charade of RE (Royal Engineers, ‘soldiers’) plus SERVE (‘wait on’). | ||
| 16 | CYPRESS |
Conservative leader of yesteryear to hug tree (7)
|
| A charade of C (‘Conservative’) plus Y (‘leader of Yesteryear’) plus PRESS (‘hug’). I like the surface. | ||
| 18 | HEIFER |
Perhaps one in stock here if wanting order (6)
|
| An anagram (‘wanting order’) of ‘here if’. | ||
| 20 | SUPERWOMAN |
She flies American back every week to country (10)
|
| A charade of SU, a reversal (‘back’) of US (‘American’) plus PER (‘every’) plus W (‘week’) plus OMAN (‘country’). | ||
| 21 | AIDS |
Bills squeezing current benefits (4)
|
| An envelope (‘squeezing’) of I (‘current’) in ADS (‘bills’). | ||
| 24 | OWLET |
Downed one water, drinking litre after round (5)
|
| A charade of O (’round’) plus WLET, an envelope (‘drinking’) of L (‘litre’) in WET (‘water’). Nicely devious. | ||
| 25 | TITLE ROLE |
Lead championship with Ronaldo’s header: that’s great for Real Madrid fans? (5,4)
|
| A charade of TITLE (‘championship’) plus R (‘Rinaldo’s header’) plus OLE (‘that’s great for Real Madrid fans?’). | ||
| 26 | STRIDER |
One steps over poo; shoe initially turned over (7)
|
| A reversal (‘turned over’) of RE (‘over’) plus DIRT (‘poo’) plus S (‘Shoe initially’). | ||
| 27 | OBSCENE |
Tramp without clothes, sight is disgusting (7)
|
| A charade of [h]OB[o] (‘tramp’) minus its outer letters (‘without clothes’) plus SCENE (‘sight’). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | PIPES |
Good, cheap cigarette papers, ultimately they’re for smoking tobacco (5)
|
| A charade of PI (‘good’) plus PES (‘cheaP cigarettE paperS ultimately’). | ||
| 2 | OUTWEAR |
Determined to put on exhaust (7)
|
| Difficult synonyms. A charade of OUT (‘determined’ – “he is out to do you harm”) plus WEAR (‘put on’). OUTWEAR can mean to last, wear longer, or to wear out, or exhaust (‘outwear ones patience”). | ||
| 3 | IRON |
Club batting, accepting run out (4)
|
| An envelope (‘accepting’) of RO (‘run out’) in IN (‘bstting’). | ||
| 4 | STRAIGHT SHOOTER |
True American siren chasing pure son (8,7)
|
| A charade of STRAIGHT (‘pure’) plus S (‘son’) plus HOOTER (‘siren’). | ||
| 5 | EDINBURGH TATTOO |
Forces show terrible drug being cut: heroin put into skin with needle (9, 6)
|
| A charade of EDINBURG, an anagram (‘terrible’) of ‘drug bein[g]’ minus the last letter (‘cut’); plus H (‘heroin’) plus TATTOO (verb, ‘put into skin with needle’). | ||
| 6 | AUTHORSHIP |
Writing this, hour wasted filling a puzzle at the beginning (10)
|
| An envelope (‘filling’) of UTHORSHI, an anagram (‘wasted’) of ‘this hour’ in ‘a’ plus P (‘Puzzle at the beginning’). Although clearly related, I cannot see how ‘writing’ and AUTHORSHIP can be equated; but I suspect that Tramp can show them to be closer than I can at present. | ||
| 7 | PITCHER |
One trying to flog something is a tosser (7)
|
| Double definition. For the second definition, I think that the player on a baseball mound might object to being called a ‘tosser’; and the first is ambiguous: it could be a drug dealer, or one who pitches (‘flog’s) an idea or proposal; or as antique slang, a street seller. | ||
| 8 | ENDORSE |
Back horse with tip for the first from Haydock (7)
|
| ‘horse’ with the H (‘first from Haydock’) replaced by END (‘tip’). | ||
| 13 | CEREBRATED |
Thought before entering bet, card getting dealt (10)
|
| An envelope (‘entering’) of ERE (‘before’) in CBRATED, an anagram (‘getting dealt’) of ‘bet card’. | ||
| 16 | CASTORS |
Vehicles over street with old wheels (7)
|
| An envelope (‘over’) of ST (‘street’) plus O (‘old’) in CARS (‘vehicles’). | ||
| 17 | POPULAR |
Common cold going round pub, endlessly (7)
|
| An envelope (‘going round’) of ‘pu[b]’ minus its last letter (‘endlessly’) in POLAR (‘cold’). | ||
| 19 | EPITOME |
Summary in short, great book (7)
|
| A charade of EPI[c] (‘great’) minus its last letter (‘in short’) plus TOME (‘book’). | ||
| 22 | SUEDE |
‘90s band did rock on the radio (5)
|
| Sounds like (‘on the radio’ – more closely than many) SWAYED (‘did rock’). | ||
| 23 | FEES |
Spot fine, put up charges (4)
|
| A reversal (‘put up’ in a down light) of SEE (‘spot’) plus F (‘fine’). |
I thought this was a great puzzle. Not easy, but many clever clues.
It took me an extra five minutes after finishing the grid to figure out the wordplay of TOTED. PeterO was not sure of the grammar, but I parsed it as toed = having toes, and toes are the ends of the feet, so toed=”having ends of feet”. A bit awkward maybe but otherwise fine.
As for 7d, I didn’t go the baseball route but simply equated pitch and toss, so PITCHER = tosser.
Tx.
Gave up, revealed most – too hard for me