1. Without failing, riotous raids take to the sky (10)
FLAWLESSLY
LAWLESS (riotous) raids FLY (take to the sky)
7. Potato destroyed, don’t spill the beans, mother! (4)
MASH
MA (mother) + SH (don’t spill the beans!)
9. Man, say, in solver erasing every other letter (4)
ISLE
I[n] S[o]L[v]E[r] (erasing every other letter)
10. Obvious, it’s said (10)
PRONOUNCED
11. Torpor first up, originally nursed (6)
STUPOR
[fir]ST UP OR[iginally] (nursed)
12. Irritable where intervention of second ref backfired, poor substitute (8)
TRAVESTY
TESTY (irritable) where intervention of (VAR)< (second ref, <backfired)
13. Particular birthday where fit hero has become wobbly, tummy initially held in (8)
FORTIETH
(FIT HERO)* (*has become wobbly), T[ummy] (initially) held in
15. Giant ostensibly gigantic, really enormous for starters (4)
OGRE
O[stensibly] G[igantic] R[eally] E[normous] (for starters)
17. Wheel speeds reversed (4)
SPIN
(NIPS (speeds))< (<reversed)
19. Free rent: seemingly embarrassed about that (8)
RELEASED
LEASE (rent), RED (seemingly embarrassed) about that
22. Push on drink for squash! (8)
SUPPRESS
PRESS (push) on SUP (drink)
23. Primate, VIP and famous, looking back (6)
GIBBON
(NOB (VIP) and BIG (famous))< (<looking back)
25. Boxing division attributed to a fight, not straightforward (10)
ROUNDABOUT
ROUND (boxing division) attributed to A + BOUT (fight)
26. Meat from lower back cut from buffalo, indigestible! (4)
LOIN
[buffa]LO IN[digestible] (cut from)
27. Hairy beast bald, it’s rumoured (4)
BEAR
“bare” = BEAR (bald, “it’s rumoured”)
28. Game endured, giving nothing away (5-5)
POKER-FACED
POKER (game) + FACED (endured)
2. Lose out, but for country (7)
LESOTHO
(LOSE)* (*out) + THO (but, though)
3. Dog lead on wrong, I need assistance! (5)
WHELP
W[rong] (lead on) + HELP (I need assistance!)
4. Old drink for commercial trader (8)
EXPORTER
EX (old) + PORTER (drink)
5. Fractious, able to cut long hair for punishment (5,5,5)
SHORT SHARP SHOCK
SHORT (fractious) + SHARP (able to cut) + SHOCK (long hair)
6. Land has supported you, humble servant (6)
YEOMAN
OMAN (land) has supported YE (you)
7. State where name is not false (9)
MINNESOTA
8. Boxing weight lower than others in the end, feel the heat (7)
SWELTER
WELTER (boxing weight) lower than [other]S (in the end)
14. Penne and roti put in a blender? Michelin-starred restaurant wouldn’t have it! (3,6)
TIN OPENER
(PENNE and ROTI)* (*put in a blender)
16. More petite, the girls dancing about (8)
SLIGHTER
(THE GIRLS)* (*dancing about)
18. Invited guest turning company of two into a crowd? (4-3)
PLUS-ONE
Double (cryptic) definition
Two plus one is three. Three’s a crowd
20. Moving this person up, one involved in rigging of vote (7)
EMOTIVE
(ME)< (this person, <up) + I (one) involved in (VOTE)* (*rigging of)
21. Prime Minister nailed up, quit! (6)
DECAMP
(PM (Prime Minister) + ACED (nailed))< (<up)
24. Tree, a piece of cake to climb (5)
BALSA
(A + SLAB (piece of cake))< (<to climb)
I enjoyed this. I hadn’t heard the expression PLUS-ONE, and wasn’t entirely convinced by faced/endured. No real favourites.
A Mudd puzzle with no smut and only one double definition!
Enjoyed this too; favourites were 5, 7, 12 and most of all, the witty 14. If 24 is anything to go by, afternoon tea is a generous affair chez Mudd!
Thanks to Mudd for the fun and Teacow.
Ah, I see there were two double definitions, after all. I hadn’t counted PLUS-ONE but Teacow is right.
Thrown by trying to make Yemen be the land in YEOMAN. Liked the surface of FORTIETH and the Michelin restaurant’s TIN OPENER, but my favourite was PLUS ONE.
Lovely puzzle – just right for a Monday.
Liked: RELEASED (FOI), GIBBON, ROUNDABOUT, WHELP, DECAMP
Thanks Mudd and Teacow
Geoff @1: it originated in wedding catering. If you invite a married couple, you invite them both by name. If you invite someone who might or might not be single, it’s polite to invite their unknown SO as well. So it goes on the invitation as “Geoff Down Under and Guest”, and goes in the catering list as “GDU +1.” Of course, the plus-one need not actually be the person’s SO–I’ve attended at least a couple weddings as the plus-one of friends who just didn’t want to go alone.
This did not seem very typical of Mudd, which I believe Diane@2 said too, albeit indirectly. In particular it seemed more wordy than usual. Anyway there was god variety and it was not too difficult once I made my way past all the words. MINNESOTA and PRONOUNCED were clever, also liked BALSA
I could not parse ROUNDABOUT (why is ROUND a boxing division?) and still do not understand why a SHORT SHARP SHOCK is a punishment. My dictionary did not help in either case.
Thanks Mudd and Teacow
Thanks Mudd and Teacow
25ac: Presumably this is round 23 “one of a number of periods constituting a boxing, wrestling, or other match, each usually lasting three minutes” (Collins 2023 p 1734).
5dn: Brewer 2018 p 1265 gives us “Short sharp shock A punitive regime intended to deter by the instant impact of its severity.” The phrase originally comes from Act I of The Mikado (1885: words by W.S. Gilbert, music by Arthur Sullivan).
Martyn@7: A boxing match is divided into rounds of typically 3 minutes each for professional men. You may be familiar with the expression “Seconds away, round one”. Hence a round is a “division” (semi-cryptically) of a match.
“Short sharp shock” was a phrase used by the conservative government in the 1980s to suggest that harsh penalties for youth crime would reduce offending, though it seems to date back to Mary I. It is also used in The Mikado but in reference to beheading so in a slightly different sense, but still alluding to punishment.
(I see I crossed with Pelham Barton)
Thanks Mudd and Teacow.
Thanks PB@8 and JOFT@9. I should have seen round – obvious now in hindsight. SSS is new to me and it is good to learn.
Thank you, mrpenny @6.
Martyn@7 and others, here’s the text from the Mikado:
To sit in solemn silence in a dull dark dock,
In a pestilential prison wit a life long lock,
Awaiting the sensation of a SHORT SHARP SHOCK,
From a cheap and chippy chopper on a big black block.
W.S. Gilbert at his best.