To be honest, there were a few very clever clues. 1D, which I did not get, but really wish I had. It showed a completely new way to view a clue. So much going on with just two words! Other clues could be worked and left me with new words I'd never known before which is always a pleasure. I know I've complained about that before but really, no one should begrudge learning something new. That said, I had to do a lot of googling to get answers, and often guessed from info online instead of parsing the clues.
I do like the puzzle's design, too and can see this in colours as a blanket.
Now; my daughter is having her wisdom teeth out today and I'll be the beck-and-call nurse from today. I'll hammer through these quick. A few I may just say DNG - Did Not Get and move on.
8,9A - Strong, see? Opens out without any reaction (4,2,8)
I got most of this with cross letters and even then I got the 8A wrong. I put in SHOW NO RESPONSE. but we needed GETS NO RESPONSE.
10A - Pay attention! When 2200 hours comes round, start dancing! (6)
I have doodles on how I tried to get this - so close! I knew 2200 meant TEN for 10:00 but I found the parsing too difficult. ATTENDS is the answer and I can see how "start dancing" gives us D, but not how we get AT from "Pay attention" I mean how am I to know to take the AT from "attention"?
11A - May gala's organised for Madagascar now (8)
I figured "organised" for an anagrind and "May gala's" had enough letters. I put in through an anagram solver and got MALAGASY which I had to google to discover it meant someone native to Madagascar.
12A - Ron tip me off it's arsenic trisulphide (8)
"Ron tip me off" sounded a clunky sentence so I tried "off" as an anagrind and "Ron tip me" as the fodder run through an anagram program to get ORPIMENT, which I had to google "arsenic trisulphite" to match with.
14A - Pass the last rider in PNG coastal town (6)
"Pass the last" is our definition. "The last rider" where a rider here means an additional note on a document starting with PS, which is to be inside a "PNG coastal town" The answer becomes ELAPSE and, well there's isn't a PNG town called Elae, just LAE. I don't know where the first E in the answer comes from. Oh! I see. The definition is just "Pass" and "the last" means use the final E from "the". Right, got it.
16, 21A - Distant inaccessible place in Australia D (4,2,6)
I didn't understand, and the lonely D made no sense. Answer is BACK OF BEYOND.
17A - Hungarian wine? Last claret satisfactory? (5)
I had a cross letter to help with this. "Last claret" means take the final T from claret and "satisfactory" means OKAY put together for TOKAY, a Hungarian wine grape.
18A - The last block cheese (4)
I had no idea, really and had pencilled in BRIE, because there's not many four letter cheeses and I chose the wrong one. I had thought 18D began with a B and it sorta worked but not really at all. EDAM was our cheese.
19A - Australian fellow crossing have the means to pay? (6)
Again I'm not sure how we get this. "have means to pay" is the definition and AFFORD the definition. I guess we take the A from "Australian" and the F from "fellow" and crossing means FORD but was never confident enough to just take letters.
23A - Same cold treatment for threatened old Greek character (8)
Quickly spied "treatment" as a possible anagrind with convenient eight letters in front, which mixed up nicely to give DAMOCLES, the "threatened Greek character"
26A - Thai disturbed about sex appeal in Holiday Island (6)
"Thai disturbed" mens mix up THAI "about" a two letter word for "sex appeal" or IT to get THAHITI, the "holiday island"
27A - Gene Morton maltreated in part of Tito's old domain (10)
"Gene Morton maltreated" Well poor Gene! No don't google him, he's a red herring, he's nothing but fodder for the anagrind "maltreated" so beat up Gene Morton a bit more to get MONTENEGRO. But what does "Tito's old domain" mean? I don't really know. I checked and got a few links to train travel holidays.
28A - Low bar? That's debatable! (4)
I had no confidence or cross letters to help me here. While checking for synonyms of "debatable" MOOT was there, and I left it out. Coward.
1D - Wife bet? (6,4)
This is a clever clue! I like this. I didn't get it myself, but yes it's great! BETTER HALF, where the word "better" is halved in the clue.
2D - Writing star sir? Kate's problem (8)
Definition is "Writing star" and I was searching for a person. A Sir someone. Ignoring the word "problem" which was silly as it's an anagrind. The question mark distracted me from the fodder "sir kate's" which when mixed gives us ASTERISK, the literal writing star. (I call them splats)
3D - A little poisoned; gets nervous (2,4)
I had to think "When I'm nervous I'm on edge." before the bloody words "poisONED GEts" popped out before my eyes. Still learning container signposts.
4D - Lily showing Australian spirit (4)
I had cross letters and google to help me get ARUM. "Australia" = A and "spirit" = RUM.
5D - Rider to change my last ancient stringed instrument (8)
We learned earlier that "rider" = PS and "to change" = ALTER and "mY last" = Y for PSALTERY. No I'd never heard of one before, thank google for double checking.
6D - Bjorn is arranging opening for Cesare and Lucrezia (6)
Again I had to google "Cesare and Lucrezia" to get our answer to fit the cross letters for BORGIA. Now in solving, I'd have struggled because "Bjorn" being arranged does not have the G and "Arranging opening" would give the A. If I'd not googled, and not known the historical couple, I'd have been stuffed.
7D - Snakes make head prefect fool around (4)
DNG, answer is ASPS. I can't parse this. I knew "snakes" was definition and had to be BOAS or ASPS. Not many three word snakes.
13D - Putting money into Kyoto? Some major Asian capital? (5)
"Asian Capital" is our definition. "Putting money into Kyoto" where we see the letter K as the marker for money - if I say I bought a car and it cost $20K you know that means thousand as in kilo = 1000. We need to put that K "into" Kyoto to get TOKYO.
15D - Stillness in land for strictly male groups only? (10)
Definition is "stillness" and we want a land for men only? STAG NATION.
17D - Woodbridge fish while walking unsteadily (8)
DNG. I messed about with various words for "walking unsteadily" that began with a W from "Woodbridge" but got nothing. I tried to insert various fish to get a synonym but got nothing. How is this answer TODDLING?
18D - Redness of the skin there may be change (8)
Definition is "Redness of the skin" and I tried many ways to work in Blushing as the answer (with Brie at the top across) Nope. Not working. I wasn't convinced "change" was an anagrind because the word "be" was there. If we mix up "there may" we get ERYTHEMA. I was thrown by a be.
20D - Ducks left in Portuguese city (6)
We've seen earlier that "duck" = O (I have no idea why) so we can guess "Ducks" plural = OO I don't know why "left" is there as we don't want the "L" nor are we reading anything towards the left. answer is OPORTO, a Portuguese city,
22D - Thomas Bachelor previously showing insincere poignancy (6)
I got this with a bit of google and thesaurus. I had cross letters and had put in PATHOS but I was certain the "previously showing" was telling me the answer needed the B from "Bachelor" so I eventually found BATHOS. So we need the "THomas BAchelor" but I'm not sure how "showing" may lead to OS.
24D - Leave Georgia, returning eagerly expectant (4)
"Leave" = GO and "Georgia" = GA the abbreviation for the US state. "Returning" means read them backwards for AGOG.
25D - Starchy cereal makes duck fall over (4)
We can see the "duck" right off now, right? It's our second duck clue. Definition is "starchy cereal" but without the cross letters, and having seen similar clues I'd not get this. I know we have an O but I don't know "makes duck fall over" means SAGO. I'm not sure if this is a manipulation clue? Where we're supposed to shift letters along to get a different word. GOSA? OSAG? AGOS? I don't know.
Anyway, that was Tuesday. Sorry I didn't publish yesterday. I've not even seen Wednesday's puzzle. I'm just going to hang out with my puffy-faced girl, make her soup and we're watching series 1&2 of Life On Mars (UK) which will be fantastic.
Have a great day!
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