vinyl1

Across
7	Demolishing wings, smash large masonry (6)
	ASHLAR - hidden in [sm]ASH LAR[ge]
8	Think about a child (6)
	REASON - RE + A SON
9	Worker at first refuses drink (4)
	BEER - BEE + R[efuses]
10	As horse move quickly round one’s box (8)
	CANISTER - CAN(I'S)TER.
11	Material giving firm centre when poured (8)
	CONCRETE -
13	Long hold-up after the start (4)
	ITCH -
15	I make large statue to worship (4)
	IDOL -
16	Get crazier puzzle (8)
	BEWILDER -
18	Made a fuss after coat wrinkled (8)
	FURROWED -
20	Plan to put pound in kitty (4)
	PLOT -
21	Pay no attention to region on travels (6)
	IGNORE -
22	Parrots and one rook escaping from HGVs (6)
	LORIES -

Down
1	For exercise, rides to a distant rock (8)
	ASTEROID -
2	Some mistyping by the vicar? (8,5)
	CLERICAL ERROR -
3	Old group of people around back of small shrine (6)
	ORACLE -
4	Get a tan in old age (6)
	BRONZE -
5	Book chap’s meadow to leave car (9,4)
	MANSFIELD PARK -
6	European found at the end of the earth? (4)
	POLE -
12	Draw in cup game (3)
	TIE -
14	Romantic hero keen to hide American (8)
	CHEROKEE -
16	One taking over hat (6)
	BOWLER -
17	Become confused, following women’s swaying walk (6)
	WADDLE -
19	Press crumpled rug with energy (4)
	URGE -

Across
7	Demolishing wings, smash large masonry (6)
	ASHLAR -
8	Think about a child (6)
	REASON -
9	Worker at first refuses drink (4)
	BEER -
10	As horse move quickly round one’s box (8)
	CANISTER -
11	Material giving firm centre when poured (8)
	CONCRETE -
13	Long hold-up after the start (4)
	ITCH -
15	I make large statue to worship (4)
	IDOL -
16	Get crazier puzzle (8)
	BEWILDER -
18	Made a fuss after coat wrinkled (8)
	FURROWED -
20	Plan to put pound in kitty (4)
	PLOT -
21	Pay no attention to region on travels (6)
	IGNORE -
22	Parrots and one rook escaping from HGVs (6)
	LORIES -

Down
1	For exercise, rides to a distant rock (8)
	ASTEROID -
2	Some mistyping by the vicar? (8,5)
	CLERICAL ERROR -
3	Old group of people around back of small shrine (6)
	ORACLE -
4	Get a tan in old age (6)
	BRONZE -
5	Book chap’s meadow to leave car (9,4)
	MANSFIELD PARK -
6	European found at the end of the earth? (4)
	POLE -
12	Draw in cup game (3)
	TIE -
14	Romantic hero keen to hide American (8)
	CHEROKEE -
16	One taking over hat (6)
	BOWLER -
17	Become confused, following women’s swaying walk (6)
	WADDLE -
19	Press crumpled rug with energy (4)
	URGE -

Time: 29 minutes Music: Beethoven Violin Concerto, Karajan/Ferras/BS I started out quickly enough, but soon came to a rather sudden and complete halt.   The smooth clues made it difficult to separate  the cryptic from the literal, which made biffing rather difficult.   Retrospectively, I had the wrong end of the stick with most of the clues I looked at, but fortunately I held myself back from pencilling in wild guesses.   Then, after about 20 minutes, the answers came in a flood, for no reason that I could see, as one thing led to another.   So my actual solve was concentrated in the first three and the last nine minutes, with little in between. I will be curious to see how everyone else did on this one. The recent changes in the Crossword Club have given a few of our bloggers difficulty, and it's possible that in the next few weeks our regular readers mght see a new avatar or two, or possible an old familiar blogger in a new slot.   Only Helen Ougham, one of the five Jumbo bloggers, has definitely resigned at this moment, but it is possible that there will be other changes.   I would like to thank Helen for her efforts in the Jumbo, a set of blogs where the bloggers certainly get little enough encouragement from the readership. Across
1	Report having ingested hard drug mixture (5)
	BHANG - B(H)ANG
4	Limit of French liquor consumed (9)
	DEMARCATE - DE + MARC + ATE
9	She could provide us with a minder (9)
	NURSEMAID - Anagram of US + A MINDER, an reverse-cryptic &lit clue.
10	Intro's fifth note stopping concert (5)
	PROEM - PRO(E)M, a word found only in 18th-century poetry, apparently.
11	Do celebrities like Bauhaus? (13)
	FUNCTIONALIST - FUNCTION + A-LIST.
14	About to join firm's plant in South America (4)
	COCA - CO + CA, which is Chartered Accountant in the UK, as opposed to CPA in the US.
15	Record concerning Good Queen Bess and Walter Raleigh? (10)
	DISCOVERER - DISC + OVER + ER.
18	Accepting nothing, raised objections about US prison (4-6)
	OPEN-MINDED - O (PEN) MINDED, where the literal is just 'accepting'.
19	Abroad, we'll show good sense (4)
	NOUS - Double definition, the French pronoun and the Greek noun.
21	Person on the right team helping review (13)
	CONSIDERATION -  CON + SIDE + RATION.
24	Work one's way up in heart of Special Branch (5)
	CLIMB - [Spe]C[ial] + LIMB.
25	A page turned in a Hindu's curious sacred text (9)
	UPANISHAD - AP backwards inside an anagram of A HINDU'S, where the clue gives a rather strong hint of what the answer is.
27	Failing to pen line, journalist headed off (9)
	DEFLECTED - DEF(L)ECT + ED.
28	One fired nastily, gutted to get sacking (5)
	GUNNY - GUN + N[astil]Y.

Down
1	Supporter's gripe about new player (10)
	BENEFACTOR - BE(N)EF + ACTOR.
2	Song from East End musical? (3)
	AIR - [h]AIR, presumably long, beautiful 'Air.
3	Hospital's within reach for deprived area (6)
	GHETTO - G(H)ET TO.
4	Lacking mercy in a Conrad novel (9)
	DRACONIAN - Anagram of IN A CONRAD, no literary knowledge required, this is not the TLS puzzle!
5	Princess charmed, eagerly doing some stripping (5)
	MEDEA - hidden in [char]MED EA[gerly].   The play by Euripedes was the first Greek drama we attempted, after a semester of declensions and conjugations.
6	Vendor, always upset, accepting current suspension (8)
	REPRIEVE - REP + EVE(I)R upside-down.
7	A stern Head of Inspectorate using evidence (1,10)
	A POSTERIORI - A + POSTERIOR + I[nspectorate], my FOI.
8	Unfinished novel, Hemingway's last, gets award (4)
	EMMY - EMM[a] + [Hemingwa]Y, where a novel is almost always either 'She' or 'Emma'.
12	Roaming free in check garment (11)
	NECKERCHIEF - anagram of FREE IN CHECK.
13	Begrudge Democrat cutting revenue for now? (7-3)
	PRESENT-DAY - P(RESENT D)AY.
16	Heading for Chicago on plane, as well as US port (9)
	CLEVELAND - C[hicago] + LEVEL + AND, home of the white belt and shoes.   I nearly biffed 'westbound', but couldn't justify it.
17	Willing troops accompanying sailor in the drink (8)
	AMENABLE - A(MEN + AB)LE.
20	Having bottle, sweetheart puts away litres (6)
	DARING - DAR[l]ING.   'Puts away' often means 'includes', but here it means 'doesn't include'!
22	Northerner maybe employed by computer firm round university (5)
	INUIT - IN(U)IT.   If you are employed by a computer firm, you are not necessarily 'in IT', as you might be the janitor or the CEO.
23	Sharp accountant going over papers (4)
	ACID - AC + ID, the Chartered Accountant is now backwards.
26	Scot's pet after losing weight (3)
	HEN - [w]HEN, where is is a word meaning 'after' that loses the 'w'.   I didn't understand the literal, but it turns out that 'hen' is a Scots slang term for something like 'dearie', or 'sweetie'.

Across
1	Artist performing without one is communicating via waves (8)
	RADIOING - R.A.D(I)OING
5	Aware of having to follow voting system forthwith (6)
	PRONTO -
10	Quartet depart endless hosts to finally play for one (5,10)
	SPLIT INFINITIVE -
11	Tatty article you left on sink (4-2-4)
	DOWN-AT-HEEL -
13	Burning bible with papers (4)
	AVID -
15	Rather like petrol alternative? One could give it a whirl! (7)
	DERVISH -
17	Re offer, fabulous? (3,4)
	FOR FREE -
18	Film director to take stock of soundtrack? (7)
	RUSSELL -
19	Happier having smallest coins in a line (7)
	TIPSIER -
21	Joshua’s father’s sisters (4)
	NUNS -
22	Match in Kew moved here? (10)
	TWICKENHAM -
25	Have bags of authority? (4,3,8)
	WEAR THE TROUSERS -
27	Disc behind something attached to vehicle (1-5)
	L-PLATE -
28	Smoother variety of PE shorts (3-5)
	HOT-PRESS -

Down
1	Part evidently owing was settled (7)
	RESIDED -
2	Pulse of boy rising (3)
	DAL -
3	Excluded boy I transport very upset (10)
	OSTRACISED -
4	Streak of lightning over part of golf course (5)
	NINTH -
6	Bust of Caesar finally placed on support (4)
	RAID -
7	PIN to disappear without right digital application (4,7)
	NAIL VARNISH -
8	Outstanding bit of cricket shortened contest (7)
	OVERDUE -
9	Uncertain if I voted for this concoction of features (8)
	VIDEOFIT -
12	Drawing grains in brickwork, showing every imperfection (5,3,3)
	WARTS AND ALL -
14	Jolly English judge participating in mass event (6,4)
	TRIPLE JUMP -
16	Utterly unconvincing in speech days before Easter (4,4)
	HOLY WEEK -
18	Frenchman with directive put up extension (7)
	RENEWAL -
20	Pharaoh, from memory, repeated verse periodically (7)
	RAMESES -
23	Blackguard over the moon finding collector’s item (5)
	CURIO -
24	Figure American’s left standing (4)
	STAT -
26	Present that’s not been opened before (3)
	EE -

Solving time: 45 mins


A frustrating one, because I was nearly done after 18 minutes, but I am very slow to get the last bits sometimes. There were a few tough clues in this otherwise simple Monday puzzle. It took me a while to see 'NIGELLA', 'LINCTUS", and 'DROGHEDA'


Some of the clues were almost too easy, such as the two long ones and BOSWELL at 7 down. With all the checking letters, good solvers should have been able to get the hard ones pretty quickly...unlike me.

Across
10	MANCHURIA (CHINA + AMUR)* An anagram can't be hard if the anagram words are also the definition!
12	NIGELLA rev of ALLEGIN(G) Evidently, the two men in 17 down were enough for one puzzle.
14	SOLTI, SOL + TI, which isn't quite the thing if you pronounce the maestro's name correctly.
18	DROGHEDA, (DOG HEARD)*, not that hard if you've heard of Drogheda. My problem was stupidly not recognizing the anagram indicator.
20	OMBRE, (H)OMBRE. Easy if you know 18-century card games, this was the one in Pope's Rape of the Lock.
23	LINCTUS, sounds like LINKED US. My last in, but I have trouble with 'sounds like' clues.
25	ROE DEER, Spoonerism of DOE REER, which sounds like DOUGH REAR. A bit laboured.
27	ALL THE WAY, Sinatra song. Those without this sort of knowledge can guess readily enough.
Down
2	SENEGAL, LA GENES upside down.
3	SCHILLING, S(TRAUSS) + CHILLING, nicely disguised with a musical theme.
7	LAP UP, PAL (rev) + UP. This is quite hard if you think you're looking for a 5-letter word, but easy once you read the clue again. Why they didn't use a California dog, I cannot say.
9	EGRESS. I put this in as obvious, not bothering with the cryptic, but I don't quite see it, unless it's E.G. + RE + S.S. But it is obvious!
16	STONECHAT, STONE + CHAT, an old favorite beginners may need to take note of. The bird that pot smokers discuss.
17	BETRAYED, BET + RAY + ED, the same two fellows who have been appearing in puzzles for years, along with their buddies Ron and Don.
21	BOER WAR, BO(X)ER + RAW reversed. Another common sort of clue.