Across
A table constructed to hold fourth case (8)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
An insertion of IV in (A TABLE)* The insertion indicator is ‘to hold’ and the anagrind is ‘constructed’. I hesitated briefly over IV for ‘fourth’, but of course it’s kings and queens, as in George IV. ABLATIVE is a grammatical ‘case’: it doesn’t exist in modern English and if you’ve heard of it at all it’s most likely through Latin at school, where it was traditionally the sixth case, expressing ‘by’, ‘from’ or ‘with’. It does exist in some modern languages, including Turkish, Finnish and Hungarian. That’s enough grammar for this morning, I think.
Goodness close to Lenin's heart for left-winger (6)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
A charade of COR, BY and N for the central letter of ‘Lenin’. Jeremy, the MP for Islington North. He won’t be the Labour candidate in this October’s election but is said to be standing as an Independent.
Time wasted securing building material short by one tile (9)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
An insertion of BRIC[K] and A for ‘one’ in (TIME)* The insertion indicator is ‘securing’ and the anagrind is ‘wasted’.
Church on marshland boundary (5)
Make an effort to accommodate old right-winger (4)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
An insertion of O in TRY. The insertion indicator is ‘to accommodate’.
Loyalty for one entering partnership (10)
Beauty parlour with built-in love lounge (6)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
An insertion of O in SALON. The insertion indicator is ‘with built-in’.
Pluralistic papers about poetry (7)
Foreign saint sounded English (7)
Amateur caught by a secret service plant (6)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
A charade of A, C, A and CIA.
Platform with exotic hyacinths last three plucked for floral decoration (10)
I headed back to arrive at food store (4)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
A reversal of I LED.
Portion of film about British maverick (5)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
An insertion of B in REEL. The insertion indicator is ‘about’.
Economist who creates barriers? (9)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
Clever wordplay. In the same way that a WORDSMITH would create words, a DAMSMITH might whimsically create dams, or barriers. The Scottish philosopher and economist best known for The Wealth of Nations .
Drum musician in club with brief set (6)
Evening wear about to be carried separately by relatives' subordinates (8)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
DJ for disc jockey, now DJ for dinner jacket. An insertion of that, and C for circa or ‘about’, separately, in AUNTS. The insertion indicator is ‘to be carried’
Down
Police in corrupt state giving conclusive trial (8)
Free braille translation (7)
End of story read out (4)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
Aural wordplay (‘read out’) of TALE.
Potentially successful sailor breaking rank (6)
Drinks emporium formerly infested with very loud insects (10)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
An insertion of FF for the musically ‘very loud’ and LICE in ONCE. The insertion indicator is ‘infested with’
Crazy to proscribe Scottish Labour leader (7)
New European editor repeatedly called for (6)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
A charade of N, E, ED and another ED.
Bible book in which Gabriel featured prominently (7)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
A dd. The second element is referring not the the Angel Gabriel, but to Peter Gabriel, the lead singer of the rock band GENESIS.
Balti curry transported over for independent charitable organisation (10)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
Lark is inviting you to substitute and O for an I in (BALTI CURRY)* The anagrind is ‘transported’.
Boffin's formula for e? (7)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
E is at the head of ‘egg’, innit? The ‘boffin’ (I hate that word) would be a mathematician, since e is a mathematical constant.
Vegetables are cut up to be put on plates (8)
The man wearing fancy belt and digital shield (7)
Complaint from 12 who ran with 2 inveighing against 5 leadership (7)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
The ‘Tory who ran’ is [Sebastian] COE; the solution to 2dn, ‘Liberal’, gives you L; and IAC comes from the initial letters of ‘inveighing’, ‘against’ and ‘Corbyn’, which is the solution to 5ac. All a bit convoluted, you might say. I might say that the clue doesn’t work, since you can’t equate COELIAC with ‘complaint’. Coeliac Disease is the illness. You can describe someone as a coeliac. But the complaint isn’t called coeliac. I have two children who are coeliacs, so am more than averagely qualified to make a judgement on usage here.
Beloved party embraced by American lefty (6)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
An insertion of DO in A RED. The insertion indicator is ’embraced by’.
Magic practitioner has wife turned into large reptile (6)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
We need to change the W in WIZARD to L to give us the reptile.
Hairy fellow's reportedly the guy spotted in the East End (4)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
Aural wordplay (‘reportedly’) of ‘E SAW, which is how Cockneys pronounce HE SAW. The accent is no longer predominant in the East End of London these days, but it’s still a common crossword device, and why not. Here’s the relevant bit of the Old Testament. It’s from 9dn, if you didn’t know:
Type letters or click words in the clue