23917

Solving time: over an hour and a half in a few sittings

Sorry for the lateness of this post – I have had a really hectic day (unexpectedly) and tried to do this in a few sittings but couldn’t ever really get on the right wavelength.

There were a few guesses – but I feel pleased that I managed to get it all in the end. I have just checked some of the comments below to check I was right.

Across

1	JE(AN)S[t] – one of the last to go in – no idea why it took so long.
4	PA,VILION=(anag of VIOLIN)
8	C(1,DER,WIT)HROSIE – ‘the German’=DER – I managed to get this fairly early on with a few checking letters – sussed the wordplay out later.
10	IN DEC,O,RUM
12	TEA,PO,Y – this was a guess and I didn’t feel very confident about it!
17	E(MB)ATTLE – Clement ATTLEE with the E moved to the front.
20	OR,RIS[e] – I don’t think I know this, although I feel I should.
22	MAR,DIG(RA)S – this also took a while and shouldn’t have – I don’t know that many carnivals.
25	A(SSEM)BLY – SSEM=MESS reversed
26	SHE,A,F – I am good at Novel=SHE now – it took me a few crosswords to get into it!

Down

1	JACK-IN-THE-BOX – I think this was the first one I got, expecting it to help me with some of the across clues – but it didn’t really!
2	[p]ADDED
3	ST(RUCK)OUT
4	VE(HE-MEN)T
7	OR(1,GIN)ATE
13	AMBER,GRIS=(anag or RIGS) – I’ve seen this before but it took me some time to find it.
16	PLUMB BOB – sounds like ‘plum’ – Bob The Builder.
19	TRILBY – guessed that was the hat that Sinatra wore – had no idea about the singer – see comments below…
21	SOM(M)E
23	R(A)ISE