25883 One to bring out the latent Grundy in all of us

Undoubtedly there will be be letters, and not only the 161 in the grid. Our puzzle contains some genuine obscurities, one in Sanskrit for goodness sake, which you either know or you don’t. There’s a dodgy word from the arcane world of surgery, another from Mongolian (though you should know that one), one of those pretentious, made up words from Victorian literature, a bit of Yiddish, and a bird that spells its name differently from the way I managed, which accounts for my one error in the course of a 25.55 solve. Purists, crossword Grundies, might well object.
But, oh! best beloved! All this can be forgiven, for this is a work of genius. Hidden in this grid, sometimes in plain sight and sometimes with more cunning, are all seven days in the life of Solomon Grundy, a sort of NINA plus, which with a bit of tweaking would indeed brighten up the Listener to which it coyly refers. I think deserving of a round of applause, as when a magician pulls off his best trick.
I’ve placed a key to finding all seven at the bottom of this entry, so that if you haven’t spotted them all, you can still have a go. No peeking!
These are the (more or less) conventional workings. Sections in French have not necessarily been approved by L’Académie.

Across

1 BOULES  Game
The French version of Frances Drakes’s game, neatly heterodyned on the clue. “Where the” in French can be OU LES, which gets tagged on to B(ritish)
5 MULBERRY  Deep Purple
A more unlikely group to cover a lullaby it would be hard to imagine. Read as a clue, MERRY (happy) enfolds the letters of lUlLaBy with the odd ones missing.
9 CHRISTENED Given title
An anagram (broadcast) of CREDITS and (t)HEN without its first letter
10 DIED passed on
Stamp gives DIE, and the primary letter of D(uty) gives the rest.
11 EDACIOUS  Facetiously, greedy
One of those words made up from a basic knowledge of Latin by Victorian writers trying to impress with their erudacity. The ubiquitous journo ED is followed by promises to pay, or IOUS, when they have been preceded by AC(count).
12 BURIED Long-forgotten
Hollies (not the popular beat combo) might be described by a desperate poet as “berried” which gives us the soundalike du jour. This was the clue that made me think something Grundy-related was going on when I was reviewing ineffectually for typos.
13 UP TO Busy with
No police this time. Busy with as in “up to no good”.U(niversity plus P(lease) T(urn) O(ver)
15 EARRINGS
I think just a cryptic definition, and to be honest not the finest. But I think it may be here to alert us that there is a hidden theme going on, as in Leonard Bernstein’s favourite diversion, the Listener Crossword now in the Saturday Times. The Listener was, at one time, the only reason I subscribed to the Club, because you got it on Friday at 4.
18 BACHELOR  Man United? No!
So you’re looking for an unmarried male. The German scorer is the immortal Johann Sebastian (or possibly PDQ), who, as Douglas Adams affirms, wrote far more music than any one man could in a lifetime. Part to play, or ROLE, is reversed and attached.
19 CASH  bread
Being one of the slang terms for money. Cash sounds like CACHE, or hoard. Un autre soundalike du jour.
21 XANADU  Ideal place
From “Kubla Khan, or A Vision in a Dream. A Fragment”, a poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Stately pleasure domes, rivers called Alph, all that stuff. Times gives X, article gives A, Posh gives U Fancy fellow gives DAN: Fancy  Dan, according to Chambers, is “a stylish rather than effective performer”. Those last two bits are reversed as instructed
23 ANCESTRY Line
Place TRY for essay after (d)ANCES (I think) for uninitiated plays.
25 MALL Where shops are.
Not in my country they’re not. Ici on a encore un autre soundalike du jour. Allegedly, it sounds like maul for Hammer.
26 OVERTHROWN done away with
Finished provides OVER, and merde! Encore un soundalike du jour! This time, THROWN sounds like throne, seat. So it does.
27 CATS’ EYES Middle of the road guides.
Or, come to that, things that allow a queen, or cat, to see. The road versions are the invention of the remarkable Percy Shaw, whose cast iron, rubber and glass bead constructions saved many a life. Now sadly mostly replaced with plastic variations.
28 ASSAYS  tests
Start with the reverse of the equivalence in 23: tries becomes ESSAYS. now make the first letter not E(uropean) but A(nswer). Voila!

Down

2 OOHED expressed pain
An odd word but necessary to the setter’s purpose. Man is HE, place him in (w)OOD for forest without W(ife)
3 LOINCLOTH  basic cover
Reluctant is LOTH, which (accepts” O(ld) and INCL(usive). Chambers confirms the abbreviation.
4 SHTOOK  trouble
The Yiddish origin is disputed, but not by me. SHOOK for disturbed, about T(eething). Have I mentioned how superbly smooth these clues are?
5 MANX SHEARWATERS  Birds
I believe I spelt this wrong last time, but this time I have no excuse. Count the A’s in the anagram fodder M(illions X (cross) WESTERN SAHARA.
6 LADYBIRD  It is spotted
In the classic version, black on red. BY D(uke) ie “about” within LAIRD for landowner.
7 EIDER  Source of down
Separate carefully. Our word is hidden in cluE I DERived.
8 RE-EMERGES  Again comes out
To realise union might give SEE MERGER. Swap the ends as you are told.
14 PRANAYAMA  Controlled brathing
A practice in Yoga derived from the Sanskrit for “breath of life”. An anagram of MANY A PARA, but I think a “no fair!” is called for. If you don’t know the word, there is no way of being sure what order those letters go in.
16 INCISURES  Cuts
A word primarily used by surgeons to make their patients feel safer: obvious derivation, and here C(ompound) I(nterest) with INSURES for “guarantees” getting round.
17 ILLUSORY  False
Account with no introduction is (b)ILL. Revision of YOURS gives the rest. 
20 SCOTIA  Moulding
You have to work hard with the wordplay, especially if the word itself is unfamiliar. S(mall), then case for O(bjrec)T surrounded by the CIA. The Greek σκοτιά is derived from a word meaning darkness, and this moulding is concave at the foot of a column and therefore presumably in shade.
22 ATLAS maps
Initially A(ncient,) then SALT for mariner (lift and separate) backwards completes the word
24 ROWDY lout
As a noun, that is. Let us assume that the fourth bank of seats is ROW D. The unknown gives Y. In this case, the “in” doesn’t indicate inclusion, just whererow D is.

Now then. Solomon Grundy
BORN on Monday.     Appropriately, diagonally from the top left of the grid
CHRISTENED on Tuesday.    Close enough at 9ac
MARRIED on Wednesday      In the last row of unches
TOOK ILL on Thursday       It’s even got the space. Hidden in 4d and 17d
WORSE on Friday     Hidden backwards in 24d and 8d
DIED on Saturday     10a
BURIED on Sunday     12a
And that was the end of Solomon Grundy
There are minor variations in versions, but I don’t care. It gave a fine frisson of discovery: a thematic crossword which does not require understanding of the theme to solve it, and certainly in my case only revealed its full glory once the puzzle was completed. Many thanks setter.