Monthly Club Special 20,225: Levi Stubbs’ Tears

ACROSS
1 In well-known tragedy, mischief left one in Jock’s possession (7)
MALICHO – L I in MACHO [Jock]. The “well-known tragedy” is Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

5 Refer to what I said months back about transmitted ideas (7)
MEMETIC – CITE ME [refer to what I said] + M [months], the whole reversed

9 Study ditch height across odd parts of gully for cutting in wood (11)
DENDROGLYPH – DEN DROP H [study | ditch | height] “across” G{u}L{l}Y

10 For Romans, this is almost Rhenish (3)
HOC – HOC{k}

11 Not clever to smother constant sound of
encouragement (6)
TCHICK – THICK [not clever] to “smother” C

12 To grasp location of grand mausoleum, cursorily
study photo of shadows (8)
SKIAGRAM – To “grasp” AGRA [location of the Taj Mahal], SKIM [cursorily study]

14 In lead, recovers alchemised gold, by reports (6-7)
PROCES-VERBAUX – In PB [lead], (RECOVERS*) [“alchemised”] + AU X [gold | by]

17 Gasbags for some British planes carrying sweats (13)
BLATHERSKITES – B KITES [British | planes] “carrying” LATHERS [sweats]

21 Developed cities, DC for example, here and now (8)
DEICTICS – (CITIES DC*) [“developed”]

23 I try to spoil Filipino miner (6)
IGOROT – I GO ROT [I | try | to spoil]

25 Polynesian drink: in local dress you’ll want large one double (3)
AVA – The local dress is a LAVA-LAVA – L AVA times two.

26 Once I faked noise from bird tray (11)
QUACKSALVER – QUACK SALVER [noise from bird | tray]

27 Poet’s to make productive politician prevail, putting the writer first (7)
IMPREGN – MP REIGN = politician | prevail, but take I [the writer] and put it to the beginning.

28 Send cuckoo with both wings replaced by a diving bird (7)
ANHINGA – send cuckoo is UNHINGE, replace both its first and last letter with an A.

DOWN
1 Hearts, the ones for taming Tweedsmuir Scotsmen (6)
MIDSTS – {ta}MI{ng} {twee}DS{muir} {sco}TS{men}

2 Bouncer’s close before ejecting one in circle (4,3)
LONG HOP – N{I}GH [close, “ejecting” I = one] in LOOP [circle]

3 Church play area unwilling to display historical shroud
material (9)
CERECLOTH – CE REC LOTH [church | play area | unwilling]

4 In other words, Gray depicts a revel (4)
ORGY – OR, GY [in other words | Gray (the SI unit for absorbed dose of ionizing radiation)]

5 Futurist Communist leader restricting chatter against outer space (10)
MAYAKOVSKY – MAO [Communist leader] “restricting” YAK, against SKY [outer space]. Vladimir Mayakovsky was amongst the signers of The Communist Manifesto. He wrote Talking With The Taxman About Poetry, which may be better known in these parts as the title of a Billy Bragg album.

6 Raising this liquor made from flowers is a big hit (5)
MAHWA – A WHAM [a | big hit] reversed

7 From main character’s angle, a green soup (7)
TOHEROA – TO HERO [from main character’s angle] + A. Toheroa is a distinctively green New Zealand shellfish soup.

8 American native strips in California (8)
CACOMIXL – COMIX [strips] in CAL. An American relative of the raccoon.

13 Sprite before tea drunk by Parisian’s the French one (10)
LEPRECHAUN – PRE CHA [before tea] “drunk” by LE UN [Parisian’s the | French one]

15 Reverse picture of dress trim in Covent Garden venue (9)
ROTOGRAPH – TOG RAP [dress | trim] in ROH [Royal Opera House = Covent Garden Venue]. I think TRIM means RAP in the sense of “rebuke”.

16 A half-hearted religious founder born originally in sheikhdom (3,5)
ABU DHABI – A BUD{d}HA B I{n}

18 One-eyed northerner with snake touring border area (7)
ARIMASP – ASP [snake] “touring” RIM A [border | area]. Perhaps you never knew you needed a synonym for “one-eyed northerner”. The Arimaspians were at perpetual war with the griffins for their gold hoards, as the ever-reliable Herodotus informs us.

19 Ben’s name comes up, admitting personnel confessed (7)
SHRIVEN – reversed NEVIS, admitting HR

20 Private broadcast over meeting points on head (6)
PTERIA – PTE [private] + AIR reversed

22 Sri Lankan monkey said to pull on grass (5)
TOQUE – homophone of TOKE [pull on grass]

24 Rocket man regularly inspected amount of obscured
sky (4)
OKTA – {r}O{c}K{e}T {m}A{n}