Sadly I was overall defeated, having put a careless ZOLOSO in at 16ac – despite occasional appearances, not just anything is a correct spelling, even once it fits the cryptic. And it took me a long long time to work out what could possibly be going on at 6ac; in competition conditions I would almost certainly just have bunged in TIMES, the definition clearly being “this (paper)”. Especially if jetlagged. My flights are booked – see you all on the 7th December?
ACROSS
1 Contained lots of elements of abscess up for treatment (9)
SUBSPACES – (ABSCESS UP*) [“for treatment”]
6 This strains at first to be in different forms (5)
TAMIS – T{o} + AM IS [be, in two “different forms”]
9 How aristocrat’s rarely addressed hero, limiting regressive displays (5)
MILOR – hidden reversed in {he}RO LIM{iting}
10 Tip for pen: inclination to keep one grey and one black (9)
NIGRICANT – {pe}N + CANT [inclination] to “keep” I GR I [one | grey | one]
11 Hacks tail off amphibian with heads (7,3,5)
TADPOLE AND TAPER – TAPER [tail off] (that) TADPOLE AND [amphibian | with] heads.
Anyone here actually read Benjamin Disraeli’s Coningsby? And I was pleased to be still mostly au fait with Dickens…
13 Grape-grower needing to take five for dole recipient’s first (8)
VIGNERON – a SIGNER-ON is a dole recipient; replace the first letter with V [five]
14 Put right foot briefly in tunnel, defying the odds (6)
UNFOOL – FOO{t} in {t}U{n}N{e}L
16 Unique Down Under perhaps, to reflect with fervour (6)
ZELOSO – SOLE in OZ could be [unique Down Under], then reverse to get the musical direction.
Sadly I failed on this one by managing to enter ZOLOSO 🙁
18 Old red hammer calls for attention in case for carpentry (8)
CRAMOISY – RAM OIS [hammer | calls for attention] in C{arpentr}Y
21 From experience of poet’s quite quick temper, resolved time to scarper! (8,7)
EMPERICK QUTIQUE – (QUITE QUICK {t}EMPER*) [“resolved”, then losing a T for time].
A Shakespearean rendering of “empiricutic” = empiric. Whew!
23 Belligerent cries from a Liberal: Peel’s celebration perhaps put back (9)
ALALAGMOI – A L [a | Liberal] + reversed IOM GALA [Peel’s celebration perhaps]. Peel being a Manx town you know.
25 Do, at school, material having no books? Unknown (5)
CHIZZ – CHI{nt}Z [material, minus NT = books] + Z [unknown]
26 Chap that’s apprehended prisoner before turning over murderer’s son (5)
ENOCH – reversed HE [chap] that’s “apprehended” CON [prisoner]. Enoch son of Cain, nothing to do with Powell.
27 Lacking clear vision, spoke French, perhaps, when English visiting (5-4)
PEARL-EYED – PARLEYED [spoke French perhaps], “visited” by E [English]
DOWN
1 Northerners in appeal, being short-handed? (5)
SAMIT – S.A. [appeal] + MIT{t} (having a short MIT{t} = being short handed. I think.)
2 Rubbish setter, possibly on speed? That could make the papers fast! (7,4)
BULLDOG CLIP – BULL DOG CLIP [rubbish | setter, possibly | speed]
3 Poisonous stuff from Yankee in function promoting corporate image? (7)
PYRROLE – Y [Yankee] in P.R. ROLE [function promoting corporate image]
4 Plant with not quite enough hard cash around folded June the fifth (8)
CUNJEVOI – COI{n} [“not quite enough” hard cash] “around” (JUNE*) [“folded”] V [the fifth]
5 Net pouch prepared for returning dope packs (6)
SAGENE – S.A.E. [pouch prepared for returning] “packed” by GEN [dope]
6 Youth half-heartedly following kid, finding way that’s narrow in places (7)
TWITTEN – TE{e}N [youth “half-heartedly”] following TWIT [kid]
7 Sum of money crew’s raised last (3)
MNA – MAN [crew] with its last letter raised a place
8 Ribald scenes as lady’s bottom partly wobbles (5,4)
SATYR PLAY – (AS {lad}Y PARTLY*) [“wobbles”]
12 Support one’s denied being not just what neighbours have (11)
PROPINQUITY – PROP [support] + IN{i}QUITY [being not just, “denied” I = one]
13 Ministerial office that is, in more than one way, on merit (9)
VIZIERATE – VIZ. I.E. [that is, in two different ways] on RATE [merit]
15 Crack regional guards for S American city (8)
AREQUIPA – QUIP [crack] “guarded” by AREA [regional]
17 Agitated GP hears some rustling (7)
SPREAGH – (GP HEARS*) [“agitated”]. That’s cattle, not bushes or whatever, being rustled.
19 Dealt with one, not exactly large, bit of Africa (7)
METICAL – MET I CA L [dealt with | one | not exactly | large]. Mozambican currency.
20 Unaware state’s involved in the heart of accepted social plan? (6)
ECOMAP – COMA [unaware state] “involved” in {acc}EP{ted}
22 Father, and later I, must leave wild and remote land (5)
ENZED – {fr}ENZ{i}ED [wild, losing FR = father, and later I]. Do Americans know it as ENZEE?
Aussie PM having no right to bring change around excolony (3)
AVO – A{r}VO [Aussie PM, as in afternoon, having no R = right]. 1/100 of a pataca in Macau!
Since I allegedly won the August prize, I can’t complain ..
Edited at 2019-10-02 05:51 pm (UTC)