Thanks setter! What, is it June already? Remember when time worked completely differently to how it seems to in 2020? What a year…
ACROSS
1 Some grit needed to get round a large person on couch? (9)
ANALYSAND – ANY SAND needed to get round A L. A rather simple clue, at least if you’re familiar with the concept of gerundives: an analysand is just someone who needs to be analysed.
6 Presented freshly turned sweater? Not the first (5)
REDUX – reversed {e}XUDER, one that sweats
9 Aussie empties dealer’s British depot regularly: too much left therein (6-1)
BOTTLE-O – B + {d}E{p}O{t}, with OTT L inside. A colorful term which clearly fits the general concept you’re looking for, even if you’re not familiar with Oz-speak.
10 Bloomer as family cheered, receiving medal (7)
KINGCUP – KIN UP [family | cheered], receiving GC [George Cross]. I pink-squared on this one, having somewhat mystifyingly typed KINGCAP in the event, I can think of no possible reason why.
11 Plane in the sky flying OAPs to Peru (10)
TROPOPAUSE – (OAPS TO PERU*)
12 Fare from India’s war-torn province allowing bishop to leave (4)
IDLI – IDLI{b}. Now this one was too tough for those committed to solving without use of aids, I thought. Idlib is a province in Syria; subtract a B to find an Indian breakfast rice cake.
14 Is obliged to take floor in whirling Caribbean music (5)
SOKAH – HAS [is obliged to] “takes in” K.O. [floor], the whole reversed. Is this the same thing as soca? Probably but I can’t say I’m sure.
15 Evil Yankee in play written about Jonquil? (9)
AMARYLLID – ILL Y in DRAMA, the whole reversed.
16 Book commentaries on reflection obscure, not considered the writer’s (9)
MIDRASHIM – reversed DIM + RASH [not considered] + I’M. Simple enough wordplay leads to a word that looks convincing as some kind of Hebrew texts.
18 Poet’s version of Yahoo newsgroup heralds shows (5)
OUPHE – hidden in {newsgr}OUP HE{raids}. Easy if you’ve read enough Shakespeare or played enough Magic: The Gathering.
20 Tonga’s wingers and centre in play, ready for Samoa (4)
TALA – T{ong}A + {p}LA{y}. As a quizzer I learned all the world currencies at some point, which made this a write-in. Not to be confused with *Tonga’s* ready, which is of course the pa’anga.
21 Washer with a thing that’s mountable, screwed on article (10)
ABLUTOMANE – (MOUNTABLE*) [“screwed”, fun anagrind] on A. An obsessive washer.
25 Great actor in endless hurry to embrace round Scene One (7)
ROSCIUS – RUS{h} to embrace O SC I [round | scene | one]. I used to regularly catch the bus past a house in Crystal Palace with a blue plaque to Ira Aldridge, “the African Roscius”, which helped.
26 One carrying out his duty to the letter? (7)
BAILIFF – straightforward cryptic def
27 Lock old couple of shillings in pouch prepared for return (5)
SASSE – S S in SAE [stamped addressed envelope = pouch prepared for return]. Nicely misleading, that last bit. A “sasse” is an old work for a sluice or lock.
28 Carry on a normal life, firstly finding special place to stay (9)
APARTOTEL – TOTE on A PAR, plus L{ife}. Having heard of motels, boatels, flotels etc, apartotel wasn’t beyond the realm of comprehensibility.
DOWN
1 Turn in diamond which has originally been for hours underneath ace (2-3)
AT-BAT – underneath A [ace], take THAT [which], and replace the H [hours] with the B at the start of B{een}. AT-BAT appears all the time in the New York Times puzzle.
2 With which, briefly, old track is replaced? (3-4)
ALT-ROCK – (OL{d} TRACK*), semi-&lit. Avoided the temptation to biff ART ROCK, to which I am also rather partial.
3 Flycatcher’s missing bottle: what’s turned up on trailer (10)
YELLOWHEAD – YELLOW [missing bottle = cowardly] + reversed EH? + AD.
4 Group who’d kick bottle around steal from carriage (5)
AROBA – AA [Alcoholics Anonymous = group who’d “kick” alcohol] around ROB
5 Vacant dolly bird in film close to finding what’s hidden geological feature (4,5)
DYKE SWARM – D{oll}Y + KES [bird in film] + WARM [close to finding what’s hidden, as in warmer… warmer… colder…] Who knew that dykes travelled in packs?
6 Scottish border road crossing local one (4)
RUND – RD “crossing” UN. This a cloth border, not something you’d find on a map. Wouldn’t blame anybody for looking this one up to check the answer might not be RAND.
7 Teddy being picked up roughly upset boy of ten (7)
DECADAL – reversed ED, plus CA [roughly], plus reversed LAD
8 Two hours each day images have captured leaping fish (9)
XIPHIIDAE – EA D PIX [each | day | images] have “captured” II H [two | hours], the whole reversed. If you have a bit of Greek “xiphos” will seem familiar as something sword-y, and the answer can be happily derived from the wordplay.
13 There’s mould in his study? Unknown — anyhow, it’s gloomy (10)
ZYMOLOGIST – Z [unknown] + (IT’S GLOOMY*). Nice definition, for a fermentation expert.
14 Japanese grappling with revolting American driver briefly (9)
SUMOTORIS – reversed US + MOTORIS{t}. Clearly something to do with SUMO wrestlers.
15 Area warming, taking week off to sunbathe by a Canadian lake (9)
ATHABASKA – A THA{w} + BASK by A. I probably would have spelt this ATHABASCA given free rein, but the wordplay is clear.
15 Corruption of souls leads to destruction in practice in colony (7)
DULOSIS – (SOULS D{estruction} I{n}*) An unenlightened practice in ant colonies where ants enslave other ant races to do their work for them, it couldn’t happen here.
19 One instructing poor honey collector, perhaps, who’s off his head (7)
PIARIST – {a}PIARIST. A member of some 17th century Italian charitable religious organisation.
22 Uninvited guest accompanied Romeo getting down in dance (5)
UMBRA – take RUMBA and move its R further down. Lovely lovely term for an unexpected plus one turning up at one’s party.
23 French engineer: one loudly dismissed German region (5)
EIFEL – M. Eiffel, minus one F [loudly]. Hopefully you got this readily even if you’d never heard of the German area.
24 Lie to judge? One has (4)
JIVE – J + I’VE
So we are only left with AN = “local one” to debate, and I just bet there are folk in smocks all over the shires, saying “an” when you or I would say “one.”
Hmmf.