All this and a Nina too as if you look in the centre of the grid you will find the letters O-Z arranged in precise order, I’m not sure I know why but I certainly like it. Bravo to the setter for another monthly masterpiece!
ACROSS
1 Escape home beset by delay, very good for losing temperature (12)
DEFERVESCING – ESC IN [escape | home] “beset” by DEFER V G [delay | very | good]
9 Preparation of cabbage in sandwich of fish and chips? (5)
SHCHI – hidden in {fi}SH+CHI{ps}
10 Rowers having scored more marks when initially entering contests that China lost (5,4)
OPIUM WARS – OARS [rower], having PIU [“scored” more] + M(arks) + W{hen} “entering”
11 Tumult of WWII represented with wall (8)
WILLIWAW – (WWII + WALL*)
12 Plant yielding fibre and an acidic fruit, mostly from the east (6)
URTICA – A CITRU{s}, entered from east to west
13 Among leaders in Soviet Union with a vote, Molotov now is extremely secure (8)
SUPERMAX – “among” S{oviet} U{nion} + A X [a | vote], PERM [name for the city that was Molotov until 1957]
15 Nurse with touching affection (6)
TENDRE – TEND [nurse] with RE [touching]. I put TENDER in for this initially, naively thinking it might be a straight double def
17 See first person bound by God’s contrary instruction to follow (6)
SUIVEZ – V I [see | first person] “bound” by ZEUS, the whole reversed
18 Former concerns holding back extreme reactionaries (8)
REDNECKS – RECKS [(old word for) concerns] “holding” reversed END [extreme]
20 I once was privileged to take two of every seven in lunar excursion modules (6)
LUCUMO – LU{nar ex}CU{rsion} MO{dules}, following the stated recipe of two letters on, five letters off. A lucumo was the Etruscan equivalent of a Roman rex
21 Rada’s rival for drama in conspiracy theory writer’s case (8)
QALAMDAN – LAMDA [Rada’s rival] replacing NO [drama] in QA{no}N
24 Natural desire to criticise false claim, ousting each Republican (9)
APPETENCE – {r}AP P{r}ETENCE [criticise | false claim], “ousting” all R(epublican)s
25 Not taking sides, Enterprise captain’s first name recalled is “Bones” (5)
ULNAE – take {j}EAN-LU{c} (Picard) and reverse to find not Dr McCoy but some literal bones
26 I’m in cahoots with church’s foremost reforming religious campaigner (12)
ICONOMACHIST – (I’M IN CAHOOTS + C{hurch}*)
DOWN
1 Happens to break down before antivirus finally turns back on (7)
DISOWNS – IS [happens] “breaks” DOWN + {antiviru}S. That’s “turns back on” with the emphasis placed on the “back”, not the “on”.
2 Glib speculation mounted after voting system elected to power the clear leader (6,8)
FACILE PRINCEPS – FACILE [glib] + reversed SPEC after P.R. IN [voting system | elected to power]
3 Current member of Ukip, very quiet going over healing process? (5)
REIKI – I KI{pp}ER [current | member of Ukip], losing its pianissimo and all reversed
4 Bomber with unknown range not accompanied skyward (5,3)
ENOLA GAY – Y AGA LONE [unknown | range | not accompanied], all reversed
5 Run through fourth section of book (4)
CHIV – CH(apter) IV
6 Ascendant among trichinae, tremendously flat worm (9)
NEMERTEAN – hidden reversed in {trichi}NAE TREMEN{dously}
7 Basis for judiciary process aided direction (5,9)
RATIO DECIDENDI – (AIDED DIRECTION*)
8 With shudders, seeing that cod-like fish (6)
ASHAKE – AS [seeing that] + HAKE
14 Attended to part of house, one under roof with bad joints (9)
RHEUMATIC – homophone [“attended to…”] of ROOM + ATTIC
16 Primate immersed in clear liquid in place of worship (8)
SERAPEUM – APE “immersed” in SERUM
17 Indian longs to have time away from firm, twice … (6)
SALWAR – take S{t}ALWAR{t} [firm] and remove T(ime) twice. “Longs” as in long trousers
19 … for her hen party, raising drinks around, say, noon (7)
SANGEET – TEAS around E.G. N, the whole reversed. The ellipsis refers us back to the previous clue and lets us know we’re looking for an Indian woman’s hen party
22 Beaky one informally detained by officer’s assistant (5)
ADUNC – ‘UN “detained” by A.D.C.
23 Novel by a contemporary of Hemingway (“Papa”) and another American author (4)
PNIN – P(apa) + NIN. Nabokov was born in 1899 about 3 months before Hemingway; Anais Nin is the baby of this clue being born in 1903, though she did die in the same year as Nabokov, 1977!
If only I’d spotted the Nina, I suppose it might have helped, but in all honesty it took me ages to spot it even when told it was there, where it was, and what it was, plus a bit of time wondering if A to N turned up anywhere. They don’t not least because there’s no B or J, an unusual deficiency in a Special.
The Nabokov clue with was a particular delight: as V says, doing that TLS thing where everything fits together.
RR