The usual combination of excellent/unlikely-looking words and truly daredevil wordplay, needless to say I loved it. The long entries like 12ac, 20ac, 9dn and their laugh-out-loud cryptic acrobatics all tickled my fancy, but equally I loved the link pair of clues pertaining to Japanese martial arts movies, the surprising simple reversal of 18dn, and the clever Melvillean 4dn: excellent use of the double meaning of “galley”, that.
Many thanks to the setter and apologies once again for this taking a while to go up on the site! The best clues (and their parsings) come to those who wait…
Definitions underlined, (ABC)* indicating anagram of ABC, {} deletions and [] other indicators.
Across
1 Critical of enclosure fencing developed westward isle (10)
PERIPETIAN – PEN “fencing” RIPE + reversed AIT. A peripeteia is a sudden change of fortune, i.e. a crisis point, in drama; hence this is pertaining to such a point.
6 Primeval giant with coat of frost returns (4)
YMIR – reversed RIMY. Norse mythology, the ancestor of all jötnar.
10 Selection of flaky theories to appear up north (5)
KYTHE – hidden in {fla}KY THE{ories}. Scots for “to show oneself, appear”
11 Creator of A Portnoy and everything one supplies sexual generations (9)
PROTHALLI – A{lexander} Portnoy was created by P{hilip} ROTH; + ALL + I. The gametophytes, or sexual generations, of ferns
12 The precise words wife recalled to affirm breadth in light beer (9,5)
IPSISSIMA VERBA – reversed MISSIS + AVER + B in I.P.A.
14 Rest after cutting grass’s protective layer of salt (3,4)
PEA COAT – PEAC{e} OAT. Something a sailor would wear for protection
15 Rough rule of thumb’s last used in brief calm beset by raucous cry (4-3)
CLUB-LAW – {thum}B in LUL{l}, “beset by” CAW
17 Irishwoman turns to cross quiet battle site (7)
EVESHAM – reversed MAEVE “crossing” SH. Simon de Montfort’s last hurrah in the 13th century
19 FBI raid starts to look likely (3,4)
BID FAIR – (FBI RAID*)
20 Cross old boyfriend: quarrel about name was all over fungus (6,5-3)
DEVILS SNUFF-BOX – X O BF + FUSS “about” N + LIVED, the whole reversed
23 What gives a bitter taste in brash films featuring such as … (9)
CHOPSOCKY – HOPS [what gives a bitter (as in beer) taste] in COCKY. A chopsocky film may feature the answer to 24, IAI-DO
24 … sword fighting in Japan or India getting one into bother (3-2)
IAI-DO – I + I “into” ADO
25 Uzbek may spend these years chasing tot (4)
SUMY – Y “chasing” SUM. I knew the currency of Uzbekistan was the SOM but this spelling and pluralisation was tricky!
26 Even parts of hair receding, badly affected by a certain hormone (10)
ADRENERGIC – ({h}A{i}R RECEDING*). Means “activated by adrenaline”
Down
1 May predecessor out of ingredient for goulash … put in hare! (4)
PIKA – P{apr}IKA
2 An idea used in mechanical procedure for autogiro (9)
ROTAPLANE – A PLAN “used in” ROTE
3 Edits Philip Roth, mostly changing lover of 11? (14)
PTERIDOPHILIST – (EDITS PHILIP ROT{h}*). A pteridophilist is a fan of ferns
4 Melville novel covering second time put into a galley? (7)
TYPESET – TYPEE “covering” S + T. A galley is a flat tray for putting type into, in printing
5 Not sensible to smell a vivid rose when resistance goes up (7)
ANOSMIC – A + C{r}IMSON [vivid rose, minus R(esistance)] reversed
7 After cycling, tense feeling in the cheeks? (5)
MALAR – ALAR{M} cycling its last letter to first position
8 Description of monsoon striking north and battling current holding of government land (10)
RAIYATWARI – RAI{n}Y + AT WAR + I
9 Revolutionary half of MI6 HQ’s location with great increase in spiky defences (7-2-5)
CHEVAUX-DE-FRISE – CHE + VAUX{hall}| + DEF + RISE. Anti-cavalry defensive spikes
13 Supplements come without hard cubes (10)
APPENDICES – {h}APPEN + DICES
16 Grassy land distribution for grazing in the country (9)
LEASOWING – LEA [grassy land] + SOWING [distribution]
18 Deduct amount from wages to set up aromatic substance producer (4-3)
MUSK-COD – DOCK SUM, reversed
19 Bachelor that is hosting well-behaved shindy in Edinburgh (7)
BRULYIE – B + I.E., “hosting” RULY. An unlikely looking Scots words for a “broil” or noisy quarrel or confused disturbance
21 Rev noisily opposing unoccupied space (5)
VROOM – V(ersus) + ROOM
22 Vertical bar cut from doughnut-shaped Celtic neck ring (4)
TORC – TOR{i}C
Many thanks for doing the blog on this.