ST 4591 – Tim Moorey in Gentle Mode

Shelled out 2.50 to get the Sunday Times in order to do the crossword, and pleasant enough it turned out to be, and quick enough to solve to retain some credibility with my wife and daughter, who have heard quite enough about my crosswording exploits and indeed this blog over the past 4-5 years. 37 minutes, with the unknown misers at 26 last in. Jet-lagged, so please excuse any typos, which will be sorted out later.

ACROSS

1 NEW (STATE)SMAN – I was trying to justify The Spectator, as I have at least read that rag occasionally…
9 COSA NOSTRA – anagram* of CARTOONS AS
10 DEER – reed reversed for the female deer.
11 PAN+THE+ON
12 AFRESH = REF HAS*.
13 FIAT – double definition.
15 TRANSITORY – TORY around RAN + SIT.
17 RAPPORTEUR – RAP + PORT + RUE reversed.
19 SALE – hidden.
20 NOW NOW – NOW (Present) x 2; I suppose the idea of the parental bit is that a mother or father is more likely than any other group to use these words of mild rebuke.
22 UNCLE SAM – CALUMN[i]ES*; a metonymous usage.
24 BLUR – literal is ‘to fade’ and the wordplay a reversal of RU[n] and LB.
25 STABILISE – IS A BIT LESS*; an &lit.or all-in-one.
26 PINCHPENNIES – PINCH + PENNE + S around I.

DOWN

2 EXACT – double definition.
3 STONES (as in the ageing rockers) +THROW (project).
4 ANTONIA – NATIONA[l]*; the ‘l’ (‘front in London’) needs to be deleted (scrubbed).
5 EVA – the middle letters of chEap shaVers slash give Adolf’s bit on the side.
6 MODE(RATE)S[t]
7 NEEDS – sounds like ‘kneads’.
8 MONA LISA – SOMALIAN*.
12 ABSTRACTION – AB’S + TRACTION. Easy to put ’abstracting’.
14 TIP-AND-RUN – what Jos Buttler did yesterday; a tongue-in-cheek crypticky definition referencing a variety of cricket played by children or for fun in which the batsman must run to the other end each time he faces a ball, regardless of whether he gets a clean strike on it or even hits it at all.
16 RELEASED – the RED surrounds (‘bands’) the let (or LEASE); literal ‘free’.
18 EDUCATE – E DUCE holding A+T.
21 OXLIP – X in PILO[t] reversed.
23 ELITE – reversed hiddens don’t come much easier.
25 SOH – sounds like ‘sew’. Oops, ‘sow’ – thanks, Jack