Times 26,222

Clock stopped at just under 20 minutes, so I’m going to go out on a limb and pronounce this a tricky little blighter and no mistake. Several clues which needed wrestling into submission but we got there in the end, even if I wasn’t wholly convinced by one or two bits of wordplay at the time; so let us see if they’re more convincing in review (by which I may well mean: let’s see if anyone can find a tactful way to point out what I didn’t understand correctly on those clues). On review, I think actually my concerns have been narrowed down to a missing “with”, so that’s all good.

Across
1	ROOK – {C}ROOK{S}.
3	MALEVOLENT – VOLE, which is definitely a little beast, splitting (LAMENT)*.
10	FITTEST – FIT(=outbreak), TEST(=assessment).
11	CHEQUER – R{uns} following CHEQUE. I was thoroughly taken in by the fake cricket allusion, so it took a while to spot the possible “bouncer”. It must be five years since I wrote a cheque, so its days are surely numbered in crosswords, but I thought that about Beerbohm Tree.
12	THE SILVER SCREEN – (CRE{w}RELISHEVENTS)*.
13	SLAVIC – A.V.(=Authorised Version) inside SLIC{k}.
14	GOD’S ACRE – GO(=agree, as in…I suppose as in “go with”, but doesn’t that need – well, a “with”?) then SACRED with the last (D) being first. I started out thinking about Long Acre, but eventually my brain clicked. I must have heard of the term before, probably in another crossword, as I wouldn’t have previously thought I knew anything about German burial grounds of the Moravian Church.
17	PREVIOUS – PIOUS(=”spiritual”) bears the REV(erend). A very modern synonym: picture Ray Winstone, for instance, muttering “That’s a bit previous, mate”.
18	IMPORT – “The writer’s”= the writer is = I’M, from the setter’s perspective, followed by PORT(=”left”).
21	COMBINATION LOCK – COMBINATION(=”union”), LOCK(=second row forward in rugby). Nice definition in “how to get security by dialling”.
23	LEISURE – LE{V}I minus V., SURE. Not a waltz king, or the England cricket supremo, but the creator of blue jeans.
24	CONSIGN – (GI’S)rev. in CONN. I had Maine pegged as the likely eastern state ahead of Connecticut until I abbreviated it.
25	DISSENTING – {maor}IS SENT in DING{o}.
26	LEAN – triple def.; David, possibly the greatest British film director, one verb and one adjective.
Down
1	REFUTES – TE is the note, in the whistle-blowing REF, U.S. Happily, the Times still knows the difference between “refute” and “rebut”, a distinction not observed everywhere these days.
2	ON THE MAKE – two ways of looking at it; if you were choosing your shopping, you might look at the brands available and make a choice based “on the make”; also, someone looking for an amorous conquest might be “on the make”. Personally, I left this to the end, as I’d always thought it meant trying to make a quick buck somehow, with a suggestion of dishonesty a la Arthur Daley, but the dictionary backs up both.
4	ACTIVE – C{horus} in (EVITA)rev.
5	ESCARGOT – The French for “is” = EST, insert CARGO to get a delicious snail lunch. Cracking clue, I thought.
6	OPENCAST MINING – MIN{ister} in [OPEN(=start), CASTING(=allocation of parts)].
7	EXUDE – take D{ied} from the EX-DUDE. Perfectly good synonym, though I’m not sure Beau Brummel would relish being described as a “dude”, of course.
8	TERENCE – (RECENT)* + E. Publius Terentius Afer, to give him his full name – once more I am grateful for my classical education, which has mostly been used for crossword purposes all these years since.
9	VERISIMILITUDE – (MURIELIVISITED)*.
15	CROCODILE – in case it’s not a thing outside British schools, a crocodile is the informal name for a line of schoolchildren who’ve been paired off so they don’t get lost or otherwise into trouble as they walk along.
16	BUDAPEST – (A DUB)rev. + PEST(=”trial”).
17	PICKLED – PICK(=”cream”) LED(=”was at the top”).
19	TAKEN IN – double def.
20	ZIRCON – Z is today’s unknown, then [C(=third-rate) in IRON]. I bet if I turn over to QVC, they’re selling some right now.
22	MAINS – I{sland} in MAN’S. No man is an island, said John Donne, but he was clearly wrong.