Times 26,234 – Let’s wrestle

By the time most people read this, Andy may have published the results of the weekend’s events locally, but in the meantime, people with access to the Crossword Club can see them here. I am happy to have finished exactly where I always finish, in that middle ground between 13th and 25th, so I shall look forward to my invitation to do it all again next year. I shan’t go into details (suffice it to say, if the puzzles are published as they traditionally are, the one fatal clue which I sat staring at for what seemed an eternity, while running through the alphabet, will appear a week tomorrow). Having thus got the business of solving out of the way early, I was in the pub nice and early; sadly not able to stay long enough to meet any new people from these parts as the day went on, but we do have another gathering in the not too distant future where I can hopefully rectify that. Congratulations to Magoo on his win while hoping that all the rest of us who entered also enjoyed the day, or their result, and hopefully both.

Anyway, back to today’s puzzle, and it was pretty much like yesterday’s. The odd familiar feeling at some clues, but some nice touches of novelty in there as well. Net result, a speedy (8 minutes) and perfectly entertaining solve, albeit one which probably won’t live terribly long in the memory.

Across
1	REFUSAL – [F{ollowing} U.S.] in REAL.
5	SOMEHOW – (HOME)* in SOW, and not a sty involved anywhere. I’d have said the right word was “anyhow” rather than “somehow”, but there’s probably not enough there to start an argument with the editor.
9	MERGANSER – A (N,S) in MERGER. Leaps rather off the page once you see “duck” and it can’t be teal or smew or eider.
10	RIYAL – first letters of R{eady} I{n} Y{emen} A{rabian} L{olly} &lit. Used not just in Yemen but across the Arab world, so a perfect example of the &lit. form.
11	A WHALE OF A TIME – [O{ld} in WHALE FAT(=”blubber”)], all in AIM, E{nergy}.
13	DIMINISH – [1 MIN.] in DISH.
15	CAVE IN – C{aught} A VEIN.
17	LOUNGE – O(=round) in LUNGE.
19	GENEROUS – NERO is the emperor, inside GE{N}US without the N at its heart.
22	SKIRTING BOARD – SKIRTING (=avoiding dealing with) BOARD (=top management). It’s the “limit on the floor” of lots of rooms, of course, not specifically ones in shops, but that would remove some of the artifice from the definition.
25	EVITA – (THE NATIVE)rev. without THEN. If original, that “Return of the Native” thing is very good (and pretty good whatever the case).
26	IMAGINING – IN hidden within I’M AGING.
27	TAG TEAM – (GETAMAT)*. It did occur to me that the setter might be a wrestling fan when I noticed the FOREARM SMASH in the NW corner, and here is further evidence. If only there was a famous old-time wrestler called Jet Black Kennedy (there isn’t, I checked). Giant Haywire? No, let’s move on…
28	KENNEDY – KEN (=know, especially in Scotland), [ED in N.Y.]
Down
1	RAMP – RAM, as in Random Access Memory, P{ower}. “Ramp up” is more usual, but, the dictionary confirms, not essential.
2	FOREARM – EAR (=organ) in FORM (=shape).
3	SMASH – M{otor} in S{mall} ASH.
4	LISTLESS – (STILL)*, ESS{AY} minus A Y{ear}.
5	SORROW – (ROSE)rev. on top of ROW (=argument).
6	MARMALADE – [ARM A LAD] in M.E.
7	HAYWIRE – HAY (on Wye) is the scene of the famous book festival, so a telegram sent from there would be a HAY WIRE, geddit?
8	WILDERNESS – L{eft} in WIDER (=more open), NESS (=land running out to sea).
12	ADOLESCENT – ADO, LE SCENT. Dare one say that perfume is the faintest hint of chestnut?
14	NIGHTMARE – take the top of the KNIGHT on a MARE, and thus mounted.
16	JET BLACK – JET (=airliner), BLACK (=boycott). Something proverbially dark, and thus not bright.
18	UNITING – UNEXCITING without the EX (=former partner) and C (=about).
20	OLD TIME – (MODELIT)*. Hands up anyone else who tried to create an anagram of (ITNEEDS) instead? Thank you for your honesty.
21	INFIRM – IN (=fashionable) FIRM (=company).
23	ALIEN – LIE (=”factual misrepresentation”) in AN (=”article”). Hands up again anyone who spent some time looking to see where E.T. fitted in.
24	UGLY – there again, we could have another look at those pesky words which could equally well be definitions or anagram indicators and get them the right way round…it is, of course, (GUY)*, L{eft}. Thanks to anon, below. Another one of those “three point turns in the thesaurus” where the general sense is obviously there but I can’t put my finger on a phrase where “criminal” and “ugly” would be interchangeable.