Suffice it to say that the surfaces were immaculate throughout and there were some absolute corkers amongst the clues: I was very taken by the economy of 14ac but surely 3dn has to pip all others to the COD post with its brilliance? Thanks setter, and I hope you weren’t actually having the internet troubles while composing this puzzles that 1ac + 26ac, plus various other answers passim, might suggest!
Across
1 Swimmer is seen in a little water, say, with nothing on (5)
CISCO – IS seen in CC [a little water, say (cubic centimetre, in liquid measurement)], with O [nothing] on
4 Hurry with business lunch, then go back around end of afternoon (4,5)
COME ALONG – CO MEAL [business | lunch] + GO reversed around {afternoo}N
9 Stopped working, being penniless and sad (5,4)
BROKE DOWN – BROKE [penniless] + DOWN [sad]
10 TV programme shows very good French department (5)
PILOT – PI LOT [very good | French department (in the SW)]
11 Very minor reverses in amateur play (6)
LEEWAY – WEE [very minor] reversed in LAY [amateur]
12 Unmarried priest given stick entering church (8)
CELIBATE – ELI [priest] + BAT [stick], entering CE [church]
14 Study noise of birds from Northern Europe (12)
SCANDINAVIAN – SCAN DIN AVIAN [study | noise | of birds]
17 No practical sort, he rushed about, getting bright red reportedly (12)
THEORETICIAN – HE with TORE [rushed] about + homophone of TITIAN [bright red “reportedly”]
20 Charles when speaking secures wig (8)
CHASTISE – CHAS [Charles] + homophone of TIES [“when speaking” secures]
21 Commotion near centre of Preston, close to university (6)
UNREST – NR {pr}EST{on}, close to U [university]
23 Comic book craze I abandoned for good (5)
MANGA – MANIA [craze], with the I “abandoned” in favour of G [good]
24 Sports ground: area certain people set foot inside (9)
ASTRODOME – A SOME [area | certain people], with TROD [set foot] inside
25 Noticeably shrewd, admitting foreigner a short time later (9)
SALIENTLY – SLY [shrewd], admitting ALIEN [foreigner] + T [a short time] later
26 Computer device rejected in some domiciles (5)
MODEM – hidden reversed in {so}ME DOM{iciles}
Down
1 Mystic scholar seen in taxi with top celebs? (8)
CABALIST – CAB [taxi] with A-LIST [top celebs]
2 Warehouse employee brought up as handle becomes weak (8)
STOREMAN – reverse of NAME ROTS [handle | becomes weak]
3 For the solver, a piece of cake (the canapes sound revolting) (4,3,4,4)
OPEN AND SHUT CASE – (THE CANAPES SOUND*) [“revolting”]
4 A rail company motto: “every second counts” (4)
COOT – CO [company] + only every second letter of {m}O{t}T{o}
5 Reform overdue after fellow pulled the strings (10)
MANOEUVRED – (OVERDUE*) [“reform…”] after MAN [fellow]
6 Job seeker might show this past record of hard work? (11,4)
APPLICATION FORM – APPLICATION is hard work, FORM is past record, so you could have APPLICATION FORM
7 One labouring principally in Middle Eastern territory? (6)
OILMAN – I L{abouring} in OMAN [Middle Eastern territory], &lit
8 Channel crossing’s final part, say (6)
GUTTER – the “final part” of {crossin}G + UTTER [say]
13 Politician in a flash becoming unreliable (10)
INCONSTANT – CON [politician] in INSTANT [a flash]
15 Do we hurry up, touring old film studios? (8)
PINEWOOD – DO WE NIP [do | we | hurry] reversed, touring O [old]. Pinewood Studios out west of London.
16 Newly-trained 2 now working (2,6)
ON STREAM – (STOREMAN*) [“newly-trained”]
18 Rogues sleep under canvas on board ship (6)
SCAMPS – CAMP [sleep under canvas] in S.S.
19 Mostly cursed large weed (6)
DARNEL – DARNE{d} [“mostly” cursed] + L [large]
22 Guy is steady, regularly so (4)
STAY – {i}S {s}T{e}A{d}Y, taking every second letter
Lovely puzzle, shame about the solver!
My first stab at 3d was “over and done with”, despite seeing the likely anagram, which messed up the SW corner. But an overall <25 minutes, all enjoyable stuff.
Edited at 2017-01-13 09:27 am (UTC)
I also had DAMNEL initially for 19D but on looking it up found it was wrong and had to think again and then had a vague memory of DARNEL from somewhere
Edited at 2017-01-13 12:29 pm (UTC)
http://www.audreydeal.co.uk/writing/468-playground-games
I changed horse to the obvious as we are an adult blog.
Please keep off the grass sir,
To let the ladies pass sir,
You know the rules,
You silly fat arse,
Please keep off the grass sir.
Edited at 2017-01-13 01:00 pm (UTC)
Done under Verlainesque conditions (after a few wines) with poor results: CISCO unfilled, DAMNEL wrong, gave up with also INCONSTANT missing. But very much enjoyed, more than yesterday.
I personally think it’s fair game because it’s “a little water, say” – a drop of something liquid. Defining it as just “a little water” would definitely have been a no-no.
Edited at 2017-01-13 02:58 pm (UTC)
In the end, I’d have failed due to an invented “damnel”, anyway. Ah well. I enjoyed what I managed.
Edited at 2017-01-13 11:06 am (UTC)
FOI 5dn MANOEUVRES
My LOI was COOT which took forever – well put me over the hour. Out v.late at El Elefante.
19dn DARNEL was known – a rye grass with narcotic properties.
I was misled by 2dn as I thought it was STOCKMAN initialy – the STOCK was not the handle after all.
WOD CISCO
On a positive note, liked the long clues, and also COOT.
May I please recommend today’s QC and blog?
Alack, ’tis he. Why, he was met even now
As mad as the vexed sea, singing aloud,
Crowned with rank fumiter and furrow-weeds,
With burdocks, hemlock, nettles, cuckoo-flowers,
Darnel, and all the idle weeds that grow
In our sustaining corn.
So there you have it people, maybe if you spent less time COMPLAINING and more time doing the TLS puzzle every week this would have been an open and shut botanico-literary case!
Edited at 2017-01-13 11:50 am (UTC)
So a DNF, and a very long time indeed.
Loved Scandinavian, it does exactly what it says on the tin for a newbie..
Roin
Edited at 2017-01-13 06:17 pm (UTC)
John Masefield was Poet Laureate throughout my schooldays, and his poems (Cargoes, Sea-Fever, and so on) used to be very popular. They included Nicholas Nye, which starts “Thistle and darnell and dock grew there …”. I’d forgotten that he’d spelled “darnell” with a double “l”, but I had no difficulty bunging in DARNEL at 19dn.
“Characters should be interchangeable as between one book and another. The entire corpus of existing literature should be regarded as a limbo from which discerning authors could draw their characters as required, creating only when they failed to find a suitable existing puppet. The modern novel should be largely a work of reference. Most authors spend their time saying what has been said before – usually said much better. A wealth of references to existing works would acquaint the reader instantaneously with the nature of each character, would obviate tiresome explanations and would effectively preclude mountebanks, upstarts, thimble-riggers and persons of inferior education from an understanding of contemporary literature.”
Any help much appreciated as it’s driving me partly insane.
LOT is just literally a French department: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lot_(department) Which I certainly didn’t know before doing this puzzle!