Times 26,921: Down At Heel But Shabby-Genteel

I thought this was about as straightforward as it is permissible to get on a Friday (at least while I’m on watch), which was quite a relief given that I’d slept in and had to solve this pre-coffee. Which took 8 minutes ish, some of which time I’m sure was unnecessary as I sleepily convinced myself that 12ac had to be “[the name of an architect] + {devisin}G”, tried UNDERRESOURCED at 14ac, and made heavy weather of the NW corner, due perhaps to innate distrust of anything to do with cricket. FOI 5ac as the penny quickly dropped (apologies to anyone, perhaps Stateside, who had no idea what those pies were all about), LOI 1dn as although I’d thought of it a fair earlier I couldn’t quite muster certainty that “word” meant “express” until I had all the crossers. Though of course it obviously does.

Not quite sure I’ve fully grasped the subtleties of 25ac, so fill me in if there’s more to it. My COD definitely to 4dn, which is a very well disguised anagram combined with a clever definition part. Thanks setter, and a happy new year to one and all!

ACROSS
1 Liberal dons tolerate American state (7)
BELARUS – L [Liberal] “dons” BEAR [tolerate] + US [American]
5 Judge of mince pies providing some humour (7)
JOCULAR – J [judge] + OCULAR [of mince pies (Cockney rhyming slang for eyes)]
9 Exposed snakes showed signs of distress (9)
WINDSWEPT – WINDS WEPT [snakes | showed signs of distress]
10 Dud shade (5)
LEMON – double def
11 Carnivore heading for lair put on speed (5)
RATEL – L{air} put on RATE [speed]
12 Architect ultimately devising natural alternative to tiles (9)
THATCHING – {architec}T + HATCHING [devising]
14 Not getting enough — hundred euros in change (14)
UNDERNOURISHED – (HUNDRED EUROS IN*) [“change”]
17 Banned athlete sadly submits, the worse for wear (3,2,3,6)
OUT AT THE ELBOWS – OUT [banned] + (ATHLETE*) [“sadly”] + BOWS [submits]
21 Gallant vicar with child briefly out of hand (9)
CHIVALRIC – (VICAR + CHIL{d}*) [“out of hand”]
23 Vigorous, if in need of practice, having changed sides (5)
LUSTY – {r->L}usty [RUSTY = in need of practice; “change sides” by transforming the L(eft) to R(ight)]
24 Oddly for each thousand you get a mutant (5)
FREAK – F{o}R + EA [each] + K [thousand]
25 Thirsting for blood, as was McCarthy, mostly? (6,3)
SEEING RED – quirky double def. I assume the second half refers to Senator Joe of witch-hunt fame seeing communist reds under the bed.
26 Large mammal gets last of prey — it’s a chancy business (7)
LOTTERY – L OTTER [large | mammal] + {pre}Y
27 Return of stone edging even less healthy for plant support (7)
TRELLIS – reverse all of: ST [stone] “edging” ILLER [even less healthy]

DOWN
1 Saw Times superior to Express (6)
BYWORD – BY [times] “superior to”, i.e. on top of, WORD [express]
2 British measure time fielder has to catch (4,3)
LONG TON – T [time] that LONG ON [fielder, in some incomprehensible British sport or other] “catches”
3 Spirited mum collects one, on coming first (9)
RESILIENT – SILENT [mum] “collects” I [one], RE [on] “coming first”
4 Search on the ground for brick, in last resort (5,6)
SHEET ANCHOR – (SEARCH ON THE*) [“ground”]
5 Old invader’s unfinished project (3)
JUT – JUT{e} – [old invader, “unfinished”]
6 Small portion of broccoli causing complaint (5)
COLIC – hidden in {broc}COLI C{ausing}
7 Gross politician, one visiting boozer (7)
LUMPISH – MP I [politician | one], “visiting” LUSH [boozer]
8 Newton, say, engrossed in study, finally forgave dissident (8)
RENEGADE – N EG [Newton | say] “engrossed in” READ [study] + {forgav}E
13 Severe stress some of Proust’s characters may be under? (5,6)
ACUTE ACCENT – cryptic def, “Proust’s characters” being not literary personages but letters on the French page
15 Bias current medic’s shown facing a cut in surgery (9)
IMBALANCE – I MB [current | medic] + A LANCE [a | cut in surgery]
16 Offer short clue that’s defective but compelling (8)
FORCEFUL – (OFFER CLU{e}*) [“that’s defective”]
18 Most banal customs dividing races (7)
TRITEST – RITES [customs] “dividing” TT [races]
19 Ne’er-do-well king borne in litter by learner (7)
WASTREL – R [king] “borne in” WASTE [litter] by L [learner]
20 The last place, perhaps, to introduce unknown stars (6)
HYADES – HADES [the last place, perhaps “to introduce” Y [unknown]
22 Joint from an ungulate served up (5)
ANKLE – AN + ELK reversed [ungulate “served up”]
25 Backward throw (3)
SHY – double def. I wondered momentarily about “shy” for backward, but it’s quite clearly the opposite of forward, so…!