FOI 1ac (the first word that springs to mind when I look in the mirror every morning), LOI I think 27ac as big band was unknown circa the first century and thus harder for my memory banks to access. Lots of clues here I very much admired but I’ll give special mention to the &lit at 12dn, the TLS-tastic “Lawrences”, and also to 21dn, where I loved the use of “co-ordinates” and the classical surface adding extra grace to this most classical puzzle in ages.
So to cut a long story short, friends, Romans and countrymen, I thought this was a splendid crossword, but what about the rest of you? Too classical for some, perhaps?
ACROSS
1 Foppish type’s invitation to bird to call? (8)
POPINJAY – or “Pop in, jay!”, an invitation to a bird to call (round).
9 Military preparation of Frenchman the last word in craft (8)
ARMAMENT – M AMEN [Frenchman | the last word] in ART [craft]
10 Cancel changes in South Vietnamese festival (4)
STET – S TET [South | Vietnamese festival], stet being Latin for “let it stand”, the printer’s instruction to leave things as they were.
11 Humiliate MP with a spiced-up union song (12)
EPITHALAMIUM – (HUMILIATE MP + A*) [“spiced-up”]. Another unfair advantage to classicists, perhaps: an epithalamium is a wedding song about what awaits the new bride in the bedchamber, of which Catullus wrote a very famous example. Hymen o Hymenaee!
13 Anecdotes assuming Scottish smoker an old-school sort (6)
ALUMNA – ANA [anecdotes] “assuming” LUM [Scottish chimney = “smoker”]
14 An officer before journey finds close friend (5,3)
ALTER EGO – A LT ERE GO [an officer | before | journey]. That’s four or five Latin answers in a row; well, *I* approve…
15 An outhouse on street is hidden (7)
STASHED – A SHED [an outhouse] on ST [street]
16 Secretary brought in recognised writer’s block (7)
NOTEPAD – PA [secretary] brought in NOTED [recognised]. The *good* sort of writer’s block.
20 Tragic scene of crime sitting in European tradition (8)
ELSINORE – SIN [crime] sitting in E LORE [European | tradition]. Elsinore is of course the setting for Shakespeare’s most famous and longwinded play, Hamlet.
22 Indian city accommodates parking for historic location (6)
DELPHI – DELHI [Indian city] accommodates P [parking]. We’re back to the classics as Delphi is very famous in that arena, for oracles and such.
23 Navy in Naples restored State (12)
PENNSYLVANIA – (NAVY IN NAPLES*) [“restored”]. The fifth most populous of the United States, capital Harrisburg.
25 Wader again seen on island (4)
IBIS – BIS [again] seen on I [island], a crossword staple bird and clue.
26 Supervised one at sea securing lines (8)
OVERSEEN – (ONE*) [“at sea”] securing VERSE [lines].
27 Old bandleader having Lawrences put away horse (3,5)
TED HEATH – TE DH [both famous literary Lawrences; clever!] + EAT H [put away | horse]. I guess Ted Heath PM was leader of a band in a way, but this is probably Ted Heath the trombonist who was a household name in the 50s, winning the NME poll for Best Band/Orchestra each year between 1952 and 1961: roll over, “Godlike Genius” Liam Gallagher.
DOWN
2 Note group taking month over rental agreement (8)
OCTUPLET – OCT UP LET [month | over | rental agreement]
3 Break during school time is heaven (12)
INTERMISSION – IN TERM IS SION [during | school time | is | heaven]. Sion/Zion is the Promised Land and Heaven on Earth to Jews and Rastafarians alike, I haven’t been to Jerusalem personally but I’m sure it’s very nice.
4 Old German crossing Bali, free to express great happiness (8)
JUBILATE – JUTE [old German] crossing (BALI*) [“free”]. While the clue is by no means definitionally wrong, I hope no Danes are offended by their Jutlandic ancestors being assigned as German!
5 Cover for face when headmaster breaks jaw (7)
YASHMAK – AS HM [when | headmaster] breaks YAK [jaw]
6 Engaged in protecting cross, one combats evil (6)
AMULET – AT [engaged in] protecting MULE [cross]
7 Patriarch against wearing Hawaiian garland (4)
LEVI – V [against] wearing LEI [Hawaiian garland]. The third son of Jacob and Leah, as 
keriothe will tell you at the least opportunity, and the progenitor of the tribe of Levites.
8 Rugs taken up for daughter in midlands town (8)
STAMFORD – MATS reversed [rugs “taken up”] FOR D [daughter]. Stamford, Lincs, built by the amazing Romans and then quite big in the middle ages. Insultingly to its good name, I initially pencilled in STAFFORD, oops.
12 Air, extremely assertive, M Lisle’s composed (12)
MARSEILLAISE – (AIR + A{ssertiv}E + M LISLE’S*) [“composed”], &lit, as the aggressive anthem La Marseillaise was indeed penned by M Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle.
15 Followers pursue triallist perhaps (8)
SHEEPDOG – SHEEP DOG [followers | pursue]. Triallist as in sheepdog trials of course.
17 Future minister in rising party hurried to suppress row (8)
ORDINAND – in reversed DO [“rising” party], RAN [hurried] “to suppress” DIN [row]
18 Pithy speaker tense going round pub (8)
APHORIST – AORIST [tense, notably in Greek, another easy one to recall if you’re a classicist] going round PH [pub]
19 Man being prepared runs vehicle inside (7)
SERVANT – SET [prepared], R VAN [runs vehicle] “inside”
21 Plato finally co-ordinates knowledge — it’s inspired (6)
OXYGEN – {Plat}O + X Y [co-ordinates, on a graph] + GEN [knowledge]. Inspired as in “breathed in”.
24 Xmas season to bode ill, ultimately? (4)
NOEL – {seaso}N {t}O {bod}E {il}L
I enjoyed this – very clever, clever.
Epithalamium: that’s easy for you to say. It reminded me of the tongue twister: “Are you copper-bottoming ’em, my man? No, I’m aluminiuming ’em Mam.”
Now I know (having guessed) the name of a Vietnamese festival.
And (having been told by V) what Aorist is. Who’d have thought?
Mostly I liked: Popinjay, Elsinore, Ted H (Lawrences), Sheepdog and Co-ordinates in 21dn (COD).
Thanks foppish setter and V.
POPINJAY at the start and the Lawrences at the bottom gave that frisson of delight both at the clever humour of the clues and of actually knowing this stuff. They bracketed some wonders all the way, especially the complete &lit MARSEILLAISE and the might-as-well-be &lit of ELSINORE, but I don’t think there was a duff clue anywhere.
Nice to share something with V, even if it’s not excessive speed, and bravo to the setter. Bis!
Many thanks clever setter and witty blogger.
Oddly, MARSEILLAISE erroneously popped into my mind when I first looked at 11a (the union song), and a few moments later I was looking at an anagram of it for 12d.
I was wondering what modern-day EPITHALAMIUMs would be so quickly Googled ‘most requested wedding songs’. Depending on which site you believe:
At Last, Etta James
Bruno Mars, Uptown Funk
Thinking Out Loud, Ed Sheeran
Looking at my list again, it occurs to me we’re lucky. Not so long ago it was Lady in Red, Agadoo and The Birdie Song
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=i+went+to+your+wedding+spike+jones&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-gb&client=safari
fourlegger
On the subject of Ferdinand I’ve thought of a couple of other names that (I think) are gerunds, Amanda and Miranda, she who must be loved and she who must be admired respectively. Now what’s “she who must be obeyed” in Latin?
Etymology: < French ordinand candidate for ordination (1642), or its etymon post-classical Latin ordinandus (from late 12th cent. in British sources), use as noun of classical Latin ōrdinandus, gerundive of ōrdināre ordain v.;
Edited at 2018-02-16 10:41 am (UTC)
Always enjoy a V blog, too. Thank you.
fourlegger
Edited at 2018-02-16 01:06 pm (UTC)
Thank you to the blogger.
Gratias ago auctori et magistro.
Edited at 2018-02-16 04:25 pm (UTC)
I did have to check the spelling of 11a and didn’t even try to pronounce it out loud.
TET offensive I remember from the Vietnam War days.
We are house hunting in STAMFORD at present so coincidence of the day award for that.
Chestnut oD to IBIS.
CoD 12d for working the name of the actual composer into the anagrist and surface.
The one that often causes confusion for newbies is ‘biff’, an invented verb that’s a back-formation of an original acronym BIFD standing for ‘Bunged in from Definition’. It means exactly what it says, in that the solver has spotted the definition part of the clue and immediately found the correct answer, written it in and moved on to another clue without bothering to parse it or understand the wordplay. The acronym is still recognisable in the past tense, ‘biffed’, but usage has resulted in the D being absent in some forms of the verb. ‘Nina’ is another one you may not know but I’ll leave that to somebody else to explain, or for another day.
Just to clarify on ‘cheating’, my view is that it’s up to individual solvers whether they use aids and to what extent, and if they help people to learn and improve that’s absolutely fine. It only becomes cheating if one falsifies one’s achievement in some way and I don’t believe that happens at TftT because it’s not really a competitive place. Many of our contributors mention their solving times as a guide to others and they are a useful yardstick when discussing the level of difficulty on any particular day, but as mentioned above, speed is considered secondary to enjoyment for the most part. There are cheats at the Times Club where some people solve on-line againt the clock and try to beat the system to get themselves top of the leader board. The thing is though that the old hands know who these people are (they are referred to as ‘neutrinos’) and simply disregard their timings when assesing their own performance and ranking.
Edited at 2018-02-16 10:44 pm (UTC)
APHORIST went in unparsed (I am, of course, well acquainted with PHs, but not with obscure and probably unnecessary Greek tenses). EPITHALANIUM slid in thanks to the anagrist and checkers, and lubricated by my acquaintance with the thalamus and its supposed role – thereby proving that an ounce of science saves a pound of classics.
ORDINAND was unknown but plausible. OVERSEEN went in on the mistaken belief that an OEN was some kind of seaman. YASHMAK was half-known, though I’d have struggled to decide whether to wear it, eat it or ride it if it weren’t for the clue. After all that, SHEEPDOG was my LOI for no good reason.
Thanks to Verlaine for an enlightening blog, and a good weekend to all and one.
For this reason, never ever tell the surgeon that you’re a Latin scholar if you want to be operated on this side of next year.