I find myself without much else to say (but I’ll try to be more present in the comments today than last week). But there’s definitely time to nominate my Clue of the Day, which is definitely 4dn, with its nicely invisible definition part combined with fun wordplay. Ta setter!
ACROSS
1 Regret spoken jibe, something muttered on stage (7)
RHUBARB – homophone of RUE [regret “spoken”] + BARB [jibe]
5 Sell ingredients for jam? (7)
TRAFFIC – double def, one quirky
9 To buck up rogue, cane ordered (9)
ENCOURAGE – (ROGUE CANE*) [“ordered”]
10 Trojan “hippy”? (5)
ILIAC – v quirky double def, playing on ILIUM being an alternative for both the ancient city of Troy and the hip bone
11 Proposed form of extreme devolution rejected after losing a vote (5)
MOVED – DEVO M{ax} [extreme devolution, “rejected”, after losing A X]
12 Fool picks up insult implying inability to do so? (5-4)
CLOTH-EARS – CLOT HEARS [fool | picks up]
14 Lag repeatedly to raise time he’s held (5,2,3,4)
BRING UP THE REAR – BRING UP + REAR [repeatedly (i.e. twice), to raise], holding T HE [time | he]
17 Live stream business news (7,7)
CURRENT AFFAIRS – CURRENT [live stream] + AFFAIRS [business]
21 Container to serve tea; I’ll be after beginning to read leaves (9)
POTPOURRI – POT [container] + POUR [to serve tea] + I after R{ead}
23 Independent solicitor’s first to prosecute children (5)
ISSUE – I [independent] + S{olicitor} + SUE [prosecute]
24 Unfortunate person missing point in gag (5)
RETCH – {w}RETCH [unfortunate person, “missing point” (of the compass)]
25 Purging heretic, a habitual response (9)
CATHARTIC – CATHAR [heretic] + TIC [a habitual response]
26 Police officers transferred for challenge to orthodoxy (7)
DISSENT – D.I.S SENT [police officers | transferred]
27 Get back in swing, ticker turning over regularly (2-5)
RE-ELECT – REEL [swing] + T{i}C{k}E{r} reversed
DOWN
1 Spacious, from what we hear, but cold (6)
RHEUMY – homophone of ROOMY [spacious, “from what we hear”]
2 Expose chap entering sprint moving right to the end
UNCOVER – COVE [chap] entering {R->}UN [sprint, “moving R to the end”]
3 Much like a cakewalk, but smaller and quicker? (9)
ABUNDANCE – a bun is smaller than a cake, a dance is quicker than a walk
4 Accountant who might check one’s pulse? (4,7)
BEAN COUNTER – playing on the different meanings of pulse
5 Note to include zero as digit (3)
TOE – TE [note] to include O [zero]
6 A contemptuous exclamation — silly! (5)
APISH – A PISH [a | contemptuous exclamation]
7 Lot controlling sails etc for ship (7)
FRIGATE – FATE [lot] “controlling” RIG [sails etc]
8 Confident male squirmed oddly (8)
COCKSURE – COCK [male] + odd letters of S{q}U{i}R{m}E{d}
13 Not in formal dress in Balmoral, perhaps, queen is not working (3,2,6)
OUT OF KILTER – OUT OF KILT [not in formal dress in (Scotland)] + ER [queen]
15 Time to get to station, perhaps — detectives are being brought up to scratch (9)
ERADICATE – E.T.A. CID ARE [time to get to station, perhaps | detectives | are] all reversed
16 Distressed dept. sec. having run in with staff (8)
SCEPTRED – (DEPT SEC*) [“distressed”] having R [run] in
18 Turns to stare rudely (7)
ROTATES – (TO STARE*) [“rudely”]
19 Run out to catch a glimpse of incoming Times competition winner’s prize? (7)
ROSETTE – RO [run out] + SEE [to catch a glimpse of] with T T [(two) Times] incoming
20 Top secret operations going to be sent up in a bit of rhyming verse (6)
TERCET – T{op s}ECRET, subtracting OPS, reversed
22 Yellow mineral found around western half of Chad (5)
OCHRE – ORE [mineral] found around CH{ad} [western (= leftmost) half only]
25 Unionists boosted share (3)
CUT – TUC [unionists] upside down
Enjoyed this. David
PS if you want to try something harder,have a look at today’s QC from Wurm.