Some of the clues here I thought bordered on too easy, at least for a Friday, with answers that were the thing I immediately thought of upon reading the definition (the first two across clues, just for a start). But I did appreciate some of the slightly trickier pieces of wordplay, for instance at 19ac, 3dn, 7dn. A fun crossword overall, thank you setter!
ACROSS
1 Money-hoarder‘s endless wretchedness (5)
MISER – MISER{y} [“endless” wretchedness]
4 Wakeful type in county recalled famous murderer (9)
INSOMNIAC – IN SOM. + CAIN reversed [in ; county (= Somerset); “recalled”, famous murderer]
9 Old Chinese philosophy briefly followed by every European leader (9)
TAOISEACH – TAOIS{m} followed by EACH [old Chinese philosophy, “briefly”; every]
10 State of small number knocked back by speaker’s gift (5)
GABON – NO. reversed by GAB [small number, “knocked back”; speaker’s gift]
11 Enthusiasm is more exhausting, as Cockneys may say (6)
ARDOUR – homophone of ‘ARDER [more exhausting, with a Cockney dropped aitch]
12 Its occupants may be collared pinching grain (8)
DOVECOTE – I think this is just a cryptic definition. Doves certainly come in a collared variety, but I wasn’t sure if there was anything more to the “pinching grain” part than the literal reading?
14 Fabric man or woman keeps in hotel safe at front (9)
PETERSHAM – SAM keeps in H, with PETER at front [man or woman (= Samuel or Samantha); hotel; safe]
16 Blooming supplier of meat and sauce (5)
OXLIP – OX and LIP [supplier of meat; sauce (= cheek)]. “Blooming” is slightly oblique for “a thing that blooms”.
17 Send Irishman over with key (5)
EMAIL – LIAM with E, all reversed [Irishman; key]
19 Culturally pretentious turn digested by a reveller (9)
PARTYGOER – ARTY GO digested by PER [culturally pretentious; turn; a]. A to mean PER (as in “five pounds a head”) has become very common in crosswords in recent years, hasn’t it? It is certainly a subtle and difficult-to-spot device.
21 Acknowledged being enrolled as member (8)
ADMITTED – double definition
22 Educational establishment’s working agreement (6)
UNISON – UNI’S ON [educational establishment’s | working]
25 Bury doctor in US abandoning Washington finally (5)
INTER – INTER{n} [doctor in US, “abandoning {washingto}N”]
26 Hanger-on in largely civilised old Communist executive (9)
POLITBURO – BUR in POLIT{e} O [hanger-on; “largely”, civilised; old]
27 Bizarre device for converting motion (9)
ECCENTRIC – double definition
If you didn’t know the second definition, as I didn’t, it’s “a disc or wheel mounted eccentrically on a revolving shaft in order to transform rotation into backward-and-forward motion, e.g. a cam in an internal combustion engine”.
28 Spirit revealed albeit briefly in French art (5)
ETHOS – THO in ES [albeit (= though) briefly; French word for art, as in thou art, tu es]
DOWN
1 Drug satisfied a politician and governor in the main resort (15)
METHAMPHETAMINE – MET + A MP and H.E. in (THE MAIN*) [“re-sort”]
HE for governor or ambassador comes up in crosswords an awful lot, and is short for His/Her Excellency.
2 Nagging woman flogged outside clubs (5)
SCOLD – SOLD outside C [flogged; clubs (suit of cards)]
3 Bring up second reminder for a saver (7)
RESCUER – RE{a}R [bring up], with S CUE [second | reminder] in place of [“for”] the “a”. An easy clue to bung in but a harder one to parse correctly!
4 Spiritual leader, one with mother in Newcastle, perhaps (4)
IMAM – I with MAM [one; mother in Newcastle, perhaps]
5 Something fishy originally marking a jolly prim teacher (10)
SCHOOLMARM – SCHOOL M{arking} A RM. Fish come in schools and an RM is a Royal Marine is a jolly, but probably not a Jolly Jack Tar it seems.
6 Generator of glossy, potentially clear source of ointment (7)
MAGNET – MAG NET O [glossy, potentially; clear; O{intment}]
7 Sibling’s declaration soldier left inside entrance to officers’ mess? (9)
IMBROGLIO – I’M BRO [sibling’s declaration] + GI [soldier] (with) L [left] inside + O{fficers}
8 Top men on a course oddly existing at the same time (15)
CONTEMPORANEOUS – (TOP MEN ON A COURSE*) [“oddly”]
13 Give away ring? One might expect to sell it (10)
SHOPKEEPER – SHOP [give away] + KEEPER [ring]
I didn’t know “keeper” as a ring but apparently it can either be a plain ring worn to preserve a hole in a pierced ear lobe, or a ring worn to keep a more valuable one on the finger. Well well!
15 Shocking start for uncle in vehicle — Greek, reportedly (9)
TRAUMATIC – U{ncle} in TRAM [vehicle] + homophone of ATTIC [Greek, “reportedly”]
18 More recent article identifying old Roman palace (7)
LATERAN – LATER AN [more recent | article]. A familiar word to enthusiasts of Rome or Popes.
20 Get kicks with zany foreign banker (7)
YANGTZE – (GET + ZANY*) [“…kicks with…”]. Banker as in “thing with banks”, a time-honoured alternative to “flower” in crossword puzzles.
23 Quiet son taking a couple of horses across America (5)
SHUSH – S taking H H across US [son; a couple of horses (= 2 x H); America]
24 Fellow caught with intoxicating liquor (4)
ALEC – C with ALE [caught; intoxicating liquor]
PETERSHAM was, just possibly, known to me once and then forgotten – at least it seemed plausible once I’d built it from its parts. TAOISEACH was known, but without the checkers and the parsing I’d have stood only a 1-in-5!/2 chance of getting all the vowels in the right order. You really do have to wonder if they knew what they were doing when they decided to spell it that way. ALEC was my LOI, because in my book ale is not an intoxicating liquor, although perhaps those with larger bladders and more patience are able to make it so.
I don’t know how to place Heyer between Tolstoy and Cartland, having never read Cartland 😉
My early impression is that this is rather silly stuff that is nonetheless very well observed, extremely well written and a joy to read.