Times 27,113: Return To Pender

Your roving blogger is writing this from a beautiful forested peak on Pender, one of the Gulf Islands lying somewhere between Victoria and Vancouver (whither he will be travelling by ferry early tomorrow morning). Excessive holidaymaking has resulted in his being very much off the boil, so there would be no impressive time to report here even if he *wasn’t* still gazing in complete bafflement at 26ac and wondering what the cryptic of that is all about.

It was all rather jolly though, thanks for which to the setter – COD to 20ac for the nice play on “Fiat” – and I only hope I will be able to get back up to cryptic speed again in time for November. Additionally! I think I may actually be flying next Thursday evening and Friday morning – would anyone be able to take over my blogging duty in a week’s time? Very happy to swap for a different blog the following week… or just take a week off after my long and arduous holiday!

ACROSS
1 Fine letting on quietly (8)
PLEASING – LEASING [letting] on P [quietly]

9 Journey round old trailers along the way (8)
ROADSIDE – RIDE [journey] round O ADS [old | trailers]

10 Scraped a result worse than an F (6)
GRATED – a result worse than an F is G-RATED (I think)

11 High society leading couple away from sink with constant decay (5,5)
UPPER CRUST – {sc}UPPER [“leading couple away from” sink] with C RUST [constant | decay]

12 Work with a large gem (4)
OPAL – OP [work] with A L [a | large]

13 Sign of maturity? Comparatively less lustrous nous (4,6)
GREY MATTER – GREY [sign of maturity] + MATT-ER [comparatively less lustrous]

16 Sibling with problem returning shoes (7)
BROGANS – BRO [sibling] with reversed SNAG [problem “returning”]

17 What constitutes danger, when exploding close to one? (7)
GRENADE – (DANGER*) [“when exploding”] + {on}E, &lit

20 Fiat for the time being desire nice motoring (6,4)
DECREE NISI – (DESIRE NICE*) [“motoring”]

22 With Conservative ousted, pack in facility (4)
EASE – {c}EASE [“with C ousted”, pack in]

23 Hype needing a thorough looking at, we hear (10)
PROPAGANDA – homophone of PROPER GANDER [thorough looking at, “we hear”]

25 Can former nurse let go? (6)
LOOSEN – LOO SEN [can | former nurse]

26 Courses in which you’ll get soup in some otherwise unhelpful places? (8)
STARTERS – a starter is definitely the course of a meal in which one is most likely to get soup. Ashamed to say I haven’t worked out the second half of the clue at all… but I’m not going to worry too much, I am on holiday!

27 Briefs look carefully at couples (8)
SCANTIES – SCAN TIES [look carefully at | couples]

DOWN
2 Mess about with branch in flower (8)
LARKSPUR – LARK [mess about] with SPUR [branch]

3 Realtors go crazy for expert on houses (10)
ASTROLOGER – (REALTORS GO*) [“crazy”]

4 Favour clue ending in anagram (10)
INDULGENCE – (CLUE ENDING*) [“in anagram”]

5 Grand drunk getting excited (7)
GRIPPED – G RIPPED [grand | drunk]

6 Just one entering distant expo (4)
FAIR – I [just one] entering FAR [distant]. Or possibly a double definition sandwiching some wordplay in the middle…

7 High time embracing Greek character’s dance (6)
MINUET – (TIME*) [“high”] “embracing” NU [Greek character]

8 Scripture lesson books to deliver without regular charge (4-4)
RENT-FREE – R.E. NT FREE [scripture lesson | New Testament = books | to deliver]

14 Notes ruin, mother’s ruin, a mounting trouble (10)
MARGINALIA – MAR GIN A [ruin | mother’s ruin | a] + AIL reversed [“mounting” trouble]

15 Guide once to extend by several inches (10)
TENDERFOOT – TENDER [to extend] by FOOT [several (12) inches]

16 City growth — a blight (8)
BUDAPEST – BUD A PEST [growth | a | blight]

18 Separate record and notes (8)
DISCRETE – DISC [record] + RE TE [(two) notes]

19 Liberal turning to name in stupid testimony (7)
WITNESS – L [Liberal] turning to N [name] in WITLESS [stupid]

21 What’s sung in church examination? (6)
CHORAL – CH ORAL [church | examination]

24 Delight in single entry (4)
GLEE – hidden in {sin}GLE E{entry}