Times 27,389: Snow White And The Seven No Trumps

ACROSS
1 From an ancient city, goddess cut in bronze (6)
THEBAN – HEB{e} in TAN. FOI for this aging classicist.

5 Brilliant being fed starter in restaurant, taste somewhat pungent (8)
GARLICKY – GAY [brilliant] being “fed” R{estaurant} + LICK. Good definition, 50 years on from Stonewall!

9 Period is reviewed in military post (8)
PRESIDIO – (PERIOD IS*) [“reviewed”]

10 Tool male found in jacket (6)
GIMLET – M found in GILET

11 Equally smart twins, females replacing leading names? (5-5)
FIFTY-FIFTY – NIFTY [smart], twinned, with F’s replacing leading N’s

13 In recital, follow story (4)
TALE – homophone of TAIL

14 Structure that floats a lot (4)
RAFT – double def

15 What Mary had, briefly, put about singular bridge building feat (6,4)
LITTLE SLAM – LITTLE LAM{b} put about S. That’s Bridge the card game, of course.

18 Important fresh arguments should be backed: the reader’s old-fashioned! (10)
NEWSWORTHY – NEW [fresh] + reversed ROWS + THY [the reader (of this clue)’s, in old-fashioned language]. LOI.

20 Night light activated after flash (4)
MOON – ON [activated] after MO [flash]

21 Moulding I reversed, ending on mantelpiece (4)
OGEE – EGO [I] reversed, + {mantelpiec}E

23 Come to pass with tennis stroke in advance (10)
BEFOREHAND – BE [come to pass] with FOREHAND

25 Irregular racket skill returning (6)
CONTRA – CON [racket] + reversed ART

26 Mobilising in the war, start to be ineffective (4,4)
WEAR THIN – (IN THE WAR*) [“mobilising”]

28 Judge rose, as excited to imprison Nazis (8)
ASSESSOR – (ROSE AS*) [“excited”], to “imprisons” SS

29 African flower colour (6)
ORANGE – double def. The Orange is the longest river in Lesotho, but features significantly in South African parts too. I’m sure I won’t be the only person who started off with VIOLET in here…

DOWN
2 Beginning to regret entering the game, I pathetically retreat (9)
HERMITAGE – R{egret} “entering” (THE GAME I*) [“pathetically”]

3 Singer smashed it, nailing opening of hymn (4,3)
BUSH TIT – BUST IT, “nailing” H{ymn}

4 Gesture with which mood becomes low? (3)
NOD – MOOD with NO D becomes MOO = low

5 Turn and leave (2,3)
GO OFF – double def

6 Person settling school fees arguably holding learner back, perhaps? (5,6)
RUGBY PLAYER – RUGBY PAYER [person settling school fees… “arguably”], holding L

7 One’s crossing northern China — and lags (7)
INMATES – I’S “crossing” N MATE

8 Ring Dickensian character put through the ear? (5)
KNELL – homophone of The Old Curiosity Shop’s Little NELL

12 Energetic — after vegetarian meal? (4,2,5)
FULL OF BEANS – literal-metaphorical cryptic def

16 Short child (3)
TOT – double def

17 A skip in middle of night filled up (9)
ABOUNDING – A BOUND IN {ni}G{ht}

19 Heading for parliament in secret, maltreated royal staff (7)
SCEPTRE – P{arliament} in (SECRET*) [“maltreated”]. I bet there’s more than one gaunt SPECTRE on the royal staff, but manfully resisted the urge to enter this.

20 Panama, say, toured by parent, venerable soul (7)
MAHATMA – HAT [Panama, say] “toured by” MAMA

22 Earn exclamation of disgust (5)
GROSS – double def

24 If confidence low, the Exchequer ultimately produces not so many (5)
FEWER – {i}F {confidenc}E {lo}W {th}E {excheque}R. According to my dictionary, FEWER is an obsolete word meaning “less”.

27 Trouble ahead over harbours (3)
ADO – hidden in {ahe}AD O{ver}