Times 27,539: Quoth The Ravens (and Parrot)

Any difficult in here would have come from its very pleasurable artsy flavour – we always enjoy books of the Bible, if only because of the opportunities for ribbing keriothe they afford, but also herein we meet Barbara Hepworth, the Bronte sisters, the work of JK Rowling, Alban Berg and a raven from the pages of Barnaby Rudge. Scientists cannot grumble too much due to the addition of both Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and the rather nice chemically-inspired clue at 20dn.

FOI 1ac, 9ac, 10ac, 11ac, in about the same time it took me to type those numbers just now, LOI 13dn into 23ac – both nicely misleading cryptic constructions there. My COD though is awarded to the simple elegance of 7dn.

One or two stars out of 5 for difficult, but perhaps at least two for GK requirements. We haven’t had any puzzle that I think could qualify as a stinker since the Saturday of Champs, but December is meant to be a relaxing month after all. So this all suits me just fine!

ACROSSLOI
1 Quiet increasingly embarrassed evidence destroyer? (8)
SHREDDER – SH REDDER [quiet | increasingly embarrassed]

9 Chill excessively, remaining calm (8)
OVERCOOL – OVER COOL [remaining | calm]

10 Superficially misleading issue cop sorted out (8)
SPECIOUS – (ISSUE COP*) [“sorted out”]

11 Lie with gusto outrageously? One might (8)
EULOGIST – (LIE + GUSTO*) [“outrageously”], semi-&lit

12 Calmly put new pen in carrier (10)
TRANQUILLY – N QUILL [new | pen] in TRAY [carrier]

14 Book unknown during long period of history (4)
EZRA – Z [unknown] during ERA [long period of history]

15 Supposed bird’s denying exclamation after hours in Poe (7)
PHOENIX – NIX! [denying exclamation] after H [hours] in POE

17 Biologist’s need to include sheep that’s brought back (7)
LAMARCK – LACK [need], to include reversed RAM [sheep]

21 Some crocodiles over in pool (4)
LIDO – hidden reversed in {croc}ODIL{es}

22 The Three Broomsticks pub in Hertfordshire town (7,3)
POTTERS BAR – double deffed with Harry’s local in the JK Rowling series

23 Charlie’s married after single mistake (8)
SOLECISM – C IS M [Charlie’s married] after SOLE [single]

25 Picked up uniform getting highly promoted? (8)
UPRAISED – U + PRAISED [uniform | highly promoted]

26 What helps one work out the tongue-tied Bronte? (8)
DUMBBELL – DUMB [tongue-tied] + BELL [as in Acton, Ellis and Currer Bell, the Bronte sisters’ pen names]

27 Current PM returned agreement for freedom (8)
IMPUNITY – I [current] + reversed PM + UNITY [freedom]

DOWN
2 Artist of very fashionable merit (8)
HEPWORTH – HEP WORTH [very fashionable | merit]

3 Trade in obsolete coins? (8)
EXCHANGE – or EX-CHANGE [obsolete | coins]

4 Downfall of party over ending of Thatcherism (4)
DOOM – DO O [party | over] + {thatcheris}M

5 Parrot sprang completely upwards (7)
ROSELLA – ROSE [sprang] + reversed ALL [completely]

6 Son gets upset belly with fruit when it’s past its best? (4-2,4)
SELL-BY-DATE – S [son] + (BELLY*) [“upset”] + DATE [fruit], semi-demi-&lit

7 Gun with zero plastic (8)
HOWITZER – (WITH ZERO*) [“plastic”]

8 Boring group made to assemble at home (4-4)
FLAT-PACK – or FLAT PACK [boring | group]

13 University representative broadcast in sound (10)
UNIMPAIRED – UNI MP AIRED [university | representative | broadcast]

15 One unhappy to be kept inside light fence (8)
PALISADE – I SAD [one | unhappy] to be kept inside PALE [light]

16 Female in metallic fabric, but not good for ex? (3,5)
OLD FLAME – F [female] in {g}OLD LAME [metallic fabric]

18 Faust Brian put together without leading notes, like Berg? (8)
AUSTRIAN – {f}AUST {b}RIAN

19 Cat spoiled with bream and seafood (8)
CRABMEAT – (CAT + BREAM*) [“spoiled”]

20 What will encourage change for litmus? Iodine (7)
STIMULI – (LITMUS + I*) [“change”]

24 Complain when Poe’s end’s lost literary raven (4)
GRIP – GRIP{e} [complain, minus {po}E]. The blabbermouth raven in Dicken’s Barnaby Rudge.