Times 27,863: Seafood Diet

Happy New Year! 2021 gets off to a gentle start with this five-minuter (from where I was sitting) – probably best not to risk anything too challenging when people are nursing their hangovers from Hogmanay. I enjoyed the salty sea-creature-y flavour throughout but my favourite clue was probably 26ac for having found persimmon in imprisonment; honourable mention to 18dn, which raises the intriguing possibility that the Times setters could submit pictures of their lockdown manes to us to be judged, Am I Hot Or Not? style. Thanks fetchingly hirsute setter, and as for the rest of you, how’s your year going so far?

ACROSS
1 Vigorously hearty drinking by rugby players (12)
BACKSLAPPING – LAPPING, by BACKS

8 Negotiator in better condition importing goods (7)
HAGGLER – HALER, “importing” G(ood) G(ood). FOI

9 Criminal’s partner from America caught a slug? (7)
MOLLUSC – MOLL US C [criminal’s partner | from America | caught]

11 Strength enlivens pirouettes lacking in energy (7)
STAMINA – reversed ANIMAT{e}S

12 Duck stores protein regularly in type of feather (7)
TERTIAL – TEAL “stores” {p}R{o}T{e}I{n}

13 Fateful date: the 6th of August, to be specific (2,3)
ID EST – IDES + {augus}T

14 Miss Roman cutting short boring appeal (9)
SIGNORINA – IGNORIN{g} “boring” S.A.

16 Side with marks, ripe bananas showing surface (9)
EPIDERMIS – (SIDE + M + RIPE*)

19 Lover ultimately may be represented thus? (5)
ROMEO – the last letter of lover is R, which is Romeo in the phonetic alphabet

21 Old restaurant keeping cold fish out (7)
EXTRACT – EX TRAT “keeping” C

23 Fabled island, not island with a city, abroad (7)
ATLANTA – ATLANT{is} with A. For some definitions of “abroad”

24 Eric leaving spice and cooking ingredient in chaos (7)
TURMOIL – TURM{eric} + OIL

25 Terror regarding painting technique (7)
IMPASTO – IMP [(little) terror] AS TO

26 Diced persimmon in new tin getting put in can (12)
IMPRISONMENT – (PERSIMMON*) in (TIN*)

DOWN
1 Pride, perhaps, in a relegation six-pointer? (3,4)
BIG GAME – double def: lions, or something mystifying to do with crucial sportsball fixtures

2 In Paris, it’s wrapping bad back for player (7)
CELLIST – C’EST “wrapping” reversed ILL

3 A grass runs wild, problem growth in the main (9)
SARGASSUM – (A GRASS*) + SUM. Initially I thought the problem was an SOS

4 University supporting case of assisted grant (5)
ADMIT – MIT [university, though some readers may vociferously disagree], supporting A{ssiste}D

5 Capital of China — Rome, strangely? (7)
PALERMO – PAL + (ERMO*). Capital of Sicily

6 Around Uist’s edge, catch isle’s sea creatures (7)
NAUTILI – around U{is}T, NAIL I

7 One’s wearing simple pieces, time for dressing down? (12)
CHASTISEMENT – I’S “wearing” CHASTE, + MEN, + T

10 Protocol laboratories will show fellow worker (12)
COLLABORATOR – hidden in {proto}COL LABORATOR{ies}

15 Development, say, around transport hub (9)
GESTATION – reversed E.G. + STATION

17 When schools are open, including one for acting? (7)
INTERIM – IN TERM, “including” I

18 With hair swept back, Times compilers’ charm (7)
ENAMOUR – reversed MANE + OUR

19 Run, pass and turn poorly again (7)
RELAPSE – R ELAPSE

20 Rubbish I send, filling empty Microsoft Outlook (7)
MINDSET – (I SEND*) “filling” M{icrosof}T. LOI

22 Relations picked up tea and other drinks (5)
TALES – T as a homophone of TEA, + ALES