Times 28,247: ✂✪❥❿➹➰❡

Okay this was sufficiently Fridaylicious for me – remorsely pangrammatic and with multiple clues pulling no particular punches on the difficulty level front. 11ac got me my in and I was soon being led by the setter up up the garden path: progress was steady but it felt like you had to work for your supper, for sure.

I very much enjoyed 21ac and 20dn but felt somewhat fretful hitting the submit button about a number of difficultish words clued with some quite murky wordplay: 4dn, 22ac and my LOI 16dn (if you’d asked me what a WAIT-A-BIT was yesterday, I think it might have been a while before I hit on “a plant”, although at least we didn’t have to find WAG-‘N-BIETJIE as I think was actually required by a Monthly Club Special some months back). Still all panned out okay so my thumbs, I’ve just checked, are up. Thank you setter, Łódź of fun!

Definitions underlined, (ABC)* indicating anagram of ABC, {} deletions and [] other indicators.

Across
1 Brief article largely altered in album (9)
THUMBNAIL – TH{e} [article, largely] + (IN ALBUM*)
6 Gangland boss potentially runs book when fighter boxes (2,3)
MR BIG – R(uns) B(ook), “boxed” by MiG
9 Liqueur recalled: first rate, rich — a tip for dinner! (7)
RATAFIA – reverse all of: A1, FAT, A {dinne}R
10 Idiot contributing to never-ending battle (7)
DINGBAT – hidden in {never-en}DING BAT{tle}
11 Wonderful hawk circling wide (5)
SWELL – SELL [hawk] “circling” W(ide). FOI
12 Nobody in particular serving American general (3,6)
JOE PUBLIC – JOE [serving American, as in GI Joe] + PUBLIC [general]
13 Highlands dish given to the French (8)
PLATEAUX – PLATE [dish] given AUX [to the, in French]
14 Facts somewhat overturned (4)
DATA – reversed A TAD
17 Unknown party left doing U-turn in E European city (4)
LODZ – Z DO L(eft), all reversed. Actually spelt Łódź in Polish and pronounced something like “wootch”, so a missed opportunity for the dodgiest homophone clue ever really
18 Queen opening museum: horse gallery (8)
VERANDAH – E.R. “opening” V AND A + H(orse)
21 First signs of near miss might indicate such a small distance (9)
NANOMETRE – first resolve “first signs of near miss” to nm, and then recall that this is the abbreviation for a nanometre
22 Hat not right for combined forces doing tour? (5)
TOQUE – I think this TO{r}QUE losing its R: torque being a system of forces tending to cause rotation, so if you squint and consider “tour” to mean “going around”?
24 Old explorer not about to drop hamper (7)
SHACKLE – Topical clue: this is Ernest SHACKLE{ton} of Endurance fame, losing reversed NOT
25 Soap bars perhaps made from best tallow? Not half (7)
TABLETS – (BEST TAL{low}*)
26 Out of a relationship, one side being hurt (5)
ACHED – {unatt}ACHED, just the right side
27 Herald in front getting keepsake (9)
FORETOKEN – FORE getting TOKEN
Down
1 Tramps begin cycling? (5)
TARTS – START, cycling the first letter round to last position
2 Apprehend thug at ground where the gullible may venture? (2,3,6,4)
UP THE GARDEN PATH – (APPREHEND THUG AT*)
3 Happened to turn up a month before woman has done likewise (8)
BEFALLEN – reverse A FEB before reversed NELL
4 50 per cent of diaries, a hit when put on screen (4-4)
ABAT-JOUR – JOUR{nals}, A BAT put on that
5 Where girl may go, boy almost stops (6)
LADIES – LA{d} DIES
6 Feature parent outside hospital department (6)
MENTUM – MUM outside ENT. Take this unusual word on the chin
7 UN squabbled about splitting bill for cheap fare? (6,3,6)
BUBBLE AND SQUEAK – (UN SQUABBLED*), “splitting” BEAK [bill]
8 Barge in cut transporting lost crate (9)
GATECRASH – GASH “transporting” (CRATE*)
13 Pacific group turn on Paisley (9)
POLYNESIA – (ON PAISLEY*)
15 Try stopping animal hater (8)
DETESTER – TEST “stopping” DEER
16 Reason to include major road loop for plant (4-1-3)
WAIT-A-BIT – WIT “including” A1 + TAB [loop]. This was my LOI as I don’t really associate tabs and loops but I looked it up and it’s right there, one of the main definitions of tab, a loop for hanging something up by, well I never.
19 Small donkey died and reeked (6)
SMOKED – S(mall) MOKE D(ied)
20 Object emphatically struck ledge after repeatedly losing height (6)
ITSELF – {h}IT S{h}ELF
23 City in Europe being overlooked by church (5)
ESSEN – ESSEN{ce} [being], “overlooking” CE