Live solve can be viewed at https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1469702285, starting at the 9 minute mark.
Definitions underlined, (ABC)* indicating anagram of ABC, {} deletions and [] other indicators.
Across
1 Victor, struggling with pesky rent, being this? (7-8)
POVERTY-STRICKEN – (VICTOR + PESKY RENT*), semi-&lit
9 Boast about French XI, first in Europe for a time (6,3)
BRONZE AGE – BRAG about ONZE, + E{urope}
10 A party with sailors on deck (5)
ADORN – A DO with the R.N. [Royal Navy] on the end
11 Seafood requisitions taking months, not days (6)
ORMERS – OR{d->M}ERS
12 Better without clothing for race, one would agree? (8)
STREAKER – STAKER [one that stakes, lays bets], “without” R{ac}E, semi-&lit
13 Need large one before retiring (6)
ENTAIL – L I ANTE [large | one | before] reversed, except not. Can anyone see a better parsing?
15 Overused, of dubious merit now (8)
TIMEWORN – (MERIT NOW*)
18 Replace spades, having finished with machinery (8)
SUPPLANT – S(pades) + UP [finished] + PLANT [machinery]
19 A cuff you weren’t expecting? (4-2)
TURN-UP – Double def, as in a trouser cuff and “a turn-up for the books”
21 I get browned off, swamped by stories and dull speeches (8)
LITANIES – I TAN, “swamped” by LIES
23 Image from bible with A-rating (6)
AVATAR – A.V. [Authorized Version] + A + TAR [rating, as in nautical type]
26 Spirit primarily cordial in houses backing onto one another (5)
HOOCH – C{ordial} in HO(use) + (esu)OH
27 Sharp right turns in front of entrance (9)
TRENCHANT – reversed RT “in front of” ENCHANT [entrance]
28 Where St Vincent, seeing snake, protected people, keeping lives secure (8,7)
WINDWARD ISLANDS – WIND [snake] + WARDS “keeping” IS LAND [lives | secure]
Down
1 One having turned up barman at first tolerated? (3,4)
PUB BORE – reversed UP + B{arman} + BORE [tolerated], semi-&lit
2 Engine’s sound and very secure on ascent (5)
VROOM – V(ery) + reversed MOOR [secure]
3 For auditors, generate an invoice in the form of a flyer (9)
RAZORBILL – homophone of RAISE A BILL, in non-rhotic climes
4 What can appear long until just before November? (4)
YEAR – YEAR{n} [long, stopping before the N(ovember), semi-&lit
5 Chinese city’s restriction on books leading to offence (8)
TIENTSIN – TIE on N.T. [New Testament] leading to SIN [offence]
6 One judge is up in arms (5)
IRATE – I RATE [one | judge]
7 A bargain in pink and blue (9)
KNOCKDOWN – KNOCK [pink, as in engine noise] + DOWN [blue, as in sad]
8 Few like such garments merely to be the first for wearing? (7)
NONIRON – okay so this is one of the most convoluted clues I can remember. If you take FEW, and make it NON-IRON, you subtract the chemical symbol for iron (Fe) and are left with merely W, the “first” for W{earing}. But exactly what the resultant surface is intended to mean, I’m not sure I can tell you!
14 Pour tea to start: I must have mine to drink! (3,2,4)
TIP IT DOWN – T{ea} + I + PIT [mine] + DOWN [drink, as in “down in one”]
16 Match involving four old clubs is undecided (9)
EQUIVOCAL – EQUAL [match] “involving” IV O(ld) C(lubs)
17 One coming before performances to record shows (8)
ANCESTOR – hidden in {perform}ANCES TO R{ecord}
18 Jump in fare after auction ends early (7)
SALCHOW – CHOW [fare, as in food] after SAL{e}. A jump named for Swedish figure skater (and world champion in 1909) Ulrich Salchow, and not to be confused with the Norwegian Axel or the Austrian Lutz.
20 They’d ruin sea trip? (7)
PIRATES – (SEA TRIP*), semi-&lit
22 Be able to broadcast under any conditions? (5)
NOHOW – homophone of KNOW HOW
24 Sequence to work out (5)
TRAIN – double def
25 French day centre’s abandoned by Order of the Republic? (4)
JEDI – JE{u}DI. q.v. “Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic”, the video game
I noticed that Verlaine was parsing fully as he went. My 45 minutes was rather longer than his — how does he manage to be in no rush at all yet still get it done in a time that is completely outside my zone?
Edited at 2022-04-29 10:42 am (UTC)
Ah well, enjoyed the puzzle anyway. Not convinced about pub bore. It fits but how does that fitthe whole clue?Liked the tricky poverty stricken but COD was nohow.
Thx setter and blogger.
NONIRON might have been convoluted but the idea behind it was good.
For some reason, I know of ORMERS but would be guessing if I told you what they look like.
No probs with the ENTAIL clue — must have been fixed by the time I got to it.
NOHOW — only place I’ve ever heard of this is in the lyric of Sister Sledge’s ‘Lost In Music’…:
“I won’t give up my music
Not me, not now, no way, no how”
….where I guess it means the same as ‘under any conditions’.
A fun challenge, even with the problems others have noted.
FOI Irate
LOI Salchow
COD Tip it down
I live close enough to Manchester to know that outsiders believe that it will TIP IT DOWN 200+ days per year, but I always found it wetter when I was exiled to the West Midlands.
FOI BRONZE AGE
LOI NONIRON (nonparsed)
COD STREAKER
TIME 12:46