A variety of factors collided to make it impossible for me to do the blog the fancy way, so we must go cast our minds back ten years to the days you had to have the crossword in front of you when you went to the blog.
Sorry about the inconvenience (it will take me longer too), but think of it like taking a ride in a taxi with not a gadget in sight, just relying on the driver’s acumen. 17:25
ACROSS
1 SQUARE-BASHING SQUARE (fuddy-duddy) BASHING (showing aggression to)
8 CRIB abb. of CRIBBAGE
9 ABSTRUSELY ABS +SE in TRULY
10 INVASION V in IN (fashionable) A SION (Swiss town)
11 WARBLE R&B in WALE(s)
13 OFF-PUTTING if you are about to play a shot on the green, you will be off putting. Yes, not brilliant, but there it lies. ON EDIT: thanks to galspray: what we have is definition ‘disconcerting,’ obtained by having a PUTT (‘shot on green’ in [the] OFFING (‘imminent’). So, brilliant, after all!
14 ERNE hidden bird
17 VEIN sounds like ‘vain’
18 CREDENTIAL anagram* of LAD IN CRETE
20 EDICTS (pr)EDICTS; bulls as in papal pronouncements
22 ATROCITY C IT in A TROY
24 JANITORIAL sounds like ‘Janet Oriel’
26 RAIL liar reversed
27 ARGUMENTATION GREAT MAN OUT IN*
DOWN
1 SPRINGFIELD name of a place in Mass. and a riff on dear old Dusty Springfield
2 UMBRA U MB RA
3 REALISTIC ALI in REST IC
4 BASENJI BASE (bed) NJ I(napt)
5 SHREW SHREW(d)
6 INSURGENT IN (hip, fashionable) S (final letter of kneeS) URGENT (needing speedy action)
7 GEL leg reversed
12 LANCASTRIAN RASCAL AT INN*
14 PANICKING PA NICKING
15 GUERRILLA GU(ys) ERR (slip up) ILL (badly) A
19 ELATION E (English) O (initial letter of Oundle, a school in Northamptonshire) in LATIN ( old language)
21 STORM STORMONT (Ulster castle) minus its O (old) and NT (books)
23 CORGI R (king) in COGITATE minus its TATE gallery
25 ADA A DA (district attorney)
15.29. As expected, there are some very quick times today.
10:53. Wow. COD to the superb OFF-PUTTING. I’m going to have a stiff whisky to get over the shock.
Near personal best — 8’56” — wrecked by a misprint! Grrrr. IBSURGENT.
A very easy 26 minutes, a real Mondayish Monday at last. But most of it was also a bit boring, with a few exceptions.
Thought I was getting that much better at these things until I came here and saw how it was a walk in the park for most, not just me! FOI SQUARE BASHING, which augered well, and the danglers from that proved simple enough, apart from poor old Dusty, who I managed to forget just when I needed her most. Spent ages looking for a suitable synonym for dusty. D’oh!
But finishing the rest in quick time resolved that , apart from 9a, where I’d sloppily put in ABSTRACTLY ( thinking tract and directions were vaguely related). Then while I was off doing other chores, started ruminating about the word ABSTRUSELY and how I could clue it (!!) I’m often my own worst enemy when it comes to these things, in not listening to my first instinct. I had a shrug at Argumentation,; an ugly word, but moved on. Much enjoyed a puzzle more at my level than most, especially OFF-PUTTING.