Some quite tricky clues here took my solving time to 54 minutes but I was pleased to come through in the end without resorting to aids as at one time that had looked highly likely.
As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones]
| Across | |
| 1 | Was head of detectives turned? (6) |
| RANCID – RAN (was head of), CID (detectives). ‘Turned’ as in ‘turned sour’ . | |
| 5 | Put cloth cover on shivering dun horse (8) |
| ENSHROUD – Anagram [shivering] of DUN HORSE | |
| 9 | Expert not nerdy enough, ignoring repetitions of old rules? (8) |
| PROTOCOL – PRO (expert), TO{o} CO{o}L (not nerdy enough), [ignoring repetitions of old – {o}]. I think this relies on a definition of ‘nerd’ as a person regarded as socially dull, unsophisticated and awkward whereas ‘cool’ describes someone who on the contrary is assured and relaxed. | |
| 10 | Cheap Mac to acquire (6) |
| BUDGET – BUD (mac), GET (acquire). ‘Bud’ and ‘Mac’ are both U.S. slang forms of address to an unknown male. | |
| 11 | Cavalryman unwise to hold Soviet Union’s leaders back (6) |
| HUSSAR – RASH (unwise) containing [to hold] S{oviet} U{nion} [leaders] reversed [back] | |
| 12 | Trouble keeping half of common people in heating fuel (8) |
| PARAFFIN – PAIN (trouble) containing [keeping] {riff-} RAFF (common people) [half] | |
| 14 | Met objective the fuzz finally see, excited about that (12) |
| RENDEZVOUSED – ROUSED (excited) contains [about] END (objective) + {th}E + {fuz}Z [finally] + V (see) | |
| 17 | Doctor receiving sick people, collecting crowd’s spit? (12) |
| DOPPELGANGER – DR (doctor) containing [receiving] anagram [sick] of PEOPLE + GANG (crowd). The spitting image. | |
| 20 | Persuade to use unfinished rail line’s termini (8) |
| INVEIGLE – INVEIG{h} (rail – rant) [unfinished], L{in}E [termini] | |
| 22 | Sore loser’s first returning racket (6) |
| LESION – L{oser} [first], NOISE (racket) reversed [returning] | |
| 23 | Fantastic reptile with head becoming wide (6) |
| WIZARD – {l}IZARD (reptile) → WIZARD [head becoming wide – W] | |
| 25 | Something suggestive of ennui, waving with nod (8) |
| INNUENDO – Anagram [waving] of ENNUI NOD | |
| 26 | Answer in affirmative? Certainly right for me! (8) |
| YEASAYER – A (answer) contained by [in] YES (affirmative), AYE (certainly), R (right). Tricky. I was familiar with ‘yes-man / yes-woman’ and ‘naysayer’ but this one was new to me. | |
| 27 | Some like it here as one of a twosome (6) |
| EITHER – Hidden [some] in {lik}E IT HER{e} | |
| Down | |
| 2 | A major win, dispatching last couple in open court (6) |
| ATRIUM – A, TRIUM{ph} (major win) [dispatching last couple]. I rather thought the point of an atrium is that it is covered and therefore not ‘open’ but some definitions say that in Roman times it was, or could be, open to the elements. | |
| 3 | Fellow space expert having half forgotten energy debacle (11) |
| CATASTROPHE – CAT (fellow – beatnik-speak), ASTROPH{ysicist} (space expert) [half forgotten], E (energy). I wonder if having to derive a 14-letter word from a clue and then delete 7 of its letters is a Times crossword record? | |
| 4 | Perhaps GP test includes name of creed (9) |
| DOCTRINAL – DOC (perhaps GP), TRIAL (test) contains [includes] N (name) | |
| 5 | Obscure later note in financial district dishonesty (7) |
| ECLIPSE – EC (financial district), PS (later note) in LIE (dishonesty) | |
| 6 | Serious honour senior accepts (5) |
| SOBER – SR (senior) contains [accepts] OBE (honour) | |
| 7 | Clear street crossing island (3) |
| RID – RD (street) contains [crossing] I (island) | |
| 8 | Without improvement, varying sea level rises into crumbling dune (8) |
| UNEDITED – TIDE (varying sea level) reversed [rises] contained by [into] anagram [crumbling] of DUNE. The definition assumes that editing necessarily improves on the original, an idea that I imagine many journalists and reporters might have reason to argue with. | |
| 13 | Vividly colourful bug on sources of metal coin (11) |
| FLUORESCENT – FLU (bug), ORES (sources of metal), CENT (coin). I haven’t the scientific knowledge to back this up, but I don’t think of ‘fluorescent’ as necessarily being ‘vividly colourful’ and none of the usual sources mentions ‘colour’ specifically. On first reading the clue I immediately thought of ‘iridescent’ , which seems nearer to the definition, but of course it didn’t have enough letters and only the ‘-cent’ bit fitted the wordplay. Later edit: On reflection (no pun intended) this probably explains it: High-visibility clothing is clothing made of FLUORESCENT material with added reflective tape or shapes. The sun’s ultraviolet rays react with the fluorescent colours to make them appear to ‘glow’ increasing daytime visibility. The effect is stronger in poor light conditions such as in fog or towards dusk. | |
| 15 | Unofficial law enforcer has criminal given tail (9) |
| VIGILANTE – Anagram [criminal] of GIVEN TAIL | |
| 16 | Agree to make up Spanish hero Quixote’s ending (8) |
| COINCIDE – COIN (make up – word/expression), CID (Spanish hero), {Quixot}E [ending]. I wrote this in 2008 and reproduce it here to save time: … spent time wondering about ‘cid’. Of course I know El Cid, but I had always understood it mean ‘The Lord’ and Wiki confirms this. COED and Collins are silent on the matter but Chambers lists ‘cid’ in its own right meaning ‘chief, captain or hero’ in Spanish. | |
| 18 | Workshop more recently losing roof? (7) |
| ATELIER – {l}ATELIER (more recently) [losing roof]. I can find no evidence that ‘latelier’ actually exists, but of course ‘lately’ meaning ‘recently’ does so I assume the setter is having a bit of fun with wordplay here and the question mark is intended to indicate this. | |
| 19 | Female working, about to deliver hot dish (6) |
| FONDUE – F (female), ON (working) DUE (about to) | |
| 21 | Yard excavation turns frivolous (5) |
| GIDDY – YD (yard) + DIG (excavation) reversed [turns] | |
| 24 | Notices cause of cuts on the radio (3) |
| ADS – ADS sounds like [on the radio] “adze” (cause of cuts – a sort of axe) | |
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