Probably though tiredness I got myself stuck on this one early on and nodded off briefly so I have no solving time to offer, but on resumption it all fell into place fairly easily.
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 | Suitably clad doctor saying nothing (6) |
| DUMBLY – MB (doctor) contained [clad] by DULY (suitably) | |
| 4 | Bureaux and top-rank clubs invested in bottled spirits? (8) |
| AGENCIES – A (top-rank), then C (clubs) contained by [invested in] GENIES (bottled spirits – e.g. ‘letting the genie out of the bottle’). | |
| 10 | Sailor included in total recovering from attack? (3,3,5) |
| OUT AND ABOUT – AB (sailor) contained by [included in] OUT AND OUT (total). After being laid up with an attack of the lurgy one might soon recover enough to get ‘out and about’. | |
| 11 | Feminine counterpart of stag party, bride’s last (3) |
| DOE – DO (party), {brid}E [last]. A deer, a female deer… | |
| 12 | Glimpse errand boy’s narrow escape? (7) |
| SEEPAGE – SEE (glimpse), PAGE (errand boy) | |
| 14 | Female with band having an edge (7) |
| FRINGED – F (female), RINGED (with band). This came readily to mind as ‘fringeless’ was the subject of some discussion here last week. | |
| 15 | Economic system I represent, perhaps? (4,10) |
| FREE ENTERPRISE – A self-referencing clue with I REPRESENT as anagrist leading to ENTERPRISE and ‘free’ as anagrind in the answer. | |
| 17 | What’s cooking? Silly rhetorical question unruly tots ignored (6,8) |
| QUICHE LORRAINE – Anagram [silly] of RHE{to}RICAL QUE{st}ION with the component letters of TOTS in unspecified order [unruly] omitted [ignored] | |
| 21 | Circlet with tiny casing that delights me (7) |
| WHOOPEE – WEE (tiny) containing [casing] HOOP (circlet) | |
| 22 | Person with little boats oddly banned by port (4-3) |
| HAVE-NOT – HAVEN (port), {b}O{a}T{s} [oddly banned] | |
| 23 | Letter from the Balkans, far from neutral (3) |
| PHI – PH 1 (far from neutral – PH 7) | |
| 24 | Top tennis sites where there’s likely to be action (5,6) |
| CROWN COURTS – CROWN (top), COURTS (tennis sites). Whatever the weather has in store for us there should be no lack of action on Court Number One at Wimbledon this year thanks to the new retractable roof. | |
| 26 | Privacy I lost, due to reform (8) |
| SOLITUDE – Anagram [reform] of I LOST DUE | |
| 27 | Following shot, retreat’s ordered (6) |
| BIDDEN – BID (shot), DEN (retreat) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Delivers sweets no longer on the menu (5,3) |
| DROPS OFF – DROPS (sweets: acid-, fruit- etc), OFF (no longer on the menu) | |
| 2 | What martial arts trainer needs for beginners? (3) |
| MAT – First letters [beginners] of M{artial}, A{rts}, T{rainer} | |
| 3 | Descent made by majority at end of rope (7) |
| LINEAGE – LINE (rope), AGE (majority). ‘Majority’ is the state of being of full age. | |
| 5 | Ultimate sale bargain apparently worthless (4-3-7) |
| GOOD-FOR-NOTHING – Getting ‘goods for nothing’ would be a bargain, but I don’t think ‘good’ can be used in the singular in the context of this wordplay. | |
| 6 | Increasingly unbalanced cask carried up bank (7) |
| NUTTIER – TUN (cask) reversed [carried up], TIER (bank). ‘Tun’ meaning a beer barrel appears (or used to) in the name of many a pub e.g. The Three Tuns; The One Tun, etc. | |
| 7 | Is dieting on crackers its cause? (11) |
| INDIGESTION – Anagram [crackers] of IS DIETING ON | |
| 8 | Customary small drink drained daily (6) |
| STEADY – S (small), TEA (drink), D{ail}Y [drained] | |
| 9 | Preserve support after biblical queen briefly deposed king (5,3,6) |
| JAMES THE SECOND – JAM (preserve), ESTHE{r} (biblical queen) [briefly], SECOND (support). Deposed in the Glorous Revolution of 1688 and replaced by Williamanmary aka The Orange. ‘Esther’ has her own book of the Bible and was also the eponymous subject of the very first English oratorio, composed by Handel in 1718. | |
| 13 | Legal appointee’s administrator leading seminar: not the first time (11) |
| EXECUTORIAL – EXEC (administrator), {t}UTORIAL (seminar) [not the first time – T] | |
| 16 | Mole, tailed, sits atop ditch (8) |
| JETTISON – JETT{y} (mole) [tailed], IS ON (sits atop). ‘Groyne’ yesterday, ‘jetty’ and ‘mole’ today! | |
| 18 | Highly imitative journalism, spiteful type (7) |
| COPYCAT – COPY (journalism), CAT (spiteful type) | |
| 19 | Extra violin part you might have at La Scala? (7) |
| RAVIOLI – Hidden in [part] {ext}RA VIOLI{n} | |
| 20 | Makes off with socks (6) |
| SWIPES – Two meanings | |
| 25 | Imperial measure that most anglers use (3) |
| ROD – Two meanings. Perhaps a missed opportunity to work in ‘perch’ here as a third definition. | |
An unusually unsuccessful week with this one being the third puzzle that brought about an error. Stumbled on that PSI, not spending enough time in working out why it wouldn’t parse properly. A pity because when I saw the explanation for PHI, was able to recall a similar word play for it. Time-wise, it took just over a half hour in a single sitting to complete the grid, it clearly needed longer.
A lot of other interesting clues to unravel and particularly liked working out the long down / across clues with King JAMES being the best of those. Still couldn’t imagine eating RAVIOLI at La Scala.