The top half seemed easy even when some answers were unknown to me because the wordplay was kind, but I was stumped for ages by five unknowns in the lower half (two of them intersecting) and for one of these I resorted to aids. 69 minutes, though technically a DNF.
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]. “Aural wordplay” is in quotation marks. I now use a tilde sign ~ to indicate an insertion point in containment clues. I usually omit all reference to juxtaposition indicators unless there is a specific point that requires clarification.
 Across |
|
|---|---|
| 1 | Grace shown by Asian American holding line (6) |
| THALIA – THA~I (Asian) + A (American) containing [holding] L (line). In Greek mythology she is one of the three Graces. NHO or forgotten. | |
| 5 | Feast includes large French pear (8) |
| BLANQUET – B~ANQUET (feast) contains [includes] L (large). NHO. | |
| 9 | Old song track introduced by Harry (5,3) |
| HOUND DOG – HOUND (harry), DOG (track). Elvis. | |
| 10 | Former principal governor in Byzantine Empire (6) |
| EXARCH – EX (former), ARCH (principal). NHO or forgotten. |
|
| 11 | To some extent help a south Texan city (2,4) |
| EL PASO – Hidden in [to some extent] {h}ELP A SO{uth}. No problem, thanks to Marty Robbins! | |
| 12 | One with honour caught extremely immoral English fool (8) |
| IMBECILE – I (one), MBE (honour), C (caught), I{mmora}L [extremely], E (English) | |
| 14 | Neighbour of ours sadly pelted another after losing ring (3,3,6) |
| THE RED PLANET – Anagram [sadly] of PELTED AN{o}THER [after losing ring]. One of Earth’s next-door neighbours in the Solar System. | |
| 17 | PM no longer hiding Adrian Mills (6,6) |
| INDIRA GANDHI – Anagram [mills] of HIDING ADRIAN | |
| 20 | Keep isn’t commonly taken by sea (8) |
| MAINTAIN – AIN’T (isn’t commonly) contained [taken] by M~AIN (sea) | |
| 22 | Link between law and ethics is embraced by progressive characters among New World company promoters (6) |
| NOMISM – IS contained [embraced] by N{ew} + {w}O{rld} + {co}M{pany} ~ {pro}M{oters} [progressive characters 1,2,3& 4 among…]. NHO or forgotten. | |
| 23 | Warming effect of working online (2,4) |
| EL NINO – Anagram [working] of ONLINE | |
| 25 | With which you could preserve form in Oxford, say (8) |
| SHOETREE – Cryptic with reference to Oxford as a type of shoe | |
| 26 | Sign of distress surrounding British Conservative’s woeful excuse? (3,5) |
| SOB STORY – SO~S (sign of distress) containing [surrounding] B (British), then TORY (Conservative) | |
| 27 | Evil curses causing smash in Ecuador once (6) |
| SUCRES – Anagram [evil] of CURSES. NHO this as a former currency of Ecuador, nor of ‘smash’ as a slang term for ‘cash’, so I was a long time working out what was going on here. ‘Smash’ in this sense is in Chambers but not in Collins or ODE, I think. | |
| Down |
|
|---|---|
| 2 | Ring Hollywood area? Fair game (4-2) |
| HOOP-LA – HOOP (ring), LA (Hollywood area) | |
| 3 | Bygone royalist clan upset over errant tsarina (11) |
| LANCASTRIAN – Anagram [upset] of CLAN, anagram [errant] of TSARINA | |
| 4 | Stellar group from capital departs having broken a confidentiality contract (9) |
| ANDROMEDA – ROME (capital) + D (departs) contained by [having broken] A + ND~A (confidentiality contract – non-disclosure agreement) | |
| 5 | Live, endless country dance (7) |
| BEGUINE – BE (live), GUINE{a} (country) [endless]. The dance became world famous after Cole Porter wrote this song in 1935. | |
| 6 | Maple shrub, black, bitter and sour (5) |
| ACERB – ACER (maple shrub), B (black) | |
| 7 | By virtue of being queen, starts to use authority (3) |
| QUA – Q (queen), U{se} + A{uthority} [starts to…] | |
| 8 | Liberal journalist supporting Microsoft app was exceptionally good (8) |
| EXCELLED – EXCEL (Microsoft app), L (Liberal), ED (journalist) | |
| 13 | Magnetic cleaner’s current checked by brief test, maybe (11) |
| CHARISMATIC – CHAR (cleaner), IS (’s), then I (current) contained [checked] by MAT~C{h} (test, maybe – cricket) [brief] | |
| 15 | Shameful pun used randomly around party (9) |
| PUDENDOUS – Anagram [randomly] of PUN USED containing [around] DO (party). This was the answer I looked up. NHO and apparently on its first outing in the TfTT era. | |
| 16 | Sunken carving of hind (centrally), stag (mostly to the right) and lion (mostly to the left) (8) |
| INTAGLIO – {h}IN{d} [centrally], {s}TAG [mostly to the right], LIO{n} [mostly to the left]. I followed instructions and then remembered the word. | |
| 18 | Pardon me for keeping top in numerous unopened foul clothes (7) |
| AMNESTY – {n}A~STY (foul) [unopened] contains [clothes] M~E containing [keeping] N{umerous} [top] | |
| 19 | Jewish ascetic being freed of cold (6) |
| ESSENE – ESSEN{c}E (being) [freed of cold]. I was going to add this to the list of NHOs, but I see it has come up several times previously. | |
| 21 | Not quite over Oscar from the start (2,3) |
| AB OVO – ABOV{e} (over) [not quite], O (Oscar). Ditto my comment at 19dn. | |
| 24 | Doubts diffuse every so often (3) |
| IFS – {d}I{f}F{u}S{e} [every so often] | |
I wholeheartedly agree with 7dPenguin above: can’t see the point of struggling to get a word that I don’t recognise! I counted 7 NHOs in all ( and I had a mildly classical education, some 7 decades ago). Not fun, merely frustrating. Surely the Mephisto and the like are enough for those solvers?
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