Clues are blue, with definitions underlined. Answers are in BOLD CAPS, followed by the wordplay. (ABC*) means ‘anagram of ABC’, with the anagram indicator in bold italics. Deletions are in {curly brackets}.
Across
1 Machine shifting granite and tin once (8,6)
TRACTION ENGINE: (GRANITE TIN ONCE*).
9 I’m four foot one (9)
QUADRUPED: clever cryptic definition: “I am [a] four-foot[ed] [creature]”. Nothing to do with a length of 4’1″.
10 Run in unaccompanied, turning sign on (5)
ENROL: R for run, in LONE backwards.
11 Horse following flag of country (5)
IRISH: IRIS (a common flag in crosswords), then H for horse.
12 A Squire and Prioress entertaining old writer, perhaps (5,4)
AGENT NOUN: A GENT (squire), then NUN holding O (old). A grammar term unknown to me but self-explanatory, so “writer” is no doubt an example.
13 Apprehension before further cut backs for physicist (8)
ÅNGSTRÖM: ANGST (apprehension), then MOR{e} backwards. I assume we spell the physicist with the accents, but the angstrom unit, named after him, doesn’t need them. (0.1 nanometres, if you wondered! I suppose I knew that once.)
15 It sounds like dollar will collapse (6)
BUCKLE: sounds like “BUCK’LL”.
17 Extremely unusual to neglect going round last month (6)
ULTIMO: U{nusua}L, then OMIT backwards.
19 Saw a professional sacrificing rook against the grandmaster (8)
APOTHEGM: A P{r}O THE G.M. Now there’s a beautiful word, of which I’d not heard! Luckily it’s clear from the wordplay.
22 Upright piano used in reel composed with tuba (9)
REPUTABLE: (P REEL TUBA*).
23 Your escorts posed for Playboy? (5)
SATYR: SAT (posed), Y{ou}R (“escorts” meaning outside letters).
24 Root weeds out (5)
SWEDE: (WEEDS*). I seem to recall previous discussions about the different regional names for this root vegetable.
25 Luxurious Titanic: vessel crossing boundless seas (9)
EPICUREAN: EPIC (titanic), URN (vessel) around {s}EA{s}.
26 To understand online system, regularly tell ’em to just go for it (5,3,6)
GRASP THE NETTLE: GRASP (understand), THE NET (online system), then alternate letters of TeLl ‘Em.
Down
1 Nurse with qualities combining spirit and something softer? (7,7)
TEQUILA SUNRISE: (NURSE QUALITIES*).
2 Pop group half-heartedly perform their material? It’s humiliating (7)
ABASING: AB{b}A, the half-hearted Swedish group, SING{ing}. “Thank you for the music”!
3 Burn chunk of peat or charcoal (5)
TORCH: hidden in (“chunk of”) peaT OR CHarcoal.
4 Central point made as Oxford’s foremost politician glowers over disciples? (8)
OMPHALOS: O is “Oxford’s” foremost, MP is our politician, HALOS are glowers. Luckily, a friend vaguely knew the word. Not easy to get from wordplay alone!
Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omphalos) says: An omphalos is a religious stone artefact. In Ancient Greek, the word means “navel”. In Greek lore, Zeus sent two eagles across the world to meet at its centre, the “navel” of the world. Omphalos stones marking the centre were erected in several places about the Mediterranean Sea; the most famous of those was at Delphi. Omphalos is also the name of the stone given to Cronus. In the ancient world of the Mediterranean, it was a powerful religious symbol. Omphalos Syndrome refers to the belief that a place of geopolitical power and currency is the most important place in the world.
5 Journalist stopped working and followed revolutionary movement (6)
EDDIED: ED (journalist), DIED (stopped working).
6 Relative drawn welcoming queen to lunch, perhaps (5-4)
GREAT AUNT: GAUNT (drawn) “welcoming” R (queen) and EAT (to lunch, perhaps).
7 Eastern area connected to Turkey? (7)
NORFOLK: a place in the east of England. Apparently a reference to the black turkey, also known as the Norfolk turkey, of which I’d not heard.
8 Fruit named in honour of Churchill and Clementine? (8,6)
BLENHEIM ORANGE: Blenheim palace, home of the Churchills. Clementine was wife of Winston, but that’s probably just a red herring – we’re looking for a fruit, of which I’d also not heard. (It’s all Greek to me!)
14 Siren: one working without security lock (9)
TEMPTRESS: TEMP (one working without security), TRESS (lock of hair).
16 Pop upset delicate stomach (8)
APPETITE: PA backwards, then PETITE.
18 Good hearing goes after Beethoven’s fourth opus — or fifth? (3,4)
TOP GEAR: T is the fourth letter of “Beethoven”, OP (opus), G (good), EAR (hearing). Some cars have five gears.
20 Petition that doctors threaten, saving hospital (7)
ENTREAT: (T-REATEN*), omitting H for hospital.
21 A son restricted by talent for daydreaming (6)
ABSENT: A BENT (talent), around S (son).
23 Just over half of white wine in French dish (5)
SAUTE: from SAUTE{rnes}. ETA (an acronym I’ve just learnt from Verlaine!): The clue works equally well if you use the alternative spelling of “Sauterne” rather than “Sauternes”. ETA2: further research suggests “Sauternes” is the French wine, “Sauterne” is Californian. Oenophiles may well elaborate!
I did like TEQUILA SUNRISE. I thought that was a well-disguised anagram.
Had I spelled QUADRUPED correctly, I would have been a happy bunny!
Martinp1 above has nailed the turkey reference. For many years Bernard Matthews himself used to feature in advertisements for his Norfolk turkeys, always ending with his catch-phrase “Bootiful!”. In the early Noughties the company went through some trying times after the TV celebrity chef, Jamie Oliver, launched a campaign to stop Matthews’ “Turkey Twizzlers” being offered on school dinner menus. Later, after Matthews died, the company was sold off but still survives. “Twizzlers” were killed off in 2005 but you can now buy “Turkey Dinosaurs” which may be a healthier option or just a means of marketing a similar product after the previous line became toxic.
Edited at 2018-05-12 05:19 am (UTC)
But then came the Chaucerian 12a which stumped me. Despite my years of professional study of English grammar, I could not even catch a whiff of AGENT NOUN for “writer, perhaps”. While boltonwanderer was measuring Sodium D Lines, I was sitting in English Language classes parsing sentences and flicking rubber bands at the spotty nerd in the front row, but I’m sure we never did agent nouns. Only gerunds and subordinating conjunctions.
Thanks for sorting this out, brnchn.
COD 1d Tequila Sunrise.
Edited at 2018-05-12 11:40 am (UTC)
It did not help that my English language teaching was woeful and I had never heard of Agent Noun (we did parsing in Latin as I recall);however managed to get it from the clue.
I was defeated by 4d. The word “over” in the clue suggested a reversal and I could not make any sense of it. I got the OMPH but not the rest. My wife ,a former nurse, knew the word. I was also defeated by Saute. The best I could get was SAUCE. I thought Saute was an adjective and did not know of the noun. Also got the unknown Blenheim Orange. David
Never heard of an AGENT NOUN at 12ac Neither has my Chambers! I was looking in vain for a Nigerian writer.
DNK 8dn APOTHEGM (a Greek adage?) thus the apple was my major failure.
FOI 3dn TORCH
COD 1dn TEQUILA SUNRISE
WOD 13ac ANGSTROM the Swedish Goalie from c. 1935
Why was 8ac QUADRUPED so difficalt to spell!?
Edited at 2018-05-12 03:55 pm (UTC)
Edited at 2018-05-12 04:46 pm (UTC)