Times Quick Cryptic 1806 by Breadman with a bishy barnabee

7 minutes for a very enjoyable and quick cryptic. The NW was my only hold up – the rest were in by a remarkable 4-5 minutes. LOI was the long anagram at 3dn where I wasn’t thinking of a name for far too long. I rather liked the proximity and similarity of 20 and 22ac and had a pang at 19dn. COD 7dn.

ACROSS

1. Scrounger‘s location beyond usual area (8)
PARASITE – location (SITE) after usual (PAR) and area (A).
5. Notice difficulty (4)
SPOT – double definition. I’m not sure about the second – can one say ‘I’m in a difficulty’?
8. Legendary knight‘s weapon, an item for auction (8)
LANCELOT – weapon (LANCE), item for auction (LOT). Aptly named legendary knight.
9. Police force heading west, and east, take great risks (4)
DICE – police force – CID – heading west/backwards (DIC), east (E).
11. Oriental cutlery stays on cut of meat (10)
CHOPSTICKS – stays (STICKS) on cuts of meat (CHOPS).
14. Relocated in same French city (6)
AMIENS – anagram (relocated) of IN SAME.
15. Rubber tyres a repairman partly rejected (6)
ERASER – some of the clue (partly) and backwards (rejected) – ty(RES A RE)pairman.
17. Colour of banana, next to sink, is a warning sign (6,4)
YELLOW FLAG – colour of banana (YELLOW) next to sink (FLAG). The yellow naval signal flag for Q flown with a second one to indicate there is disease aboard. Also chucked onto the pitch by American football referees to indicate foul play.
20. Couple one encountered upon return (4)
ITEM – one (I), encountered – met – upon return (TEM).
21. Friend with ideas altered fence of stakes (8)
PALISADE – friend (PAL) with an anagram (altered) of IDEAS.
22. Attorney outside of the court (4)
DATE – attorney (DA), outside of (T)h(E).
23. Magnificent rowing team picked up famous wine (5,3)
GRAND CRU – magnificent (GRAND), homophone (picked up) of rowing team – crew.

DOWN

1. European‘s quiet word of approval (4)
POLE – quiet (P), word of approval (OLE!).
2. Phoned and spoke (4)
RUNG – double definition.
3. Railway engineer sent phones for repair (10)
STEPHENSON – anagram (for repair) of SENT PHONES.
4. Back street containing inferior soldiers (6)
TROOPS – street backwards (TS) containing inferior (POOR).
6. Royal person in car initially surrounded by media (8)
PRINCESS – in (IN) and (C)ar surrounded by media (PRESS).
7. Briefly handle certain wealth stored up (8)
TREASURE – briefly handle (TREA)t, certain (SURE). Excellent definition disguised as directional instructions.
10. Fast celebrity on holiday, missing California (10)
STARVATION – celebrity (STAR) on top of holiday (VA)ca(TION) – missing California (CA).
12. Woman, with time in prison, spotted beetle (8)
LADYBIRD – woman (LADY) with time in prison (BIRD). These are known as bishy barnabees where I was dragged up (yep, we’re an odd bunch). Where the term came from is unclear. It was possibly named after Bishop Bonner – a 16th century rector of East Dereham, or Bishop Barnaby from the Fens. The connection may have been with the red cloaks worn by Catholic Bishops. The term ladybird may derive from Our Lady, the Virgin Mary who, apparently, was thought to wear a red coat and the seven spots on the ladybird represent the seven joys and sorrows embroidered on that coat.
13. The Italian reclines in street – most stupid (8)
SILLIEST – ‘the’ in Italian (IL), reclines (LIES) inside street (ST). I thought for a moment that IL was backwards but then reclines=lies became clear.
16. A pair of females ventilate business (6)
AFFAIR – a (A), pair of females (FF), ventilate (AIR).
18. Type of brandy Republican kept in raincoat (4)
MARC – Republican (R) kept inside raincoat (MAC). A brandy distilled from grape residue.
19. List of dishes chaps start to upgrade (4)
MENU – chaps (MEN), (U)pgrade. Anyone else had a dream about white linen tablecloths and food being brought to the table? Maybe just me then (I don’t, at the moment, get out much – lunchtime takeaway soups in the freezing cold are, just about, pulling me through).