Fun and quirky puzzle, pitched a bit on the trickier side, with a nice Nina to boot.
A couple of obscurities for me (at 9ac and 3d), but they were generously enough clued. I clocked in at 8:46, a couple of minutes slower than yesterday, and then spent longer than I should have looking for the Nina that Juno can generally be relied on to hide in the grid (see below).
Most enjoyable without the Nina, but enhanced with it – many thanks to Juno!
| Across | |
| 1 | Rank figure, American (6) |
| STATUS – STAT (figure) US (American) | |
| 5 | Bizarrely, lets us fight (6) |
| TUSSLE – anagram (bizarrely) of LETS US | |
| 8 | Misses alarm, perhaps, as crackpot pens lies (6,2) |
| SLEEPS IN – anagram (crackpot) of PENS LIES | |
| 9 | Wickedness by day in old Indian province (4) |
| SIND – SIN (wickedness) by D(ay). Had to trust the wordplay for this one. | |
| 10 | Lack of success oddly feasible (4) |
| FAIL – “oddly” F e A s I b L e | |
| 11 | American at home with English princess by noon (8) |
| INDIANAN – IN (at home) with DIANA (English princess) by N(oon) | |
| 13 | Stake placed between poles in French port (6) |
| NANTES – ANTE (stake) between N and S (poles) | |
| 16 | SI units recalled in some universal settings (6) |
| TESLAS – “recalled in some” univerSAL SETtings | |
| 18 | Smith, for example, to endure celebrity (4,4) |
| LAST NAME – LAST (endure) NAME (celebrity) | |
| 21 | A film’s ending in French: Let It Be? (4) |
| AMEN – A, M (filM‘s “ending”) EN (in, French) | |
| 23 | Fix guys drinks at the start (4) |
| MEND – MEN (guys) D (Drinks “at the start”) | |
| 24 | Person assigned ne’er does badly (8) |
| ENDORSEE – anagram (badly) of NEER DOES | |
| 25 | Notice socialist fume (3,3) |
| SEE RED – SEE (notice) RED (socialist) | |
| 26 | Overnight flight the fault of photographer? (3-3) |
| RED-EYE – double definition | |
| Down | |
| 2 | Time left in America — in Oklahoma City (5) |
| TULSA – T(ime) L(eft) in USA (America) | |
| 3 | Felt hat must be arranged for horse racing (3,4) |
| THE FLAT – anagram (must be arranged) of FELT HAT. News to me. | |
| 4 | Some oasis siesta for weaklings! (7) |
| SISSIES – “some” of oaSIS SIESta | |
| 5 | Edward possesses leg with firm muscles perhaps (5) |
| TONED – TED (Edward) possesses ON (on side = leg side in cricket) | |
| 6 | Name for Russian band: ace! (5) |
| SASHA – SASH (band) A(ce) | |
| 7 | An earl I troubled for old script (6,1) |
| LINEAR A – anagram (troubled) of AN EARL I | |
| 12 | In charge of energy reserve (3) |
| ICE – IC = In Charge, E(nergy) | |
| 14 | In place of learning, rotter’s in A&E with me! (7) |
| ACADEME – CAD (rotter) is in A and E, with ME. Looks like my fellow Thursday blogger has been cosying up to Juno (aka the crossword editor) in A&E for some scoundrelly reason. | |
| 15 | A long time: no point reflecting (3) |
| EON – NO E (East = point) “reflecting” | |
| 16 | Someone with book perhaps following close to street walker (7) |
| TREADER – READER (someone with book perhaps) following T (“close” to streeT) | |
| 17 | Small auto, crimson, permanently marked (7) |
| SCARRED – S(mall) CAR (auto) RED (crimson) | |
| 19 | Maybe Henry VIII’s part you tried to discover last of all (5) |
| TUDOR – parT yoU trieD tO discoveR “last of all” | |
| 20 | Leading article by teacher (5) |
| AHEAD – A (article) by HEAD (teacher) | |
| 22 | Each day before run, start to yawn (5) |
| EVERY – EVE (day before) R(un) Y (“start” to Yawn) | |
Nina: the last three letters of every across clue (bar 10ac) form the first three letters of the next across clue. A lovely idea, impressively delivered. My only query is that we jump from sIND to INDianan: is there any significance to the skipped-over word being FAIL?!
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