Times Crossword 25,403, 20 February 2013

Solving Time: About 15 minutes, a little faster than average for a blogging day. There are one or two tricky clues, but otherwise I don't think there is much to detain the quicker solver for long. That isn't a criticism - the crossword was a very respectable effort, and a bit of a relief after some recent ones, including the last one I blogged.
Very unusually for a Times crossword, there are no proper nouns at all, and no reference to cricket either!


cd = cryptic definition, dd = double definition, rev = reversed, anagrams are *(--), homophones indicated in ""

ODO means the Oxford Dictionaries Online

Across
1	mannered - male = M + ANNE + RED
5	captor - officer = CAPT(ain) + OR, other ranks
8	sow - S(H)OW
9	supplicant - current = I + Conservative in to replace = SUPPLANT
10	ideogram - fish = IDE + move = GO rev., + RAM (= Aries)
11	patois - PA + TO + I + S
12	need - captured = NE(TT)ED
14	watertight - not hard to work out why!
17	cross-refer - annoyed = CROSS + spliff = RE(E)FER
20	gall - GALL(OWS)
23	impact - devil = IMP + ACT
24	streamer - queen = R in STEAMER
25	aftershave - *(SAVE FATHER)
26	nun - "NONE"
27	barege - as an illustration = EG in unadorned = BARE. One of the trickier clues simply because barege is an uncommon word. A wool fabric named after a village in the Pyrenees, Bareges, where it was first made. I've been there. Like most ski resorts it's a total dump in the summer, in an otherwise lovely area
28	initiate - I + NIT (= egg) + I ATE
Down
1	messianic - a reference to Olivier Messiaen, ie MESSIA(E)N + IC(E) = reserve
2	nowhere - NOW HERE, in (the middle of) nowhere
3	ensign - hidden, seek & ye shall find..
4	esplanade - *(SEAPLANE + DEPARTS)
5	clipper - dd
6	plaything - story acted on stage = PLAY + *(NIGHT) - a very neat clue
7	ostrich - (M)OST RICH
13	dismantle - *(LENS + ADMIT)
15	eyestrain - looks at = EYES + TRAIN
16	tolerance - *(CLEAR TONE)
18	rum baba - dance = RUMBA + BA = degree
19	retiree - on = RE + TIREE, one of the flatter Hebridean islands.
21	ammonia - bullets = AMMO + Need Introducing Apace
22	defect - a dd, to defect as in Burgess or Maclean, and defect as in fault. A tricky clue, with little help from the crossing letters, and my last one in.