Times 26,126

Morning, all. I solved this when I got in late last night, but felt too tired to stay up and blog it. That means I can now see how my overnight time compared to others as an indicator of relative difficulty; and the scores on the doors suggest I was on the right wavelength, still on the first page and comfortably inside my arbitrary daily target of 2 Magoos.

The bottom row of the grid suggests a message to someone who's celebrating today, perhaps aimed at the person named at 1ac; surely not also a 5ac? I suspect that will remain the setter's secret. Anyway, this was a decent and occasionally testing puzzle, completed in just over 15 minutes.

Across
1	DELYTH - hidden in wiDELY THought. And straight away we get the clue which seemed to give most trouble, based on comments on the Times site; the wordplay is pretty clear, and I was helped by knowing the name existed (there is a BBC sports reporter called Delyth Lloyd, who I hear regularly on 5 Live, so I appear to have had an advantage over at least some solvers); however, I didn't understand the "pretty" and had to look it up to discover that is simply what the name means, so it's the Welsh equivalent of being called, say, Belle.
5	PROPOSAL - PROP (the rugby forward), (ALSO)*.
9	STILLEST - STILL(=however) + (SET)*.
10	TOLEDO - L.E.D.(=red light) inside TOO(=as well). I wasn't sure why "red" particularly, other than for the suggestive surface, of course; I guess we have to read it as a light that can be red...but may be other colours, so it's a bit loose linguistically and scientifically.
11	ANNO DOMINI - AN NOD(=agreement), O{ld} MINI. "What gradually gets you over the hill" is a pleasingly oblique way of clueing definition #2 of ANNO DOMINI as given in ODO, that is "advancing age".
13	RIND - RID(=clear) around {transmissio}N; the sort of crackling one finds on a joint of pork. Some people go mad for it, but I find a little goes a long way. See also: pork scratchings.
14	CITY - C{old) + fIlThY. Sounds rather unpleasant on the surface, as opposed to the City of Bath, which is very elegant.
15	BUTTERMILK - BUT(=all the same), TERM(=name), ILK(=variety).
18	INFLATABLE - IN(=wearing) FLAT(=uniform) ABLE(=fit).
20	FLAX ="FLAK'S".
21	WHIM - W{ife} + HIM.
23	LE MOT JUSTE - [M.O.T.(the annual test of one's car's roadworthiness), JUST(=only)] inside LEE(=shelter).
25	FIGARO - FOR(=because)A GIFT(=a present); reversed i.e. "returned" gives TFIGAROF; "unwrapped" to make FIGARO, hero of plays by Beaumarchais, but probably best known for the Rossini and Mozart operas based on them.
26	LET IT RIP - LET(=hindrance), 1 TRIP(=false step).
28	BIRTHDAY - BAY(=opening) contains (THIRD)*.
29	WISHES - W.I. is the Women's Institute, + SHE'S.
Down
2	EXTENSION - an EXTENSION on your house would need planning permission; and playfully, if one was relaxed, one's tension would be an EX-TENSION, it would have ceased to be.
3	YELLOWY - LOW(=rather unhappy) in {aviar}Y, ELY(episcopal see which leaps to mind in Crosswordland whenever the word "see" appears).
4	HUE - HUGE minus G{ood}.
5	PUTTI - "little boys not dressed" i.e. the naked cherubs beloved of Renaissance painters; PUTT="green strike" in the golfing world +1.
6	OUTSIDE LEFT - OUTSIDE(=slim, as in "an outside chance") LEFT(="was willing" i.e. handed over as an inheritance).
7	OIL DRUM - (LOUDIMR{ight})*; another playful definition in "contents could be crude".
8	ADD-ON - AD(=promotion) DON(=academic).
12	ORBITAL ROAD - (ORATORADLIB)*; another word for a ring-road.
16	TUB - TUB{e} or TUB{a), as one can blow into either equally easily.
17	LEASTWISE - L{iberal) on top of EAST(whence the Magi came) and WISE(which is what they were). This all sounds a bit Blackadder: three things ye must know about the Wise Men...
19	LAMBAST - LAMB(=meat) AS(=resembling) T{ripe}. The two meanings of "pan" used to good effect.
20	FAUSTUS - FA(=note), [T{rained} in U.S., U.S.].
22	HAITI - H{aving} A{n} I{nteresting} T{ime} I{n}.
24	MALAY - M.A. LAY(i.e. "wouldn't stand").
27	TOW - O.T.(Old Testament) reversed, {Matthe}W.