Another Friday puzzle that seemed less hard than the Thursday puzzle preceding it, though all things are relative and there were certainly a few clues that I could imagine people having a hard time with (the gloriously classical 2dn, for a start, and 19dn which was a DNK). I finished, using pen and paper, in just over 6 minutes, but since at this point I can't remember the last time I didn't make one typo or silly brainstorm let me try and work out where I would have gone wrong if I'd been doing this under club timer conditions: probably 25ac, where I was been sorely tempted to enter POPE (a churchwarden and a half if ever there was one).
As I say, I wouldn't be surprised if there was some grumbling over 2dn, a phrase which I must confess I only knew from a misspent youth reading Asterix books (didn't it crop up in Asterix the Legionary?). And then secondarily I disappeared down a rabbit hole of trying to calculate how many of the Argonauts could possibly have hailed from Attica - though since Theseus was one of their number, and few could be more Attic than he, I decided the clue definitely passed muster. Nice to see the good Titus as 10ac, which was a bit spooky having been confronted by the POPISH PLOT only yesterday, and given the fact that I went to see a pleasurably horrible staging of Titus Andronicus in Wimbledon last night.
COD-wise 3dn stood out to me as concisely ingenious, but I also liked the unassuming 1dn, just a simple but beautifully turned clue from a setter who very obviously knows what he's (I think I got a tip off that he was a he?) doing. For which this tired and tested Friday blogger's great thanks!
| Across |
| 1 | WEATHERMAN - (NEE{d} ["mostly"] WARM HAT*) ["in a storm"], semi-&lit |
| 6 | TRAP - carriage: {ex}TRA P{assengers} "fit in" |
| 10 | OATES - conspirator (Titus, fabricator of the Popish Plot!): "hiding regularly among" {r}O{w}A{n} T{r}E{e}S |
| 11 | FORTNIGHT - several days: O.R. [soldiers] + T{ake}N ["disheartened"] into FIGHT [battle] |
| 12 | ACHILLES TENDON - part of leg: ILLEST [most painful] in A C HENDON [a | cold | part of north London] |
| 14 | REAR END - behind: END [goal] after {d}REAR [boring "header's disallowed"] |
| 15 | SILICON - used to make chips: homophone of SILLY [daft-"sounding"] + CON [fool] |
| 17 | CUTTING - double def: hurtful / piece from newspaper |
| 19 | FIGMENT - fancy: G-MEN [US investigators] wearing FIT [suit] |
| 20 | INCONVENIENCES - troubles: IN CONVENIENCES [among | ladies and gents] |
| 23 | GLASSWARE - schooners: LASS WAR [miss | fighting] "aboard" EG "retreating" |
| 24 | SLACK - coal: L [left] in SACK [appropriate container (for coal)] |
| 25 | PIPE - maybe churchwarden: PI P.E. [religious | lesson in school] |
| 26 | BEER GARDEN - one could get bitter here: reverse of AGREE [match "over"] between BR DEN [Britain and Denmark] |
| Down |
| 1 | WOOD - maybe deal: D{rugs} ["principally"] behind WOO [court] |
| 2 | ATTIC SALT - wit: an "Attic salt" could be an ancient Greek sailor... i.e. an Argonaut |
| 3 | HOSTILE WITNESS - one hates hearing: (I WHISTLE STONES*) ["medley"] |
| 4 | RAFFLED - offered as prize in draw: R.A.F. FLED [servicemen | took flight] |
| 5 | ARRESTS - checks: "what's included in" {f}AR{e} "before" RESTS [holidays] |
| 7 | RAGED - was fuming: RAG ED [scrap material | journalist] |
| 8 | PUT AN END TO - squash: (PEANUT* + DON'T*) ["assortment", "supply"] |
| 9 | INTELLIGENTSIA - thinkers: IN [during] + homophone of TELLY [TV "broadcast"] + GENT'S [fellow's] + reverse of A1 ["upset" top] |
| 13 | CRACKING UP - breaking down: in CUP [competition], reverse of CAR [vehicle "overturns"] + KING [champion] |
| 16 | CLEVELAND - Democrat leader once (Grover): CLEVE{r} [able "to shake off Republican"] + LAND [win] |
| 18 | GRENADE - explosive: DANE [European] in ERG [work unit] all reversed ["picked up"] |
| 19 | FRISEUR - hairdresser: FRIS{k} ["endlessly" search] + reverse of RUE ["back" street in Paris] |
| 21 | CHAMP - much: C HAM [cold | meat] + P{ickle} ["for starters"] |
| 22 | SKIN - film: S [son] with KIN [family] |