Times 25449 - It's a Scott, but not a Scot

Solving time: 45 rather distracted minutes

Music: None, the playoff at The Masters






Due to the events at Augusta, I tackled this puzzle with only half my attention. Fortunately, it proved to be another rather easy Monday puzzle, and I was able to recover from several casual guesses that I might not have put in normally. No, 1 across is not 'picnic'.

Quite a few of my answers went in from the literals and the enumerations. However, I checked each one against the cryptic before proceeding, which prevented me from putting in wrong answers and getting thoroughly stuck like I usually do. So I came out all right in the end, under the circumstances.

Across
1	PECTIN, hidden in [ex]PECTIN[ing]. A fine misdirection clue, considering that the setter is usually either the author of the puzzle, or a dog.
4	BESEECH, BE(S[ilenc]E)ECH. One from the literal.
9	LOADS, double definition. 'Charges' means 'loads' in various senses, starting with what the no-load mutual fund doesn't have. I wasn't too sure about 'bags', but finally decided that 'loads' = 'lots' = 'bags', as in 'he has bags of money', but a full set of luggage might be used for a more physical sort of 'bags'.
10	EARNESTLY, E(ARNE)STLY, i.e. an anagram of STYLE. I thought for a long time I was looking for a composer until I realized no one fit the crossing letters.
11	SALAD DAYS, SA(ALADD[in]AYS. We just had 'salad cream' last week, so I was ready for this.
12	THERE, THE(R[esistance])E
13	OAST, O + AS + [ken]T.
14	Omitted, a chestnut, ask if puzzled.
18	FALSE TEETH, anagram of AS THE FLEET. Given away by the literal and enumeration.
20	STIR, double definition, where 'nick' = 'stir' = 'gaol' . There were a lot of possibilities before the crossing letters narrowed them down.
23	CHIEF, C(HIE)F, where FC is 'Football Club' backwards.
24	CROWS FEET, anagram of SCOT + FEWER. I had put in 'brown spot' after seeing Scot and thinking no further, but decided that wouldn't do because the former PM is still around.
25	APOCRYPHA, anagram of APPROACH + [librar]Y. 'Books' is always 'OT' or 'NT', so it's time we hit the middle.
26	ARENA, ARE(N)A, where the pole is the N Pole.
27	PITCH IN, PITCH + IN. I should have seen this right away and didn't.
28	BLITHE, BLIT[z] + HE. 'Blithe' is often used to mean 'unconcerned', but that is not its root meaning, rather like 'selig' became 'silly' in English.
Down
1	POLISH OFF, POLISH + OFF in different senses. A bit of a chestnut, since the Polish/polish pair is often used.
2	CHARLES, CH + ARLES. A very smooth surface.
3	INSIDE, double defintion, where 'serving porridge' refers to a spell in prison. We've had quite a bit of this term lately in both the Times and the Guardian puzzles.
4	BARTS, BAR + T[ube]S. A bit of London knowledge required here.
5	SPECTATE, SPEC[k] + TATE.
6	EXTREME, EX([pos]T)REME. The Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers strike again!
7	HOYLE, HO([Bingle]Y)LE. My first in, I followed contemporary astronomy and big-bang cosmology as a boy 50 years ago.
8	DE LA MARE, MALE upside down in DARE. How many authors fit this enumeration? I could only think of this one.
15	NOT SO BAD, BOSTON upside down over A D[emocrat]. Another one where the enumeration is helpful.
16	MARAT-SADE, anagram of STAR MADE A. I had to think a bit to crack this one.
17	Omitted, should be obvious from the crossers.
19	LAID OUT, L(AID)OUT. Another giveaway from the literal and enumeration.
21	THEREAT, TH(ERE)AT. I was rather surprised to see this with 12 across already in.
22	ASSAIL, A S SAIL. I had to guess the last component, but you could look it up: "A royal is a small sail flown immediately above the top-gallant on square rigged sailing ships"
23	CHAMP, CHA(M[ichael]P.
24	CAPON, CAPO + N. Not the kind of godfather I was expecting, but you never know.