It's possible that not every word in a Times puzzle is carefully chosen in advance to be enormously topical on the date of publication, but I couldn't help but see this one as a sly dig against a man about to usher in a new era of 6dn. Surely the seventh column refers to the amount of spin that was required to make this candidate look viable, and the ninth to the likely result of investigation into Russian involvement in the election, while the eleventh constitutes a sad valediction to the former incumbent of the role. Meanwhile the ninth row pretty clearly references the new C-in-C's qualities; on the bright side the seventh row is a pretty unambiguous prophecy of how long we will have to put up with him...
Beyond that I thought this was a very good crossword in which nothing was *too* abstruse but which was littered by speedbumps that forced one to slow down and commit proper thought to the problem. I very much liked the two meta-clues at 30ac and 19dn, and was even more taken by what I thought were some really clever instances of logodaedal misdirection: for instance I was sure that 28ac was going to be a word for "dealer" inside a word for "cross" (something in ROOD?); in 2dn there could not be a clearer anagrind (or so I thought) than "jiggling around"; and my LOI, 10ac, held me back from hitting the submit button until a whisker before the 10 minute mark just because I had been so convinced for the entire puzzle that it was going to be a homophone. Congratulations to the setter then on his achievement. Making Crosswords Great Again!
Across
1 Return of loud and corpulent little man is concerning women (7)
DISTAFF - F FAT SID reversed ["return of" loud | corpulent | little man]
5 Act as judge when there's problem at a higher level (3,2)
SUM UP - SUM [problem] + UP [at a higher level]
9 Feature of mountain visible in fair weather off and on (5)
ARETE - {f}A{i}R {w}E{a}T{h}E{r} ["off and on"]
10 Philosophers said to be in the clouds (9)
MORALISTS - ORAL [said] in MISTS [clouds]
11 Sultan's wickedness, imprisoning a boy (7)
SALADIN - SIN [wickedness] imprisoning A LAD [a boy]
12 Certain to follow fashion that's very different from dreadlocks! (7)
TONSURE - SURE [certain] to follow TON [fashion]
13 Crocodile becoming this would double in length (6,4)
SINGLE FILE - cryptic def - we are not talking about the reptile, but the pairs of schoolchildren holding hands
15 Measure of heat needed in the absence of hot period (4)
TERM - T{h}ERM [measure of heat], absent H [hot]
18 Nerve in narrow part of body (4)
NECK - double def
20 Play informally a feature in this seminar (4,6)
MESS AROUND - {thi}S SEM{inar} has MESS "around" in it
23 Bird featured in decorations (7)
BUNTING - double def
24 Area's cultivated to accommodate very good shrub (7)
SPIRAEA - (AREA'S*) ["cultivated"] accommodating PI [very good]
25 Customer expecting protection bellowed endlessly in Herts town (9)
WARRANTEE - RANTE{d} [bellowed "endlessly"] in WARE [Herts town]
26 Old boy about to get Palace's recognition? That's sweet (5)
BOMBE - O.B. reversed [old boy "about"] + OBE [Palace's recognition]
27 Right person to give support in meeting (5)
RALLY - R ALLY [right | person to give support]
28 Cross, taken in by dealer? The reverse — not bothered (7)
RELAXED - X [cross] taken in by DEALER, reversed
Down
1 Keep talking about sport — crushing bore? (5,2)
DWELL ON - DON [sport (as in "wear")] crushing WELL [bore]
2 Unexpected delay — sit without jiggling around (8)
STEADILY - (DELAY SIT*) ["unexpected"]
3 Persuasive chaps maybe getting maiden to enter a place of vice? (5)
ADMEN - M [maiden] to enter A DEN [a place of vice]
4 Swiss hero entering wood mostly sees ahead (9)
FORETELLS - TELL [Swiss hero William] entering FORES{t} [wood "mostly"]
5 Athenian statesman with good parting words (2,4)
SO LONG - SOLON [Athenian statesman] with G [good]
6 One's right to get cross about bad governance (7)
MISRULE - I'S R [one's | right] to get MULE [cross] about
7 Former drug mixture (5)
PASTE - PAST E [former | drug]
8 Old-fashioned member of the family dies (6,2)
PASSES ON - PASSE SON [old-fashioned | member of the family]
14 Soldier, about to get aboard that ship (9)
FREIGHTER - FIGHTER [soldier], RE [about] "to get on board that"
16 Broadcasters and the press, group that’s upset referees (8)
MEDIATES - MEDIA [broadcasters and the press] + SET [group], er, upset
17 Intellectual support given to receiver of emails (8)
BRAINBOX - BRA [support] given to INBOX [receiver of emails]
19 Important as he is to them (7)
CENTRAL - "he" is CENTRAL to {t}HE{m}
21 Peacekeepers dream about what they want combatants to become? (7)
UNARMED - UN [peacekeepers] + (DREAM*) ["about"]
22 Series of prayers fired up some (6)
LITANY - LIT ANY [fired up | some]
23 Hat that's not got left in country cottage (5)
BOWER - BOW{l}ER, that's not got L [left] in
24 About time, authorise bargain (5)
STEAL - about T [time], SEAL [authorise]
Beyond that I thought this was a very good crossword in which nothing was *too* abstruse but which was littered by speedbumps that forced one to slow down and commit proper thought to the problem. I very much liked the two meta-clues at 30ac and 19dn, and was even more taken by what I thought were some really clever instances of logodaedal misdirection: for instance I was sure that 28ac was going to be a word for "dealer" inside a word for "cross" (something in ROOD?); in 2dn there could not be a clearer anagrind (or so I thought) than "jiggling around"; and my LOI, 10ac, held me back from hitting the submit button until a whisker before the 10 minute mark just because I had been so convinced for the entire puzzle that it was going to be a homophone. Congratulations to the setter then on his achievement. Making Crosswords Great Again!
Across
1 Return of loud and corpulent little man is concerning women (7)
DISTAFF - F FAT SID reversed ["return of" loud | corpulent | little man]
5 Act as judge when there's problem at a higher level (3,2)
SUM UP - SUM [problem] + UP [at a higher level]
9 Feature of mountain visible in fair weather off and on (5)
ARETE - {f}A{i}R {w}E{a}T{h}E{r} ["off and on"]
10 Philosophers said to be in the clouds (9)
MORALISTS - ORAL [said] in MISTS [clouds]
11 Sultan's wickedness, imprisoning a boy (7)
SALADIN - SIN [wickedness] imprisoning A LAD [a boy]
12 Certain to follow fashion that's very different from dreadlocks! (7)
TONSURE - SURE [certain] to follow TON [fashion]
13 Crocodile becoming this would double in length (6,4)
SINGLE FILE - cryptic def - we are not talking about the reptile, but the pairs of schoolchildren holding hands
15 Measure of heat needed in the absence of hot period (4)
TERM - T{h}ERM [measure of heat], absent H [hot]
18 Nerve in narrow part of body (4)
NECK - double def
20 Play informally a feature in this seminar (4,6)
MESS AROUND - {thi}S SEM{inar} has MESS "around" in it
23 Bird featured in decorations (7)
BUNTING - double def
24 Area's cultivated to accommodate very good shrub (7)
SPIRAEA - (AREA'S*) ["cultivated"] accommodating PI [very good]
25 Customer expecting protection bellowed endlessly in Herts town (9)
WARRANTEE - RANTE{d} [bellowed "endlessly"] in WARE [Herts town]
26 Old boy about to get Palace's recognition? That's sweet (5)
BOMBE - O.B. reversed [old boy "about"] + OBE [Palace's recognition]
27 Right person to give support in meeting (5)
RALLY - R ALLY [right | person to give support]
28 Cross, taken in by dealer? The reverse — not bothered (7)
RELAXED - X [cross] taken in by DEALER, reversed
Down
1 Keep talking about sport — crushing bore? (5,2)
DWELL ON - DON [sport (as in "wear")] crushing WELL [bore]
2 Unexpected delay — sit without jiggling around (8)
STEADILY - (DELAY SIT*) ["unexpected"]
3 Persuasive chaps maybe getting maiden to enter a place of vice? (5)
ADMEN - M [maiden] to enter A DEN [a place of vice]
4 Swiss hero entering wood mostly sees ahead (9)
FORETELLS - TELL [Swiss hero William] entering FORES{t} [wood "mostly"]
5 Athenian statesman with good parting words (2,4)
SO LONG - SOLON [Athenian statesman] with G [good]
6 One's right to get cross about bad governance (7)
MISRULE - I'S R [one's | right] to get MULE [cross] about
7 Former drug mixture (5)
PASTE - PAST E [former | drug]
8 Old-fashioned member of the family dies (6,2)
PASSES ON - PASSE SON [old-fashioned | member of the family]
14 Soldier, about to get aboard that ship (9)
FREIGHTER - FIGHTER [soldier], RE [about] "to get on board that"
16 Broadcasters and the press, group that’s upset referees (8)
MEDIATES - MEDIA [broadcasters and the press] + SET [group], er, upset
17 Intellectual support given to receiver of emails (8)
BRAINBOX - BRA [support] given to INBOX [receiver of emails]
19 Important as he is to them (7)
CENTRAL - "he" is CENTRAL to {t}HE{m}
21 Peacekeepers dream about what they want combatants to become? (7)
UNARMED - UN [peacekeepers] + (DREAM*) ["about"]
22 Series of prayers fired up some (6)
LITANY - LIT ANY [fired up | some]
23 Hat that's not got left in country cottage (5)
BOWER - BOW{l}ER, that's not got L [left] in
24 About time, authorise bargain (5)
STEAL - about T [time], SEAL [authorise]