Little club board glory for bleary pre-coffee me this morning, but all done inside the quarter hour at least. My first one in was the easy 11ac, but progress was relatively slow thereafter, with the top half giving me particular trouble. Took me a while to remember why a bowl was "wood", to free myself from the notion that "cheers" in 5dn must be OVATION, to untangle the parsing of 9ac and to finally grasp hold of the cunningly clued 12ac, my LOI.
I did think the clues in this were exceptionally well crafted, everything has a nice (and usually nicely misleading!) surface, but of course my personal tastes often run more to the literary and obscure than this very wordplay-centric fare... talking of which I do need to go and post up a TLS blog while there's still time. Many thanks to the setter. What did you all think, gang?
Across
1 Democrat with inadequate backing in decline (5)
DROOP - D [Democrat] with POOR reversed [inadequate "backing"]
4 Ardent Conservative overlooked, moderate leader brought in (9)
COMMITTED - C [Conservative] + OMITTED [overlooked] with M{oderate} brought in
9 Family member relaxed, seeing the French off on walk (9)
STEPCHILD - CHIL{le}D [relaxed, seeing off LE (the French)], on STEP [walk]
10 Problem claiming credit for means of restarting play (5)
SCRUM - SUM [problem] claiming CR [credit]
11 Portion of crab is queried in fish dish (6)
BISQUE - "portion of" {cra}B IS QUE{ried}
12 Powerless people leaving car on street out of gear (8)
STARKERS - {p}ARKERS [people leaving car, less P for power] on ST [street]. "Out of gear" as in "out of one's clothes".
14 Fun to be had with a female crazy about love? (5,2,1,4)
WHALE OF A TIME - (WITH A FEMALE*) ["crazy"] about 0 [love], semi-&lit
17 Descend from on high bringingcontract (4,4,4)
COME DOWN WITH - double definition. "Contract" as in "contract the plague".
20 Royal house to prevail, though losing current battle (8)
YORKTOWN - YORK TO WIN [royal house | to | prevail], losing I [current]
21 Feature page occupying hack (6)
SPLASH - P [page] occupying SLASH [hack]
23 Bird no longer living on S American islands (5)
SAMOA - MOA [bird no longer living] on S A [S | American]
24 Not allowing bail to named criminal in gang (9)
REMANDING - (NAMED*) ["criminal"] in RING [gang]
25 Blissful soldier is embraced by youngster on return (9)
PARADISAL - PARA [soldier] + IS embraced by LAD reversed [youngster "on return"]
26 Coffee and tea, to start with — behind sandwiches (5)
LATTE - T{ea}, sandwiched by LATE [behind]
Down
1 Eg ash wood where little rain falls (4,4)
DUST BOWL - DUST [e.g. ash] + BOWL [wood, in the game of bowls]
2 Confused voters always hang around for too long (8)
OVERSTAY - (VOTERS*) ["confused"] + AY [always]
3 Visual record of corrupt act spied abroad (7,8)
PICTURE POSTCARD - (CORRUPT ACT SPIED*) ["abroad"]
4 Secure location for babypirate? (4)
CRIB - double def
5 Thought from Mao's first volume receiving cheers (10)
MEDITATION - M{ao} + EDITION [volume] receiving TA [cheers]
6 Something for musician on jury — a set of recorders? (10,5)
INSTRUMENT PANEL - INSTRUMENT [something for musician] on PANEL [jury]
7 Went back where tea could be drunk by postwar trendy (6)
TURNED - URN [where tea could be] drunk by TED [postwar trendy]
8 One stone under sea brought up free from moisture (6)
DEMIST - I ST [one | stone] under MED reversed [sea "brought up"]
13 What prospective councillors are likely to be later (10)
AFTERWARDS - prospective councillors are AFTER WARDS
15 Second Union member who's perpetrated offence (8)
BIGAMIST - cryptic def
16 Article by wartime general reported site of legislature (3,5)
THE HAGUE - THE [article] by homophone of HAIG [wartime general "reported"]
18 Husband rejected nosegay, grasping small aromatic plant (6)
HYSSOP - H [husband] + reversed POSY ["rejected" nosegay] grasping S [small]
19 Textbook's protective cover (6)
PRIMER - double def
22 Radical left supporting the little woman (4)
AMYL - L [left] supporting AMY [March, from Little Women]
I did think the clues in this were exceptionally well crafted, everything has a nice (and usually nicely misleading!) surface, but of course my personal tastes often run more to the literary and obscure than this very wordplay-centric fare... talking of which I do need to go and post up a TLS blog while there's still time. Many thanks to the setter. What did you all think, gang?
Across
1 Democrat with inadequate backing in decline (5)
DROOP - D [Democrat] with POOR reversed [inadequate "backing"]
4 Ardent Conservative overlooked, moderate leader brought in (9)
COMMITTED - C [Conservative] + OMITTED [overlooked] with M{oderate} brought in
9 Family member relaxed, seeing the French off on walk (9)
STEPCHILD - CHIL{le}D [relaxed, seeing off LE (the French)], on STEP [walk]
10 Problem claiming credit for means of restarting play (5)
SCRUM - SUM [problem] claiming CR [credit]
11 Portion of crab is queried in fish dish (6)
BISQUE - "portion of" {cra}B IS QUE{ried}
12 Powerless people leaving car on street out of gear (8)
STARKERS - {p}ARKERS [people leaving car, less P for power] on ST [street]. "Out of gear" as in "out of one's clothes".
14 Fun to be had with a female crazy about love? (5,2,1,4)
WHALE OF A TIME - (WITH A FEMALE*) ["crazy"] about 0 [love], semi-&lit
17 Descend from on high bringingcontract (4,4,4)
COME DOWN WITH - double definition. "Contract" as in "contract the plague".
20 Royal house to prevail, though losing current battle (8)
YORKTOWN - YORK TO WIN [royal house | to | prevail], losing I [current]
21 Feature page occupying hack (6)
SPLASH - P [page] occupying SLASH [hack]
23 Bird no longer living on S American islands (5)
SAMOA - MOA [bird no longer living] on S A [S | American]
24 Not allowing bail to named criminal in gang (9)
REMANDING - (NAMED*) ["criminal"] in RING [gang]
25 Blissful soldier is embraced by youngster on return (9)
PARADISAL - PARA [soldier] + IS embraced by LAD reversed [youngster "on return"]
26 Coffee and tea, to start with — behind sandwiches (5)
LATTE - T{ea}, sandwiched by LATE [behind]
Down
1 Eg ash wood where little rain falls (4,4)
DUST BOWL - DUST [e.g. ash] + BOWL [wood, in the game of bowls]
2 Confused voters always hang around for too long (8)
OVERSTAY - (VOTERS*) ["confused"] + AY [always]
3 Visual record of corrupt act spied abroad (7,8)
PICTURE POSTCARD - (CORRUPT ACT SPIED*) ["abroad"]
4 Secure location for babypirate? (4)
CRIB - double def
5 Thought from Mao's first volume receiving cheers (10)
MEDITATION - M{ao} + EDITION [volume] receiving TA [cheers]
6 Something for musician on jury — a set of recorders? (10,5)
INSTRUMENT PANEL - INSTRUMENT [something for musician] on PANEL [jury]
7 Went back where tea could be drunk by postwar trendy (6)
TURNED - URN [where tea could be] drunk by TED [postwar trendy]
8 One stone under sea brought up free from moisture (6)
DEMIST - I ST [one | stone] under MED reversed [sea "brought up"]
13 What prospective councillors are likely to be later (10)
AFTERWARDS - prospective councillors are AFTER WARDS
15 Second Union member who's perpetrated offence (8)
BIGAMIST - cryptic def
16 Article by wartime general reported site of legislature (3,5)
THE HAGUE - THE [article] by homophone of HAIG [wartime general "reported"]
18 Husband rejected nosegay, grasping small aromatic plant (6)
HYSSOP - H [husband] + reversed POSY ["rejected" nosegay] grasping S [small]
19 Textbook's protective cover (6)
PRIMER - double def
22 Radical left supporting the little woman (4)
AMYL - L [left] supporting AMY [March, from Little Women]