Times 26887 - Pictures of Matchstick Men

Time: 42 minutes
Music: Rimsky-Korsakov, Scheherezade, Kondrashin/LSO

At first I thought this was going to be another impossible Monday, but once I started following the cryptics I began to make a little progress and get the crossing letters I needed.   There are many obscure and outrageous uses of language at work here, and you have to be prepared to stretch a little.   There are still a few that I still don't get, but maybe they will become clearer as I write the blog....and if not, then the commenters will have to explain them.

I also have one general blog announcement.   Our long-time blogger Jerrywh will no longer be able to blog the Club Monthly after December, and I am looking for a suitable replacement.  Unfortunately, the Club Monthly is a very diabolical puzzle indeed, and I can only think of a few from the current crew who are qualified to blog it.   I am certainly not, as the closest I ever came was two or three answers short.

Across
1	Crack, angle to one side (4)
	TILT - Double definition, as in 'have a tilt at' - I think.
3	One minding one's own business — a fishmonger? (4,6)
	SOLE TRADER - Double definition, what is called a 'sole proprieter' in the USA.
9	A part of the nose is cut (7)
	ABRIDGE - A + BRIDGE.
11	Unfashionable lines make better fashion design (7)
	COUTURE - C(OUT)URE.
12	Entwined, a moonlit scene ultimately passionate (9)
	EMOTIONAL - anagram of A MOONLIT [scen]E.
13	Fool recalled note played sweetly (5)
	DOLCE - CLOD backwards + E.
14	Use a match well! (6,1,5)
	STRIKE A LIGHT - Double definition, the second UK-centric.
18	No oil painting, and incapable of drawing? (12)
	UNATTRACTIVE -  A double definition, no doubt - audience participation invited to explain the first one.  Upon reflection, it is possible that 'no oil painting'  might be a slang expression for an ugly person.
21	Bright metallic element, blue (5)
	AGLOW - AG + LOW.
22	With piano gone, pair playing large keyboard instrument (4,5)
	PIPE ORGAN - anagram of P + GONE + PAIR, where the setter is trying to trick you into removing the 'p' from 'pair'.
24	Cheeky couple after party gifts (7)
	DONATES - DO + NATES, yes, cheeky.
25	Suspicion held by leader about Liberal (7)
	INKLING -  IN K(L)ING, a rather indirect cryptic.
26	Speed trap? (10)
	MOTORMOUTH - Cryptic definition, where each element is separately defined.
27	Rejection of noted formula for food thickener (4)
	AGAR - RAGA backwards.

Down
1	Come across dancers in vacant trance (8)
	TRAVERSE - T(RAVERS)E
2	Something clarified about male left on ship (8)
	LARBOARD - LAR(BOAR)D, where for once it's not 'port'.
4	Cinema showing extract from episode one (5)
	ODEON - Hidden in [epis]ODE ON[e]
5	Magnificent old lover recoils when shot (9)
	EXCELSIOR - EX + anagram of RECOILS
6	Where the hands go continuously (5,3,5)
	ROUND THE CLOCK - Double definition, the first a bit on the literal side.
7	Spit in drink (6)
	DOUBLE - Double definition, as in the 'spit and image', which some pedants consider a back-formation.
8	Jacket — dope in it? (6)
	REEFER - Double definition.
10	Cryptically as is brew, a terrible non-alcoholic liquid? (8,5)
	DRINKING WATER - reverse hidden, where [bre]W A TER[rible] might be said to be 'drinking water'.
15	Bully into a gripping history course (9)
	ANTIPASTO - anagram of INTO A around PAST
16	Partner for dining often welcoming outsiders in grand American party (8)
	WINGDING - WIN(G[ran]DING, a rather dated word, used in the 40s and 50s.
17	Youth has eaten wrong half of Frankfurter, perhaps? (8)
	TEENAGER - anagram of EATEN + GER[man].
19	Chance money order (6)
	RANDOM - RAND + O.M.
20	Earth, say, where flower perhaps stores energy (6)
	PLANET - PLAN(E)T, where a flower really is a plant!
23	Characteristic purpose (5)
	POINT - Double definition.