This puzzle was a mixture of lots of easy and small clues with some unusual vocabulary thrown in to balance the books. I took a lot of time at LOI 1dn and unnecessarily held myself up at 22ac. How quickly it takes you to get the long anagrams at 8dn and 15ac may reflect your speed through the rest of the puzzle. I stumbled home in 10 minutes. Good luck!
ACROSS
1. MATCH - double definition.
4. SHEARS - cuts. Society (S), tries as in a trial (HEARS).
9. CABINET - senior ministers. Taxi (CAB), I (I), grab (NET).
10. MARCH - month. Anagram (unusual) of CHARM.
11. ROT - nonsense. Work schedule incomplete (ROT)a.
12. SOMEBODY - no one in particular. Anagram (given new order) of OBEYS MOD.
15. TURN A BLIND EYE - ignore. Anagram (failing) of TINY ENDURABLE.
17. GREEN TEA - drink. Homophone (while speaking) of two parts of a golf course - GREEN and TEE.
18. SPA - spring. Son (S) meets father (PA).
20. RABID - frenzied. Gunners (RA -Royal Artillery) get command (BID).
22. VEILING - disguising. I made this really hard for myself by reading 'disgusting' in the clue and then tried to work out this strange meaning of veiling. Victor (V) replaces (C)ornice in cEILING.
23. GUTTER - side of road. Good (G) and complete (UTTER).
24. GUYED - made fun of. Homophone (in speech) of escort - guide.
DOWN
1. MACERATE - steep - in the sense of soaking. I knew of macerators which chew up waste but wasn’t familiar with the meaning of soaking food in a liquid for a period of time so that it absorbs the liquid. I suppose a macerator does the same but speeds the process by mashing it all up. Spice (MACE), cost (RATE).
2. TIBET - in Asia. (T)urkmenistan, I (I), predict (BET).
3. HANDSHAKE - one sealing a deal perhaps. Round of applause (HAND), astonish (SHAKE).
5. HUM - double definition.
6. ABRIDGE - clip. Saddle (RIDGE) underneath sailor (AB- able bodied seaman). I thought saddle=ridge a bit iffy as I thought ridge was long and straight on which may be a saddle. Hoewever Collinsa has a long narrow raised land formation with sloping sides esp one formed by the meeting of two faces of a mountain or of a mountain buttress or spur - so a saddle between two mountain faces.
7. SOHO - area of London. Very (SO), hard (H) to get round (O).
8. Stimulative - exciting. Anagram (strangely) of VAULT ITEM.
13. BANDAGING - doing first aid. Group (BAND), getting on (AGING).
14. DERANGED - mad. Action (DEED) interrupted by phoned (RANG).
16. RAREBIT - simple snack (I wonder if anyone will take issue with 'simple'? As far as I’m aware, a good rarebit is not just plain old cheese on toast). Excellent (RARE), morsel (BIT).
18. SHINY - glossy. Nervous (SHY) about home (IN).
19. BRIG - ship. Right (R) to enter large (BIG). A brig is not only a prison on a ship, especially a warship - it is also a type of ship (brigantine) with two masts and square sails.
21. DOE - deer. Make (DO), (E)nclosure.
ACROSS
1. MATCH - double definition.
4. SHEARS - cuts. Society (S), tries as in a trial (HEARS).
9. CABINET - senior ministers. Taxi (CAB), I (I), grab (NET).
10. MARCH - month. Anagram (unusual) of CHARM.
11. ROT - nonsense. Work schedule incomplete (ROT)a.
12. SOMEBODY - no one in particular. Anagram (given new order) of OBEYS MOD.
15. TURN A BLIND EYE - ignore. Anagram (failing) of TINY ENDURABLE.
17. GREEN TEA - drink. Homophone (while speaking) of two parts of a golf course - GREEN and TEE.
18. SPA - spring. Son (S) meets father (PA).
20. RABID - frenzied. Gunners (RA -Royal Artillery) get command (BID).
22. VEILING - disguising. I made this really hard for myself by reading 'disgusting' in the clue and then tried to work out this strange meaning of veiling. Victor (V) replaces (C)ornice in cEILING.
23. GUTTER - side of road. Good (G) and complete (UTTER).
24. GUYED - made fun of. Homophone (in speech) of escort - guide.
DOWN
1. MACERATE - steep - in the sense of soaking. I knew of macerators which chew up waste but wasn’t familiar with the meaning of soaking food in a liquid for a period of time so that it absorbs the liquid. I suppose a macerator does the same but speeds the process by mashing it all up. Spice (MACE), cost (RATE).
2. TIBET - in Asia. (T)urkmenistan, I (I), predict (BET).
3. HANDSHAKE - one sealing a deal perhaps. Round of applause (HAND), astonish (SHAKE).
5. HUM - double definition.
6. ABRIDGE - clip. Saddle (RIDGE) underneath sailor (AB- able bodied seaman). I thought saddle=ridge a bit iffy as I thought ridge was long and straight on which may be a saddle. Hoewever Collinsa has a long narrow raised land formation with sloping sides esp one formed by the meeting of two faces of a mountain or of a mountain buttress or spur - so a saddle between two mountain faces.
7. SOHO - area of London. Very (SO), hard (H) to get round (O).
8. Stimulative - exciting. Anagram (strangely) of VAULT ITEM.
13. BANDAGING - doing first aid. Group (BAND), getting on (AGING).
14. DERANGED - mad. Action (DEED) interrupted by phoned (RANG).
16. RAREBIT - simple snack (I wonder if anyone will take issue with 'simple'? As far as I’m aware, a good rarebit is not just plain old cheese on toast). Excellent (RARE), morsel (BIT).
18. SHINY - glossy. Nervous (SHY) about home (IN).
19. BRIG - ship. Right (R) to enter large (BIG). A brig is not only a prison on a ship, especially a warship - it is also a type of ship (brigantine) with two masts and square sails.
21. DOE - deer. Make (DO), (E)nclosure.