Started slowly, but as I went on I found myself swiftly gathering speed, possibly because this grid is very friendly, thanks to the long clues around each side (assuming you get them, of course...) Meanwhile, thinking of things which gather speed rapidly, I was slightly worried to read that our man Woodsy has taken a tumble in training before Thursday's big event, though the coach insists he'll be fine on the day. Still hoping to see him produce what the commentators on the women's event called "30 metres of pure radness"; I can't be certain, but I think that's about as good as it gets. Anyway, this one was 7 minutes of pure crypticness, and another pleasant puzzle on the easy side of things.
| Across |
|---|
| 1 | CZECHOSLOVAK - OSLO in double soundalike ["CHECK"=vet, "VAC"=holiday]. "Old" because it's now two countries. |
| 8 | REORDER - RECORDER minus the key of C. |
| 9 | DADAISM - DAIS in (MAD)rev. Famous American painter and photographer. |
| 11 | COTERIE - SCOTER I.E. Teals and eiders crop up more often in crosswords, but the scoter isn't a stranger. |
| 12 | SUNDOWN - Lift-and-separate the evening paper; SUN(="paper"), Democrats, OWN(="recognise"). |
| 13 | SEEDY - SPEEDY minus Piano; have seed cakes come back into vogue as a result of the Great British Bake-Off, I wonder? If not, I think of them as being an old-fashioned sort of tea-time treat. |
| 14 | ARTILLERY - TILLER(in this less common definition, a shoot from a plant stem) replaces the teaM inside ARMY("fighting force"), to give a part of that force. Neat. |
| 16 | ILLIBERAL - (BILL I)rev., (REAL)*. |
| 19 | MOP UP - i.e. Medical Officer, PUP. |
| 21 | NOMINEE - (ON)rev., MINE(="explosive"), Energy. |
| 23 | BALLOON - Large in BALOO, Name. I am now ear-wormed by The Bare Necessities, and hope you are too. |
| 24 | LENDING - sLump, ENDING. |
| 25 | OBSCENE - Book in [0, SCENE]. |
| 26 | TRIGGER-HAPPY - one of those cryptic definitions which so divide opinion. Seems fine to me, I should add. |
| |
|---|
| Down |
|---|
| 1 | CHORTLE - CHurch, Other Ranks(="army members"), (LET)*. |
| 2 | ELDERLY - ELDER, LaudablY. |
| 3 | HORSEHAIR - cryptic def. requiring the knowledge that horsehair is used in making bows for musical instruments among other things. |
| 4 | SIDES - SIDE(="arrogance") + Southern. Northern setter today, maybe? A surface which made me think immediately of Jose Mourinho and his poor little horse. |
| 5 | ORDINAL - Island in (LANDOR)*. |
| 6 | ADIPOSE - A DIP, OS(as in Outsize), exercisE. |
| 7 | PROCESSIONAL - (PARISCONSOLE)*. |
| 10 | MONEY-SPINNER - where bread=money, of course. |
| 15 | TOLLBOOTH - Old LLB(law degree) in TOOTH("canine"). |
| 17 | LAMINAR - (MAIL)*, (RAN)rev. |
| 18 | BUNTING - BUN TIN("cake receptacle"), doG. Back to the Bake-Off again. |
| 19 | MILKSOP - i.e. MILKS,OP. |
| 20 | PROGENY - GEN in ROY, under Pressure. |
| 22 | EAGLE - abovE A GLEn, nice surface. |