Solving time 22:15, so on the tricky side for me. A bit late posting today as I was up half the night, and also out earlier sweeping tiles from the street which had still been on my roof yesterday evening. We were lucky they missed the car! I had minor quibbles with a couple of the clues, but generally this was a pretty good Saturday puzzle.
| Across |
| 1 | BECKETT - BECK (literary gesture) + ET (and in French) + T (last letter of "dramatist"). I suppose "literary gesture" as a contraction of BECKON, but it's still in everyday use in the phrase "at someone's beck and call". Still, it also helps the surface reading, which is very good as Beckett also wrote in French. |
| 5 | SPAMMER - REAPS (harvests) reversed around MM (millions repeatedly). Not sure what the point of "repeatedly" is at the end. |
| 9 | INNOVATOR - IN NO VAT (not occupying any vessels) + OR ("other ranks", soldiers). |
| 10 | NARKS - hidden reversed in "mixing-desk randomly". |
| 11 | CARBON-NEUTRAL - CAR (vehicle) + BONNET (its front) around U(ranium), + REAL (true) without the E (wasting energy). |
| 13 | POLISHER - (rips hole)*. |
| 15 | PEDDLE - sounds like "pedal" (cycle). |
| 17 | TOPPER - REP (salesman) + POT (cooking container), all reversed. |
| 19 | DOGMATIC - MA (parent) in between DOG (a pet) and TIC(k) (its parasite briefly). |
| 22 | EXPEDITIOUSLY - (XI out speedily)*. |
| 25 | SIEVE - EVE (threshold) + IS, all reversed. |
| 26 | PRIVATISE - P (quiet) + RISE (increase), around VAT (tax) + I (one). |
| 27 | SKY BLUE - cryptic definition. |
| 28 | MAE WEST - EWE (sheep) + S(kin), inside MAT (rug). |
| Down |
| 1 | BLIP - B(lack) + LIP (edge). |
| 2 | CYNICAL - IN (trendy), inside LACY (finely-woven) + C(ape), all reversed. |
| 3 | ELVER - EVER (always) around L(och). Why loch instead of lake I wonder? Just for a change I suppose. |
| 4 | TATTOOED - TAT (shoddy stuff) + TO (aimed at) + OED (big dictionary). |
| 5 | SARONG - SAG (hang loosely) around RON (man). |
| 6 | AD NAUSEAM - cryptic definition. I was trying to find wordplay in it as NAUSEA originally meant seasickness specifically, but I don't think there is any. Just the fact that taking pills to prevent sickness to the point of being sick would indeed be counter-productive! |
| 7 | MORDRED - MORE DREAD (increased fear), removing the A (for area) and the first E (for English). |
| 8 | RESILIENCE - RE (note) + SILENCE (refusal to talk) around I (current). |
| 12 | APOTHEOSIS - (ship sea too)*. |
| 14 | SPEEDWELL - SPEED WELL (do a good job of acting expeditiously). I don't know enough about plants to know how good or bad a definition creeper is, but there's no mention in Chambers either in its own entry or under its genus Veronica. |
| 16 | POLONIUM - POLO (game) + NI (nickel) + UM (let me see). |
| 18 | PEPPERY - PRY (snoop) around EP (recording) + PE (games). |
| 20 | TOYLIKE - (yet Loki)*. |
| 21 | STAPLE - P(ower) inside STALE (overworked). |
| 23 | SHAKE - HAKE (fish) underneath S(mall). |
| 24 | ZEST - alternate letters of "Aztec site". |