Fifteensquared

Good stuff, as usual, from Mudd; including some decent treatment of rather mundane words or devices. I also liked the grid design, which allowed for a nice balance of checking patterns. I don’t recall seeing it in the FT previously.

Across
1 GREENSLEEVES - From the top now….di-da-da-dah, da-di-da-da-da…
10 SNAPPER - double def’n (with a fishy implication).
11 ALLEGRO - Al + L + (Gore)*. “Confused himself” being an arm’s-length anagrind, back to “Gore”.  One of the rare occasions when double-duty is both fair and elegant.
12 REINS - hidden.
13 SPOT WELD - (two pedals)* – a. I don’t think this is quite an &lit – which would make the standalone definition a little vague – but the intent is clear, so no associated demerit in my book.
15 TIGER SHARK - Gersh[-win] in krait<. I got the answer long before managing to construe the wordplay.  Depending on how long ago Mudd set this puzzle, I wonder whether he was tempted to clue this by reference to recent (out of bounds) golfing news?
16 STUN – nuts<.  A smooth variant on an well-worn theme.
18 ESPY - [avenu]e + spy.
20 TROTSKYITE - (OT + sky) in trite. Which begs the lyrical question of the day, “Whatever happened to Leon Trotsky?”.
22 OUTRIGHT - out + right.
24 PLEAD - p[ug] + lead.
26 PLATEAU – late in Pau[l].
27 ORATION - 0 + ration.
28 LETTER OPENER – punning definition by example. I thought this one was a real rib-tickler.

Down
2 READING - double def’n.
3 EXPSOURE - double def’n.
4 SORT - ….and that makes three.
5 EXASPERATE - ex + (repeat as)*.
6 VALET - Vale (Latin for cheerio) + t.
7 SEGMENT - (e.g. +m[odels]) in sent.
8 ESPRIT DE CORPS - (prospects dire). Coincidentally this was also furnished by way of angaram (in that instance, “stripper’s code”) in last week’s Times.
9 GOLDEN WEDDING - (glowed + D + ending)*. It’s a good ‘un.
14 WHOREHOUSE- (hero)< in who + use.  I’ve always thought of to “whip up” as meaning create (on the fly) rather than “use”. Nonetheless, more amusing material from the Muddyfunster.  Amended, per Gaufrid’s insight: the wordplay is (he)< in who + rouse.
17 SKI-PLANE - skip +lane.
19 PITFALL - (it + f) in pall.
21 ITEMISE - hidden<.
23 INERT - insert – s[on].
25 POLO - double def’n.  As an expat, I’m embarrassed to no longer have instant recall of Polo mints (it took me about 20-30seconds). The US equivalent being Lifesavers.