Fifteensquared

A new(ish?) setter -  Styx seems to be very fastidious about the surface reading of the clues, as these are universally “natural” and concise.  However, this flawlessness is almost to a fault in places, where the wordplay  (e.g. 18A, 22A) or difficulty (11A, 23A, 6D) ends up slightly compromised as a result.  So (with an eye to the Winter Olympics just around the corner) I’d score this as 5.9 for  Style and 5.4 for Technical Merit.

Across
1 SOFTENING – often in sing.
6 ABASE – a base.
9 EXTRA – (taxpayer)* – pay.
10 THE STICKS – thes{e} + ticks.  As in the phrase “Out in the sticks”.  Our setter resisted the temptation to go with an egotistical homophone here.
11 OVERTURN – overt + urn.
12 FRAMER – cryptic/punning def’n.  I was originally plumping for PRIMER here, before realising that goes on “underneath” rather than “outside”.  Never was a dab hand at decorating.
14 CONFINED - con + fined.
15 PLAN – plan{t}.
18 PART – trap<.  A sand trap, aka a bunker, in golf.
19 TEACHERS – ache in ters{e}.
22 INSERT – {pres}s in inert.
23 INFORMER – in + former.
25 TOMBSTONE – to + MB’s + tone.
26 DUNCE – dun + CE.  A fantastically harvested and processed definition!
27 RISEN - hidden.  The definition “above the horizon” needs to be taken in a solar context.
28 NOTARISED – no + (trade is)*.

Down
1 STEP ON - pet< in son.
2 FATHER CHRISTMAS - (This charmer’s fat)*.  An &lit, although “Unnaturally” does seem to imply some sort of “Santa on Steroids”tabloid  scandal.
3 EXACTING - ex + acting.
4 INTERMIXED - (term + I) in (index)*.
5 GOES – double def’n.
6 ASTERN - a + stern.
7 ACCOMPLISHMENTS – a C + (sh) in compliments.
8 ENSHRINE – (the sinner)* -t.
13 DESCENDENT – (esc + end) in dent.
16 SPRINTER – S[mall] + printer.   Unfortunately, most of the racecourse sprinters that I’ve thrown money at over the years have been anything but “fast to finish”!
17 SECONDER – (censored)*.
20 ORISON - {f}O{u}R + is on.
21 FRIEND - r in fiend.
24 HORN - (rhino)* – i.  &lit.  A clever and economical note on which to finish.