I wasn’t paying attention and that’s what I filled in at 11A instead of ATTENTIVE which made the NE corner a spot of bother. Nice puzzle with good balance of clue types. If you can regularly solve Everyman then you’re ready for the Times.
Across
| 1 | CU(B+IS)T – Among other things, Picasso was a leader of the cubist movement. The little word IS clued by “lives”. |
| 11 | AT(TENT)IVE – rev(evita = “musical”) containing TENT. I saw tent too quickly and hazarded attention and had to backtrack later. |
| 12 | S(A+SSEN+A)CH – What an “English person” is to the Scots. Usually English simply indicates “e” so this was a nice change. “A” for “answer” and of course “ness” is a type of head(land) and “back” a simple indication of reversal. |
| 15 | CARDINAL NUMBER – One is (the loneliest) “number” in question: cardinals are one, two, three, etc. and ordinals are first, second, third… |
| 18 | ONE ST(EP AT) A TIME – (maisonette)* containing rev(tape = “video”) with “back” indicating reversal again. |
| 23 | QUAD+R(ILL)E – “first half of reel” nicely tells us that we need RE which contains ILL for trouble (indicated by “during”). |
| 24 | SNIPE – hidden and reversed in “keEP INSide”. Reversal indicated by “revolution” and “houses” indicates hiding. Hard to detect since the fodder and indicators are related. |
| 26 | ORD(i)NANCE – the relationship between ORDNANCE and ordinance has been noted by other setters. The first is what armies need (“guns” and “supplies”) and the second is derived from “order”. |
Down
| 1 | CLASS ACT – def is “outstanding performer” and wordplay is a charade. |
| 5 | K(IT+C)HEN CABINET – (back the nine)* containing abbrev(“Italian”) + abbrev(“Conservative”). Good example of filling in the answer well before I understood the wordplay. |
| 6 | LIN+US – Linus was Lucy’s brother in Peanuts. LIN = rev(nil = “nothing”) and it’s a down clue so “up” is reversal. |
| 7 | FRIGATE BIRD – “Rail” is type of “bird” thus needs the “perhaps” qualifier. FRIGATE is an escort ship. “I” refers to the answer. |
| 8 | SLEUTH – Double meaning: great movie of a good play (with three characters and two actors which kind of gives the story away). |
| 9 | BANANA REP(U)BLIC – (Caribbean? Plan)* surrounding U for “university”. Nice that there are banana republics in the same general vicinity. |
| 16 | M+EAT PASTE – First letter of “make” followed by (teas)*+(pate)*. “High” is an anagram indicator here (as in drunk), “spread” is the other one. |
| 17 | DEAD-BEAT – dull is DEAD and policeman’s round is BEAT. The whole thing is completely worn out. |
| 19 | BAN+QU+O – General in Macbeth. |
| 25 | I+MP – too bad that MP has already been used in this puzzle (22A) with much the same meaning. |