A fine puzzle by this talented setter.
Solving time: 31 mins
* = anagram < = reversed
ACROSS
1 BO W-W(O)W www = world wide web = net BO = powerful scent. Very inventive and an excellent surface to boot.
5 BAL (lab<) D(P)ATE New word for me, which it was a pleasure to work out from the wordplay.
9 SIL(LIES)T Was looking for quite a while for somewhere to put an “is” but did pencil in the last 4 letters straightaway.
11 SIX OF THE BEST This refers to cricket, where an over consists of six balls bowled in succession by the bowler, and the dim and distant past when caning was allowed in schools, with the phrase also being used figuratively. Not sure about “spanking” as a definition though but maybe the ? gives this licence.
15 GOOGOLPLEX A unimaginably large number – 10 to the power of a googol, which itself is 1 followed by a hundred zeros
18 (HARD TO P) (LEASE) Very good.
21 RIALTO (Tailor)* Market in Venice.
22 HAN GOVER(nment) Another brilliant clue with “half-cut” used in two senses, the cryptic one shown, and its meaning of “drunk” .
23 C LOSE-S ET The one I do not fully understand. Definition, I think, is “only just separated” – I think it’s C (Colleague initially) LOSES = misses but can’t account for the ET (one phoning home).
24 CHEESY An artificial, affected, smile, say, and Derby is a cheese.
DOWN
5 BITTER N
6 LETTER BOX “Better locks” Excellent.
7 PULL (THE OTHER) ON E Leg pull = a hoax or joke – this phrase is used (one=leg) if you don’t believe what you’re being told.
8 TROT tort< (legal term for wrong)
12 OLD MASTERS “Arts seldom shoddy with these” (Arts seldom)* Not hard, but my favourite in the puzzle.
14 DELI(RIO)US
16 LATCH ET ET = alien, unfamiliar
19 PA (NI) C c(in)ap<
20 DIAL (13 is FACE) Laid< Laid up = incapacitated.
23A. Wasn’t the alien ET sked to phone home?
23A – In the film ET, the little alien’s catchphrase is “Phone home”. Bless ‘im.
Excellent puzzle, although I thought 15A should have had some wordplay as it’s not exactly an “easy” word.
C(LOSE-S) ET Thanks for that, v weak re films I have to admit – that’s all new to me.