A very pleasing puzzle, which I found quite easy.
Solving time: 22 mins
* = anagram < = reverse
ACROSS
9 OVERT RUMP Ruff (a term from the card game bridge, I think) = trump, then higher = overtrump.
10 OPER A Repo< Repossession
11 GARD A Drag< Irish policeman (from the Irish language = Guard)
13 PRIVATE (closed) EQUITY (Actor’s Union) A quick look does not turn the phrase up in dicts, but it was pretty straightforward.
15 RANCOUR “Ranker”
17 OPEN AIR Hidden reversal Did not try to find anything out about the Siluarian epoch
19 APPLE TURNOVER
20 BEERS HEB A
21 NIFFY Prob from (s)niffy, but I thought having a cold was sniffly, but no matter.
DOWN
1 Bjorn B(oy) OR G(irl) Brilliant “Old tennis player offered choice of children”
3 STRATI (artist)* Plural of stratus (a cloud)
5 UPSIDE-DOWN CAKES i.e. buns< = snub!
6 BOUTIQUE “Boo teak”
7 YE(s)MEN I Next = naysayers
8 NAY Dorothy SAYERS (any)*
14 BROAD BAND
16 OBE IS ANT (soldier perhaps)
18 AERO FOIL! That chocolate must be still around
20 PA ELLA
24 YET I
My favourite was AEROFOIL – a wonderful redefinition of the word.
Another nice puzzle from my old friend -much easier than usual though. I once clued AEROSPACE in terms of the bubbles, by the way!
Thanks for explaining next=naysayers. The problem with not being able to solve the clues in order (and taking a long time about it too) meant that I got NAYSAYERS early on but by the time I solved YEMENI I had completely forgotten about it and struggled to see how the “opposite of next” gave yes-men. For a while I wondered whether it was indicating (self-referentially) the “rejecting society” which is vaguely the opposite of yes-men but it all makes much more sense now!
I particularly liked BROADBAND and UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE but was not keen on the definition for PRIVATE EQUITY. I’m fairly familiar with the term and don’t think that “ruthless capitalism” is an accurate definition at all. This definition seems to relate better to asset stripping, but private equity is distinguished purely by the fact that the equity in a company is privately owned and not publicly traded, whether it be for ruthless or benign reasons.