Some very good and varied material here – quick progress early on, but slow to finish.
Solving time: 28 mins
* = anagram
ACROSS
7/19 CAPE FEAR (A preface)*
8 (St)ALL (THE SAME) Definition = yet
11 BA RELY Amusing surface.
14 NICE Double definition. Acronym for National Institute for Clinical Excellence.
15 POMP E Y Nickname of Portsmouth FC.
20 BAR BAR IAN Anyone aggrieved North of the Border, approach the editor directly.
22 M (ILL) ED Devious, as ‘poorly’ suggested an anagram.
23 CAN ARIES (Sign of the Zodiac) Nickname of Norwich City FC.
26 A (metric measure ‘are’) RUM Plants
DOWN
1 C (Ez.) ANNES 14 is NICE Ez. = abbrev for Ezra (Biblical priest)
2 WEAR River that flows through the city whose Premier League club visit 15 on Saturday. Sport = wear (clothes).
3 SAPPHIRE Sappho with ire for o Sapphire = 45 years as silver = 25 etc etc.
4 (p) ALA (D) DIN
9 SERENG ITI (greens)* and mEaT pIe excluding odd-numbered letters
13 E (S) MERALD A Character from Victor Hugo’s Hunchback of Notre Dame. s = boss finally A = musical note (any from A to G)
17 L EARNING Like old Times = based on a quote from Alexander Pope “A little learning is a dangerous thing”
18 B RICKI (Lake) E E = Windermere’s eastern side (last letter) Ricki Lake, US TV host.
20 BED LAM Bunk = lam (do a runner)
24 ROAR “Raw” Could re-open an old homophone debate, perhaps.
Not too difficult today, I thought, but lots of fun. Almost put in ‘sapphist’ for 3d, before sense prevailed. I didn’t fully get the wordplay for either 14ac or 1d, but the crossing letters and definitions were sufficient on their own… No problems with the homophone in 24d – close enough in most accents, I’d have thought?
Yes, I enjoyed this too. Thanks for explaining the bits and pieces I didn’t get. Can’t believe I didn’t see RICKI (Lake) as I have heard of her and I doubt I would have got 1d from the wordplay alone.
Initially I put RUFF for 24 down, which I thought was a reasonable answer.
The clue to SAPPHIRE is a classic! Thanks Eimi!