Across
1 PRIMROSE – prim, rose – charade – Whether ‘stood up’ is ‘behind formal’ is debatable.
5 SPRING – two definitions
9 SUPPLIER – supp(l,i)er – container/contained
10 CLEFTS – c(left)s – container/contained
12 ROUND – two definitions
13 DEBUTANTE – debut,ante – charade – not a very satisfactory word breakup as ‘debut’ is closely related to the answer word
14 BETTER – two definitions – I would think ‘better’ = improved, not ‘is improving’
16 DEBACLE – anag. of ‘bleaced’ after deleting ‘h’ from ‘bleached’ – anag. after deletion
19 RETREAT – two definitions
21 THEORY – the(or)y – container/contained – cf. 21 dn.
23 PALATABLE – pal, a, table – charade – see comment below
25 SHEER – two definitions
26 SOLVER – anag. of ‘lovers’ – by including ‘hopefully’ in the clue, the setter seems to think that someone after looking at the crossword may turn away from it without attempting it. In the surface reading ‘you’ is plural but as def. for word required it is singular.
27 PARROTED – anag. of ‘part, rode’ (ignoring the comma)
28 LOCATE – l(OC)ate – container/contained
29 HYSTERIA – anag. of ‘this year’ – the def. is ‘frenzied laughter’ but I would think that ‘hysteria’ might manifest in frenzied crying too.
Down
1 PASTRY – pa’s, try – charade -don’t these dads ever complete the job of baking? I am not quite happy with ‘dough’ as the definition.
2 IMPRUDENT – i’m, prudent – charade
3 RILED – RI, led – charade
4 SLENDER – s(l)ender – container/contained
6 PALATABLE – pal, a, table – charade – see 23 ac. above – to repeat the same word in a crossword is a ‘no-no’, to repeat the wordplay to boot is more so. But crossword compilers sometimes turn puckish.
7 IN FUN – anag. of ‘if nun’
8 GAS METER – anag. of ‘eg stream’
11 IBID – I, bid – charade
15 TREATMENT – treat,men, t – charade
17 CARPENTER – carp, enter – charade
18 PROPOSAL – prop, osal (anag. of ‘also’) – charade with anag.component
20 TUBA – Rev. of ‘abut’ – reversal – The def. for the word required is only ‘touch’, the ‘up’ from ‘touch up’ in the surface reading being the rev. ind.
21 THERAPY – the(rap)y – container/contained – More careful compilers might perhaps avoid the use in any clue of a word that is an answer word in the grid. The word ‘treatment’ in this clue is the solution for Clue 15 in the same segment. Both 21 ac and 21 dn have the same ‘container’ that is given gratis to 26 ac.
22 GRADE A – anag. of ‘grade’, a OR anag. of ‘grade’ around a – charade with an anag. component OR container/contained with anag. component
24 LILAC – hidden in ‘shalL I LACk’ – telescopic
25 SPRAT – Sp., rat
I completed this in under 10 minutes – Highlander is consistently the easiest of the FT setters (though that can be a blessing when there’s work to be done)! But I’d echo your comments about 23ac/6dn – in 25 years of solving I have never seen a repeated answer in a grid before (except in phrases in themed crosswords of the type that Cinephile/Araucaria and Enigmatist/Io are so good at).
A rare chance for me to do the FT crossword after I took advantage of a complimentary copy from an office reception! Took me less time than it took the Central line to get from St Pauls to Oxford Circus to polish it off. A good crossowrd for beginners I guess.
Yes, was surprised to see the same word twice – and with the same wordplay! Must have been an oversight.