As usual, an excellent puzzle from the ever-reliable Phi. Solving time, 21 mins.
* = anagram < = reversed
ACROSS
1 (PIPPED) (AT THE POST) Tempted at first by the 15 letters after ‘stoned’ which suggested an anagram.
9 L ((r)A SCAL) A
10 P (ROT E.G). E
11 COO (l)
12 A U CONTR (AIR) E (counter)*
13 COR ROSION (so iron)*
15 P (AYE) E Complicated. A couple of pence = PEnce AYE = certainly. On the contrary = rather than put PE inside AYE, do the opposite.
16 Thomas N ASHE(s) from the late 1500s
18 TRUCELESS (ulcers set)*
20 TREAC (HERO) US (act sure)* Join at deceitful/act was cleverly misleading.
22 GYM Cryptic definition (More to it than this, thanks, Rayfolwell for comment 2 below)
23 B (ALAN) CE BCE = Before the Common Era, same as BC
24 A MATE (yoU) R Tip-top surface
25 ESCHERICHIA COLI (choice chilis are)* Better known as E COLI
DOWN
1 POL (lop<) ICE CONS TABLE
2 P IS SOIR (evening in French)
3 ERA Hidden Another good join period/furniture
4 AN (ARCH IS) T
5 TA P-IN
6 E GO TRIPPERS
7 OBE (SIT) Y
8 THE S (EVEN S) AMURAI (amateurish)* nmsindy is normally weak on films, but, not only knows this one but saw it around 1960, I think.
12 A DOLE SCEN (C) E
14 NEUROPATH (upon earth)*
17 S (HELL) AC
19 EL G(a)R Exciting CO
21 ELEMI hidden< Ain’t seen this word, so familiar in crosswords, for quite a while now.
25 ADA I think this appears in datA DAta i.e. repeatedly
I thought that ADA was tricky and had to cheat (I’ve never come across the programming language before). Only quibble really was with “a sedentary position” indicating SIT (one is a noun and the other a verb). Perhaps this is why the question mark was there. Otherwise a good puzzle for me.
22A was the last letters of “developing body form” &lit.
Luckily I had come across ADA and saw that one straight away—an indirect hidden clue! Incidentally, Ada was named after Ada Lovelace, daughter of Lord Byron, mathematician and assistant to Charles Babbage.
SIT does have a noun definition in Chambers.