Nimrod has an individual style and I enjoyed working my way through this and finally getting there. Solving time, 51 mins. I found the definitions is what mainly led me there. There are a few where there may be subtleties in wordplay that I missed
* = anagram < = reversed
ACROSS
1/26 RUN AROUND LIKE A BLUE-ARSED FLY (UK Labour leader as unfriendly)* When I saw this 26-letter anagram at the start, I knew this was not going to be a quick solve. I eventually found the top row, and the bottom row came easily enough from the remaining letters. Not quite sure if there’s a link between the anagram fodder and the phrase. Labour red, Tory blue perhaps?
8 OFF-PISTE An excellent cryptic definition which was a big step on my way to solving the puzzle
9 Y ((h)E’S M) AN M = male nay< &lit This was very good too and one of the first I solved.
10/26 AERO/BICS Chocolate bar and biros
11/19 THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA spirit = phantom opera = works, not sure if there’s more to it. Book and musical
12 THE GOLDEN FLEECE Wrote this in straightaway – again cannot quite see full wordplay fleece = excessive charge, something precious = gold, maybe there’s more to it
17 CRIMINALISATION (on racialism in it)* A fairly obvious anagram and I got it when I’d sufficient crossing letters. Implied definition was a little vague, I was somehow surpised when that was the answer.
24 DES RES I thought of this from early on, because of the enumeration. I don’t understand it though, something to do with I = current leaving desires, perhaps
25 VERB O TEN This was very good It shows doing = verb O X (ten)
DOWN
1 REF R ESHER Sandown Park near Esher
2 NA PO O I was looking for a reversal here at first, but the definition is ‘used up’
3 RESIT Another one I got from the definition – I don’t understand the wordplay
4 U(KEL) EL E lek< leu< e = euros Albanian and Romanian currency.
5 DAY SHIFTS (Sid fat shy)*
6 I BSE N I think n = no, but not quite sure
7 ERA TO The Muse (OT are)<
13 G (E) M e = electronic as in email, I think but don’t understand the rest
14 LANG OUSTE(d)
15 EF (for)T for = pro
16 CROTCHETY Double definition, my favourite clue, thought for a long time ‘cross’ was in there somewhere
18 LIE OVER
20 FR (T)ED A
21 HORAL A very clever hidden, with misleading ‘regularly’ suggesting alternate letters.
22 A GREE Don’t quite see this GREE might be a word for bore – I thought of ‘augur’ with an e = energy removed
23 BE OFF (F (FO) eb)< Short time = Feb for February
13. I took early TV to be GMTV which I think is or was a breakfast show.
22. An eagre is a river bore – the initial ‘e’ removed to the end to make agree.
24. RESIDES (lives) repaired.
Gee, that looks like a clue to a clue, Adrian. Thanks for both explanations and to Conrad also.
25. verboten
Please explain the wordplay for this clue:
It shows doing examples of Noughts and Crosses isn’t alllowed (8)
Verb = it shows doing (part of speech)
O = nought
Ten (X in Roman numerals) = X
O and X are examples of noughts and crosses
Verboten = isn’t allowed (forbidden – from German originally)
Thanks for explaining verboten. I had forgotten that noughts and crosses are the same silly game as tic-tac-toe in the US.
A term I’d never heard before it appeared in Virgilius’ recent themed crossword on games. Divided by a common language…
The most difficult daily puzzle I’ve done for a while – I was only half way through by the end of my journey to work, and had to worry away at it all morning off and on.
24ac, which threw me for ages, is actually very clever indeed. RES(I)DES is literally semi-detached – chopped in half and then reassembled the other way round.
I was quite pleased to get through this one. Normally I don’t get on very well with Nimrod puzzles. It probably helped that I assumed it must be a Phi puzzle (I was doing the online version and Phi normally covers fridays). I was therefore convinced it should be relatively easy and goaded myself to finish it.
I thought 3 down might be I in rest (etc), but the wordplay is a bit convoluted.