I found this quite easy, solving time, 14 mins.
* = anagram < = reversed
ACROSS
1 M (ODIC) UM odic = of poetry
5 A MAL(e) G AM
9 TOTE M
10 DASH BOARD
11 TAR (PAULI) N
12 SUM O
14 TAM O SHANTER (a monster hat)*
18 MA (I SON NET) TE
21 LOPE Hidden
22 URSA MINOR (Mars in our)*
24 RESER (PI) NE pi = very good in (serener)*
25 LAG (O) S
26 iDEa RANGE
27 KIND RED
DOWN
1 MO TETS (Stet OM)<
2 DOT A RD
3 CO (M)P ACTION
4 MIDDLEMAN Man is in the middle of ‘Romania’
5 (p)ARSON
6 ALBS cf labs
7 GR (AD U) ATE
8 ME (D (I) OC) RE cod<
13 WATERMELON (a new Merlot)*
15 SO TO S PEAK (SOT OS)<
16 I (MP LORE) D
17 DIS POSER Sid<
19 O NAG(g)ER
20 ERAS ED
22 UNIT E E fifth letter in alphabet
23 WREN (CH)
Questions of a newbie simpleton…
1. 4 down. Why Romania? Why not Bulgaria or Japan?
2. 19 Down. Why is ER half-hearted? Is it hesitation?
3. 24 across. Why is pi very good?
We don’t often get comments added to a post that is nearly five years old! I don’t have the relevant clues but I will try to answer your queries.
4dn: there are several countries where MAN appears in the name but only one, Romania where it is exactly in the middle.
19dn: ‘half-heartedly’ indicates the removal of one of the Gs in the middle of ‘nagger’ to give NAGER.
24ac: pi is a shortened form of pious, one meaning of which is ‘devoutly religious’.
Thanks Gaufrid
That’s clear now.
The crossword may have been in the Indy on Sunday 5 years back but I saw it in the i yesterday – 14/10/2013.
Tom
And my google search brought me here via this blog:
http://idothei.wordpress.com/2013/10/14/i-cryptic-crossword-836-quixote/
Tom