A few of these clues are underwhelming, unless they possess some cleverness that I have missed. Many of the surfaces are also awkward or don’t make a lot of sense. Or maybe I’m just cranky today…
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | MUFFLE FF (very loud) in MULE (donkey) |
| 4 | SMASH HIT S (son) MA (mother) SH (quiet) HIT (beat) |
| 9 | SERENE SER[f] (slave almost) + ENE[my] (foe — “my” must go) |
| 10 | FLORENCE L (Latin) OR (gold) in FENCE (dealer) |
| 12 | IBEX I B (start to breed) EX (old mate) |
| 13 | RESISTANCE IS ER reversed + STANCE (standpoint) |
| 15 | UGLY DUCKLING UGLY (foul) DUCK (bird) LING (fish) |
| 18 | TABASCO SAUCE I think this is just a cd. I may be missing something, but if not it’s not very satisfactory. |
| 21 | SUBSTITUTE *(IS TUTU BEST) It appears that “replace letters” serves as both anagram indicator and definition here (unless the anagram indicator is simply the qm after the fodder). |
| 22 | ZEST Z (the final letter) EST (“is,” in French) |
| 24 | HEADGEAR HEAD (pate) GEAR (stuff); “crumpet” is slang for one’s head. |
| 25 | RAVINE IN (popular) in RAVE (jabber) |
| 26 | WASHDAYS *(SAW SHADY) |
| 27 | PLIERS *(PERIL) + S (spades) |
| Down | |
| 1 | MYSTIQUE MY ST (stone belonging to me) I QUE (Quebec) |
| 2 | FORMERLY FORM (class) + R in ELY (small city) |
| 3 | LINK dd |
| 5 | MULTIPLICITY *(LICITLY I’M PUT) |
| 6 | SCRUTINISE *(CRUST IN) + ISE (homophone of “eyes,” i.e., goggles) |
| 7 | HONING hidden clue |
| 8 | THEBES THE BES[t] (very nearly top notch) |
| 11 | MERCHANT NAVY cd; ref “tramp steamers” |
| 14 | ADVANTAGED I’m not sure about this one. I can see that “daughter” = D and “point” = VANTAGE, but I don’t see where the initial “A” comes from. Please see Rishi’s comment #1 below: if daughter wins deuce point, it will be ADVANTAGE D |
| 16 | JUVENILE J (judge) UVE (homophone of “you’ve”) NILE (river) |
| 17 | RESTLESS If you “keep moving” you REST LESS |
| 19 | ESCHEW [fl]ES[hy] (“what’s at the heart of fleshy”) CHEW (champ) |
| 20 | I-BEAMS I (one) BEAMS (sends) |
| 23 | BAIL B (bachelor) AIL (trouble) |
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