I noticed this morning that we didn’t have a blog for yesterday’s puzzle so here is a quick breakdown of the clues.
A straightforward puzzle with nothing that needs any specific comment.
Across
1 ON TRIAL O (old) *(TRAIN) L (line)
5 DESERT DES[s]ERT (course disheartened)
8 TAVISTOCK I VAT (I tax) reversed STOCK (farm animals)
9 LAGOS LAG (delay) OS (very large)
11 FORGE FORGE[t] (overlook almost completely)
12 AT A STROKE *(TO A SKATER)
13 RHAPSODY *(SPA HYDRO)
15 MISSAL MISS (discover the absence of) A L (Latin)
17 CLOVER C (cold) LOVER (fan)
19 MOMENTUM MOMENT (short time) MU (Greek character) reversed
22 IN PRIVATE IN (at home) PRIVATE (soldier)
23 GONER ONE (individual) in GR (King George)
24 EXPEL X (10) P in EEL (slippery customer)
25 MATRIARCH *(RITA) in MARCH (parade)
26 CRAYON C (see) RAYON (fabric)
27 REGIMEN REGIMEN[t] (most of army unit)
Down
1 OUT OF PRACTICE dd
2 TAVERNA TAVERN (inn) A
3 ISSUE IS (one’s) SUE (girl)
4 LEONARDO LEON (Spanish city) *(ROAD)
5 DIKTAT KID (child) reversed T (tense) AT
6 SOLITAIRE dd
7 REGIONS *(IGNORES)
10 STEAL A MARCH ON *(SOME CHARLATAN)
14 SPECIALLY *(ALLSPICE) Y[oghurt]
16 GO-GETTER *(TORTE EGG)
18 ON PAPER ON (working) PAPER (daily)
20 TANTRUM cd
21 BATMAN dd
23 GRIEG GR (gross) I EG (say)