A very quick solve for me today and there should have been nothing in this puzzle to cause anyone problems, apart from perhaps part of the wordplay in 1ac and the answer in 21dn (though the simple wordplay for the latter should have offset any lack of prior knowledge of this particular Roman dictator).
Across
1 SEMICOLON *(MICE) in SOLON (sage) – Solon: “a famous lawgiver of Athens (594BC), one of the Seven Sages; a sage; a wiseacre” (Chambers).
6 CHARD CHARD[onnay] (half a grape) – I’ve never had it in a salad but I suppose it could be in one since Chambers gives “the edible leafstalk of a variety of white beet, Beta vulgaris cicla (also called Swiss chard or leaf beet)”.
9 BELLE BELL (Bronte) E – a reference to Anne Bronte whose pen name was Acton Bell.
10 NARCISSUS dd – a reference to the youth in Greek mythology who pined away for love of his own image and was transformed into the flower.
11 TANGERINES *(EASTERN GIN)
12 INCH [f]INCH (headless bird)
14 MAESTRO MAE[l]STRO[m] (Maelstrom lost £1000)
15 TROOPER O (nothing) in *(REPORT)
17 RESENTS [p]RESENTS (donations getting cut)
19 METHANE ME THANE? (Macbeth’s query about his title?)
20 ALSO A (one) LSO (orchestra)
22 NASTURTIUM A *(TRUST) I in NUM (numbers) – Num. is an abbreviation for the Biblical book Numbers. It is also an abbreviation for simply ‘number’ but the clue has the word in the plural.
25 ABLUTIONS *(USAIN BOLT)
26 DRUMS hidden reversal in ‘heinouS MURDer’
27 ELAND E LAND (the orient)
28 THE AENEID THEA (girl) [gr]E[ek] in ENID (another {girl}) – the epic poem written by Virgil which I remember having to translate (reluctantly) in Latin lessons many years ago.
Down
1 SABOT S (second) AB[b]OT (monk’s not black)
2 MALINGERS MA (mother) LINGERS (dallies)
3 CLEMENTINE d&cd – a reference to the song ‘Oh My Darling, Clementine’ or the film ‘My Darling Clementine’.
4 LENTIGO *(NEIL GOT)
5 NOR-WEST *(WORSEN) T (time)
6 CHIN cd – a ‘double chin’ (feature) and ‘chin chin’ (toast)
7 ARSON [p]ARSON (clergyman losing his head)
8 DISCHARGE dd
13 FOOTBRIDGE FOOT (12 12s) BRIDGE (game)
14 MARMALADE MARM (school mistress) A LAD (boy) E (English)
16 PLATITUDE P (priest) LATITUDE (range)
18 SEAPORT *(ESPARTO)
19 MATISSE *(SET AIMS)
21 SULLA ALL (the whole) US (of America) reversed – Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix
23 MUSED US (you and me) in MED (sea)
24 STUD dd
Thanks, Gaufrid. A lovely puzzle, I thought.
We’ve seen the USAIN BOLT treatment before but I’m sure it’s good for a few more outings.
Favourite clue [and favourite Latin poem!]: 28ac.
I’m afraid you havee your Brontes mixed up: Bronte E. is Emily, aka Ellis Bell.
Hi Eileen
As the E in 9ac is part of the wordplay the indicator for BELL is simply ‘Bronte’ so it could be either of the sisters. If you are happy that the E does double duty (which strictly speaking it shouldn’t) then I agree that it would be Emily rather than Anne.
enjoyable, but failed on 28 and 21 Ancient history is not me, clued fairly but answers I would not have recognised.
Hi Gaufrid
Surely it’s Bronte E. = Bell E.?
Hi Eileen
That is another way of looking at it (and one I hadn’t considered). I think either parsing could be considered correct but I like yours more given the full stop at the end (which I hadn’t noticed previously).
I remember seeing the Usain Bolt anagram recently too – in Azed 1971:
Wherein one may find Usain Bolt after a dash? (9)
Thanks Gaufrid.
A quick solve for me but one that I enjoyed very much.I always enjoy Classical/literary references in clues.
I read 9 across in the same way as Eileen.
METHANE made me laugh,also liked 1 across and 13 down.
Last to go in was 28 across,couldn’t see past “the legend”(obviously wrong) for a while.