I enjoyed this, a fairly typical Everyman, despite initial technical difficulties, which I find have now been ironed out
Across
1. Long for high praise
Aspire *PRAISE, + &lit?
4. In state, vicious hook having caught the Parisienne mother
Oklahoma *HOOK round LA (‘the’ in French)
+ MA
9. Is to go ashore in Tasmania, perhaps
Island IS + LAND (=’go ashore’)
10. Hit man when given cheek at home
Assassin AS (=’when’) =SASS (=’cheek’ )
+ IN (=’home’)
11. First to test new footwear in musical
Tea for two T(est) + *FOOTWEAR
13. Live with wife in small wooden hollow
Dwell W(ife) in DELL
14. Fascinating period knitting together
Spellbinding SPELL (= ‘period’) + BINDING
18. City in Maine has poster showing lighthouse location
Portland Bill PORTLAND + BILL
The Dorset location of this lighthouse
21.Titled lady losing first two in game of skill
Chess (du)CHESS
22. Bananas in a hot pie for African national
Ethiopian *IN A HOT PIE
24. Culinary herb used in Spanish province, mostly
Tarragon TARRAGON(a), in Catalonia,
Delicious with fish, and in Béarnaise sauce
25. Figure of speech making one inside grin
Simile I in SMILE
I find the word order of the clue a bit odd, though perhaps necessary for the wordplay
26. Tentative, male model visiting social worker
Hesitant HE + SIT + ANT
27. At which one may have served before returning
Tennis cd.
Down
1. A rigorous appraisal dictates changes
Acid test *DICTATES
2. Greatly shocked, European given the sack
Poleaxed POLE + AXED
3. Call round for drummer
Ringo RING + O
5. Sign of betrayal with fatal consequences?
Kiss of death cd.
6. Left group, one used in commercial
Abandoned BAND + ONE in AD
7. Involved story about eastern native
Oyster *STORY round E
For “oyster” = “native”, see the discussion here: http://fifteensquared.net/2010/11/15/guardian-25168-rufus/
8. A service provided by elderly poet
Arnold A + R(oyal) N(avy) + OLD
Presumably, this poet, cultural critic and sage writer:
12. A mass of feathery seeds, lots the wind scattered
Thistledown *LOTS THE WIND
15. Be quick to appear intelligent
Look smart dd.
16. Discord in military unit
Division dd.
17. Battlefield – force touches down without hesitation
Flanders F(orce) + LANDS around ER
19. A short stop
Scotch tichy dd.
20. Bride’s lost in wreck
Débris *BRIDE’S
23.Express an opinion in a shop in Ely
Opine hidden in ‘shOP IN Ely’
Hi Stella,
congrats on doing your first blog for Fifteensquared.
May you do many more.
Lorraine.
Thanks Stella – I liked the illustrations!
Your first blog?? wow! Fantastic stuff I’m impressed, will have to raise my game it seems.
Nicely done Stella.
Thanks, Stella; I enjoyed your pictures. I also liked your putting the clue above to make cross-referencing easy.
Many thanks, Stella. Plenty of knobs and whistles in this blog (and culinary hints for using tarragon) – well done!
Regular contributors and lurkers will know I’m a big fan of Everyman. It does exactly what it says on the tin, as the advertising slogan goes.
In this one, I liked RINGO and THISTLEDOWN in particular.
And in your explanation of 19dn, don’t forget that ‘tichy’ is © Uncle Yap, so please make sure that you send him the royalties from the fee you get for blogging. For those that are scratching their heads, it’s a ‘Tongue In CHeek’ kind of clue. A bit like my comment about the fee.
Re 1ac, ‘high’ as in ‘off’ (in the sense of ‘slightly decomposed or tainted’) is the anagram indicator. The clue, whilst very good, is not an &lit.
In my opinion, I should add, since LONG = to yearn (with some powerful desire) for something. High praise could be what one yearns for, but I’m not entirely convinced.
Thanks all, though this is not exactly my first blog – I did the second ‘quiptic’, and should have done another more recently, but my communications broke down.
When I wrote &lit for 1ac, paul, I was thinking of “a (church) spire”, as a symbol of high aspirations, though of course I’ve no idea whether that was Everyman’s intention, hence the ?