This was absolute murder for me. For some reason – more to do with my weak brain than with the puzzle, I think – the whole east wing of this grid was a really tough slog. And, having finally conquered it, I wasn’t left with a huge sense of satisfaction. No complaints – but no great excitement, either.
ACROSS
1,13. ONE-MAN BAND Ne [born] within Oman [state] + band [sounds like banned, censored]
5. LANDMARK Land [what Germany is] + mark [former German currency]
9. STARVE R(ations) within stave [staff]
10. TEASPOON Tea [drink] + spoon [club?]
11. CHANCE IT Anagram of chicane + T(rulli)
12. SEDUCE SE [south-east, location of the Home Counties] + duce [foreign dignitary]
13. See 1ac.
15. LORDLING No idea, I’m afraid – help!
18. FORSOOTH Hidden in prooF OR SO OTHers
19. SALE Initial letters of Stock At Leeds Encouraging
21. PISTOL Double definition: Pistol is Sir John Falstaff’s servant in The Merry Wives Of Windsor and elsewhere
23. NOTECASE Anagram of see act on
25. LIVE UP TO Live up [backward clue, meaning ‘evil’ reversed] + to
26. AMULET Mule [animal] within a(ccoun)t
27. DEAD CERT Dead [passed on] + cert(ificate) [award]
28. KEEPER Reversal of re [about] peek [look]
DOWN
2. NOTCH Hidden in hugueNOT CHurchman
3. MARINADES AD [Anno Domini] within marines [sailors]
4. NEEDED NE [north-east, direction] + repetition of ed [editor, reporter (?)]
5. LET T ALL HANG OUT All [everyone] within anagram of late night + out [known]
6. NOAHS ARK Anagram of anoraks (watc)h
7. MOPED Mope [despair] + d(aybreak)
8. ROOT CANAL Root [encourage, cheer on] + canal [artificial work]
14. ABORIGINE Origin [ancestry] within Abe [Abraham Lincoln]
16. LOST CAUSE Anagram of cassoulet
17. COLLAPSE Co [company] + l [left] + lapse [decline]
20. ATTACK Sounds like a tack [change of a ship’s course]
22. TREAD T [time] + read [study]
24. SWEDE Anagram of widespread minus the letters of rapid
Thanks Hamilton and Ringo.
15a – L(iberal) inside [lived in] LORDING [domineering] to give a minor lord (not sure about ‘hope’ unless he hopes to be a proper lord one day!)
…. a lordling may also be a young lord who presumably hopes to inherit the full title one day.
Most enjoyable FT solve for some time. Thanks, Hamilton.
Straightforward and enjoyable for me, thank you Hamilton.
I enjoyed solving this. Thanks, Hamilton, and thanks for the blog, Ringo.
Thanks Ringo and Hamilton.
The NE corner was also the last ones in, but all in all quite enjoyable. Re10A TEASPOON, a spoon was the name of an obsolete golf club, a wood designed to give a higher loft to the ball.