An IoS towards the harder end of the spectrum, I thought. There were quite some answers that had to be teased out, including the 4 long anagrams, of which I found 8 down easiest of the lot. Thank you to Raich. Definitions are underlined in the clues. [[The pictures at the bottom, between them, share 2 unidentified links to the puzzle.]]
Across
1 Diplomat with no love for grudging discontent (4)
ENVY : “envoy”(Diplomat) minus(with no) “o”(the letter that looks like zero,love in tennis scores).
Answer: One of the seven deadly sins (see 13 across).
3 Mother’s seen with copper in the German capital (8)
DAMASCUS : [MA’s(Mother’s) plus(seen with) CU(chemical symbol for the element copper)] contained in(in) DAS(German for the definite article “the”).
Answer: Capital city of Syria.
10 Police left soccer ground missing finish of half – that’s rare (10,5)
COLLECTOR’S PIECE : Anagram of(ground) “Police left soccer ” minus(missing) “f”[the last letter(finish) of “half “].
11 Opt for change, withdrawing fuel investments (9)
PORTFOLIO : Anagram of(change) OPT FOR + reversal of(withdrawing) OIL(fuel).
12 Arrange tennis, say, when pressure’s off (4)
SORT : “sport”(an example of which, say, is “tennis “) minus(when …’s off) “p”(symbol in physics for “pressure“).
13 Ireland look involved in, say, 1A cut (7)
SIRLOIN : [IR(abbrev. for Ireland,the Irish Republic) + LO(look, as in “lo and behold”)] contained in(involved in) SIN(an example of which, say, is “envy”, the answer in 1A).
Answer: A prime cut of meat, usually beef.
15 Girl from Venezuela – Inez (6)
ELAINE : Hidden in(from) Venezuela – Inez.
17 Uncertainty after daughter rebuffed official in quarrel (6)
DIFFER : IF(a qualification,uncertainty) placed after(after) D(abbrev. for “daughter “) + reversal of(rebuffed) REF(short for “referee”,the sports official).
Defn. and Answer: As verbs.
19 Ship‘s journey curtailed by specialised military unit (7)
TRIREME : “trip”(a journey) minus its last letter(curtailed) plus(by) REME(abbrev. for the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, a specialised unit in the British military).
Answer: An ancient Greek or Roman warship with 3 tiers of oars on each side.
20 21, dead – at rest (4)
ABED : ABE(Lincoln, past US president,answer to 21across) + D(abbrev. for “dead“).
21 Wilson once, last of group to live beside National Theatre (9)
PRESIDENT : P(last letter of “group“) + RESIDE(to live) plus(beside) NT(abbrev. for the Royal National Theatre in the UK).
Defn: A reference to Woodrow Wilson, once President of the USA.
24 Players aren’t cross? Right? Wrong! (6,9)
STRING ORCHESTRA : Anagram of(Wrong) AREN’T CROSS? RIGHT.
25 Last to go in at Lord’s or the Spanish high jump, say? That’s hard (8)
ELEVENTH : EL(Spanish for the definite article “the“) + EVENT(an example of which,say, is the high jump) + H(abbrev. for “hard“).
Answer: At Lord’s Cricket Ground, the last to go in to bat is the eleventh man in a cricket team.
26 Difficult journey coming back in bleaker tundra (4)
TREK : Reversal of(coming back) and hidden in(in) “bleaker tundra“.
Down
1 College in awkward impasse seeking to avoid reality (8)
ESCAPISM : C(abbrev. for “College“) contained in(in) anagram of(awkward) IMPASSE. Defn: As a noun.
2 More reprehensible organ has leading trio upset (5)
VILER : “liver”(an internal organ) with(has) reversal of(upset) its first three letters(leading trio).
4 Corona and beer as troubled euro is safeguarded? (7)
AUREOLE : ALE(beer) containing(… is safeguarded) anagram of(troubled) EURO. And Corona, of course, is a brand of beer – click here to see some raunchy ads, but only if you want to.
Answer: In astronomy a faintly luminous envelope around a celestial body, its corona.
5 Nice Department seems impartial after reform (5-9)
ALPES-MARITIMES : Anagram of(after reform) SEEMS IMPARTIAL.
Answer: The Department (an administrative division) in France of which the city of Nice is the capital.
6 Risk as King replaces hospital’s official authorisation (9)
CLEARANCE : “chance”( Risk as a verb or noun) with LEAR(the Shakespearean King) replacing(replaces) “h”(abbrev. for hospital).
7 Get rid of storage building (4)
SHED : Double defn.
8 Cliff scene done in new way showing aplomb (4-10)
SELF-CONFIDENCE : Anagram of(in new way) CLIFF SCENE DONE.
9 Hot bread lecturer dropped (6)
STOLEN : “stollen”(a sweet bread, from the German for a wooden post, reflecting its shape) minus(dropped) “l”(abbrev. for “lecturer“).
Defn: Slang for any item that’s been illegally obtained.
14 Financially compensate me after battle with bruiser? (9)
REIMBURSE : Anagram of(after battle) [ME + BRUISER].
16 Abandoned reserve supply in artists’ quarter (4,4)
LEFT BANK : LEFT(deserted,Abandoned) + BANK(a reserve supply set aside).
Answer: The area in Paris besides the Seine where artists and the like congregate.
18 Harmony as painter’s first to praise drink (7)
RAPPORT : RA(a member of the Royal Academy,painter) + initial letter of(first to) “praise” + PORT(fortified alcoholic drink).
19 From that place the National Curriculum initially emerged (6)
THENCE : THE + NC(abbrev. for the National Curriculum in the British education system) + E[initial letter of(initially) “emerged “].
22 Pierce America’s heart when leader’s away (5)
ENTER : “center”[spelling in America of “centre”( heart)] minus(when …’s away) its initial letter(leader).
23 Key feature of supermarket by the sound of it (4)
ISLE : Homophone of(by the sound of it)”aisle”(a feature of supermarkets).
Defn: A small low island or bank, especially in the Caribbean, also spelled as “cay”.
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Thanks. Curiously, I found it on the easier end myself. I was out most of last Sunday and did the Beelzebub before tackling this and had forgotten about it till mid-week when, having done that day’s daily, I felt the need to do another puzzle and remembered this still unlooked at. I was almost disappointed when I did it in a single sitting.
Like Dormouse, I didn’t find this too tricky – I managed the long answers fairly early, and then remember the rest of it falling out nicely. No particular favourite today, but it was what I’d call a good ‘old-fashioned’ puzzle: no theme, but plenty of fine clues and a variety of devices.
I’d always call it STOLLEN CAKE, but ‘bread’ is also fine (I think in German it’s Stollen Brot). Btw, scchua, you have a tiny typo in your explanation of this clue: you meant to write ‘stollen’ and not ‘stolen’, I’m sure.
Thanks to Raich for the puzzle and scchua for the blog.
I didn’t find it that tricky either – about right for a Sunday. As K’sD says, a nice mix of clues and very entertaining. Thanks to Raich and scchua too.
It appears I’m in the minority (not for the first time, nor the last either, I’ll bet). Thanks K’sD, I’ve corrected the blog.
Unlike the rest of the commenters for once NMS had me really stuck for a long time, I didn’t know the French region ( I knew what the clue was about but without references available, still)
Thanks SC and NMS, I enjoyed it even if others found it easy.
Thought this was slightly harder than Raich’s usual but none the worse for that. An enjoyable puzzle.
Many thanks, scchua, for the excellent blog and thanks also to all who commented.