A bit more difficult than the usual Sunday offering, I thought. Enjoyed solving it. Thanks to Poins. Definitions are underlined in the clues. [[The pictures at the bottom have unidentified links to the puzzle. Please enclose any comments on them in double brackets. Thank you.]]
Across
1 Goes on about drugs during reminder to son (8)
PROCEEDS : { C(abbrev. for “circa”, Latin for “about” a time, eg. a year) + E,E(2 x E, the slang abbreviation for the drug Ecstasy) } contained in(during) PROD(a reminder;a prompt) plus(to) S(abbrev. for “son”).
6 Influenced unfairly by Poins when involved in plot (6)
BIASED : { I(first person pronoun denoting the setter, in contrast to “you”, the solvers) + AS(when, as in “when;as you are travelling”) } contained in(involved) BED(a plot in the garden, say).
9 Alter notice in accordance with facts (6)
ADJUST : AD(short for an “advertisement”;a promotional notice) + JUST(in accordance with the facts;accurate, as in “a just assessment”).
10 Girl’s covering body part with fruit (8)
ROSEHIPS : ROSE’S(a girl’s) containing(covering) HIP(a body part).
11 Revolutionary measure to imprison royalist leader (4)
TROT : TOT(a small measure;quantity of alcoholic spirits) containing(to imprison) first letter of(leader) “royalist “.
Answer: Short for Trotskyist, a follower of Leon Trotsky, the Russian Marxist revolutionary.
12 Horny type getting hornier frolicking outside club with sailor (10)
RHINOCEROS : Anagram of(frolicking) HORNIER containing(outside) C(abbrev. for the suit of clubs in playing cards) plus(with) OS(abbrev. for “ordinary seaman”;sailor).
Answer: Some of which modern day species are in danger of extinction, like this prehistoric one:
14 Come close to making an initial proposal (8)
APPROACH : Double defn: 2nd: An advance or overture to a person.
16 Charlotte, for instance, is extremely coy about exactly what’s needed (4)
CITY : The 2 outermost letters of(extremely) “coy ” containing(about) IT(the desirable quality or ability;exactly what’s needed, as in “she’s got it; yes, baby, she’s got it”.
Answer: An example of which is Charlotte, a city in North Carolina, USA.
18 Some of grant earmarked for advance payment (4)
ANTE : Hidden in(Some of) “grant earmarked “.
Answer: The payment into the pool in a poker game, before;in advance of the deal.
19 Ahead of the pack (8)
FORWARDS : Double defn: 2nd: The players that make up the pack;scrum in rugby.
21 Clare and Tom on jaunt in town (5,5)
MONTE CARLO : Anagram of(jaunt) [CLARE plus(and) TOM ON].
22 It‘s found in Castilian wine (4)
ASTI : Hidden in(‘s found in) “Castilian “.
Answer: A sparkling wine from, well, Asti.
24 Itinerant vicar to go around island in carriage (8)
VICTORIA : Anagram of(Itinerant) VICAR TO containing(go around) I(abbrev. for “island”).
26 Answer with an example of each (6)
APIECE : A(abbrev. for “answer”) plus(with) PIECE(an example;a specimen of a style or type, eg. “a piece of Victoriana”).
Answer: Per unit;per piece.
27 Posh girl sent back to finish story (6)
LEGEND : Reversal of(sent back) GEL(a posh girl, derived from imitative upper class British pronunciation of “girl”) plus(to) END(to finish).
28 Set off with volunteers well known around the centre of Leeds (8)
DETONATE : Reversal of(around) [ TA(abbrev. for the “Territorial Army”, consisting of volunteers) + NOTED(well known;distinguished) ] + the central letter of(the centre of) “Leeds “.
Down
2 Essentially accurate about the German being more robust (5)
RUDER : Reversal of(about) the central letters of(Essentially) “accurate ” + DER(German for the definite article, “the”).
Answer: More robust;sturdier, as in “in ruder health than before”.
3 Consider making changes in it free to copy (11)
COUNTERFEIT : COUNT(to consider;to take account of) + anagram of(changes in) IT FREE.
4 Occurring again and again over vote involving foreign nations (8)
EXTERNAL : ETERNAL(occurring again and again;never ending) containing(involving) X(mark symbolising a vote for).
5 Immediately getting 1 of 19 for Frank (15)
STRAIGHTFORWARD : STRAIGHT(without delay, as in “went straight to bed”) plus(getting) FORWARD(1 of;singular of “forwards”;answer to 19 across).
6 Clergyman‘s book is hard work (6)
BISHOP : B(abbrev. for “book”) + IS + H(abbrev. for “hard”) + OP(abbrev. for opus;a piece of musical work).
7 Foolhardy rector missing in wood (3)
ASH : “rash”(foolhardy) minus(missing) “r”(abbrev. for “rector”).
8 Used former policeman to carry it to Spain (9)
EXPLOITED : EX-(prefix denoting former;was once) + PLOD(British slang for a policeman – from the sound of his slow heavy steps?) containing(to carry) IT plus(to) E(the International Vehicle Registration code for Spain, from España).
13 Mark follows it with an excited cry (11)
EXCLAMATION : Double defn: 1st: The “it” in the defn. which, preceding “mark” gives “!”, a symbol in writing which denotes an excited cry in reported speech, amongst other things.
15 Severely criticise having old theatrical technique propping up Travers’ earliest farce (9)
PANTOMIME : PAN(to criticise severely, eg. a play) plus(having) { O(abbrev. for “old”) + MIME(a theatrical technique of portraying characters, thoughts and actions without the use of words) } placed below(propping up, in a down clue) the 1st letter of(…’ earliest) “Travers“. And, of course, Ben Travers was an English writer known for his series of farces.
Answer: A confused or farcical situation.
17 Overweening republican seen in old marketplace returning books (8)
ARROGANT : R(abbrev. for a member of the Republican Party, especially in the USA) contained in(seen in) reversal of(returning) AGORA(a marketplace in ancient Greece) + NT(abbrev. for the New Testament, the collection of books in the Christian Bible).
20 Vehicle parked in the London area by day is alarmed (6)
SCARED : CAR(a vehicle) contained in(parked in) SE(one of the postal codes for London) placed above(by, in a down clue) D(abbrev. for “day”).
23 Thanks primarily to Bill it‘s understood (5)
TACIT : The 1st letter of(primarily) “Thanks ” placed above(to, in a down clue) AC(abbrev. for an “account”;a bill) + IT.
Answer: ‘s;is understood.
25 An article of faith eventually embraced by Taiwanese extremists (3)
THE : The last letter of(eventually) “faith ” contained in(embraced by) the 2 outermost letters of(… extremists) “Taiwanese “.
Answer: The definite article, one of the articles in grammar.
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Thanks scchua and Commoner.
My favourite was ROSEHIPS, for the surface.
[[Pic 7 is a great hornbill, relation of the RHINOCEROS hornbill]]
Thanks Poins and scchua.
I particularly liked 17d, 6d, 21a, 12a, 1a and my favourite was 13d EXCLAMATION.
[[#4 is Roy Orbison who had a number one hit with “Running SCARED”]]
Whoops! Thanks Poins.
First time I’ve done a Sunday Indy puzzle. When bringing this up on-line (on my computer anyway), why is it filed under “Concise” rather than “Cryptic”? Glad to get the mental exercise on a lazy Sunday
Favourite clue 2D RUDER. Once wrote to Defendant lawyers, “the Plaintiff was in rude health” and got the response “What is meant by rude health?”
Just discovered that the crossword comes up (presumably only on a Sunday), whether I click “Cryptic” or “Concise”.
This one took a bit of sorting out, and I needed the blog to parse a number of entries – such as BIASED which was almost my last in after it couldn’t be anything else. I thought of it from the definition early on but left it as I just coudn’t parse it.
A clerical mimi-theme for Sunday? ‘Vicar’ and ‘rector’ in the clues, and BISHOP as one of the answers.
[[Could #3 relate to the Monte Carlo method?]]
Thanks, Poins and scchua
Or even a mini-theme
[[You’re right Muffyword , michelle and allan_c. Well done!]]