A mixture of nice &lits and a few venerable old chestnuts (like 22 and 25) from Quixote. It was mostly on the easy side, although one or two like the superbly deceiving 16 might have been trickier without crossing letters. A couple of the &lits were particularly good, 21 and 26 being my picks.
| Across | |||
| 1. | Rabbit maybe that’s going nuclear? (4,7) | ||
| Fast breeder. | DD/CD | ||
| 9. | Aroma with yours and my party being held (5) | ||
| Odour | Our around do. | ||
| 10. | Drunk askew with ale — one embedded can’t drop off (4,5) | ||
| Lies awake | (Askew ale)* around i. | ||
| 11. | Agent’s friend caught on the rebound — an enthusiastic type (7) | ||
| Clapper | Rep + pal + C(aught)<. | ||
| 12. | Not work to keep partners at table 24/7? (7) | ||
| Nonstop | Not op around NS (North + South = bridge partners). | ||
| 13. | Sort of appeal to boy to deliver food container (5,4) | ||
| Salad bowl | SA (sex appeal) + lad + bowl (deliver in cricket), although I have to say that personally I’d like to consign SA to the history books on the grounds that it only ever now appears in crosswords. | ||
| 15. | In bed start to read rubbish(5) | ||
| Dross. | Doss around r(ead). | ||
| 17. | Man has penned very short book (5) | ||
| Novel | Noel around (penning) v(ery). | ||
| 19. | What’s disastrous about one essential matter being controlled by state (9) | ||
| Dirigiste | Dire around i + gist. | ||
| 21. | Pom batting to get one century after another? (7) | ||
| Compton | Pom* + ton after c(entury). &lit referring to the England batsman Denis Compton. | ||
| 22. | Sailor on desert island? Sea food must be found (7) | ||
| Abalone | Ab + alone. | ||
| 24. | Wartime activity number one about to be embraced by seaman (9) | ||
| Rationing | Rating around No I<. | ||
| 25. | Wild dog (must be kept outside home!) (5) | ||
| Dingo | Dog* round in. &lit. | ||
| 26. | It’s explosive — with terrible danger when it goes off being held! (4,7) | ||
| Hand grenade | I think this is another &lit of HE (high explosive) around and(=with) + danger*. | ||
| … Down |
|||
| 1. | Form of life, see, captured by female artist (5) | ||
| Flora | Lo(=see) in F RA. | ||
| 2. | Little man, after act of undressing, streaked (7) | ||
| Striped | Strip + Ed. | ||
| 3. | Boar and moll possibly in this tactile activity for two? (8,7) | ||
| Ballroom dancing | Answer implies anagram of (boar + moll)*, which dancing as the indicator. | ||
| 4. | A retreating Nell, damaged in complex love network (7,8) | ||
| Eternal Triangle | (A retreating Nell)*. | ||
| 5. | Daughter came down exhausted (7) | ||
| Drained | D(aughter) + rained. | ||
| 6. | What you may get with chemicals ruining nice roast (9) | ||
| Reactions | (Nice roast)* – another possible &lit. | ||
| 7. | Shoe old bird outside cricket club? Shame! (8) | ||
| Moccasin | Moa + sin around CC. | ||
| 8. | The male politician supplying drug (4) | ||
| Hemp | He + MP | ||
| 14. | Happy marriage for couple? Falling out could make them vocal (4,5) | ||
| Love match | (Them vocal)* | ||
| 16. | Pound lost — keen person in no danger of looking fat! (8) | ||
| Skeleton | (Lost keen)* | ||
| 18. | Lengthen the disillusionment (3-4) | ||
| Let down | DD, as in let down ones hair. | ||
| 20. | Relation making good money abroad before remuneration’s cut (7) | ||
| Grandpa | G(ood) + Rand(SA currency) + pa(y). | ||
| 21. | Gosh, any number will be needed to get crop! (4) | ||
| Corn | Cor + n. | ||
| 23. | Unit formerly deployed to protect leader of Uruguay (5) | ||
| Ounce | Once around U(ruguay). Unit because an ounce is a unit of weight. | ||
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21A could also refer to Denis’s grandson Nick who, as I type, will be waiting for the announcement of the squad for the winter tour.
Another excellent Quixote puzzle that was just right for a Monday morning.
I agree with NealH that the clue for SKELETON was excellent, and I confess that it was my LOI and entered from the definition only.
hounddog@1 makes a valid point, although I automatically think of Denis when I see Compton.
Thanks Neal another gentle run out after the Rufus earlier, this one edged it for me with the fine &lits with SKELETON causing the biggest problem with the well disguised “pound lost”
26 looks liKe a mistaje because there ate two anag- inds. The ‘terrible’ must go to make things work |I think. But I am not sure the others are ‘&lits’ anyway. 6 isnt.
Another good Monday puzzle from the Don. Just the last few that took a bit of time to pin down. Couldn’t see SKELETON, but now that it’s been explained, it’s a cleverly constructed clue. FAST BREEDER was good too.
Thanks to S&B.
16dn was my last in, too. Even with all the crossing letters I couldn’t see it and had to mentally go through trying all the possible second letters.
Couldn’t parse 26ac either, but that was partly because I saw letters 2 to 7 formed an anagram of DANGER and couldn’t see where NAD came from, so thanks to all.
Enjoyed this but have to note a grammatical quibble with 9a. It should have been “your and my” (vice “yours and my”), otherwise you are combining different parts of speech (“yours” is a possessive pronoun while “my” is a possessive adjective).