Financial Times 14,445 / Aardvark

PeeDee is away on holiday so I get another opportunity to return to what used to be my customary Wednesday FT slot. I found parts of this one rather tricky, not helped by the grid effectively giving four separate puzzles. It all fell in the end but, despite spending some time on it, the correct parsing of one clue (23ac) has so far eluded me.

Across

1 Speaking French well during cameo briefly affected atmosphere (8)
AMBIENCE – BIEN (speaking French well) in (during) anagram (affected) of CAME[o] (cameo briefly)

5 China devotee collects the ultimate in Worcester (6)
FRIEND – FIEND (devotee) around (collects) [worceste]R (the ultimate in Worcester)

9 Appearance that may be made by a sewer rat (8)
TURNCOAT – TURN (appearance) COAT (that may be made by a sewer)

10 Ingenious medic that ends voodoo in middle of Haiti (6)
ADROIT – DR (medic) [voodoo]O (ends voodoo) in [h]AIT[i] (middle of Haiti)

11 Reduced dessert or main course? (8)
MOUSSAKA – MOUSS[e] (reduced dessert) AKA (or)

12 Seabird sounding resonant some days (6)
FULMAR – homophone (sounding) of ‘full’ (resonant) MAR[ch] (some days)

14 High-flyer drinking French wine somewhere in LA (5,5)
BATON ROUGE – BAT (high-flier) ON (drinking) ROUGE (French wine) – Louisiana not Los Angeles!

18 In that position around piano, loud duet regularly cited poem (3,7)
THE PRELUDE – THERE (in that position) around P (piano) L[o]U[d] D[u]E[t] (loud duet regularly cited) for the poem written by William Wordsworth

22 Swimmer holds dial, looking over pulse (6)
LEGUME – EEL (swimmer) around (holds) MUG (dial {face}) reversed (looking over)

23 Perseus initially comes across no aid, slaying snaky creature (8)
OPHIDIAN – I’m not sure on this one. It could be PHI (Perseus initially {as Perseas was Greek}) in an anagram (slaying?) of NO AID but the ‘comes across’ would indicate the anagram inside PHI rather that outside it and I don’t see ‘slaying’ as an anagram indicator. If the anagram indicator is ‘snaky’ (which would be better) and the definition simply ‘creature’ then ‘slaying’ is redundant.

24 One fails to attend food centre in town (2-4)
NO-SHOW – NOSH (food) [t]OW[n] (centre in town)

25 Country celebrity Ireland and America rejected earlier (8)
SURINAME – IR (Ireland) US (America) reversed (rejected) in front of (earlier) NAME (celebrity)

26 Rings Sally (at baker’s) back in road (6)
ANNULI – LUNN (Sally (at baker’s)) reversed (back) in A1 (road) – Sally Lunn

27 Check Valerie and Stuart both vacated place in office again (8)
REINVEST – REIN (check) V[aleri]E S[tuar]T (Valerie and Stuart both vacated)

Down

1 Time of year gold mine oddly limits workers? (6)
AUTUMN – AU (gold) M[i]N[e] (mine oddly) around (limits) TU (workers)

2 Academic individual probes unusual element (6)
BARIUM – BA (academic) I (individual) in (probes) RUM (unusual)

3 With little energy, Roger avoids training duty (6)
EXCISE – EX[er]CISE (little energy, Roger avoids training)

4 Extremely charming absorbing play written by competent film star (5,5)
CLARK GABLE – C[harmin]G (extremely charming) around (absorbing) LARK (play) ABLE (competent)

6 Radical youth argued fervently on street (3,5)
RED GUARD – anagram (fervently) of ARGUED RD (street) – Chinese Red Guards

7 Average English river, when moving east, becomes huge (8)
ENORMOUS – NORM (average) OUSE (English river) with E (east) moved (when moving)

8 Checked extent of the rules, filling in legal document (8)
DETERRED – T[h]E (extent of the) RR (rules) in DEED (legal document)

13 A day in retreat by river banks – perfect for Mark Twain perhaps (3,2,5)
NOM DE PLUME – MON (a day) reversed (in retreat) DEE (river) around (banks) PLUM (perfect)

15 Legendary runner active in Olympic venue (8)
ATALANTA – A (active) in ATLANTA (Olympic venue) – this legendary runner

16 Prepares for sports event with rowing crew short – something wrong (6,2)
WEIGHS IN – W (with) EIGH[t] (rowing crew short) SIN (something wrong)

17 Tattoo peculiar on the outside and inside (4,4)
DRUM ROLL – DROLL (peculiar) around (RUM (peculiar)

19 Heavyweight retains number one position – master of the canvas? (6)
TITIAN – TITAN (heavyweight) around (retains) I (number one position)

20 Herbal tea given by couple around hospital (6)
TISANE – TIE (couple) around SAN (hospital)

21 Committed one with heritage group repeatedly embraces earth (6)
INTENT – I (one) NT NT (heritage group repeatedly) around (embraces) E (earth)