This one meets the remit nicely. A good cross-section of clue types, some pleasing surfaces and nothing obscure (apart from perhaps the archaic word in 2dn).
I think this was probably my first Provis solve as I don’t usually attempt the Quiptic, well not until recently when I have been covering for holiday and other absences, so I cannot say how it compares with previous puzzles from this setter. I will therefore leave that for others to comment on.
Across
1 Surprisingly, EEC bans time off work (7)
ABSENCE – an anagram (surprisingly) of EEC BANS
5 Lawyers earn a good deal (7)
BARGAIN – BAR (lawyers) GAIN (earn)
9 Tended to worry over daughter (5)
CARED – CARE (to worry over) D (daughter)
10 Setter working to follow unambiguous guidance (9)
DIRECTION – I (setter) ON (working) after (to follow) DIRECT (unambiguous)
11 Have an OTT response concerning misplaced crate (9)
OVERREACT – RE OVER (concerning) plus an anagram (misplaced) of CRATE
12 Struggle with vision after change of leader (5)
FIGHT – sIGHT (vision) with the first letter altered (after change of leader)
13 Dull at the margins within state, unfortunately (5)
SADLY – D[ul]L (dull at the margins) in (within) SAY (state)
15 Informed article goes into popular game making a comeback (2,3,4)
IN THE LOOP – THE (article) in (goes into) IN (popular) POOL (game) reversed (making a comeback)
18 Forget his ridiculous thinking about the future (9)
FORESIGHT – an anagram (ridiculous) of FORGET HIS
19 Horror of soldiers instilled in father (5)
DREAD – RE (soldiers) in (instilled in) DAD (father)
21 Elevated part of railway involves developing giant embankments initially (5)
RIDGE – the first letters of (initially) R[ailway] I[nvolves] D[eveloping] G[iant] E[mbankments]
23 Gain promotion against worker with seniority (9)
ADVANTAGE – AD (promotion) V (against) ANT (worker) AGE (seniority)
25 Start to assign repairmen on time for a change (9)
AMENDMENT – A[ssign] (start to assign) MEND (repair) MEN T (time)
26 Said to be correct to send a letter (5)
WRITE – sounds like (said to be) ‘right’ (correct)
27 Postponed action to protect deposit (7)
DELAYED – DEED (action) around (to protect) LAY (deposit)
28 Contracts for psychiatrists (7)
SHRINKS – double def.
Down
1 Holds party for politicians at house with press regularly (7)
ANCHORS – ANC (party for politicians) HO (house) [p]R[e]S[s] (press regularly)
2 Concede part concealing sin retrospectively (9)
SURRENDER – SUNDER (part) around (concealing) ERR (sin) reversed (retrospectively)
3 Lowest point of drain is broken (5)
NADIR – an anagram (is broken) of DRAIN
4 Winning finish gets attention in golf (9)
ENDEARING – END (finish) EAR (attention) IN G (golf)
5 Sudden outbreak of resistance during raid (5)
BURST – R (resistance) in (during) BUST (raid)
6 Paddy‘s piece of land supports cereal (4,5)
RICEFIELD – FIELD (piece of land) under (supports) RICE (cereal)
7 Not right having tantrums becoming older (5)
AGING – [r]AGING (not right having tantrums)
8 Refusal by navy vessels to return without a break (7)
NONSTOP – NO (refusal) N (navy) POTS (vessels) reversed (to return)
14 Song you once surprisingly rated extremely sexy (9)
YESTERDAY – YE (you once) plus an anagram (surprisingly) of RATED S[ex]Y
16 Smartens up for Tate visit after a fashion (9)
TITIVATES – an anagram (after a fashion) of TATE VISIT
17 Are confused in choice of surgical intervention (9)
OPERATION – an anagram (confused) of ARE in OPTION (choice) – actually the ARE is reversed but I cannot see ‘confused’ as a reversal indicator
18 In favour of fighting with Germany at the front (7)
FORWARD – FOR (in favour of) WAR (fighting) D (Germany)
20 Increases speed reversing round inside of bend (7)
DEEPENS – SPEED reversed (reversing) around (round) [b]EN[d] (inside of bend)
22 Have a house in valley outside Welsh capital (5)
DWELL – DELL (valley) around (outside) W[elsh] (Welsh capital)
23 A short distance in the lead (5)
AHEAD – A HEAD (a short distance {horse racing})
24 More modern part of Brisbane we recommended (5)
NEWER – hidden in (part of) ‘brisbaNE WE Recommend’
Thanks Provis and Gaufrid
Near perfect Quiptic, with particular favourite clues for SADLY, FORESIGHT and AMENDMENT (though the “lift and separate” for “repairman” might be considered a bit obscure for a Quiptic).
ERA in OPERATION could be considered an anagram as well as a reversal, I think.
Very minor quibbles: the two parts in CARED aren’t all that different; writing a letter doesn’t imply sending it.
“repairmen”, not “repairman”
Thanks both. Enjoyed this, my only quibble being 6d – this seems to be two ways of saying the same thing
Thanks Provis and Gaufrid
For 11a I’m still wondering where OV comes from.
Kevin @4
I took “over” to mean “concerning”
thanks Muffin @5
Thank you Provis and Gaufrid.
Just right for a Quiptic. ANC did not immediately come to my mind as a “party for politicians”, but I guess it is good for beginners to be introduced to its use in crosswords. IN THE LOOP was a new expression for me, I wanted to enter IN THE KNOW, there are a few WONK games apparently.
The clues for SADLY, SURRENDER, NON-STOP and TITIVATES, among others, were fun.
11a, I had OVER for “concerning”.
Kevin @4
Sorry for any confusion caused by my error. It was early and my brain wasn’t fully in gear! When solving, I saw the ‘concerning’=OVER. When writing the post, I read ‘concerning’ and immediately thought and typed ‘re’. Somehow I missed the error when previewing the post.
Thanks to Provis and Gaufrid.
An elegant Quiptic, just a little too hard in places – which probably makes it perfect. For myself, I had to scout around the perimeter in order to get to NONSTOP (LOI) and enjoyed many surfaces on the way, especially for ENDEARING, ADVANTAGE and, thanks to the blog, YESTERDAY. Like muffin@1, I didn’t much care for CARED. Am a bit leery of the FIGHT/RIGHT calculus – with that kind of thing abroad almost any rhyme will travel, even non-rhymes like “orange” and “grange” – just change the first letter without any other indication.
All that being said, an enjoyably stretchy one.
Gaufrid@8: don’t be too hard on yourself; I popped about 35 synapses trying to get OVER=CONCERNING and the 36th could only manage “fighting over something” as a context; there may be better.
An enjoyable Quiptic. I too first thought of IN THE KNOW, and wondered about “wonk”, but the penny suddenly dropped. Like Cookie, I also took a while to think of ANC. YESTERDAY was my favourite, I think.
Thanks, Provis and Gaufrid.