A bit more tricky than most Everyman crosswords I felt. You can get it here: https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3677
Usual mix of mostly easy to pick apart clues but looking at the scribbles around the paper one or three needed a bit of a longer look,
Thanks Everyman
Across
1 Planet with hot swamp (5)
MARSH
MARS & H(ot)
4 Shame about getting into argument (9)
DISREPUTE
RE. (about) inside DISPUTE (argument)
9 Film with power, receiving Oscar simply? Not quite (9)
MOONLIGHT
Oscar best picture winner that surprisingly beat (after a fiasco) LA-LA Land. O(scar) & most of ONL(y) (simply) inside MIGHT (power)
10 Crest belonging to florid gentleman (5)
RIDGE
hidden answer shown by belonging
11 Cordial informer with criminal organisation sacrificing leader (7)
RATIFIA
It’s a sweet liqueur made from wine and brandy flavoured with plum, peach or apricot kernels and bitter almonds. RAT (informer) & no leader in (m)AFIA
12 Run and play around old platform (7)
ROSTRUM
O(ld) in R(un) & STRUM (play)
13 Item Marx hoped to change, creating incongruous image (5,8)
MIXED METAPHOR
[ITEM MARX HOPED]* changing
16 Small high-pitched sound with purpose by bird, not left in tree (7,6)
WEEPING WILLOW
WEE (small) & PING (sound) & WILL (purpose) & L(eft) removed from OW(l)
20 Apparatus used in circus trick with energy, with zest? Not half (7)
TRAPEZE
TRAP (trick) & E(nergy) & half of ZE(st)
22 State one name connected with Roman goddess (7)
INDIANA
1 & N(ame) & DIANA (Roman goddess)
23 Frequent search covering area (5)
HAUNT
Where one frequents – A(rea) inside HUNT (search)
24 Excessive in scheming in servile style (9)
SLAVISHLY
LAVISH (excessive) in SLY (scheming)
25 Leave King Edward in charge (9)
SKEDADDLE
K(ing) & ED(ward) inside SADDLE (charge, get saddled with)
26 Delusion caused by fear with time running out (5)
ERROR
T(ime) running away from (t)ERROR
Down
1 Recall opening of event in 2000 poorly, forgetting odd parts (6)
MEMORY
opening of E(vent) in MM (2000 in Roman) & even letters of pOoRlY
2 Marsupial, fully grown, retaining composure in comfortable warmth (4,11)
ROOM TEMPERATURE
ROO (marsupial) & TEMPER (composure) in MATURE (fully grown)
3 Cry of triumph, careless about condition in capital of province (7)
HALIFAX
HA (cry) & IF )condition) in LAX (careless). Capital of Nova Scotia
4 Fiercely competitive dad got excited, keeping self-esteem up (3-3-3)
DOG-EAT-DOG
EGO reversed in [DAD GOT]* excited
5 Instrument among prizes I target (5)
SITAR
Hidden – among – answer
6 Regret capsizing when beginning to inspect a land mass (7)
EURASIA
RUE (regret) reversed – capsozed & AS (when) & start of I(nspect) & A
7 Out of sorts, hurt, need to change and survive (5,3,7)
UNDER THE WEATHER
[HURT NEED TO]* changing & WEATHER (survive). I seem to remember the same answer in my last blog: https://www.fifteensquared.net/2017/04/03/independent-9507-by-peter/
8 Always remove terribly extreme pieces of ridicule (8)
EVERMORE
REMOVE* terribly & extremes of R(idicul)E
14 Exclude select group outside main ground (9)
ELIMINATE
MAIN* ground inside ELITE
15 Nervous movements from sorceress in endless trial (8)
TWITCHES
WITCH inside TES(t) endlessly
17 Passivity at home? It rises during time (7)
INERTIA
IN (at home) & IT reversed in ERA (time)
18 Opponent of innovation, endlessly dreary, upset over new diet (7)
LUDDITE
Endless DUL(l) reversed & a new DIET*
19 Brief film carrying weight (6)
LAWYER
W(eight) inside LAYER (film)
21 Relieved, having finished getting rid of cold (5)
EASED
C(old) removed from (c)EASED (finished)
Thanks Everyman and flashling
New word for me was RATAFIA.
Thank you Everyman and flashling.
It took me quite a time to get SKEDADDLE, kept thinking of the potato (I associate Ed with Edgar and Edmund, Ted with Edward, but on checking find ED is also common) and ‘Frequent’ at 23a fooled me for a while.
MOONLIGHT was topical!
Thank you for blogging, flashling.
I too remember this being a bit tricky for an Everyman, but got there eventually. I liked, and unlike Cookie, got SKEDADDLE straightaway. Strange how brains work in different ways.
Thanks to Everyman too.
Enjoyable as ever : no particular favourites. Being as no-one has mentioned it, I’ll be pedant of the day.
You’ve put RATIFIA for 11a. Thanks.
Grr so I have.
I found this about par for Everyman, perhaps because I got the longer answers pretty quickly, and managed to get quite a few from definition alone without having to dip into the cryptic part.
I think our experience was much like flashling’s – most went in ok and a few needed more work. As always, this Everyman was a nice way to finish the crosswording week – I know I’m going to get there without being put on the rack and with plenty to appreciate. Thanks Everyman and flashling.
Re 19d: Since when did ‘brief’ come to mean ‘lawyer’? Does any dictionary record that sense of the word?
Hi Rishi, from my Chambers (13th ed)
brief /br?f/
noun
A summary of a client’s case by a solicitor for the instruction of a barrister or counsel (law)
A writ
A papal brief (qv below)
A lawyer, esp a barrister (slang)
Rishi @8
Chambers: a lawyer, esp a barrister (slang)
Collins: British slang a lawyer, esp a barrister
Oxford: informal a solicitor or barrister
Nice workout. I’d not heard of the drink either but it was fairly clued.
Liked Skedaddle and Eliminate
Thanks Flashling and Everyman
Too difficult I felt. Never heard of the cordial either. Didn’t get seven of them . Way too many.
My dictionary says that ratafia is a *liqueur*, not a cordial, and these two words are not synonymous. A liqueur is alcoholic; a cordial is not.
That being said, I still managed to work it out. On the whole I found this puzzle to be OK-to-easy. Got it all out without having to resort to any computer assistance (such as wildcard dictionaries).
Couldn’t parse a few answers (e.g. room temperature), but didn’t need to.