Thanks to Sleuth for an enjoyable puzzle. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1 Emigre after surgery gets note for course of treatment (7)
REGIMEN : Anagram of(… after surgery) EMIGRE plus(gets) N(abbrev. for “note”).
5 Excitement for a rocketeer – or annoyance for a hiker? (4-3)
LIFT-OFF : [LIFT OFF](something that might annoy a hitch-hiker looking for a lift).
Answer: As in “we have lift-off!”, something often said at Cape Canaveral.
9 Gentleman given two directions for warning device (5)
SIREN : SIR(a respectful from of address, used for a gentleman) + E,N(abbrev. for “east” and “north”, two compass directions).
10 Stir leading group on island beset by strong wind (9)
GALVANISE : [ VAN(leading group;the foremost of a group of people, as in “he was in the van of the socialist movement”) plus(on) IS(abbrev. for “island”) ] contained in(beset by) GALE(a strong wind).
11 Cool time with a good man in charge – that’s excellent (9)
FANTASTIC! : FAN(to cool with, say, a fan) + T(abbrev. for “time”) plus(with) A + ST(abbrev. for “saint”, a good man) + I.C.(abbrev. for “in charge”).
12 Military supremo with hard or easy thing to do (5)
CINCH : C-IN-C(abbrev. for “Commander-in-Chief”, military supremo) plus(with) H(abbrev. for “hard”).
13 The French defend backward port and river (5)
LOIRE : LE(“the” in French) containing(defend) reversal of(backward) RIO(de Janeiro, main Brazilian port).
Defn: …, in France.
15 Exotic fruit in small measure consumed by individual (9)
PERSIMMON : [I MM](1 mm;abbrev. for “1 millimetre”, a small measure by most standards, with “1” substituted by its Roman numeral) contained in(consumed by) PERSON(an individual).
18 Note a lad busy around college with liking for narrative (9)
ANECDOTAL : Anagram of(… busy) NOTE A LAD containing(around) C(abbrev. for “college”).
19 Some take a selfie as support for artist (5)
EASEL : Hidden in(Some) “take a selfie“.
21 Addition to a legal document for a cyclist? (5)
RIDER : Double defn.
23 Love to be in camp in ground working for friend (9)
COMPANION : O(letter signifying 0, “love” in tennis scores) contained in(to be in) anagram of(… ground) CAMP IN + ON(working, as with an electrical appliance).
25 Journalist observed around November characterising old material? (9)
HACKNEYED : HACK(a derogatory term for a journalist) + EYED(observed) containing(around) N(letter represented by “November” in the phonetic alphabet).
26 Trade in capital kept back in Mediterranean island (5)
IBIZA : BIZ(informal term for “business”;trade) contained in(in) reversal of(… kept back) AI(“A1”;excellent;capital!, with 1 substituted by its Roman numeral).
27 Measure of power shown by French water painter (7)
WATTEAU : WATT(unit of measure of power or energy per unit time) plus(shown by) EAU(“water” in French).
Answer: Jean-Antoine, French painter. An example of his art – “The Judgement of Paris”.
28 Almost final time to digest northern Italian food (7)
LASAGNE : “last”(final;describing what’s at the end) minus its last letter(Almost …) + AGE(a period of time) containing(to digest) N(abbrev. for “northern”).
Down
1 Tranquil end to summer with flutes playing (7)
RESTFUL : The last letter of(end to) “summer” plus(with) anagram of(… playing) FLUTES.
2 Summing up, say, I have condensed part of speech (9)
GERUNDIVE : GERUND(a noun derived from a verb by adding “-ing”, am example of which;say, is “summing up” from “to sum up”) + I’VE(condensed form of “I have”).
Defn: … in some languages (including Latin), not to be confused with the gerund in English.
3 Obsession in Asian capital to ban liberal (5)
MANIA : “Manila”(capital city of the Philippines in Asia) minus(to ban) “l”(abbrev. for “liberal”).
4 Reportedly, figures that are dubbed secure in club? (9)
NIGHTSPOT : Homophone of(Reportedly) “knights”(figures;important or distinctive persons that are dubbed;made a knight by the ritual touching of the shoulder with a sword) + POT(to secure;to win, say, a trophy).
Answer: An example of which;? is a nightclub.
5 Purple colour arising in topical illustration (5)
LILAC : Reversal of(arising, in a down clue) hidden in(in) “topical illustration“.
6 Man’s possessive in country given commercial concession (9)
FRANCHISE : HIS(in grammar, the possessive pronoun for a man) contained in(in) FRANCE(the European country).
7 Head provides view dismissing Greek character (5)
ONION : “opinion”(a point of view of an issue or situation) minus(dismissing) “pi”(a letter in the Greek language).
Answer: Slang for a person’s head.
8 Revive request for quiet in unconstrained start to negotiations (7)
FRESHEN : SH!(exclamation requesting for quiet;silence) contained in(in) FREE(unconstrained;able to act as one wishes) + the 1st letter of(start to) “negotiations“.
14 Complete university competition after injection of new stamina (9)
ENDURANCE : END(to complete;to finish off) + U(abbrev. for “university”) + RACE(a competition) containing(after injection of) N(abbrev. for “new”).
16 Older mole in training offering an inspiration for aspirants? (4,5)
ROLE MODEL : Anagram of(… in training) OLDER MOLE.
17 One in official writing admitting qualm (9)
MISGIVING : I(Roman numeral for “one”) contained in(in) MS(abbrev. for “manuscript”, the original;official version of a book, article, etc. before being published) + GIVING(admitting;conceding that something is valid).
18 Publicises question for activity needing aces? (7)
AIRSHOW : AIRS(publicises;put into public or general knowledge) + HOW(a word that starts a certain type of question).
Defn: …, ie. ace pilots.
20 Liquid leaking in connection (7)
LINKAGE : Anagram of(Liquid) LEAKING.
22 French aristocrat appreciated revolutionary old coin (5)
DUCAT : DUC(a French aristocrat;a duke) + reversal of(… revolutionary) TA(used to express appreciation).
23 Aquatic rodent is evasive with place cut off (5)
COYPU : COY(evasive;reluctant to give details about something considered sensitive) plus(with) “put”(to place) minus its last letter(cut off).
24 A trip at sea heading north gets assumed designation (5)
ALIAS : A + reversal of(… heading north, in a down clue) SAIL(a trip at sea).
Defn: A name;designation that is assumed;adopted.
Minor error in 9a – it is SIR + EN. Thanks for explaining GERUNDIVE. I got stuck on the initial GE being EG< with ‘say’ giving e.g., missing the obvious. A nice, straightforward crossword. Thanks to S&B.
Thanks Hovis. Blog corrected
Thank you for an excellent blog. As usual, you’ve anticipated every question that I can imagine people asking, and you go the extra mile by providing illustrations.
Great blog. Thank you. I really enjoyed getting through almost all of this. Some really good clues.
Sadly my pleasure was diminished by the poor clueing of 2dn, 4dn, 7dn, 25ac, & 26ac.
Thanks Sleuth and scchua
A relatively quicker solve than normal from this setter, perhaps brought about with most of the clues being of a charade-style of construction.
My limited grammar knowledge caused problems with solving GERUNDIVE – it had to be but needed the blog to see exactly why.
Finished with IBIZA.
Not sure what Donna@4’s issues were with the clues nominated – they all looked fine to me – it was only my lack of grammar knowledge that made 2d any more difficult than it could have been.