The usually very reliable PeeDee has failed to turn up today, which I hope is due to IT issues rather than anything less desirable.
An analysis of the clues follows and, in the interest of not delaying this post any longer, I will limit my comments to one – three excellent &lits in one puzzle, something seldom seen.
Across
1 Bitter rivalry’s beginning is captured by expert writer (7)
ACERBIC – R[ivalry] (rivalry’s beginning) in (is captured by) ACE (expert) BIC (writer)
5 It breaks the law? Not quite prudent (7)
POLITIC – IT in (breaks) POLIC[e] (the law? Not quite)
9 Kill gangster with shot (5)
TOTAL – TOT (shot) AL (gangster {Capone})
10 One admitted to playing no Wagner or Grieg? (9)
NORWEGIAN – I (one) in (admitted to) an anagram (playing) of NO WAGNER
11 Spots containing extremely essential yet volatile gas (9)
ACETYLENE – ACNE (spots) around (containing) an anagram (volatile) of E[ssentia]L (extremely essential) YET
12 Bottle opener vexed nurses (5)
NERVE – contained in (nurses) ‘opeNER VExed’
13 Ultimately people with slippery character, involved in real shrewd manoeuvring? (7-7)
WHEELER-DEALERS – EEL (slippery character) [peopl]E (ultimately people) in (involved in) an anagram (manoeuvring) of REAL SHREWD – &lit.
For me, the way the clue reads leads to E EEL in an anagram of REAL SHREWD so an alternative parsing could be an anagram (involved) of E EEL in an anagram of REAL SHREWD, but this would involve an indirect anagram which I don’t think Alberich would use.
18 An Accidental Man’s right for the study of life (7,7)
NATURAL HISTORY – NATURAL (an accidental {music}) HIS (man’s) TORY (right)
20 What ends with mate or companion getting letter? (5)
CHESS – CH (companion) ESS (letter)
22 What’s primarily required by one apt somehow to pen epistle? (9)
NOTEPAPER – an anagram (somehow) of ONE APT around (to pen) EP (epistle) followed by R[equired] (primarily required) – &lit
24 English politician has issues regularly creating stress (9)
EMPHASISE – E (English) MP (politician) HAS I[s]S[u]E[s] (issues regularly)
25 Old safety device is advantageous (2,3)
OF USE – O (old) FUSE (safety device)
26 Meet female model going back in perhaps (7)
SATISFY – F (female) SIT (model) reversed (going back) in SAY (perhaps)
27 Decline to remove bouquet? (7)
DESCENT – DE-SCENT (to remove bouquet?)
Down
1 Like court case without one of the stars (6)
ASTRAL – AS (like) TR[i]AL (court case without one)
2 Pray outside church? That’s a leap (9)
ENTRECHAT – ENTREAT (pray) around (outside) CH (church)
3 Fragrant bananas changing hands (5)
BALMY – BArMY (bananas) with L replacing the r (changing hands)
4 Fish caught, having gone out with some angling equipment (6-3)
CONGER EEL – C (caught) plus an anagram (out) of GONE followed by REEL (some angling equipment)
5 Carry on without one university’s funds (5)
PURSE – PURS[u]E (carry on without one university)
6 New leaderless militia is deployed to prepare to attack (3,2,4)
LIE IN WAIT – an anagram (is deployed) of NEW [m]ILITIA (leaderless militia)
7 Bank is broken by River Test (5)
TRIER – TIER (bank) around (is broken by) R (river)
8 Italian aristocrat’s against returning valuable item (8)
CONTESSA – CON (against) plus ASSET (valuable item) reversed (returning)
14 Originally early Italians? That’s about right (9)
ETRUSCANS – E[arly] (originally early) TUSCANS (Italians) around (that’s about) R (right) – &lit
15 Algae and dead tree turned up on river (5-4)
DRIFT-WEED – D (dead) FIR (tree) reversed (turned up) TWEED (river)
16 Repeat run after organising transport (9)
ENRAPTURE – an anagram (after organising) of REPEAT RUN
17 Underwear thief’s caught! (8)
KNICKERS – sounds like (caught) ‘nicker’s’ (thief’s)
19 Forest takes time to get burning (6)
ARDENT – ARDEN (forest {in the West Midlands}) T (time)
21 Cash perhaps supports old person living abroad (5)
EXPAT – PAT (Cash perhaps {tennis player}) below (supports) EX (old)
22 One entertained by Snoopy is vociferous (5)
NOISY – I (one) in (entertained by) NOSY (snoopy)
23 Drink up around ten? That’s good (5)
PIOUS – SUP (drink) reversed (up) around IO (ten)
Thanks, Gaufrid, for stepping in and Alberich for a most enjoyable puzzle.
Apart from the splendid &lits [especially ETRUSCANS] my favourites were ACERBIC, ASTRAL and NORWEGIAN, for their surfaces, and NATURAL HISTORY, for the clever reference to the Iris Murdoch novel.
Did this one just to see if the links were still working & found it anyway enjoyable. I had EURASIANS for 14 until common sense & the beauty of the &lit prevailed. ‘Wheeler-dealers’ was head-scratching fun & ‘acetylene’ was an old-fashioned spelling-test. Thanks to all, & grats to the omnipresent Gaufrid. Trust PeeDee’s OK.
Thanks Alberich and Gaufrid
A wonderful puzzle with a lot of depth to it, taking two longer than normal sittings to get it out. Even then, I still come here with trepidation regarding TRIER which made sense from a word play perspective but why not ‘Tester’ rather than Test. Seeing that it was right here, was able to eventually track down the TRIER Social Stress Test (TSST) which I assume is what is meant.
Had initial misgivings about ‘accidental’ being equivalent to NATURAL (they can be sharps or flats as well) but the surface that he was able to create more than made up for that !
Lots of other cracking clues and it was fitting that one of the best in WHEELER DEALER was my last one in.
Thanks to Alberich and Gaufrid. Got off to a slow start but then proceeded quickly. I had trouble parsing ETRUSCANS (though the solution was clear) and also wondered abut TRIER. Very enjoyable.
Thank you Gaifrid for stepping in. I’m safe and well on a cycling holiday but the emails I sent you before I left have obviously not been delivered. I can’t get email to work on my phone either, I can read the first page of mails but then can’t scroll down any further.
Hi Gaufrid
Just looking in out of curiosity, but I have a suggestion for the parsing of 13ac. Among the definitions of with in Chambers is “immediately after”. That gets EEL E in the right order to insert in the anagram.
Superb as ever, although I was also one who was not completely sure about 13ac.
I tend to agree with PB @6. Perhaps, a similar thing as setters using ‘by’: A by B can mean A+B but also B+A.
Many thanks to Gaufrid (for stepping in) & Alberich.
Just looked in in passing, and glad I did. 3 × &lit? Masterful.
@Pelham, That’s what I thought for 13a. Cf 9a: AL with TOT. Top clue.
18a An Accidental Man: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12056.An_Accidental_Man
Wouldn’t have known Pat Cash, personally.
Anyone got any ideas as to why Katerina is spelt out across the middle?
Well, Cheshire Cat, I have indeed an idea but … i’m not going to tell you!
By the way, well spotted, I didn’t (mainly because Alberich doesn’t do these things).
Thanks for the blog, Gaufrid. I found this mostly OK, apart from 13, 18, & 22 which were very over-contrived.