1 Ruler’s repressing over half of region (8)
PROVINCE
PRINCE (ruler) repressing OV[er] (half of)
6 Observes endless wonder in children’s plaything (6)
SEESAW
SEES (observes) + AW[e] (wonder, endless)
9 Journalist’s going to reject nothing to reach border (6)
EDGING
ED (journalist) + G[o]ING (to reject O (nothing))
10 Credit one quite original review (8)
CRITIQUE
CR (credit) + I (one) + (QUITE)* (*original)
11 Brief tumble with Henry on settee broke dentures (5,5)
FALSE TEETH
FAL[l] (tumble, brief) with (H (Henry) on (SETTEE)* (*broke))
12 Hiker turned back during long walk . . . . (4)
TREK
([hi[KER T[urned) (during))< (<back)
13 . . . . getting hot and sick on high ascent (6)
UPHILL
(H (hot) and ILL (sick)) on UP (high)
15 Bookmaker’s pursuing final bets for good runner (8)
SPRINTER
PRINTER (bookmaker) pursuing [bet]S (final)
18 A teetotaller chap gets stick when buying drinks (2,3,3)
AT THE BAR
A + TT (teetotaller) + HE (chap) gets BAR (stick)
20 Smart to bandage wound with yarrow initially (6)
DRESSY
DRESS (bandage wound) with Y[arrow] (initially)
21 Wedge key behind post at side of door (4)
JAMB
JAM (wedge), B (key) behind
23 Scheme has one Scottish family importing bubbly Pinot (6,4)
ACTION PLAN
(A (one) + CLAN (Scottish family)) importing (PINOT)* (*bubbly)
25 Gone with sheep and pig heart to make meat product (8)
PASTRAMI
PAST (gone) with RAM (sheep) and [p]I[g] (heart)
26 Take possession of old college trophy on last day (6)
OCCUPY
O (old) + C (college) + CUP (trophy) on [da]Y (last)
27 Some returning Wapiti deer go back over again (2-4)
RE-EDIT
([wapi]TI DEER (some))< (<go back)
28 Cut down crossing between Austria and Germany (8)
ABRIDGED
BRIDGE (crossing) between A (Austria) and D (Germany)
2 Yorkshire town’s darling gets VIP treatment (3,6)
RED CARPET
REDCAR (Yorkshire town) + PET (darling)
3 Wine’s absorbed effectively opening blood vessels (5)
VEINS
VINS (wines) absorbed E[ffectively] (opening)
4 Man’s heading off to get clobber for disco (5,4)
NIGHT CLUB
[k]NIGHT (man, heading off) to get CLUB (clobber)
5 Abstains from upside down pudding most of school’s tucked into (7)
ESCHEWS
(SWEET[t] (pudding, most of))< (<upside down), SCH (school) tucked into
6 Son has desire to be posh (5)
SWISH
S (son) has WISH (desire)
7 Sixteen converts taking on church’s way of life (9)
EXISTENCE
(SIXTEEN)* (*converts) taking on CE (church)
8 Arizona river’s deep blue (5)
AZURE
AZ (Arizona) + URE (river)
14 Possessed trendy robe by Spain’s leading designer (9)
INHABITED
IN (trendy) + HABIT (robe) by E (Spain) + D[esigner) (leading)
16 RAF, hosting princess on round tour, cut time in wireless station (5,4)
RADIO FOUR
RAF hosting (DI (princess) on O (round)) + [h]OUR (time, cut)
17 Sick, no question, when regularly spoiled with a piece of cake (4,2,3)
EASY AS PIE
[qu]EASY (sick, no QU (question)) + AS (when) + [s]P[o]I[l]E[d] (regularly)
19 Take top off container and hold it up to get wine (7)
RETSINA
([c]ANISTER (container, top off))< (<hold it up)
22 Sleepless and feeble with no energy in hospital department (5)
AWAKE
W[e]AK (feeble, no E (energy)) in AE (hospital department)
23 Nowadays old man gets upset and tense with change (5)
ADAPT
AD (nowadays) + (PA (old man))< (<gets upset) and T (tense)
24 Walked up and down with cigarette, gutted and gripped by writer’s block (5)
PACED
C[igarett]E (gutted) griped by PAD (writer’s block)
Zamorca seems to be adopting some of Hamilton’s “quirkiness” today, I felt, but entertaining nonetheless.
I particularly didn’t like “most of” in 5d referring to the word preceding it and, similarly, “during” in 12a, referring to preceding words.
I did think EASY AS PIE was very nicely constructed.
Thanks to Zamorca and Teacow.
Yes, a gentle starter to the day — but that’s not to say I found it easy-peasy. I spent some time on 2dn RED CARPET and a couple of others, but emerged much refreshed. Thanks to teacow and Zamorca.
Thanks to Zamorca and Teacow. Yes, a gentle start to the day, though I had trouble parsing RETSINA.
Thanks Zamorca and Teacow
Not only a pangram, but all bar X and Z feature in the across clues.
Like Hovis@1 we didn’t like “most of” in 5d and “during” in 12a, referring to preceding words. We weren’t too keen, either, on “last” to mean “last letter of” in 26ac, and similarly “final” in 15ac.
A pleasant enough solve, though, with plenty to like. CRITIQUE was our favourite but we also liked AWAKE if only because the hospital department wasn’t ENT.
Thanks, Zamorca and Teacow.
Thanks Zamorca for the fun and Teacow for parsing esp. AWAKE, AT THE BAR, and RETSINA. PASTRAMI was a favorite — I feel like I’ve seen it recently — I also liked EASY AS PIE.
Thanks Zamorca & Teacow.
In 16 down OUR is tOUR (time cut).
Thanks Zamorca and Teacow
One that didn’t take all that long to complete but still felt like there had been a decent challenge.
Was a little surprised to see VIN simply defined as ‘wine’ – has it been adopted totally now?
Noted the possibility of a pangram early on but didn’t end up making use of it.
Had the same parsing as psmith@7 for 16d which was my last one in.