Thank you to Bobcat. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1. Bombshell hasn’t the head for drink (4)
HOCK : “shock”(a bombshell/a surprise) minus its 1st letter(hasn’t the head).
3. It’s forbidden to strike rebounding balls (5)
TABOO : Reversal of(… rebounding) BAT(to strike/hit) + OO(2 x letter representing a ball/round object).
6. Fascination with drug to lose lustre (4)
FADE : FAD(a fascination with/an enthusiasm for something) plus(with) E(abbrev. for Ecstasy, the drug).
8. I make a point by removing dead wood (6,9)
PENCIL SHARPENER : Cryptic defn: The tool used on the writing instrument to remove dead wood, wood that serves no purpose when the lead it surrounds has become blunt.
9. Plane figures in Spooner’s order to attack East Sussex town (6)
RHOMBI : Spoonerism of [ “bomb”(an order to attack, with bombs) “Rye”(a town in East Sussex, England).
Defn: 2-dimensional/….
10. Dog Day Afternoon impresses one: note Pacino’s in the lead (8)
ALSATIAN : { SAT(abbrev. for “Saturday”) + A(abbrev. for “afternoon”) contained in(impresses) [ I(Roman numeral for “one”) + N(abbrev. for “note”) ] } placed after(…’s in the lead) AL(Pacino, American actor).
Defn: .. aka the German Shepherd.
11. Something nasty by way of incomplete knowledge (8)
PATHOGEN : PATH(a way/a track) + “of” minus its last letter(incomplete) + GEN(knowledge/information).
13. Features of Barnet clearly detailed by Eliot’s precursors? (6)
PLAITS : “plain”(clearly/without any ambiguity) minus its last letter(detailed) + T.S.(the letters before/precursors to “Eliot”, the last name of a major poet).
Defn: …, the latter being rhyming slang for “hair”, from “Barnet Fair”.
15. Slow NY lawyer put in charge of exchange (6)
ADAGIO : DA(abbrev. for “District Attorney”, a lawyer in, say, NY/New York, USA, in the role of chief prosecutor) contained in(put in) AGIO(a charge/fee paid on the exchange of one currency to another).
Defn: A musical direction to play in … time.
17. Witty comments about terms at St Andrews? (8)
REPARTEE : RE(with reference to/about) + [ PAR(the standard score for a hole in golf) +TEE(the area from where one starts playing a hole in golf) ](both terms that one comes across at the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews).
19. Entirely pointlessly in June, unfortunately, I just abandoned physical activity (3-5)
JIU-JITSU : Anagram of(…, unfortunately) “in June” minus(Entirely pointlessly …) “n,n,e”(abbrev. for 2 x “north” and “east” respectively, compass points) + anagram of(… abandoned) I JUST.
21. Wandering bombastic speech by former church leader (6)
ERRANT : RANT(bombastic/blustery speech) placed after(by) ER(abbrev. for “Elizabeth Regina”, Queen Elizabeth, formerly leader/Supreme Governor of the Church of England).
Defn: …/straying from the straight and narrow.
22. Inept couple both misinterpreted welcoming notice on door? (4,2,3,6)
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC : Anagram of(… misinterpreted) INEPT COUPLE BOTH.
23. Fancies spending a day in Rome (4)
IDES : “ideas”(fancies/notions) minus(spending) “a“.
Defn: A day in the ancient Roman calendar.
24. Go to special sweetheart at last? (5)
TRYST : TRY(a go/an attempt at) + S(abbrev. for “special”) + last letter of(… at last) “sweetheart“.
Defn: …/have a private and romantic date with one’s lover.
25. Image brides hold in their hearts? (4)
IDOL : Middle 2 letters, respectively, of(… in their hearts) “brides hold“.
Defn: …/representation of a god as an object of worship.
Down
1. Sight defect produced by excessive work starts to impair academic (9)
HYPEROPIA : HYPER-(prefix indicating “excessive”/above normal) + OP(abbrev. for “opus”, a musical or literary piece of work) + 1st letters, respectively, of(starts to) “impair academic“.
Defn: …, specifically, farsightedness.
2. Prepare to swindle officer cadet on vacation (7)
CONCOCT : CON(to swindle/trick) + CO(abbrev. for “Commanding Office”) + “cadet” minus its inner letters(on vacation).
Defn: …/make by combining different ingredients, as with a cocktail, say.
3. Man interrupting singer after Tosca’s entrance gets tongue-lashing (7-2)
TALKING-TO : [ KING(man/a piece in chess) contained in(interrupting) ALTO(a person with the highest adult male singing voice, or with the lowest female singing voice) ] placed below(after, in a down clue) 1st letter of(…’s entrance) “Tosca“.
4. Scrooge’s take on weather in Islamic state? (7)
BAHRAIN : BAH!(an expression of disgust, as in “Bah! Humbug!”, Ebenezer Scrooge’s take on Christmas) + RAIN(wet weather).
5. Plants depicted by fine artists (5)
OKRAS : OK(“okay”/fine) + RA(abbrev. for a member of the Royal Academy of Arts, an artist)S .
… aka ladies fingers.
6. This sort of channel could create a riot (4- 2-3)
FREE-TO-AIR : Reverse clue: Anagram of(FREE) TO-AIR gives(could create) “a riot“.
Defn: … on TV.
7. Players must support director that’s to shape The Crucible’s lead (3-4)
DIE-CAST : CAST(group of plays acting in a play or film) placed below(must support, in a down clue) [ D(abbrev. for “director”) + IE(abbrev. for “id est”/that is/that’s) ].
Defn: To shape a quantity of molten lead, the metal, by pouring it into a mould, after it has been melted in a crucible/a ceramic or metallic pot able to withstand high temperature.
12. Eminent judge goes into decline after losing face for rowdy behaviour (4,5)
HIGH JINKS : HIGH(eminent/top-level) + J(abbrev. for “Judge”) + “sinks”(goes into decline/drops downwards) minus
its 1st letter(after losing face).
13. Leading theatre school not right to withdraw course for West Indians (6,3)
PEPPER POT : Reversal of(… to withdraw) [ TOP(leading/first) + REP(short for “repertory”/theatre, the collective noun for plays, operas or ballets) + “prep”(short for “prep/preparatory school”, a private school for children up to about 13 years old) minus(not) “r”(abbrev. for “right”) ].
Defn: A dish served in various Caribbean islands/West Indies.
14. Doubtful about wearing infected animal’s skin (9)
SCEPTICAL : C(abbrev. for “circa”, about when referring to specific years) contained in(wearing) SEPTIC(infected/festering with micro-organisms) + 1st and last letters of(…’s skin) “animal“.
16. Trickled through dehydrated casing very softly (7)
DRIPPED : DRIED(dehydrated/having had the water removed, as with preserved food) containing(casing) PP(abbrev. for “pianissimo”, musical direct to play very softly).
17. Not completely? For Americans, though, being ahead would make it so (7)
ROUGHLY : Reverse clue: ROUGHLY placed after(…, being ahead) “tho”(For Americans, though) gives(would make it) “thoroughly”(so/in this instance “completely“).
18. Advertised piece of cobalt rail edging (7)
TRAILED : Hidden in(piece of) “cobalt rail edging“.
Defn: …/gave advance publicity to, say, a film.
20. Swimmer needs time to cover most of course (5)
TROUT : T(abbrev. for “time”) placed above(to cover, in a down clue) “route””(a course/a path that is followed) minus its last letter(most of …).
Thanod, Bobcat & scchua. Enjoyed this – and found it much plainer sailing than Bobcat’s last outing, almost to the point that I wondered if it was really the same setter. But anyway, it had lots of very neat and well created clues that made it a pleasure to solve. Particularly liked HYPEROPIA (a problem I’m increasingly familiar with as I age, alas).
Thanod? Damn autocorrupt. I meant thanks, obviously.
Most of the SE quarter was beyond me, alas. Like most rhyming slang, I’ve never heard of Barnet fair. The wordplay in PEPPERPOT I’d never have got. St Andrews and golf didn’t register. Never heard of agio, nor Rye in east Sussex (but found it after some searching). There were some rather convoluted wordplays (eg ALSATIAN) that elicited groans, but a few clever ones as well resulting in smiles. I don’t recall a particular favourite.
I agree with Widdersbel @1 that this was on the gentle side for Bobcat. Most of this went in steadily though I was held up by PEPPER POT which I didn’t know as a specific dish and I never was able to work out the parsing of PATHOGEN. I liked the PENCIL SHARPENER cryptic def, the BOMB RYE Spoonerism and having ‘Dog Day Afternoon’ and ‘Pacino’ together in the surface for ALSATIAN.
I should have better things to do but I spent an unreasonable amount of time looking in vain for the usual Bobcat feline Nina; I’ll be interested to hear from others what I’ve missed.
Thanks to Bobcat and scchua
I really had to apply myself to get over the finish line on this one, but–solid clues. I also kept thinking that the customary ninas might come to the rescue, but (WordPlodder@4), I did not spot any either. LOI was ROUGHLY, which I guessed early on, but for the longest time could not figure out what Bobcat had in mind for “American” orthography.
Thanks for the blog, I thought this was pretty tough. I did not cold solve many of the clues on my first run through. Fortunately the grid was very friendly giving lots of first letters once I put in the ones I had.
ROUGHLY was very clever and there were many others.
Pleased to finish this one although I had about half a dozen I could not fully parse.
Thank you to Scchua for a brilliant blog, complete with marvellous illustrations. A great credit to you.
First time through, I could hardly get any clues, and I feared that I would never see the end. But with a bit of perseverance and lateral thinking, it slowly fell into place. I found the south east corner the hardest with my LOI pepperpot.
My pet hate of abbreviations such as Afternoon equals A is my only grumble.
Thanks Bobcat despite my disappointment in not finding any hidden cats in the grid. This was a bit of a challenge and I guessed more than parsed in many cases. I failed with RHOMBI and PLAITS though Barnet has been used enough for me to know it. I liked REPARTEE, BAHRAIN, and IDES. Thanks scchua for the illustrated blog.
Thanks to Bobcat and scchua.
This was over my head. I was swimming most of the time. A few good guesses from lateral thinking but nothing after that.
Bobcat you are my sworn adversary from now on.
Anil