Thank you to Filbert. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1. Story of unfair dismissal had hippie all worked up (12)
PHILADELPHIA : Anagram of(… worked up) HAD HIPPIE ALL.
Defn: A film telling the … of an attorney by his employer because he was gay and had AIDS.
9. Nurse gets hose inserted for shock treatment (6)
EPIPEN : EN(abbrev. for “Enrolled Nurse” in the UK) containing(gets … inserted) PIPE(a hose/a flexible length of pipe).
Defn: Brand name of a hypodermic device that administers/inserts a dose of epinephrine as emergency treatment of somebody who has gone into shock as a result of a severe allergic reaction.
10. Very short and severe cut for priest (8)
MINISTER : MINI(very short as with, say, a miniskirt) plus(and) “stern”(severe/serious) minus its last letter(cut).
11. Royal costume changing hands anyway (10)
REGARDLESS : “regal”(royal/majestic) “dress”(costume/clothing) ]with its “l”(abbrev. for “left hand”) changed to “r”(abbrev. for “right hand”) and its “r” to “l”](changing hands).
12. Beer bottles by bar spinning? (4)
AXLE : ALE(a style of beer) containing(bottles) X(by/times as in “2 by 2 = 4”).
13. Book something you’d burn with job writing on-line (8)
BLOGPOST : B(abbrev. for “book”) + LOG(something you’d burn in, say, a fireplace) plus(with) POST(job/paid employment).
15. Cat turned green by random drawing (6)
OCELOT : Reversal of(turned) ECO(eco-friendly/green) + LOT(the random selection/drawing of lots as a decision-making process).
16. Coffee shop feeds me business cleaning drives etc. (6)
MCAFEE : CAFÉ(a coffee shop) contained in(feeds) ME.
Defn: The computer technology company/business concern that makes software to clean your computer drives, etc.
18. Story on X about Conservative grasping organ (8)
TENTACLE : [ TALE(a fictional story) placed after(on) TEN(number whose Roman numeral is “X”) ] containing(about) C(abbrev. for a member of the Conservative Party).
Defn: …, as what, say, an octopus has.
20. Queen holds reversible one metre ruler (4)
EMIR : ER(abbrev. for Elizabeth Regina/Queen Elizabeth) containing(holds) reversal of(reversible) [ I(Roman numeral for “one”) M(abbrev. for “metre”, the unit of distance).
Defn: … of various Arab nations.
21. Notice each boy twice (8,2)
PERSONAL AD : PER(each, as in “$ per hour”) + [ SON, A LAD ](two boys/boy twice).
Defn: …, specifically, a message of a private nature placed in a newspaper or magazine.
23. Westerly parts of Ireland entered by priest regularly, up-country (8)
INTERIOR : Reversal of(Westerly, in an across clue) [ ROI(abbrev. for “Republic of Ireland”, NI(abbrev. for “Northern Ireland”)/the parts into which the island of Ireland is divided) ] containing(entered by) 2nd, 4th and 6th letters of(… regularly) “priest”.
24. Lack of care, making a burger’s ultimate temperature hot (6)
APATHY : A + “patty”(short for a hamburger/burger patty/a thin round piece of minced or ground food) with its last(ultimate) “t”(abbrev. for “temperature”) changed to(making …) “h”(abbrev. for “hot”).
25. Thrashing a fascist right-winger is OK (12)
SATISFACTORY : Anagram of(Thrashing) A FASCIST + TORY(a Conservative/a right-winger in British politics).
Down
2. Operation in sub (3,11)
HIP REPLACEMENT : HIP(in/very fashionable) + REPLACEMENT(a sub/a substitute).
3. Friend given a raise celebrated, making tea (7)
LAPSANG : Reversal of(… given a raise, in a down clue) PAL(a friend/mate) + SANG(celebrated/having been praised in song or verse).
Defn: …, short for Lapsang Souchong, a large-leafed variety of China tea with a slightly smoky flavour.
4. Daughters in education took courses (5)
DINED : D(abbrev. for “daughters”) + IN + ED(short for “education”).
Defn: Took/ate dishes/courses in a meal.
5. Back from Chernobyl in the morning, criminal’s glowing (7)
LAMBENT : Last letter of(Back from) “Chernobyl” + AM(abbrev. for “ante meridiem”/before mid-day/in the morning) + BENT(criminal/corrupt).
6. Crew feathers easily (5,4)
HANDS DOWN : HANDS(crew/workers working as a group) + DOWN(the soft fluffy feathers of a bird).
Defn: Describing something achieved with little or no effort/….
7. In danger while pinching Tesla on drive (2,5)
AT STAKE : AS(while/at the same time as) containing(pinching) T(symbol for “Tesla”, the unit of magnetic flux density) placed above(on, in a down clue) TAKE(to transport, in this instance, by motor vehicle, as in “I’ll drive you home in my car”).
8. Furiously making kid suffer? (4-3-7)
HELL-FOR-LEATHER : [HELL FOR](making/giving hell/suffering to …) LEATHER(a soft smooth leather made from the skin of a kid/young goat).
Defn: … or “hell-bent for leather”/at great speed, and often recklessly.
14. Old man at home cuts open coat again (9)
OVERPAINT : [ PA(like “old man”, a familiar term for one’s father) + IN(at home/not out) ] contained in(cuts) OVERT(out in the open/unconcealed).
Defn: ….ie. put on another coat of paint.
17. Doctor’s tool meant to be used on fungal growths (7)
FORCEPS : FOR(meant/intended to be used on/for the purpose of …) CEPS(edible European mushrooms/fungal growths).
18. Sportsmen seeing irritable bull coming over? (7)
TOREROS : Reversal of(… coming over) [ SORE(irritable/upset and angry) + ROT(bull/nonsense) ].
Defn: …, specifically, bullfighters.
Hence a nice surface.
19. Determined US lawyer Ray gets back up (7)
ADAMANT : DA(abbrev. for “District Attorney”/a US State prosecutor who would be a lawyer) + MANTA(or manta ray, a large flat sea fish with wing-like fins) with its last letter(back) moved to the top(gets … up, in a down clue).
22. President entertained by dream about going to heaven (5)
OBAMA : Hidden in(entertained by) reversal of(… going to heaven/going up, in a down clue) “dream about”.
Liked REGARDLESS, HIP REPLACEMENT and DINED.
PERSONAL AD
I took it as ‘each boy’ twice.
(the first) each boy=PER SON, (the second) each boy=A LAD.
Thanks Filbert and schhua.
Beaten by TOREROS, no complaints. Forgot ‘by’ again so 12a was another error. Liked all the defintions in this puizzle but 1a, 11a, 16a, 18a, 2d, in particular. Not my day but great puzzle. Agree with KVa@1 re the boys which is nice wordplay. Favourite is BLOGPOST – very simple but not easy. Thanks for the blog scchua and thanks Filbert for another fantastic puzzle.
Favourites were PERSONAL AD (also parsed as KVa) and REGARDLESS. Failed to get MCAFEE. Thought the answer couldn’t possibly begin with MC so a slap on the head for me.
Another masterclass in subtle wordplays from Fil.
I spent more time in reverse-parsing some of them, than in getting the solutions.
KVa@1 has the PERSONAL AD bang-on, and what a cracking clue.
I’m reticent to quibble, when a puzzle is this good….but.
In 4(down), did it have to be “daughterS”? I would prefer the singular.
7(down), is DRIVE a fair equivalent to TAKE?
Brand Names: MCAFEE & EpiPen. I got them, just not sure I like ’em. Then again, there was a brilliant clue based on Radox recently.
All-in-all, a super Sunday serving, with all the trimmings.
Big thanks, Fil & Schu
Like Hovis I worked out MCAFEE from the wordplay but couldn’t see immediately see what word it could make. Found this difficult but excellent. Wasn’t on FIlbert’s wavelength this morning so quite a lot of reveals as I didn’t have much time. Liked HIP REPLACEMENT for the concise clue. Thanks scchua and Filbert.
LOI the bull slaughterers. Which, as usual, leaves a sour taste after a fine puzzle. I wish setters would give this one a rest.
I’ll scroll back up and look at the ocelot photo. That might help rescue the day.
Brilliant, yet again. Loved PERSONAL AD and REGARDLESS. I find it hard to see a TORERO as sportsman, but I liked the &littish wordplay.
Thanks both. I found this fairly tough in places, but very much admired PERSONAL AD and HIP REPLACEMENT. ‘Take’ as a synonym for ‘drive’ in AT STAKE feels unsatisfactory but I may be missing something, and in EMIR I also queried whether ‘reversible’ actually means ‘reversed’
Like others had MCAFEE written in but my mind didn’t register it as a word. Weird how the mind works as I have probably read the word a thousand times with working with computers. Otherwise a hard (for me) but fair puzzle. Seemed my mind clicked for the longer clues or this could have been a longer solve.
Super stuff, as usual from Filbert. Stuck on the last two so had to reveal INTERIOR, which made TOREROS obvious, with the former being especially well done by the setter so I am grateful for the super blog in explaining that. I don’t think I’d have solved that one without TOREROS, no matter how long I tried.
I thought the treatment of PERSONAL AD was terrific, PHILADELPHIA was a great anagram in a clever clue, and EPIPEN, REGARDLESS, MCAFEE, TENTACLE, APATHY, SATISFACTORY, HIP REPLACEMENT (what concision!), FORCEPS, and ADAMANT were all splendidly clued.
No shame in being beaten by this, I think. Well done, Filbert, and thank you.