I was really struggling with today’s challenge from Peto until I was nearly three-quarters done, when the remaining solutions seemed to fall into place all at once. I found the clues quite good overall.
I have noted what I believe is a minor editing goof in 14A that makes the clue a little confusing.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | LAWSUITS |
Rules covering bureaucratic functionary’s actions (8)
|
| LAWS (rules) around (covering) SUIT (bureaucratic functionary) | ||
| 5 | NAUSEA |
Feeling of loathing when not available to take drugs away at first (6)
|
| N/A (not available) + USE (to take drugs) + first letter of (at first) A[WAY] | ||
| 9 | PARLANCE |
Standard fastener gripping Nationalist leader in a manner of speaking (8)
|
| PAR (standard) + LACE (fastener) around (gripping) first letter of (leader [of]) N[ATIONALIST] | ||
| 10 | GROCER |
My return interrupting German shopkeeper (6)
|
| COR (my) reversed (return) inside (interrupting) GER. (German) | ||
| 12 | ENDUE |
Supply with oddly missing beans directly (5)
|
| Even letters of (oddly missing) [B]E[A]N[S] + DUE (directly) | ||
| 13 | TROUSERED |
Pocketed note about rabble follower close to dad (9)
|
| TE (note) around (about) ROUSER (rabble follower, i.e., rabble-rouser) + last letter of (close to) [DA]D | ||
| 14 | PIECES |
Examples of types of mushroom mostly found in baked dishes (6)
|
| CE[P] (type[s] of mushroom) minus last letter (mostly) inside (found in) PIES (baked dishes). I think “types” (plural) must be a typo. | ||
| 16 | EPISTLE |
Letter of introduction initially spelt wrongly without ‘e’ at the end (7)
|
| {Anagram of (wrongly) SPELT around (without) first letter of (initially) I[NTRODUCTION]} + E [“at the end”] | ||
| 18 | SCHOOLS |
Head of Siemens becomes less enthusiastic about earliest of hybrid trains (7)
|
| First letter of (head of) S[IEMENS] + COOLS (becomes less enthusiastic) around (about) first letter of (earliest of) H[YBRID] | ||
| 20 | REGIME |
Government of independent ruler in retrospect admitting endless conceit (6)
|
| EMIR (independent ruler) reversed (in retrospect) around (admitting) EG[O] (conceit) minus last letter (endless) | ||
| 22 | LOUISIANA |
State of Scotsman described by girl (9)
|
| IAN (Scotsman) inside (described by) LOUISA (girl) | ||
| 23 | STAKE |
Appropriate to pursue son’s concern (5)
|
| S (son) + TAKE (appropriate) | ||
| 24 | EYELID |
Protective cover essential to crocodile? Yes in retreat (6)
|
| Hidden in (essential to) [CROCO]DILE YE[S] reversed (in retreat) | ||
| 25 | RIDICULE |
Josh to deliver one tricky clue (8)
|
| RID (to deliver) + I (one) + anagram of (tricky) CLUE | ||
| 26 | SUDDEN |
Unexpected in study on south of France (6)
|
| SUD (south “of France,” i.e., in French) + DEN (study) | ||
| 27 | RESTLESS |
Worried about stress after changing sides (8)
|
| RE (about) + ST[R]ESS with L (left) substituted for R (right) (after changing sides) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | LAPSED |
Business transaction set up around Pisa oddly became void (6)
|
| DEAL (business transaction) inverted (set up) around odd letters of (oddly) P[I]S[A] | ||
| 2 | WORLD WITHOUT END |
Red-hot twin would dance for ever (5,7,3)
|
| Anagram of (dance) RED-HOT TWIN WOULD | ||
| 3 | USAGE |
American spy books ignored customary practice (5)
|
| US (American) + AGE[NT] (spy) minus (ignored) NT (books) | ||
| 4 | TACITUS |
Understood by useless Roman orator (7)
|
| TACIT (understood) + U/S (useless, i.e., unserviceable) | ||
| 6 | ARRESTING |
Striking soldiers heading north remain popular? Good (9)
|
| RA (soldiers) inverted (heading north) + REST (remain) + IN (popular) + G (good) | ||
| 7 | SECURITY MEASURE |
I curtsey trembling with some degree of alarm perhaps (8,7)
|
| Anagram of (trembling) {I CURTSEY} + MEASURE (some degree) | ||
| 8 | ABRIDGED |
Shortened game after a delay at the start (8)
|
| A + BRIDGE (game) + first letter of (at the start [of]) D[ELAY] | ||
| 11 | WORE |
Had on with open hostility in speech (4)
|
| Homophone of (in speech) WAR (open hostility) | ||
| 15 | CROSSFIRE |
Intense passion on X? Better not get caught up in it (9)
|
| CROSS (X) + FIRE (intense passion) | ||
| 17 | PSALTERS |
Actively press to include key hymnbooks (8)
|
| Anagram of (actively) PRESS around (to include) ALT ([computer] key) | ||
| 19 | SCAR |
Cliff’s lasting effect of grief (4)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 20 | REALISE |
Fetch each student held captive by rebel (7)
|
| {EA. (each) + L (student)} inside (held captive by) RISE (rebel) | ||
| 21 | RECESS |
Niche site originally looking into development of Cree society (6)
|
| First letter of (originally) S[ITE] inside (looking into) {anagram of (development of) CREE + S (society)} | ||
| 23 | SWIFT |
Examine closely to maintain weight in fast (5)
|
| SIFT (examine closely) around (to maintain) W (weight) |
Heavy on charades or half-charades and light on variety with a few iffy synonyms. I also found this the going slow
Ticked EPISTLE
i could not parse GROCER or LOUSIANA. Thanks for explaining those and why useless is US. Tell me, in 25, how is deliver = RID?
Thanks Peto and Cineraria