Raich can do hard, but his IoS puzzles are generally accessible, and I at least found this one so.
Abbreviations
cd cryptic definition
dd double definition
(xxxx)* anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x] letter(s) missing
definitions are underlined
Across
1 Thus one African country gets linked with a second one
SOMALIA
A charade of SO, MALI and A.
5 Cold holiday split
CLEAVE
A charade of C and LEAVE gives you the funny word that has two completely opposite meanings.
8 Strange man’s salutation, up here?
ATLAS MOUNTAINS
(MANS SALUTATION)* with a slightly whimsical definition. The North African mountain range.
9 Manage to avoid publicity – in woman’s clothing?
EVADE
An insertion of AD in EVE. Raich is using ‘clothing’ as an indication to insert the former into the latter.
10 With rows featuring unhappily I relented
TREE-LINED
(I RELENTED)*
12 Footman an affected Sir paid to train at first
PODIATRIST
Not that kind of footman, but the one who will look after your feet if required. (SIR PAID TO T)*
14 Self-righteous guy regularly avoiding porridge
PRIG
The odd letters of PoRrIdGe.
16 Distinctive quality of gold noted by artist
AURA
A charade of AU for the chemical symbol for ‘gold’ and RA.
18 Too forceful about right, losing head? My! It gets round!
OVERMIGHTY
A charade of OVER for ‘about’ and [R]IGHT inserted into MY.
21 Retinue with hundred for ultimate in vehement support
ENCOURAGE
The setter is encouraging you to take ENTOURAGE and replace the T (the last letter of ‘vehement’) with C for ‘hundred’.
23 City has Lutherans, some heading West
TULSA
Hidden reversed in hAS LUTherans for the city associated with 24 hours.
24 Give information about time a politician crushed popular haunt
STAMPING GROUND
An insertion of T, A and MP in SING for ‘give information’ followed by GROUND.
25 Badly organised, intermittently arrange children’s game
RAGTAG
A charade of RAG for the even letters of ‘aRrAnGe’ and TAG (also known as TIG where I come from).
26 In from France warning about lake – area surrounded
ENCLAVE
Down
1 Will upsets noble, we hear
SHAKESPEARE
I especially liked this one. It’s a homophone of SHAKES PEER, with nice misdirection from the ‘Will’.
2 Fan of water in shops on American road
MALLARD
A charade of MALL, A and RD. Here’s the obligatory Pierre bird link.
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3 Not entirely vegan girl outside gaming area
LAS VEGAS
An insertion of VEGA[N] in LASS.
4 In operation, ducks in near back
AFOOT
More ducks. This time it’s cricketing ones: two of them (OO) in AFT.
5 Grant including some support offered initially for Edward, say
CONFESSOR
An insertion of SSO for the first letters of ‘some support offered’ in CONFER gives you EDWARD THE CONFESSOR, The Anglo-Saxon King who ruled from 1042 to 1066.
6 Make possible overturn of the Spanish prohibition, finally indefensible
ENABLE
A reversal of EL for one the Spanish words for ‘the’, BAN and E for the last letter of ‘indefensible’.
7 Merchant against home payment being raised
VINTNER
A charade of V for versus or ‘against’, IN and RENT reversed.
11 Stroke play dodge, extremely daring, recollected
DOGGY PADDLE
(PLAY DODGE DG)*
13 Informative about meat, popular, good
REVEALING
A charade of RE, VEAL, IN and G.
15 Famous man’s too rich, both detailed
HISTORIC
A charade of HIS, TO[O] and RIC[H]. You have to read ‘detailed’ as ‘de-tailed’.
17 Having secured somewhere to sleep, girl providing cheese
RICOTTA
An insertion of COT in RITA.
19 Very unusual value, saving pounds, after hours
HELLUVA
A charade of H for ‘hours’ and L inserted into (VALUE)*
20 Best case to house Military Medal
SUMMIT
An insertion of MM for ‘Military Medal’ in SUIT for ‘case’, as in LAW SUIT.
22 Bird, black – escaping from hound
EAGLE
The old chestnut of [B]EAGLE, but a chance for another obligatory Pierre bird link. This one’s the American Bald Eagle, especially for our contributors from across the pond. Apparently it was chosen because of its long life, great strength and majestic looks. Just like the country’s current president.
Many thanks to Raich for this morning’s Sindy puzzle.
SOMALIA was FOI and for a moment I thought I’d already done this puzzle. But no, it was familiar because it appeared in the Graun three days ago.
Parsing is missing for 26a, namely EN (in from French) + L (lake) in CAVE (warning, Latin for beware). I always thought AFT just meant ‘back’, but after checking, I see that it can mean near (the) back as in 4d.
“Raich can do hard, but his IoS puzzles are generally accessible” – yes, this was definitely accessible. Enjoyable, too, with some lovely misdirections, such as DOGGY PADDLE, almost our LOI from checking letters.
One minor quibble in that the “an” seems superfluous in the clue to 12ac. The clue would read just as well without it, and it misled us at first into thinking the anagram fodder was AN + SIR PAID + T.
Thanks, Raich and Pierre.
PS: For a link to a different Mallard click here.
Enjoyable puzzle. At the off I thought I was on for a record solve time as I positively raced through the clues. Slowed up around the fifteen minute mark with some nice headscratchers, finally completing (with a bit of a biff and a prayer for 18a) in around 30mins. Honours today go to a very nice weighted Sunday solve so thanks to Horatio for the crossie and to Pierre for the bloggage and birdage.