This crossword would have been a bit easier, had the web version not had a glitch (at least on my machine) which led to every letter I typed in being repeated in hte next square.
At one point, I thought that this was leading me to a theme, because some of the answers have double letters in them, but nah! it was a glitch.
Another thing that would have made it easier would have been more accurate indications of the lengths of the answers. On three down clues, the answers are two-word combinations, but the clues indicate one word.
Other than that, this was excellent stuff, with only one clue that I would consider to be slightly faulty, and some magnificent wordplay throughout.
ACROSS
5 – PRESENT – not sure about “time unrivalled” – anyone know if this is from a quotation?
11 – PALINDROME – brilliant variation on a theme – “Did” is a palindrome and “eye” is another.
12,25,10 – MIDDLE OF THE ROAD – “Hero a” is indeed located in the middle of “tHE ROAd”.
13,14 – SLEEPING POLICEMAN – Risque clue to innocent solution.
16 – ELDER – very clever, as an elder (=older) tree would indeed have more rings.
23 – SAWHORSE – SA-WHOR(S)E – where SA = “as retired” and a whore is a “woman bought”. Deal in this clue refers to the wood.
27 – TOME – only the most egotistical of writers would dedicate a book “To Me”.
DOWN
2 – PROVISO – PR(OVIS)O, ovis being the latin word for “sheep”, as in ovine.
3 – CEDED – homonym of SEEDED.
7 – STRIPCLUB Like 13,14, a little risque, but very cleverly worded.
9 – ELYSIAN FIELDS – (Misleading clue length No 1) – (lifeless day in)*
15 – IRISH STEW – (Misleading clue length No 2) – IRIS-H(ST)EW
18 – PLATOON – I think the wordplay would work slightly better if the clue read “Philosopher taking on group of men”.
20 – CARAMEL – Magnificent! Mel B(rown) and Mel C(hisolm) were members of the Spice Girls.
22 – DRY RUN (Misleading clue length No 3).
5 across – it’s just from the saying “There’s no time like the present”. I also had the problem when doing it online of the double letters, but it only started happening when I was half way through the puzzle. I would also count 7dn as (5,4), so that makes four two-word answers given as one word. Made things very difficult.
not just you — i had the double character problem as well. STRIP CLUB is another misleading clue length instance. HERO was v. hard to see unless you wrote it out. which i didn’t – thanks for the resolution.
An excellent puzzle – what a way to start after the Christmas break!
Re 5a, I think this is a reference to the old adage “There’s no time like the present”
A fine puzzle – middle of the road, palindrome, sleeping policeman, elder, tome all excellent clues. And no glitches or problems with clue lengths in the paper version. The only one I baulked at was ‘four hands’ for ‘bridge’ in 26 across. You might as well clue it as ’52 cards’ or ‘four directions’!