Independent on Sunday 1844 Filbert

Thank you to Filbert.  Definitions are underlined in the clues.

Across
1. Company doctor meant to tickle you (7)
COMEDIC : CO(abbrev. for “company”) + MEDIC(a doctor of medicine).
Defn: …, ie. tickle your funny bone.

5. King Charles sounded decent hitting balls with a mallet (7)
CROQUET : CR(abbrev. for “Charles Rex”/King Charles) + homophone of(sounded) “okay”(decent/all right).
In Wonderland, it’s played with flamingos and hedgehogs:

9. Statistician’s figure beginning to develop a paunch (5)
DATUM : 1st letter of(beginning to) “develop” + A + TUM(short for “tummy”/one’s paunch).
Defn: …/a piece of information.

10. Running out of porridge? (9)
JAILBREAK : Cryptic defn: “Porridge” being slang for time spent in jail.

11. Dine out and write down impression without bias (11)
INDEPENDENT : Anagram of(… out) DINE plus(and) PEN(to write down/put pen to paper) + DENT(an impression/a concavity as a result of impressing on a surface).

12. Darling usually left tap running (3)
HON : H(abbrev. for “hot” seen on the hot water tap, usually the one on the left wherever there are separate taps for mixing hot and cold water) + ON(running/in operation).
Answer: Short for “honey”, a term of endearment, like “darling”.

13. Unmoved listening to great soprano (7)
CALLOUS : Homophone of(listening to) “Callas”(Maria, a great soprano).

15. Sympathise with expert behind following that learner driver (6)
SOLACE : ACE(an expert/a person who excels) placed after(behind) [ SO(therefore/following that) + L(letter displayed by a learner driver) ].

17. Cons row on board ship (6)
STIFFS : TIFF(argument/row) contained in(on board) SS(abbrev. for “steamship”,  placed before the names of steamships).
Answer: American slang for “cheats”.

19. Busy type bags excess drugs left in untidy drawer (7)
DOODLER : DOER(a busy type/a go-getter) containing(bags) [ OD(abbrev. for “overdose”, usage of drugs excessively) + L(abbrev. for “left”) ].

20. Nobleman denied king’s reward (3)
DUE : “duke”(a nobleman) minus(denied) K(abbrev. for “king”, in chess notation).

21. Highly stressed wife rude in public (11)
OVERWROUGHT : [ W(abbrev. for “wife”) + ROUGH(rude/unrefined) ] contained in(in) OVERT(public/out in the open).

23. Loading bananas, half of them in the van (9)
EMBARKING : BARKING(completely mad/bananas) placed after(… in the van/at the front) last 2 letters out of 4 of(half of) “them”.

24. Furious when gold reverts in value (5)
WROTH : Reversal of(… reverts) the OR(yellow/gold colour in heraldry) in WORTH(the value/the measure of the importance of something).

25. Most healthy physicist (7)
MAXWELL : MAX(short for “maximum”/the most) + WELL(healthy/in good shape).
Answer: …, James Clerk, Scottish physicist and mathematician.

26. Fox nearly squished leaving large road (7)
REYNARD : Anagram of(… squished) “nearly” minus(leaving) “l”(abbrev. for “large”) + RD(abbrev. for “road”).
Answer: Literary name for a fox.

Down
1. Bawdy cover of epic novel in enigmatic language (8)
CODPIECE : Anagram of(… novel) EPIC contained in(in) CODE(enigmatic language/system of characters representing other characters, designed for secrecy).
Part of the suit of armour:
as exhibited in the Tower of London.

2. Earth welcomes alien back with less fanfare, perhaps (5)
MUTED : MUD(earth mixed with water) containing(welcomes) reversal of(… back) ET(abbrev. for “extra-terrestrial”, an alien).

3. Water-resistant barrier strip at the bottom? For sure! (4-5,6)
DAMP-PROOF COURSE : DAM(a water-resistant barrier/a construction that holds back water) + last letter of(… at the bottom, in a down clue) “strip” + PRO(in favour of/for) + [OF COURSE!](sure!/certainly!).
Answer: A barrier at or near the bottom of a structure that prevents rising damp, the result of moisture rising from the ground into the structure.

4. Balls Welshman put where cow’s tail should go (7)
COJONES : JONES(a common masculine name for the Welsh) replacing the last letter of(put where …’s tail should go) “cow”.
Answer: American slang for a man’s testicles.

5. Rustic riven slate cladding that’s remarkable to Mrs Broon (7)
CRIVENS : Hidden in(… cladding) “Rustic riven slate”.
Answer: An expression that translates to “That’s remarkable/astonishing!” in Scotland, homeland of Mrs Broon (Brown in English) from “The Broons” comic strip.

6. Rail or boat, my two substitutes for route around city (7,8)
ORBITAL MOTORWAY : Anagram of(… substitutes) RAIL OR BOAT, MY TWO.
Nice surface.  When to use substitutes:

7. Bad article in Le Monde, stupid and totally lacking conclusions (9)
UNETHICAL : UNE(the article “a” in the language of the French newspaper, Le Monde) + [ “thick”(stupid/dense) plus(and) “all”(totally/completely) ] minus their respective last letters(lacking conclusions).

8. I appreciate that knowledge is taught (5)
TAKEN : TA(short for “thank you!”/”I appreciate that!”) + KEN(knowledge/awareness).
Answer: Been taught, say, a subject, as in “She had … science in school”.

14. Metal frame in the door improved security for Spooner (9)
LETTERBOX : Spoonerism of(for Spooner) “better locks”(improved/enhanced locks, a form of security).

16. Awful gag inside the 11 had (8)
WRETCHED : RETCH(to gag/make sound and movement as if vomiting) contained in(inside) WE(self-referential pronoun for The Independent/solution for 11 across, the paper in which this puzzle is found) ‘D(contraction of “had”).

18. Train not on schedule, perhaps ice blocking circuits up? (7)
SPECIAL : Reversal of(… up, in a down clue) [ ICE contained in(blocking) LAPS(circuits/loops round the track in a race) ].
Answer: Something reserved for a particular purpose, such as/perhaps a train not on the regular schedule.

19. Widow earned money in bar to the north (7)
DOWAGER : WAGE(money earned for work or services performed) contained in(in) reversal of(… to the north, in a down clue) ROD(bar/pole of wood or metal).
Answer: One with a title or property inherited from her late husband.

20. A bit of delusion concerning in the morning? (5)
DREAM : 1st letter of(A bit of) “delusion” + RE(with reference to/concerning) + AM(the morning/time of the day from midnight till noon).
Seems like “in” in the clue is superfluous?

22. Eccentric gay eats Dorothy’s country dumplings (5)
GYOZA : Anagram of(Eccentric) GAY containing(eats) OZ(the magical land/country in the series of books featuring Dorothy, starting with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz).