I was worried when my first pass though the clues yielded only a couple of answers, but persistence gradually paid off. The usual variety of witty clueing from Paul, though with none of his trademark “smut” as far as I can see. (On second thoughts, 19,9ac probably qualifies, as might 22ac and 5dn.)
| Across | ||||||||
| 1. | BASE METAL | MET (police) + A in BASEL, and copper is an example of a base (as opposed to noble) metal | ||||||
| 6. | RUBY | RUGBY (public school) less [fa]G | ||||||
| 8. | TO BE SURE | (EURO BEST)* , with a suitably topical surface reading | ||||||
| 11. | STOTINKA | TOT in SINK (decline) + A. Rather obscure – one-hundredth of a Bulgarian Lev. | ||||||
| 12,22dn. | HAND IN GLOVE | HANDING (giving) LOVE (affection) | ||||||
| 15. | SVENGALI | S[teeplechaser] + LEAVING*. I don’t like “another” as an anagram indicator. | ||||||
| 16. | HELIPORT | Anagram of PILOT [t]HER[e], and a brilliant &lit | ||||||
| 19,9. | SPONGE FINGER | SPONGE (bum, as a verb, meaning “cadge”) + FINGER (touch) | ||||||
| 22. | GEAR UP | EAR in reverse of PUG | ||||||
| 24. | ALUMNI | Alternate letters of cAlLoUs MeN bIg | ||||||
| 25. | TROPICAL | R in TOPICAL | ||||||
| 26. | HYMN | Homophone of “him”, which might describe a bass or tenor | ||||||
| 27. | EXPRESSED | EX (former sweetheart) + PRESSED (crushed), definition “said” | ||||||
| Down | ||||||||
| 1,10. | BLOW A GASKET | LOW AG in BASKET | ||||||
| 2. | SNEAKED | A K in DENSE* | ||||||
| 3,21. | MOUNT RUSHMORE | A jockey’s whip might make his MOUNT RUSH MORE. Mount Rushmore has the faces of four American presidents carved into it – bonus points if you can name them with looking it up! | ||||||
| 4. | TRESSES | STRESSES (highlights) with its “top” letter removed. | ||||||
| 5. | LEFTOVERS | [romanc]E + FT (the Financial Times, printed on pink paper) in LOVERS | ||||||
| 7. | BREAK A LEG | If you break A LEG you get GALE | ||||||
| 13. | ASEXUALLY | X (vote) in EU in A SALLY | ||||||
| 14. | NEOLOGISE | O LOG I[gor] S[travinsky] in NEE (born) | ||||||
| 17. | INHUMAN | I + HUM in NAN | ||||||
| 18. | TREETOP | TEE (support for a golf ball) in PORT (left), all reversed | ||||||
| 20. | OVARIES | If all stays the same then 0 (nothing) VARIES | ||||||
| 23,6. | UP AND RUNNING | Double definition | ||||||
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