Some nice stuff from Hamilton here, mixed in with a surfeit of anagrams (for anagramphobes like me) and one or two quibblesome clues. Enjoyed it, though had a heck of a time with the north-east corner. Thank-you, Hamilton.
ACROSS
7. ASBESTOS A + best [worst – the verbs, confusingly, are synonymous] within SOS [cry for help]
8. DETAIN ETA [Basque nationalist group] within din [outcry]
11. RECUR Hidden in ceasefiRE CURrently
12. TURNS DOWN Turns [fashions, as in wood-turning] + down [out of order, not working]
13. GAS MAIN Anagram of masking tape minus the letters of kept
14. RUN RIOT Double definition; I felt that ‘cricket match’ might have been fairer than ‘Test match’
15. DEBRETT’S PEERAGE Anagram of repartee gets deb; terrific surface
18. OPTIMAL Anagram of atomic pile minus the letters of ice
20. AMONGST MO [medical officer, doctor] within angst [worried state]
22. HEARD TELL Anagram of trade within hell [bad place]
23. REACH Double definition
24. REAGAN A within Regan [King Lear’s daughter, Shakespearean character]
25. ATYPICAL Anagram of play act I [one]
DOWN
1. FAIRY GODMOTHER Anagram of my giro do within father [dad]
2. ABACUS A + bacus [sounds like Bacchus, Roman god]
3. USER NAME Cryptic definition, the PC here being a computer
4. FORTUNE TELLER Crypticish double definition
5. LESSON Less on [fewer commitments, fewer plans]
6. CAROLINA Cairo [Egyptian capital] minus I + reversal of anil [indigo dye, blue]; problematically, Carolina without a North or South is not a state
9. NINETEENTH HOLE Cryptic definition; the nineteenth hole is a jocular term for the bar at a golf course
10. PRE-RAPHAELITE Anagram of appear here lit
16. BETRAYAL Bet [short girl’s name] + Ray Al [short boys’ names]
17. EGO TRIPS Anagram of tories gp
19. MADCAP Mad [ludicrous] + cap [limit]
21. GLANCE G [good] + lance [weapon]; for the Cocknically challenged, butcher’s = butcher’s hook = look in rhyming slang
Thanks Hamilton and Ringo. I enjoyed this and had no quibble with 14a but, especially having lived in NC for over 20 years, agree with your comment on 6d.
For me too the NE quadrant was the last completed.
I had also noted in the margin my reservation about Carolina on its own being a state.
Thanks Ringo
Thanks for the blog, Ringo. Add me to the list of people who had trouble with the NE corner, partially owing to my reluctance to consider that the setter would make the mistake of cluing CAROLINA as “State.”
Possible quibble with 18a: “results” at the end of the clue is unnecessary, no? The definition of OPTIMAL is “best” not “best results” (the latter would be OPTIMA).