The usual pleasant crossword from Phi, as always I find a bit slow to begin with but eventually all quite smooth. There seem to be lots of anagrams and part-anagrams here, which make it easier for the solver, and some of them are very obviously anagrams (as in 26ac).
The two words 3dn and 14dn are a sort of mini-Nina, having a similarity of shape to the things they signify, but no doubt there is more …
Definitions underlined.
Across
1 Teller was lax with cash, restricting transactions in financial meltdown (4,6,5)
WALL STREET CRASH
(teller was cash)* round tr
9 Replacement actors taking on the French city (9)
NEWCASTLE
new cast le
10 Wager gold will be brought back for a king (5)
ROYAL
(lay or)rev.
11 Causing sleep in chap going out around end of day (10)
HYPNAGOGIC
(chap going)* round {da}y — no I hadn’t either
13 Muslim provided reduced employment after setback (4)
SUFI
(if us{e})rev.
15 Young married possibly mostly in the right, not initially likely to be wrong (15)
THIRTYSOMETHING
(mostly in the right – l{ikely})*
17 Making film largely misjudged for target spot? (8,7)
SHOOTING GALLERY
shooting [= making film] (largely)*
18 Quantity of nerve recalled in no Times article (4)
AXON
A sort of hidden reversed, in NO X Article — one has to convert Times to X before doing the hidden bit, something that some people don’t like since it’s like a clue within a clue — Pelham Barton @1 offers a different interpretation, which may be right
19 Genuine launch trajectory? (8,2)
STRAIGHT UP
The trajectory of a launch may be straight up
23 Soporific expression of sympathy finally put forward (5)
ETHER
“there, [there]” with the e moved to the front — soporific is a noun in the definition
24 Husband engaged in test, shifting a 1 ton mass of stones (9)
TRILITHON
tri{a}l 1 t(h)on — the ‘shifting a’ is an indication of removal, not of an anagram — ‘mass of stones’ seems a bit odd since a trilithon is a megalithic monument consisting of two upright stones with a horizontal one at the top, hardly a mass
26 Pointedly ignore performance: Neil – boy with date – getting busy! (4,1,5,3,2)
TURN A BLIND EYE TO
(Neil boy with date)* — pointedly? Surely, to turn a blind eye to is just to pretend not to see, as suggested here
Down
1 Tackle giving Champion victory at outset (5)
WINCH
ch with win at the start
2 Legislation error precludes fine (3)
LAW
{f}law
3 Cave feature sat with tactile rocks (10)
STALACTITE
(sat tactile)*
4 A portion’s nasty (to vermin, that is) (3,6)
RAT POISON
(A portion’s)*, semi-&lit.
5 Resin the Spanish send out, losing little time (5)
ELEMI
el emi{t} — this word must be one of the banes of crossword setters, since it crops up so often
6 Eccentric vehicle heading for ditch (4)
CARD
car d{itch}
7 Classic drama meeting audience requirements? (2,3,4,2)
AS YOU LIKE IT
All I can see here is that the words suggest some sort of audience satisfaction, but perhaps there is more going on that I have missed
8 Sound mostly delivering shivers imperfectly (9)
HALTINGLY
hal{e} tingly [= delivering shivers]
12 Thinking person‘s setter hopes vaguely to block cry of woe? (11)
PHILOSOPHER
Phi [= setter] (hopes)* in lor
14 Historic prison child, one growing slowly (10)
STALAGMITE
stalag mite — is a stalag a historic prison? It doesn’t seem so to me, but perhaps I am so old that it doesn’t seem to be historic
15 Will try to agree over opening of treaty (9)
TESTAMENT
test amen on top of t{reaty} — amen = agree seemed a bit odd at first, but can I suppose be justified if one sees ‘agree’ as ‘agree!’ or ‘I agree’ — Pelham Barton @1 points out that Chambers allows ‘amen’ to be a verb
16 It shows up in a variety of roaming? (9)
MIGRATION
(it)rev. in (roaming)*, &lit.
20 Sum? US city child’s given up (5)
TOTAL
(LA tot)rev.
21 Entertainment soon to appear, or long over? (5)
PANTO
pant o — when this crossword appears in a book and is solved in April the point of this clue will be lost, since pantomimes will not be soon to appear in April
22 Pieces not allowed in Asian country: this song? (4)
ARIA
Ar{men}ia — chess pieces
25 Tool not left in excavation (3)
HOE
ho{l}e
*anagram
Thanks Phi and John
18ac: I took this a plain reversal of NO + X (times) + A (article), with “in” as a link word, not a hidden indicator.
15dn: Chambers 2011 allows amen to be a verb.
21dn: the key words for the book version are ‘long over’
Leon@2: That would work for the definition, but “long over” is the wordplay, so “soon to appear” would be redundant.
While I am back in, 26ac: This must be TURN (performance) + (NEIL BOY DATE)*. That makes the definition “Pointedly ignore”, which works for me: you can tell some one that you are turning a blind eye to their misbehaviour just this once.
Pelham B@3. True, but a clever touch, don’t you agree?
Phuzzling very late this week! I had no complaints with this.
Pelham@1 I’m inclined to go with John on AXON as otherwise Phi might have had “… recalls no Times …” rather than “…recalled in no Times …”, don’t you think? Perhaps it could be either…
John – enjoyed your observation on positioing of the icicles – very Phi! He even had the ‘tights’ one hanging down (isn’t that how we remember it…!) Possibly the jewel in the puzzle; at least a signature?
I thought RAT POISON was a super anagram and I did like HALTINGLY. I thought each of the four long across clues was particularly good.
Think I’ve come across HYPNAGOGIC before – nice word!
Thanks to Phi and John