The usual excellent offering by Quixote.

Solving time: 20 mins

* = anagram < = reversed

ACROSS

1 COUSCOUS Cousin “less in” “repeatedly” “On account of” seems to be a link, which is a bit unusual.

9 THE OTHER WOMAN (home heart won’t)* Excellent surface.

10 POST OFF ICE

12 NE ED Good surface reading using the local mode of expression.

13 D EVA From Eastern religion.

15 ANGL (OP HON) E Hon = honorary i.e. unpaid

16 PHOTOGRAPH Cryptic definition

19 LO (B) O Mexican wolf

21 STOP

22 RETROGRADE step = pets reversed (good)

25 A DROIT(e) French drive on the right droit = right in French , ignoring accents a droite is on the right

27 EU (our community - European Union) LOG I ST Definition is “I praise”

DOWN

2 O U T(C)OME

3 SW(E)AT Any one else looking for a h = hard. Excellent clue.

4 OUT OF DANGER (garden)* You could get garden out of danger

5 S(KEW)ING

6 PAW(n) Paw = handle vb n = knight (chess) staying with the chess context

7 EMMENTHAL (Me Lent ham)*

8 CAN’T E’EN

14 ANTI PAST O

17 HO (THEA) D

20 BOD EGAS sage<

21 RUIN G(ood)

25 LET tel (telephone)<

Apologies for late posting. I’ve been off work, but looking after my 11-month old niece who has asthma and chicken-pox, which didn’t seem to leave much time for blogging - now I remember why my 30s were such a crossword desert!

 ACROSS:

5. A STRID(e).

9. STAR TOFF. Not hard, but pleasing.

10. PAT MOS. I know about Stirling Moss, but was/is Pat Moss a racing driver too?

11. E LECTORS. Interesting one - I like cryptic definitions with wordplay, but this one feels a little indirect somehow - ‘… make the signs of the times’ = they make Xs.-, i.e. on ballot paper.

12. A(CE)DIA. Had to look this one up, though I was sure the opera would be Aida - it always is, as Peppermint Patty told Charlie Brown about x being 7 in algebra.

18. CONSUM(MAT)E. Put down meaning put away, i.e. eat.

23. PRIESTL(e)Y. Ref J.B. Priestley.

24. H(ER)ONS. Not that keen on the definition here - ‘having considerable bills’, which surely defines an adjective, something like ’beaktastic’.

25. BARE FOOT. I.e. just about a foot in length. Discalced means without shoes, per Chambers.

27. DERRIERE (hom (London(Derry Air)). I’m guessing this refers to an actual song called the Londonderry Air, hence ‘old’. Otherwise why should Gordius weigh into the Derry vs Londonderry row.

DOWN:

1. DOSSER. Not sufficiently cryptic definition. A dosser and a person of promiscuous sexual approach both sleep around, but for different reasons.

2. ATABEG (teabag*). One of those words you remember from crosswords past.

4. BEFORE TIME. A pretty good oxymoron, when you think about it.

6. S CAR CITY. Nicely concealed definition (where there’s little).

7. RE ME DIAL. The definition’s a bit vague - ’sort of treatment’ - and I didn’t realise ME were soldiers too - Mechanised Engineers?

13. MAS TERRACE. I like the word division, though perhaps lesser requires quotation marks to distance the sentiment from the authorial voice.

15. A CAN THUS (SHUT*).

16. UNIVERSE. Cryptic def. But does the universe hold all, or is it all?

17. DULCINEA. (CLUED IN A*). Ref Dulcinea de Toboso, Don Quixote’s idolised true love. If you haven’t read it, do.

19. VEN E’ER. Sort for venerable.

20. ST ROBE.

One for the orologists today, as the eight clues that lack definition (denoted with an asterisk below) are all
mountains. I had to take a guess at 24D to finish the grid - plumping for LEMON as the most likely word that fits, despite being unable to reconcile that, even tangentially, with the clue itself. 

Across
1* A,RARA,T - the T coming, somewhat generously, from “finished product”.
10* MON,TB,LANC (clan)* - I’m not aware of any tuberculosis outbreaks in the Highlands in recent years, so perhaps the “TB” in the surface refers (in the style of Alastair Campbell’s diary) to Tony Blair?!
11* LO(G)AN - The one mountain I’d not heard of previously; it’s in the Yukon.
12 T,HUG - A neat attempt to play off of David Cameron’s “Hug a Hoodie” slogan.
13* MATTER,HORN
15* EVE,REST
19 AM,R(IT)A - a new word for me (akin to nectar/ambrosia), but not too tough to figure out.
25* ETNA - hidden in “Vietnam”.  This provided an immediate conduit into the theme for me.
28* ANNA,PURNA (ran up)*
29* BEN,NEV,I,S - always good to see - at least in our cryptic world - that the “skinhead” continues to match the longevity of his (typically more Ximenean) contemporary, the Mod.

Down
2 AD NAUSEAM (use a man)* - I liked the quizzical &lit-ness of this one.
5 RE,CITES (”sights”)
7 A,GG,RO
9 BA,SALT - the “sailor” in the clue denotes AB (to be reversed), not salt.
18 CLEAVAGE (gave Alec)*  - Yes, I did smirk like a schoolboy at the definition “a degree of separation”, even though it is admirably innocent and accurate.
21 O,CE,ANS(-wer)
24 L?M?N - This one had me beaten all ends up, so I played the percentages and wrote in LEMON. The full clue is “It could be said to be the answer!”.  The exclamation mark, no doubt, is punningly vital…

I managed most of this pretty quickly but there were two answers (10A and 3D) that I filled in because I don’t like leaving blank spaces and these were the only words I could think of that fit - I still can’t work out the wordplay for them. I also can’t work out part of 26A. Odd grid too, with that blob of white squares in the middle.

SOLVING TIME: 24 MINUTES

Apologies for the late posting.  A very clever puzzle from Gozo, reminiscent of Araucaria, with some good clueing, although a couple of queries.  There seems to be an ambiguity at 19 down, and  at 26 down the “container indicator” seems to be be lacking. 

1 BIFFIN  NIFF + IB (rev)  IB = Short for IBIDEM (in that place) - A biffin is a red apple.
4 APRICOT  PISCATOR (anag)
9 CHERRY  HERR in CY
10 TAMARIND  TAMARIN + D
12 MUSCATEL  CATS/MULE (ANAG)
13 quince  The Mechanicals were the group of strolling players led by Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Quince was also a member.
15 SLOE   Odd letters in  SALMONET
16 REDCURRANT  CURR(Y) inside RED ANT
19 CLEMENTINE  From the old song much mangled by Huckleberry Hound.
20 DATE
23 LYCHEE  Hidden answer
25 MINNEOLA  Type of orange.  A NON-LIME (anag)
27 RIBSTONE  Type of apple.  BRETON IS (ANAG)
28 COMICE  Type of pear.  COMIC + E
29 PINK LADY  You might say a “softer version of “Woman in Red” is Pink Lady.  A type of apple.
30 ORANGE  or + GEAN (ANAG)

DOWN
1  BECOMES  SECOMBE (ANAG)
2  FREESTONE   Apart from being my old Physics Teacher, Freestone is a variety of peach.
3  INROAD  IN + ROAD
5  PEAR   Homophone of ‘pair’
6  HURRY  Two defs - new on one me, a hurry is a type of drum-roll.
7  ONION  ON + ION
8  SADDEST  DAD / TESS (anag)
11 SEVENTY  EVEN inside STY
14 SCANDIC  SCAN + CID (rev)
17 AMAZONIAN  Two defs
18 PEDESTAL  PETES LAD (anag)
19 CALTRAP / CALTROP Both answers seem equally valid according to Chambers.
21 ETAGERE  GATE (anag) + ERE
22 INDOOR  I (one) + DONOR (anag)
24 CABIN  As in Harriet Becher Stowe’s novel
25 ENID   Hidden answer, but there isn’t an obvious indicator, although I could make a case for the “’s” being the indicator.

Great stuff and thanks to Gozo