Pretty straightforward Paul today, but full of fun.

ACROSS

1 s(kim)py

4 pi-l-char-d

9 tackle : typical Paulish schoolboy humour - made my day

10 pa(m ay)res : author of “I wished I’d looked after my teeth” and many, many other almost identical poems. Apparently the online version incorrectly had this as an (8) rather than a (3,5). If this were my puzzle, I’d be cross.

11 petit bourgeois : (u bigot is to peer)*

13 take to task

14 stye

16 duff : e.g “plum duff”

18 (i)sle-eveless : I assume this is a reference to  “isle of man”. Nice  touch that Adam alone would be “eveless”

21 who-pig-old-berg

23 train set : (nitrates)*

24 tongue in cheek : (necktie enough)*

25 (d)r(y)-i.e-sling

26 bender : after considerable debate : you get plastered (drunk) while on a bender, and a knee is something which bends, hence a “bender”. You’re not remotely stupid or alone if you got “render”.

DOWN

1 collectorS ITEms

3 p-all-i-ate

5 in a nutshell

6 charge

7 air-port : “air” as in “His early work had an air of freshness and originality” - yes, something of a stretch

8 omitted on purpose - simple anagram

12 bottle green

15 p(e)m- broke

17 foot-age : ref to Michael FOOT - Labour leader in that period

19 en(rag)ed : (need)* around “losing your rag”

20 spinal : “la nips” in reverse

22 you really need help with this one ??

What’s Dac doing on a Tuesday? Something’s afoot. Oh yes, today must be special - look at the outer unches - in which case many congratulations.

A typical Dac, as usual excellent, but there were one or two answers I wasn’t quite comfortable with (a nice ambiguity: not comfortable because I didn’t like the clues or because I couldn’t understand them?).

Quite an easy crossword that I finished in just ten minutes. A beginner-level puzzle with simple words and uncomplicated and rather familiar wordplay.

Across

1 TUMBLE DRIER - tumble, Dr., i.e., R - charade :: I would hyphenate this word. I find that it is indeed so in Chambers as well as COD.

7 PAM - p, a.m. - charade

9 LARGO - r in lago (anag. of ‘goal’) - partial anag., container-contained

10 SUPPORTER - sup, porter - charade

11 RIGMAROLE - rig, ma, role - charade

12 MANGO - man, go - charade

13 TILLAGE - anag of ‘leg’, ‘tail’ - anag.

15 SITE - si (rev. of ‘is’), te - charade

18 USED - U.S., Ed. - charade

20 MASSAGE - mass, age - charade

23 CORGI - cor, G.I. - charade

24 ARRESTING - two def. :: “surprising” does not appear to be quite an apt def. for the reqd. word

26 AGREEMENT - anag. of ‘green meat’ - anag.

27 REIGN - re, ign (anag. of ‘gin’) - charade

28 RON - from ‘wRONg’ - hidden :: ‘group’ dangles after the hidden fodder; “Boy is in the wrong”, while being idiomatic, would obviate the extra word, I think.

29 TIDDLYWINKS - tiddly, winks - charade

Down

1 TOLERATE - to(lera)te - anag. of ‘earl’ in ‘tote’ - partial anag, container/contained

2 MARIGOLD - mar, I, gold - charade

3 LOOFA - rev. of ‘a fool’ - reversal

4 DISROBE - Di’s, robe - charade

5 IMPRESS - I’m, Press - charade

6 ROOMMATES - anag. of ’same motor’ - anag.

7 POTENT - anag. of ‘top ten’ - anag.

8 MARROW - R in anag. of ‘a worm’ - anag.

14 ABSTINENT - ‘tin’ in ‘absent’ - container/contained

16 TAHITIAN - ta, hit, Ian - charade

17 LEGGINGS - anag. of ‘g, g, single’

19 DEAD END - charade :: this and 19d below, employ obvious word divisions

20 MARITAL - (On edit) anag. of ‘martial’ - anag.

21 ECLAIR - I in ‘eclar’ (anag. of ‘clear’) - partial anag, container/contained

22 DRY RUN - charade

25 SHREW - shrew(-d) - deletion (tail off)