Nimrod has an individual style and I enjoyed working my way through this and finally getting there. Solving time, 51 mins. I found the definitions is what mainly led me there. There are a few where there may be subtleties in wordplay that I missed

* = anagram < = reversed

ACROSS

1/26 RUN AROUND LIKE A BLUE-ARSED FLY (UK Labour leader as unfriendly)* When I saw this 26-letter anagram at the start, I knew this was not going to be a quick solve. I eventually found the top row, and the bottom row came easily enough from the remaining letters. Not quite sure if there’s a link between the anagram fodder and the phrase. Labour red, Tory blue perhaps?

8 OFF-PISTE An excellent cryptic definition which was a big step on my way to solving the puzzle

9 Y ((h)E’S M) AN M = male nay< &lit This was very good too and one of the first I solved.

10/26 AERO/BICS Chocolate bar and biros

11/19 THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA spirit = phantom opera = works, not sure if there’s more to it. Book and musical

12 THE GOLDEN FLEECE Wrote this in straightaway - again cannot quite see full wordplay fleece = excessive charge, something precious = gold, maybe there’s more to it

17 CRIMINALISATION (on racialism in it)* A fairly obvious anagram and I got it when I’d sufficient crossing letters. Implied definition was a little vague, I was somehow surpised when that was the answer.

24 DES RES I thought of this from early on, because of the enumeration. I don’t understand it though, something to do with I = current leaving desires, perhaps

25 VERB O TEN This was very good It shows doing = verb O X (ten)

DOWN

1 REF R ESHER Sandown Park near Esher

2 NA PO O I was looking for a reversal here at first, but the definition is ‘used up’

3 RESIT Another one I got from the definition - I don’t understand the wordplay

4 U(KEL) EL E lek< leu< e = euros Albanian and Romanian currency.

5 DAY SHIFTS (Sid fat shy)*

6 I BSE N I think n = no, but not quite sure

7 ERA TO The Muse (OT are)<

13 G (E) M e = electronic as in email, I think but don’t understand the rest

14 LANG OUSTE(d)

15 EF (for)T for = pro

16 CROTCHETY Double definition, my favourite clue, thought for a long time ‘cross’ was in there somewhere

18 LIE OVER

20 FR (T)ED A

21 HORAL A very clever hidden, with misleading ‘regularly’ suggesting alternate letters.

22 A GREE Don’t quite see this GREE might be a word for bore - I thought of ‘augur’ with an e = energy removed

23 BE OFF (F (FO) eb)< Short time = Feb for February

Common abbreviations used
dd = double definition
cd = cryptic definition
rev = reversed or reversal
ins = insertion
cha = charade
ha = hidden answer
*(fodder) = anagram

After yesterday’s Monk, this is like an anticlimax althought there are some interesting clues and imaginative play on words. As they say, Monk is a hard act to follow

Across
1,17 CONTROLLING INTEREST I suppose you can call this a dd although strictly one of the functions of the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street is to control interest rates
7 TOP dd
9 PARTY Removal of L (lead of Left) from partly (to some extent)
10 BALALAIKA Bala (Welsh lake) Laika (Scandinavian dog)
11 CHARLATAN charlat (sounds like Charlotte, one of the Bronte sisters) AN
12 PIOUS Ins of I O (one leader in Oman) in PUS (matter) ugh !
13 TODDLER *(red told)
15 SAGE S (son) age (mature)
18 SNAG S (second) NAG (horse)
20 ABSTAIN *(it as ban)
23 VICAR VIC (e) AR (A Rightwing initially)
24 OUT OF LINE Ins of Of (old fellow) in outline (sketch)
26 ARRIVISTE *(rare visit)
27 CREWE Crew (gang) E (last letter of leavE)
28 EVE eve (n)
29 RED CRESCENT Red (Communist or old Russian) Crescent (street)

Down
1 CAPACITY cap (outdo) a city
2 NORMANDY N (name) Ormandy: Eugene Ormandy (1899–1985) was a Hungarian-American conductor and violinist.
3 ROYAL dd
4 LOBSTER L (pound) *(sorbet)
6,5 GALAPAGOS ISLANDS *(as a gang lads spoil) - part of Ecuador’s national park system and famed for their vast number of endemic species and the studies by Charles Darwin during the voyage of the Beagle that contributed to the inception of Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection.
7 TRIPOD trip + OD (rev do, party)
8 PRAISE P (power) Raise (lift)
14 LAND ROVER L (left) A N (a new) Drover (cowherd)
16 BALINESE Ins of LINE (queue) in base (camp)
19 GROUSED G + roused (woken up)
20 ANTBEAR ant (worker) bear (carry)
21 AVIATE ha
22 ACCRUE A C (a cold) *(cure)
25 FACTS F (favourite) Acts of the Apostles

Brilliant puzzle. Very tough, but completely worth the effort it took to solve. I could have said something complimentary about almost every clue but I was afraid that might give the impression that money had changed hands. No theme that I could see but with “Spurs” in a clue and 8 as an answer I can only conclude that Bannsider is trying to curry favour with his editor.

Common abbreviations used
dd = double definition
cd = cryptic definition
rev = reversed or reversal
ins = insertion
cha = charade
ha = hidden answer
*(fodder) = anagram

Quite some time ago, a good friend, Dave Tilley introduced me to Monk,  then only compiling for the Independent, a paper not carried by my Club in Kuala Lumpur, I was immediately taken to his devious style and his clever clues. Thus, when I saw an FT by Monk not being blogged, I thought that would be a shame.

So here I am, blogging an excellent and challenging puzzle which saw me resorting to on-line assistance like One-Look and Wikipedia with frequent reference to my in-house Chambers (worth every penny I paid - nowadays, I used it to complete an Azed within the hour)

Across
1 DIATRIBE DIA (rev of AID, help) tribe (race)
5 EVICTS EVI (rev of I’ve) CTS (first letters of ….)
9 DAGUERRE D (dead) A Guerre (war in French, indicated sneakingly by Napolean) Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre (1787–1851) was a French artist and chemist, recognized for his pioneering work in photography. “First to shoot” What a crafty definition! My clue of the puzzle
10 OSTMEN I actually constructed the word by ins of ST (street) in OMEN (sign) and then went to Chambers and hey presto, would you believe it - Ostmen n pl the Danish settlers in Ireland. Another new word for me
12 CLEAN c (circa or about) lean (bank)
13 AGINCOURT AGIN (against) court (judges & officials) This 1415 battle has been immortalised by Shakespeare as the centrepiece of his play Henry V.
14 HATBOX Clever cd
16 CLOBBER Ins of L in COBBER (this Aussie slang for friend was so slyly disguised using Sydney which initially got me to try and remember the friends of Sydney Carton, a character in Dicken’s ATOTC. Chambers #2 got me the clothing definition (another new word)
19 AVENGER Ins of Eng (English) in RENT
21 GHYLLS This was my last word and a new one, too. Apparently this is a homophone for gills (piscean lungs so deviously disguised as ‘fish partly’)
23 CHA-CHA-CHA That was fun fun fun
25 CRETE Ins of T in Cree
26 NARKED Ins of R (rex or king) in naked (nude)
27 DISRAELI One king is I Lear and Sid James of “Carry On…” fame. Reverse the whole lot to get Disraeli, a British PM
28 YANKEE *(Kenya) E
29 REDOLENT Ins of DOLE (handout) in rent

Down
1 DEDUCE Ins of D (diameter) in deuce (2 in a pack of cards)
2 AGGREGATE *(Jagger minus J) GATE (exit)
3 RHEIN Ins of H (horse) in REIN (strap) Aletrnate spelling for the more familiar Rhine
4 BUREAUX Ins of UR (half hour) in BEAU *Dandy) X (times)
6 VASECTOMY *(a cyst move) sounds so medical
7 CYMRU C (circa or about) YM (rev my) RU (Rugby Union)
A Welshman will easily accept this as &lit
8 SENATORS S (small ) E (European) NATO (alliance) R (run) S (Sweden)
This cha is too formulaic for me
11 DISC “discerns” 50% off
15 BIG CHEESE Big (major) CH (church) EESE (many points)
17 BELVEDERE *(be led ever)
18 FALCONRY Very clever cd especially when Falcon follows the next day
20 RACH Rac (k) H (hot) - another new word for me for a dog that hunts by scent.
21 GRANITE Gran (old lady) I TE (TeasE heartlessly)
22 DEPICT ha
24 APRON A (area) PRO (for) N (new) At least this formulaic clue reads well on the surface
25 CARGO What a lovely &lit C + Argo (Greek mythology ship)

I started off quickly with this one, with some very easy clues, especially in the SW corner (28ac, 24 and 25dn), but then things got a bit trickier. Got there eventually, with one or two clues that took a bit of working out even when the answer itself was clear (especially 19dn).

Key:
dd = double definition
cd = cryptic definition
* = anagram
< = reverse

Across
9. SPOKESMAN - dd - As in the spokes of a wheel.
10. CANTO - CANT O - CANT can be “a slope in the turn of a road or track”
11. AMBER - (ch)AMBER - As in traffic lights
12. ABSENTEES - (a bees nest)* - Nicely misleading definition
13,14. GATWICK AIRPORT - (Patrick I got novel)*
17. ALIBI - BIL(l)< in A1 - “Defence” or (less accurately) “excuse” often indicates ALIBI
20. COMMA - dd - It’s a kind of butterfly.
21,22. THOUGHT READING - THOUGH TREADING
24. PLASTERED - dd
26. IMPEL - (SIMPLE less S)*
29. CHARLOTTE - “Shah lot” - I suppose this refers to a lot in an auction, which could be a “good deal”. Or, much more plausibly, a “good deal” of something is a lot of it - thanks to Octofem

Down
1. OSSA - OS (outsize) + SA(ck)
2. SORBET - BE in SORT
3. RETRAINING - R in RETAINING
4. EMBARK - cd - Not very impressed by this
5. INKSTAND - cd - .. Or this
6. SCAN - SCAN(t)
7. ANTEROOM - (no more at)* - Is a mess particularly likely to have an anteroom? Any army officers reading who can confirm? See Peter Owen’s comment for confirmation.
13. GRAFT - RAF in GT - The indication of the wordplay is misleading, but OK if you read it as “in high-performance car: service”. The RAF is one of the Armed Services.
15. ROCKABILLY - ROCK + A BILLY - It took me ages to spot the wordplay here, until I remembered the Billy Can.
16. TWANG - cd - I guessed DUVET for this at first
18. ISOLATED - (SOLIDATE less CON)* - Con=study is an old-fashioned usage that is fossilised in crosswordese and never seen anywhere else.
19. LITERACY - (CATER)* replaces 2nd L in LILY - Again the wordplay took a bit of working out - the anagram of CATER was obvious but I was misled by the presence of the first L.
22. REDCAP - “Read” on CAP - MP = Military Policeman = redcap.
23. IMPUTE - I + PUT in ME
24. PACT - CAP< + T(he)
27. LIED - dd - Lied is German for “song”, and is typically used to describe songs of the Romantic period in music (the 19th Century, roughly speaking)