At the risk of unintentionally damning with faint praise, I’d describe this as a pretty run-of-the-mill challenge today. A couple of clues stood out for me (e.g. 14A) and 25A was the only unfamiliar answer that required post-solving confirmation.

Across
1 TERRIERS - ref the TA
5 QU,O,RUM
9 I,MP,ETIGO - (I got)*
10 TAILOR - I’d have imagined that most people would instinctively spell one who tails (follows) as  tailer. However, this doesn’t seem like a major transgression to me.
12 NUT,M,E.G. - an example of that lesser-spotted device, the homophonic definition: “colonel, we hear” = kernel.
14 CLOTHES PEG - (Log these PC)*. Coherently misleading surface, and a beautifully warped definition.
18 CON,VERSE,L[-ad]Y
22 BUCKLE - double def’n
23 E(CLIP)TIC - (cite)rev
24 OD,IOUS
25, CICERO,NE - a touch recondite for me, but the wordplay was sufficiently accessible and fair to make it solvable.
27 MESS(A,G)ES

Down
1 TRICK,Y - on the contrary!
3 IN,TROS - (sort)*
4 REGARD,LESS
6 UNAMUSED - as in VR’s infamous put-down “We are not amused”.
8 MOR(T,GAG)E - could probably quibble over the syntax here, but I’m feeling laissez-faire today.
15 SCABIOUS - scabies, with OU for e[xperience]>
16 IN,ACT,IV,E
17 BELL,PU,SH
19 BICEPS - “Buy”

As some of you might know there used to be a blog like this one dedicated to the Daily Telegraph cryptic crossword.  Since its demise a few people have asked if we would be covering the puzzle on this blog. And on a separate note, one of our bloggers asked me about the possibility of covering the Telegraph’s advanced cryptic series, called Enigmatic Variations.

I’d be happy to have both of these puzzles covered by this blog but as ever, it all depends on whether or not we can get enough people together to form a team to do the work. So, if you solve either or both of these puzzles and are interested in writing about them, could you email me (blogging@fifteensquared.net)? Alternatively, if you’re a solver and have no interest in the blogging side, perhaps you could leave a comment in this post so we can get an idea of how popular (or not) this might be?

Ta muchly

Neil

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Themed puzzle based on 24.    When I saw HAWK hidden in the 2nd across clue, 6, I went straight to 24, and worked out BIRD.     Bullet-proof clueing as always from Phi.   I worked out quite a few words, new to me, from the wordplay.    Solving time, 17 mins.

* = anagram  < = reversed

1 R (ENT-A-MOB)    (boatmen)*

6 HAWK   hidden

9 TO (M) T IT

10 VER AND A   i.e. Vera

11 KILL (DE) ER

12 GO T (CH) A    IVR code for Switzerland

18 H O USE SPAR ROW

16 CAPER C (about) AIL LIE

19 L IN EAR    Good misleading context in surface

20 ACCENT OR

22 E (ND) MOS T (time)   some<    Good seamless join of two clue parts at “Last/time”

23 A V (OC) ET

24 BI (R) D

25 DO TTEREL   (letter)*

DOWN

2 EMOTI (CO)N  (no time)*

3 TO (TA) L   lot<

4 MOTHER S UP  ERIOR   i for r in error

5 B A VARIA(tions)   (a b)<

6 HAND TO (W) EL    (load then)*

7 W (HAT) HO     A loud summons, dict tells me

8 GREGORIAN CHANT   (gracing another)*

14 S (U CC) EEDED     Clue of the puzzle for me.

15 TI (ROLE) SE   (site)*

17 R (OAST) ED    oast in red not red in oast as ‘on the contrary’ tells us

19 L I GET I    Austrian composer, born 1923.    Got it from the wordplay

21 NO (p)OSE

This was fairly straightforward and enjoyable; I started off racing through it until a few very clever clues and unfamiliar phrases slowed me down. A few of the clues made me smile - always a bonus!

Across

1 SCORSESE SCOR(SES)E the odd letters in ’specs’ inside a score which is 20. This was the last clue I got! The 20 misled me into referring to the clue for 20dn.

5 RANCID RAN CID - police chief did this in the past tense

9 FIRE ALARM ARAREFILM* - a nice cryptic def here - Warner

11 RATIO R(AT)IO

12 LOWER REGIONS a cow being a lower then IGNORES* this took me ages to get, not a common phrase for Hell

15 ALLY Ally McBeal - TV show

18 BOTTLENECK BOTTLE+NECK

19 JOHN painter and evangelist

21 CLAPPERBOARD CLAPPER+BOARD

24 IBIZA first letters of ‘in Balearic Islands: zany antics’. But is ‘introduced’ a good indicator for this?

25 LIST PRICE LI(STPRIC*)E

26 GIGUES Hidden baroque dances

Down

1 SIFT S(IF)T

2 OKRA OK (up to scratch) + RA

3 SHADOW SHAD+OW

4 STATES GENERAL According to Chambers this is “the representative body of the three orders (nobility, clergy, burghers) of the French kingdom”; says de Gaulle for one = States General. And a diet can be an assembly or parliament. Very hard for me!

6 ARROGATE (H)ARROGATE The spa town without the aspiration or the ‘H’. A very nice clue - last Thursday’s Brendan used a similar trick with the word ‘aspiration’

7 COTTONED ON COTTON = material + NODE (swelling) rev

8 DROPS A LINE DR+OP+SALINE; ’saline’ for solution made me smile

10 MARKET CROSSES ROCKSTARSSEEM* , a fairly general defiintion for this made it tricky for me

13 BARBECUING BEARCUB* + IN +G

14 FLAT RACING F(L)A+TRACING Learner in starts of fits + and with tracing for discovering. This had me stumped for a while - good clue IMHO

17 SLIP CASE SLIP+CASE ; this was clued simply but again my clearly small vocabulary let me down. Chambers has it as one word; I guess Collins must have it as two.

20 GRAPPA G(RAP)P+A blame is rap in GP

22 DIOR the couturier is reversed within ‘embroidered’