Thank you to Filbert (for this penultimate IoS, I believe). Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1. Huge margins on suit paid for by Charles (8)
STONKING : 1st and last letters of(margins on) “suit” + ON(is a treat from/paid for by someone, as in “dinner’s on me”) + KING(currently, title of Charles III of the UK).
Defn: Slang for ….
6. Foul-mouthed daughters wear your clothes (6)
SWEARY : Hidden in(… clothes) “daughters wear your”.
9. Excited, since heading for Greece (4)
AGOG : AGO(from a specified moment in the past/since) + 1st letter of(heading for) “Greece”.
10. Software glitch on drone registered in 2001 inverted cant (10)
HUMBUGGERY : [ BUG(a flaw in a computer program or system/software glitch) placed after(on) HUM(a low-frequency steady noise/drone) ] + reversal of(… inverted) Y-REG(refering to cars registered in the UK between March 2001 and August 2001, having Y as a prefix on their number plates).
Defn: …/insincere talk.
11. Assassin‘s not at all sweet unless on vacation (6)
BRUTUS : BRUT(French for “dry”, used to refer to champagne and sparkling wine that does not taste sweet) + “unless” minus its inner letters(on vacation).
Answer: One of the assassins of Julius Cesar.
13. Foul tide swirling in the deep (8)
OUTFIELD : Anagram of(… swirling) FOUL TIDE.
Defn: …/the area of a cricket field that is relatively far from the pitch.
14. Spouse off booze taking single small beer outside, then another (4,6,4)
ONE’S BETTER HALF : TT(abbrev. for “teetotaller”, one who abstains totally from alcohol/off booze) contained in(taking … outside) [ ONE(single) + S(abbrev. for “small” + BEER) + ] plus(then) HALF(a half-pint of beer or, per the clue, another small beer).
16. London Eye? (8,6)
SHERLOCK HOLMES : Cd. Reference to an investigator/eye based in London.
20. Medical professional with Tesla breaking heart for little red sportscar? (8)
CORVETTE : [ VET(short for “veterinary surgeon”, a medical professional dealing with animals) ps(with) T(abbrev. for “Tesla”, the unit of magnetic flux density, in physics) ] contained in(breaking) CORE(the heart/centre of something).
1st generation Chevrolet Corvette:
… and “Little red corvette” is a song by Prince.
22. Puzzle for UK a Kuwaiti has smuggled over (6)
KAKURO : Hidden in(… has smuggled) reversal of(… over) “for UK a Kuwaiti”.
Puzzle and solution:
23. Huge growth ruined Saudi golf, ending in disaster (7,3)
DOUGLAS FIR : Anagram of(ruined) [SAUDI GOLF + last letter of(ending in) “disaster” ].
25. Worry line on neck (4)
FRET : Double defn: 1st: …/be anxious; and 2nd: …/one of the small metal strips across the fingerboard of a stringed musical instrument like the guitar.
26. Offer to release new tune in advance (6)
PRESET : “present”(to offer/give) minus(to release) “n”(abbrev. for “new”).
Defn: …/to set a control at a certain point or level in advance, eg. the station to be received on a radio.
27. Music festival in Morpeth’s flourishing (3,5)
THE PROMS : Anagram of(… flourishing) MORPETH’S.
Down
2. Bug terribly hot it admits, being drawn to flame (5,4)
TIGER MOTH : GERM(an organism such as bacteria and virus that can cause illness/bug) contained in(… admits) anagram of(terribly) HOT IT.
Answer: A member of the moth family, insects which are attracted to light.
3. Warmer in bed in close relationship (7)
NIGHTIE : NIGH(close to/near, in time or space) + TIE(a connection/relationship).
4. Sort of angle without apex (3)
-ISH : “fish”(to angle/catch fish with hook and line) minus(without) its 1st letter(apex, in a down clue).
Defn: …/a suffix for “somewhat”/”approximately”.
5. Wellington perhaps back from Waterloo, tense beneath lady’s fingers (7)
GUMBOOT : [ Last letter of(back from) “Waterloo” + T(abbrev. for “tense” in grammar) ] placed below(beneath, in a down clue) GUMBO(American for okra/lady’s fingers).
Gum rubber boots:
6. Spooner’s slice will astound participant in rally (11)
SHUTTLECOCK : Spoonerism of(Spooner’s) [“cut’ll”(contraction of cut will/slice will) “shock”(to stound/surprise).
Answer: The object hit back and forth in a rally in a game of badminton.
7. People Scot might not like trashing his glen (7)
ENGLISH : Anagram of(trashing) HIS GLEN.
Defn: …, refering to the Anglo-Scottish Wars, a series of conflicts between England and Scotland.
8. Two rivers in the country (5)
RURAL : [R(abbrev. for “river”) + URAL(river flowing through Russia and Kazakhstan)](two rivers).
12. Farm out west of Chippewa on land with reserve to the north (11)
SUBCONTRACT : [ 1st letter of(west of) “Chippewa” + ON + TRACT(a large piece of land) ] placed below(with … to the north, in a down clue) SUB(short for “substitute”, a reserve/one who stands in for another).
Defn: …, when a main contractor for a project contracts another contractor to do part of the project work.
15. Ray reportedly sleeps with a smile (5,4)
LASER BEAM : Homophone of(reportedly) “lays”(a non-standard term for “lies”/puts oneself in a reclining position such as when sleeping) + A + BEAM(a broad smile).
17. Video game company very upset faced with artist’s terrible effects (7)
RAVAGES : Reversal of(… upset, in down clue) [ SEGA(a Japanese multinational video games and entertainment company) + V(abbrev. for “very”) ] placed below(faced with, in a down clue) RA(abbrev. for “Royal Academician”, a member of the Royal Academy of Arts/an artist).
18. Castle suitable for jerks? (4,3)
KEEP FIT : KEEP(the main tower of a medieval castle) + FIT(suitable for that purpose).
Answer: …, also, “keep-fit” is the activity of keeping your body in good condition by doing physical exercise/an old-fashioned term for the latter is “jerks”.
19. Result in: Spooner’s not genuine choice for James Bond (4,3)
MAKE FOR : Spoonerism of(Spooner’s) [ “fake”(not genuine/sham) + “Moore”(Roger, an actor who was once the choice to play James Bond in the movies).
Answer: …/bring about an outcome/result in, as in “A more comprehensive analysis would make for a better explanation”.
21. Musk perhaps grim with nothing on (5)
ODOUR : DOUR(stern-looking/grim) placed below(with … on, in a down clue) O(letter representing 0/nothing).
Defn: An example of which/perhaps is musk/the smell of musk, a strong-smelling earthy substance used in perfumes, or a similar smell.
24. Retrospectively wish you could change uniform on guards? (3)
RUE : U(abbrev. for “uniform”) contained in(… guards) RE(with reference to/on).
Defn: …/to regret what has happened or been done.
Really clever, really enjoyable, thanks Filbert. Took a punt that 2001 equals Y reg in the UK, but everything else parses without checks, which is rare in itself. Great stuff.
Lovely puzzle, thanks both (scchua, in 2d you’ve underlined a bit of the wp; the def, as per your explanation, is ‘being drawn to flame’).
Spotted a few slips in blog. As gratinfreo says, too much underlined in 2d. I’ll just add, in case it’s not clear, that ‘being’ is a noun in definition.
In 3d, NIGHT should be NIGH.
In 14a, BEER is missing.
Another superb Filbert. I took a very long time to complete: I think my brain is subconsciously slowing me down, to savour each Indy cryptic as we approach the end.
Bit like a bottle of decent malt whisky, as it starts to run out, I take more time to enjoy each dram.
Or I could just be getting old, of course.
This puzzle is faultless, as is the blog. Simply too many clues to list the crackers, but Spoonering Roger Moore, and “shuttlecock”, awesome.
HUMBUGGERY (no connection, honest) is a wonderfully inventive solution.
I salute you, Fil & scchua
Thanks grantinfreo and Hovis. Blog corrected.
@4 😇
Worth doing for the brilliant SHERLOCK HOLMES alone. Yet another fizzing puzzle – making one reflect on the asinine decision to drop the Indy crossword.
Thanks both
Meant to add, I had “laze” not “lays” in 15d.
As others have said, another cracking Filbert crossword.
@6 😉
In 15d “lays” is “sleeps with”, not “sleeps”!
What can I say? Superb throughout, as ever. Thanks to Filbert and scchua.
Herb @10. That makes more sense. Ignore me @8.
Thanks both. Needed a few guesses to nail HUMBUGGERY as I thought 2001 was taking us to MMI or Hal as in Space Odyssey. I could fully see the angle in SHERLOCK HOLMES but wonder if ‘eye’ with a preceding ‘private’ is an accepted definition (AI says not) or just something whimsical.
@13 Need to get something that’ll find that out for you. A-eye, if you will.
moh@11
As we all bid farewell, I did actually, eventually, cotton on to MOH scale.
Or , the DOH scale as I will always recall it.
Yours is better.
Sad to see we only have one more left. Not sure what I will do on my Sundays now.
HUMBUGGERY (I couldn’t get hamburgers out of my head probably as I am on a doctor imposed diet) and SHERLOCK HOLMES taking quite a bit of time.
Liked SHUTTLECOCK ( a rare spooner I liked) and SUBCONTRACT.
Thanks MoH and Filbert.
I am another who liked SHUTTLECOCK, but GUMBOOT was great too. I will really miss the Sunday Filbert.
Another top-drawer offering from Filbert. A real pleasure to take on and solve.
Another fan of this puzzle, this setter, this blogger, and this institution!
Some took longer than others, RECHERCHÉ, n BASEBALLS were LOIs, but it was all worth the effort…
Many thanks Filbert n scchua
Hmm! Just realised I seem to have crossed over between Indies!! Obvs, RECHERCHÉ, n BASEBALLS are from the Liari puzzle today… I often start these things in the middle of the night, not really an excuse… soz