This was an interesting and enjoyable puzzle.
It was themed around portmanteaus, which are words created by blending other words together. The term was first coined by Lewis Carroll, who appears in the grid, and there are several other portmanteau words. The portmanteau idea is also used in a couple of the clues, which is something I've not seen before.

| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | LEWIS CARROLL |
Writer of 7D is well positioned to secure motor part? Not quite! (5,7)
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(Is well)* around (car(=motor) + rol[e](=part)) |
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| 8 | ORIGAMI |
Japanese craft fit with sails, following old comrade to Marseille (7)
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(Rig(=fit with sails) after o{old)) + ami(=French word for friend) |
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| 9 | GENOMES |
Instructions Ken discovered inside garden ornaments (7)
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[K]e[n] in gnomes. The def is a little iffy. The genome contains all genetic information relating to an organism, some of which could be described as coding (or instructional) DNA and some not. Genome is also a portmanteau of gene and chromosome. |
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| 11 | TAUREAN |
Go round Scotsman, we hear, bullish sort (7)
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I think this is a homophone of "tour Ian" |
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| 12 | STOMATA |
Buys Tom a table with hidden leaf sections (7)
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Hidden in "buys Tom a table" |
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| 13 | AVERT |
Head off from party, cycling plastered essentially (5)
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Rave with the R cycling to the end + [plas]t[ered] |
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| 14 | IMPORTERS |
1A’s impressive supporters, they bring a lot in (9)
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Fanciful portmanteau of "impressive supporters" |
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| 16 | TEMPLATES |
Casual worker behind schedule, a little slow to find pro-forma documents (9)
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Temp(=casual worker) + late(=behind schedule) + s[low] |
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| 19 | SO FAR |
Afro’s styled up to a point (2,3)
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Afros* |
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| 21 | ALLEGED |
Put forward member in new deal (7)
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Leg(=member) in deal* |
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| 23 | PEEPERS |
Goes around empty palace with King and surveyors (7)
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Pees(="goes" in the sense of urinates) around (p[alac]e + R{ex}(=king)) |
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| 24 | SITCOMS |
Shows model company manuscript (7)
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Sit(=model e.g. sit for a portrait) + co{mpany} ms(=abbrev for manuscript). This is of course another portmanteau of situation comedy. |
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| 25 | REPLETE |
Charged salesman to lease convertible, ultimately (7)
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Rep(=salesman, short form of representative) + let(=lease) + [convertibl]e |
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| 26 | HABERDASHERY |
Shop has rye bread replaced – bit of hair stuck in it (12)
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(Has rye bread)* around h[air] |
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| DOWN | ||
| 1 | LEISURE |
Holiday time in lieu is every so often uncertain? No! (7)
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Odd letters of (lieu is) + [un]sure |
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| 2 | WEAKEST |
Bridge partner devours cake less the icing – most unhealthy (7)
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West(=contract bridge partner) around [c]ake, the icing being the top of the cake, so the first letter is removed. |
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| 3 | SCIENTIST |
Perfume containing iodine first for one qualified in olfactology? (9)
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(Scent(=perfume) around I(=chemical symbol for Iodine)) + ist(=first) |
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| 4 | ARGUS |
Ancient overseer refined sugar (5)
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Sugar* |
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| 5 | RANCOUR |
Upwardly mobile officer overheard hostility (7)
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Hom of ranker(=officer promoted from the ranks) |
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| 6 | LIMEADE |
Fizzy drink somehow emailed (7)
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Emailed* |
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| 7 | PORTMANTEAUS |
Cases of fortified wine fellow starts to unceremoniously swill after evening meal (12)
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Port(=fortified wine) + man(=fellow) + (u[nceremoniously] s[will] after tea(=evening meal)) |
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| 10 | SEAMSTRESSES |
Sewers and streams broadcast – ssssssssssss? (12)
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Streams* + esses(=plural of ess, a word referring to the letter S). |
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| 15 | PASSPORTS |
Means of identifying 1A’s passionless spoilsports (9)
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This is a fanciful portmanteau of "passionless spoilsports" |
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| 17 | MILITIA |
Civilian fighters lost in battle getting one fired (7)
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MIA(=missing in action) around (I + lit(=fired)) |
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| 18 | LUGHOLE |
Hearing part where water drains when spending penny (7)
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[P]lughole (p{enny} is "spent" i.e. removed) |
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| 19 | SHEEPLE |
Banshee pledging to give sanctuary to those easily led (7)
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Hidden in (Banshe pleeding). Sheeple is another portmanteau of sheep and people. |
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| 20 | FRENEMY |
Fine fellow from Fontainebleau Bard’s sparring partner? (7)
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F{ine} + René(=a French male name, so possibly someone from Fontainebleau) + my(=Bard's i.e. belonging to the crossword setter). Frenemy is a modern portmanteau of friend and enemy. |
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| 22 | DOSED |
Regularly drop speed (prescribed) (5)
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Odd letters of drop speed |
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I did not spot the fanciful portmanteaus in the clues – interesting idea. SHEEPLE is unknown to me and seems an unnecessary term when SHEEP alone does the job.
Is LIMEADE a portmanteau of lime and lemonade? ORIGAMI, my favourite clue – a very original approach.
(Apropos the theme, I saw a post on BlueSky last week announcing the arrival of a new fashion accessory – the ‘sumbrella’ – as a portable provider of shade on a hot day. With a comment noting that we already have a word for that – ‘parasol’)
Thanks both
I galumphed through this frumptious crossword.
Thanks both. Pleasantly very different. My last two in were the intersecting IMPORTERS and PASSPORTS – in retrospect, both clues reference LEWIS CARROLL rather than PORTMANTEAUS so do we take it the writer actually came up with these, or should both clues more fairly reference 7D?