Times 27163

This is a Monday puzzle - often slightly easier. It will be blogged here later today.

ACROSS

1. LIP SERVICE (fake backing) (pliers)* + VICE (another tool)
6. MASS (press - as in many people) M(A)SS; (1 MS [manuscript], 2 MSS, 3 MSS ... )
9. ROOF GARDEN (site with raised beds) R(un) O(ut)(as in cricket) + OF + G(ood) + ARDEN (Forest of Arden - an English wood)
10. CHIC (elegant) CHIC(ory) - O(ld) RY - railway (often clued as 'track')
12. NEANDERTHAL MAN (distant cousin) (the land near)* + (Isle of) MAN
14 TRENDY (chic - the 'definition' is '10' - referring to 10 across) TRY (hear in court) around END
15 CONCEDER (he gives up) C + ONCE + DER
17. PROLIFIC (fertile) PROF around L(arge) I (1) I(n) C(harge)
19. AMULET (talisman) a mule is hybrid - a cross between a male donkey (jack) and a mare; tea is a homophone for T >>>
22. AFOREMENTIONED (earlier) (idea not)* around FOREMEN
24, EASE (calm - in verbal sense) EASE(l) - an artist's stand
25. FAR AND WIDE (everywhere) FARE (passenger) around AND (with) W(omen) ID (credentials)
26. TAMP (pack) T(erritorial) A(rmy) M(ember) of P(arliament)
27. WILDERNESS (desert) WILDER (more stormy) + (Loch) NESS

DOWN

1. LURE (attraction) LU(c)RE
2. PROTEGE (ward) P(ublic) R(elations) O(fficer) + TE (a note in the solfa scale) around EG (for example)
3. ENGINE DRIVER (cab boss) ENG(lish) + IN + E(ast) + DRIVER (a golf club)
4. VORTEX (it spins) V (five) OR TE(n) X (times)
5. CREATION (our beginning) or CRE(m)ATION - without M(ass)
7. ASHAMED (embarrassed) AS (when) + HAD (fooled) around ME (this writer)
8. SECOND RATE (not the best) - assistant + judge (verbal sense - common clue)
11. TALCUM POWDER (toilet drier) (cold water pum)*
13. STEP PARENT (family member) STEP (stage) + PART (role) around EN - a length in typography, half the width of an EM - and sometimes called a 'nut' (that's obscure!)
16. LITERATI (bookworms) LII (52) around ? (TERAT is an anagram of 'eater' - irrelevant?)
18. OPOSSUM (animal) OP (opus - Latin for work) O(ut)S(ize) + (very big - a common device) + SUM (problem - in mathematics)
20. LEE SIDE (a good place to tie up) General Robert E. Lee led the Confederate army (side) haha >>>
21. STRAND (abandon - on a beach perhaps) R inside STAND (bear, as in put up with)
23. TEES (running water in northeast) homophone for 'tease' = 'guy' (to make fun of)

KEY

to abbreviations which may have been used

(raga man)* = anagram of 'anagram'
cd = cryptic definition
dd = double definition
incl. = inclusive (hidden word) - a simple inclusive has the letters next to one another, tho perhaps rev.; a 'complex inclusive' has the letters are in plain view but not adjacent
def. = definition (synonym, literal)
rev. = reversed
anagind = anagram indicator
homophind = homophone indicator
surface - the apparent meaning of the clue, disguising what's really going on
&lit. - a clue in which the whole clue is the 'definition'
COD = clue of the day (imo); FOI, LOI, first/last one written in

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Garry Gillard | New: 8 October, 2018 | Now: 9 October, 2018