Solving time : 14 minutes - on the fast side for me, so I suspect there will be some very slick times out there. I was held up in the hippy corner by two unfamiliar words that eventually came from wordplay. It appeared to me there were rather a lot of letter subtraction clues in here, and some pretty nice long anagrams. And away we go...
| Across |
|---|
| 1 | BACK(=champion),STRAIGHT(=clear). Wasn't sure if this was the racecourse or the tie, took the checking H from 6d to see this |
| 9 | (d)OWNER: the first of our subtractions today |
| 10 | E(as)TERN,ALLY: and the second |
| 12 | ESTATE: double definition |
| 13 | NUTRIENT: NUT, then I in RENT, got from definition before I saw wordplay |
| 15 | BOLERO: OLE(=approval) in BRO. A dance, a relentless piece of music and a horrific 80's movie |
| 17 | AD(=newspaper iterm),JUST(in Chambers - "quite, absolutely, indeed"): Not the usage of JUST that I am used to, but it works |
| 20 | RAN,KLE(=ELK backwards): Doe, a deer, a gnu or elk |
| 21 | STOCKPO(r)T: subtraction number 3 |
| 25 | ANNU(a)L: The second article (take your pick if the first is AN or A), and fourth subtraction |
| 26 | STOVEPIPE HAT: (AT,PET,SHOP,IVE), fun little anagram |
| |
|---|
| Down |
|---|
| 1 | BLOUSON: LOUS(y) in BON(=NOB<=). New word to me, and relieved to find that it means a loose outer garment gathered into a waistband |
| 3 | SYRIA: (AIRY,S)<= - I liked this reversal |
| 4 | (t)RIES,LING: more subtraction |
| 5 | IDEA: hidden in hIDE-And-seek |
| 7 | PLEASED AS PUNCH: (SPACE,HE,LANDS) |
| 8 | ZYDECO: booZY, then EC in DO, got this from the definition before sorting out the wordplay |
| 14 | INSOVLENT: V in INSOLENT |
| 16 | LAST-GASP: nice construction here - ST,GAS(=talk) in LAP |
| 19 | NOTELET: TELETHON without the H reversed |
| 23 | CRAMP: RAM in CP (from PicniC reversed) |
| 25 | KIE(l),V: Kiel being a German port |
Comments
I'm pretty sure that nob for toff or similar comes up fairly often so watch out for it again. It's a contraction of nobleman or nobility and refers to someone wealthy, influential or of aristocratic stock. If you're in the UK I'd be wary of calling someone a nob to their face however as they're more likely to think you're calling them a knob, which is a different kettle of piranha altogether.