Times 25338: Parts on Parade: times_xwd_times

Solving time: 18:40

Straightforward puzzle with just one possible obscurity for non-train-spotters.

Across
1	LIGATURE. Two meanings: musical slur or tie; combined letters such as æ and ﬂ. In this case, the latter.
5	SCAR,A,B.
10	THE BEGGARS OPERA. Anagram: sheer garbage top. John Gay, 1728.
11	ENTROPY. ENTRY, including O{ld}, P{iano}. Short story by Thomas Pynchon, 1960.
12	Omitted. Nothing to do with motor scooters.
13	FELL FLAT. A word for ‘apartment’ after a word for ‘hill’.
15	SACRA. Delete the ‘mento’ from the capital of California.
18	W.I.RED. Literal: ‘set up for broadcast’, which is quite a clever distraction. A magazine for geeks.
20	MASS,AGED.
23	FASHION. SH (for quiet) and I,0 in FAN.
25	SPONSOR. SPOOR (track) including N (northern) and S{ky}.
26	CHARLOTTE CORDAY. Anagram: Old character to; plus Y. She wot done in Marat in his barf.
27	DI,LATE.
28	MARYLAND. This would be RYAN around L (for ‘lake’) all inside MAD.

Down
1	LUTHER. Replace the A in LATHER with a U.
2	GREAT BEAR. Hear: grate bare.
3	TREFOIL. TOIL including REF. My downfall in a French oral exam once. Didn’t know the word trefle. It was in a passage from Proust.
4	RUGBY. G (for ‘good’) inside RUBY. That is, there’s a stone walling it.
6	CROESUS. CROSS with E&U inserted at different points. The famously rich King of Lydia.
7	REEVE. Delete the L and 1 from RELIEVE. If you see ‘old official’, it’s most likely this geezer.
8	BRAD,SHAW. A shaw is an archaic forest. “ORIGIN, Old English sceaga, of Germanic origin; related to shag”. George Bradshaw, the eponymous publisher of railway timetables.
9	PRIVATES. Two defs; one rude.
14	LAMINATE. Reverse ET and ANIMAL.
16	CLEPSYDRA. An anagram. A water-clock.
17	TWO-FACED. Two defs again, the second of which is ‘devious’.
19	DRIBLET. Reverse BIRD and add LET{hal}. The answer fittingly includes the letters D,B & E, in that order.
21	Omitted. A case of self-reference?
22	BRAYED. RAY is in BED.
24	STALL. Two defs again.
25	SHE,BA. She who arrives in Handel’s Solomon.

Times 25338: Parts on Parade