Solving Time: 24 minutes; about average for a blogging day. When I typed the result into the club website to check it was all correct, I was surprised to find myself in first place, the other early birds all having one error. Not immediately obvious which it might be but we shall see as we blog..
I like this crossword; it certainly has some very elegant clues.
cd = cryptic definition, dd = double definition, rev = reversed, anagrams are *(--), homophones indicated in ""
ODO means the Oxford Dictionaries Online
Across
1
persimmon - very small distance = IMM in being = PERSON. I love persimmons
6
frisk - dd, frolic and run your hands over looking for hidden weapons etc.
9
fifteen - Clearly 15 is a film type, (usually one where virtually any type of gory violence goes, but nothing more than a hint of cleavage). But what's that about tableaux vivants? Ah, got it! It's the XV in the middle, 15 in Roman numerals.. and there was me thinking about the Windmill Theatre. But it's just devious, not deviant
10
wagtail - A G(REA)T in WAIL
11
sprog - S + PROG (-ressive rock). I did wonder for a while what a scrag was.. perhaps this is where others went wrong? I wasn't familiar with prog rock and so was a bit surprised that a number of my favourite bands appear to have done it. The correct answer is clearly better than scrag, since scrag = little one doesn't really work; but no doubt a case of sorts could be made for it
12
Argentine - G(RAND) in A + RENT + IN + (RAC)E
13
pinta - pop = NIP rev., + TA, crosswordlands favourite (reserve) army
14
in the club - C(OLD) in *(THIN BLUE). The def. is "Expecting," this being one of many coy references to the gravid condition. More of a "Bun in the oven" or "Up the duff" man, myself
17
cha-cha-cha - ACH(E) twice, in tea = CHA. A neat clue
18
gigue - every other letter of GoInG qUiEt
19
sideswipe - maybe right = SIDE (ie, or left) + appropriate = half-inch = SWIPE
22
act up - turn = ACT + over = UP, as in "Come in no. 7, your time is up/over"
24
isolate - I(mmigration), + SO LA TE, the trio returning us to DO, as explained by Julie Andrews in the Sound of Music
25
lettuce - sounds like "let us." Not when I say it it doesn't, but let it pass, let it pass..
26
Freud - initial letters of For Restricting Entry Usually Does, for the Austrian pseudoscientific inventor of the id
27
errand boy - *(BEAN OR DRY)
Down
1
puffs - dd. puffs on part of 6dn, and advertising puffs
2
referenda - joint = REEFER with an E dropping, + N(ew) DA (district attorney)
3
ideograph - *(PAGE HID OR). "any graphic sign or symbol, such as %, @, &, etc" (Collins)
4
Mandarin Chinese - fruit = MANDARIN + CHEESE, with the first E replaced by IN. The world's most widely spoken native language
5
new age traveller - W + A in *(TALL EVERGREEN), the def. being "unconventional, rootless one"
6
Fagin - something smoked = FAG + popular = IN. He likes to pick a pocket or two, (ie dip) in Oliver Twist
7
Iraqi - the Inland Revenue = IR + A + QI. Another clever clue. Note the careful "once" added because it is HMRC nowadays
8
killer bee - L(arge) in *(BEER LIKE). Not sure that honey production is what first springs to mind with this man-made hybrid species accidentally released into the wild, and now spreading across the USA.
13
Pecksniff - kisses = PECKS. NIFF presumably is intended to be for "no bouquet" but I would say it was a bouquet, albeit an unpleasant one. Bouquet just means "aroma" or smell, usually but not necessarily of wine. Pecksniff is a baddie in Martin Chuzzlewit. Never read it (or any Dickens, if I can help it) but I knew the name nevertheless
15
Edgbaston - DG + B + when = AS in ETON.
16
light bulb - easy = LIGHT (as in the Light Programme, perhaps?) + cry = BLUB, rev.
20
drove - hidden, rev., in rEV OR Dean. Clever, neat.
21
staid - = saint-aid, I suppose. I feel a TV special coming on
23
piety - irrational (number) = PI, + and = ET (in French) + Y, the unknown that isn't X or Z.