Blog explanations available at 10pm on the day of publication
Across:
1 Thumbs up (-OK-) in lively (= anagram indicator) mess (mess = SM-ES) (SMOKES) for those with a habit (SMOKES),
4 Carrying lots of baggage for The Tourists (ROOF RACK) on the house (ROOF) and one of The Frames (one of the frames / racks = RACK) (ROOF RACK),
9 Faith’s (faiths = CREEDS) caught (C-) with quantities of grass (-REEDS) (CREEDS),
10 Alerts women missing lot (“alerts women” missing “lot” = MENSWEAR) of male-only outfits! (MENSWEAR),
12 Working (= anagram indicator) for miners (for miners = INFORMERS) blowing the whistles (INFORMERS),
13 Cared (cared = CADRE) desperately (= anagram indicator) for small group (CADRE),
14 Magician’s trick (CLOUD OF SMOKE) in 23 down (“cloud” = CLOUD) has nothing (-O-) to do with force (-F) coming from most of (s) 1 across (“smokes” without “s” = SMOKE) (CLOUD OF SMOKE),
18 Opens 14 across (“cloud” = CLOUD-) beside takeaway (take away = -LESS) providing space to see the birds (SKY) (CLOUDLESS SKY) on a sunny day (CLOUDLESS SKY),
21 Measured drinks (UNITS) in the army mess presumably (UNITS),
22 Mint (= anagram indicator) infected (infected = DEFIC-ENT) across island (-I-) (DEFICIENT) is lacking something (DEFICIENT),
24 Moralist’s view (HIGH ROAD) of the mountain pass (HIGH ROAD),
25 Report (report = PORTER) rogue (= anagram indicator) in the bar (PORTER / stout),
26 Penny (P-) and Mary (Mary = -YRAM-) sent back (= reversal indicator) children (kids) heading off (k) (“kids” without “k” = -IDS) (PYRAMIDS) to the old vaults (PYRAMIDS),
27 Lyrical tributes (ODES-) from Africa (South Africa = -SA) (ODESSA) on the Black Sea (ODESSA).
Down:
1 Compact (SUCCINCT) small (S-) university (University College Cork = -UCC-) and institute (-I-) checks jaguars for problems (National Car Testing = -NCT) (SUCCINCT),
2 Turns up (= reversal indicator), is looking for the three little pigs (wolf = -FLOW) for Father (Rev = -VER-) Ring (ring = O-) (OVERFLOW) in flood (OVERFLOW),
3 The European (the = EL-) contacts the German (the = -DER) (ELDER) church official (ELDER),
5 Improves (improves = OVERSIMP-) engineer’s (engineers = anagram indicator) short (e) biography (“life” without “e” = -LIF-)? Yes (-Y) (OVERSIMPLIFY) – make it so accessible it’s unreasonable! (OVERSIMPLIFY),
6 Mostly (t) healthy (“fit” without “t” = FI-) drinks (-SH-AKES) around first course (first “course”= -C-) made with fried cod, potatoes and herbs (FISHCAKES),
7 Memo (AGENDA) from head-banger dismisses Herb (“head-banger” dismisses “herb” = adange = AGENDA),
8 Network foundation (“network” foundation = K-) on lough (Lough -ERNE-) and lake (-L) (KERNEL), in essence (KERNEL),
11 Novel (NEW-) by Kitty (-F-UND-) about old (-O-) country (-LAND) (NEWFOUNDLAND) in North America (NEWFOUNDLAND),
15 Ken’s girlfriend gets carried along by this (DOLL’S PRAM) wee bit (D-RAM) about new (= anagram indicator) polls (polls = -OLLS P-) (DOLL’S PRAM),
16 A (A-) few letters of distress (-S-OS) about the greatest footballer (-BEST-) (ASBESTOS) with a mineral that’s not very fiery (ASBESTOS is a fire-resistant mineral),
17 Irate shy (irate shy = HYSTERIA) model (= anagram indicator) causes major alarm (HYSTERIA),
19 Keep that under your hat (HUSH UP) or veil? (veil/conceal = HUSH UP),
20 Last composer (last “composer” = R-) to play (= anagram indicator) Grieg (Grieg = -IGGER) (RIGGER) is a type of fiddler (RIGGER = fiddler/ someone fraudulently manipulating situation to their advantage),
23 Cold (C-), tasteless (tasteless/brash = -LOUD) (CLOUD) storage system (CLOUD).