Pretty tricky in places particularly 15down and welcome comments on 24across
Across
1 OUTBREAK rash OUT (at a loss) BREAK sounds like BRAKE (stop)
5 FLAWED imperfect LAW (legislation) in FED (government agent)
9 SANCTION support S[ocialist] N (northern) in ACTION (fighting)
10 ACROSS from side to side ORCA< (whale turning) SS (ship)
11 SENTRIES guards S[hin] ENTRIES (items in reference book)
12 BOMBER spliff for smoking BOMBE (dessert) R (right)
14 NO-NONSENSE matter-of-fact NON (French refusal) ON (in contact with) SENSE (tenor)
18 REMUNERATE pay UM< (hesitation over) in RENE (Frenchman) RATE (merit)
22 NEREID worm I[nvasiv]E< in NERD (computer geek)
23 HATE MAIL malicious letters MATE HAIL Spooner’s friend address
24 BALLAD song ALL (every) in BAD (told – suspect mistake for BADE)
25 NAME TAGS help prevent loss
NAME (reputation) TAG (identifying mark) [bri]S[tol]
26 EVADED avoided answering DAVE< (Cameron back) ED (Milliband)
27 ADJACENT next door J (Jack) in ADA (girl) CENT sounds like SENT (thrilled)
Down
1 OBSESS constantly talking about (BOSSES)*
2 TENANT Helen of Wildfell Hall TEN (number) ANT (social worker)
3 RETURN election to parliament RE (about) TURN (apply)
4 ABOVE BOARD honestly AB (sailor) BOA (snake) in OVER (finished) D (died)
6 LACROSSE game LA (French the) CROSS (angry) E (Spain)
7 WOODBINE honeysuckle W[eeks] (BOOED IN)*
8 DESERVES warrants D[eath] E (earl) SERVES (attends as assistant)
13 CONTRABAND illegal trade CO (company) (RANT)* BAND (group)
15 GRENOBLE city GR (Greek) NO (dissenter) in ELBE< (river back)
16 UMBRELLA protective cover ELL (measure) in UMBRA (shade)
17 INTIMATE dd
19 GENERA sorts GEN (information) ERA (time)
20 CANAPE appetiser A[nchovy] in (PECAN)*
21 CLOSET private LOSE (suffer defeat) in CT (court)
( )* = anagram [ ] = omit < = reverse dd = double definition
I agree, 24 across looks like a mistake. The wordplay gives “ballade” rather than “ballad”.
Funnily enough 6a in the Times today was Mostly plain lad finds romance which is the same answer as 24a.
I solved the SE , most of the NE , a bit of the SW (oh alright then only 16d and 26a) but the NW was totally barren.
Thanks Jed, for blogging a really excellent crossword.
Of course, apart from 24ac – in which I think there were enough alternatives for “told”.
I don’t think I’ve solved a Peto before but I especially liked the precision of his clueing.
27ac (ADJACENT) was clear enough to me (great surface, btw) but I have a question about the homophone. “Sent” is surely a homophone of “cent” as a stand-alone word but “cent” as part of the solution is not pronounced as “sent”.
Is this all right according to the cryptic rules?
Just a (for me, interesting) question.
Many thanks to Peto whose puzzles I will tackle more often from now on.
Another excellent puzzle ( a good week for the FT).
However why do setters always seem to spoil an otherwise fine piece of work with a single clue that is either controversial or contains a downright error as seems to be the case here with 24A?
#3 I would pronounce adjacent as adjasent (soft c).
Thanks, ernie, for your thoughts on 27ac.
My point is, though, thrilled = sent = something with ‘e’ while adjacent = adja + something with ‘u’.
Regarding 24 Across
I think Bad is an old form of the past tense of Bid.
I find support for that in some old books and at various websites devoted to words.