Knock me down, I come back fighting; The Age cryptic 16/6/14 by LR

I was feeling quite defeated after yesterday's posted admission that I struggled to understand most of the clues from last Friday's puzzle and my utter frustration at not being able to crack those clues. I am a competitive person by nature so when some people do those puzzles and say "Oh this one took me a full hour" while I'm struggling on days afterwards - I get a bit riled.

That said I closed that chapter and moved on, belatedly, to Monday's LR puzzle. I had Tuesday's one all lined up behind that, except when I glanced at Tuesday's I read the first few clues and got them. Not even a Google, so I dove into Tuesday's first. I got all but five clues solved and I did it in 90 minutes, give or take. That filled me with pure joy. Glee. I truly don't suck at this! Let's see how I do with the LR - again about 90 minutes and 7 clues unsolved as I waffled along on Twitter with @LRxword, thanking him for his fun clues because that's what we do when we are high on personal achievement

I recently saw a Venn diagram about art, and although I won't claim solving crosswords is an art, I will say this has some similarities around my belief in my skills.

Where Monday I was very much blue and today I am quite red.

I'll do Monday's puzzle here, and a new post for Tuesday's. I'm keeping my unsuperstitious fingers crossed that today's is also a red side win for me.

1A - Evil moneymaker broadcasting racquet sport (9)
Definition is "racquet sport" and yes I googled a list of racquet sports and the answer popped out. "Evil" = BAD "moneymaker" = MINT and "broadcasting" = ON for BADMINTON. I'm glad I looked up the list because I'd have spelled it Badmington, because that's how my Scottish husband pronounces it and it's invasive and endearing. He will deny this, of course.

6A - Little spade from shopping centre (5)
Definition is "Little", I worked this backwards with "shopping centre" being a MALL and I guess we just steal the S from "spade" for SMALL. Is this what the word from is suggesting? I still don't grasp the random letter usage thing, yet. I know it works with proper nouns and compass directions but outside of those I'm never very sure.

10A - Shoot a cosy room feature? (4,4)
Double definition clue, we want a phrase that means "Shoot" and also is "a cozy room feature"
OPEN FIRE. Look at me getting a question mark clue!

11A - Mammal scratched pottery edged (5)
We are looking for a "Mammal" and "scratched pottery edged" means we are to remove (scratch) the letters from the edge of pOTTERy to get OTTER.

12A - Down clue begins differently? (4)
I suspected that "clue" was to have the letter C removed and replaced with another letter but I didn't get this at the time. Kicking myself as it's quite straightforward. We want a synonym for "Down" and we can replace the C with a B to get BLUE.

13A - Captain Sausage was a heavy metal fan (10)
I liked this clue enough to tell the author and thank him. Does this count as double definition? I'm not sure. We can work both ends of the clue and come up with HEADBANGER for both. Banger being a British slang for a sausage. I think I shall address all sausages as headbangers from now on.

14A - Accomplice is at holiday golf club (7,6)
I also really liked this clue, too. Definition is "Accomplice" and when we go on holiday we GET AWAY and a "golf club" is a DRIVER for GETAWAY DRIVER.

17A - Exactly what you want from a box office (4,3,6)
I don't know about you, but this is me. I  want JUST THE TICKET. Keep your overpriced junk food. I have pockets full of my own.

21A - Went and paid minority of kickers (4-6)
I'm a tad confused by this clue, and I'm guessing the definition is "minority of kickers" but "went" = LEFT and "paid" = FOOTED as in footed the bill, to give LEFT FOOTED.

23A - They say 4-down annoys (4)
Skip ahead to 4-down. We want a synonym for "annoys" that is horse themed: NAG.

24A - Irons suit (5)
Double definition thinking golf and cards: CLUBS.

25A - Responded when van swerved, missing five (8)
Definition is "Responded" and I see "missing five" as a hint to remove a V somewhere. We have a couple in our clue but if we remove the V from "swerved" we get "vAN SWER (-v) ED" or ANSWERED.

26A - Had one backwards second cousin in this state (5)
"State" is the definition but which one? "Had one backwards" is telling to take HADI, where I = one and reverse it, then add the "second cOusin" or second letter in cousin O for IDAHO.

27A - Using old bike tyres again, perhaps? (9)
Kicking myself I did not get this! Reusing something old with a synonym for "bike" thrown in? RECYCLING.

2D - Capped/uncapped including unlimited calls? Disgusted (8)
We want a synonym for "Disgusted" and I got this clue, but I don't know quite how. I get confused being told to cap and uncap something, do I remove a letter or not? "unlimited calls" Does that mean not, then? What stood out to me were the letters APP, since I had the A in place and I made the leap to get APPALLED. I figured it had APP and ALL So I guess we were supposed to "uncap" the C? This clue was too cattywampus for me.

3D - Ex-president named Al Gore (7)
This is such a clever clue. We want the name of an "Ex-president" but Al Gore was never president, he was VP, then lost to Bush (Which was a tragedy) (Oops did my Lib slip show?) and I thought maybe Gore was being used as an anagrind in the to puncture, tear through sort of meaning. If we rearrange the remaining letters "named Al" we will get MANDELA. Clever, right?

4D - Say no to farm noise (5)
What's a "farm noise" that's also a way to "Say no" or NAY? NEIGH.

5D - Test luggage - a simple trial (4,3,4,4)
Double definition sort, also quite fun. I say that because I solved it and it was the biggest clue.
OPEN AND SHUT CASE.

7D - Play in the sun, perhaps? (7)
I got this mostly with cross letters and thinking along the lines of, what do we call plays that show during the day? MATINEE.

8D - Romeo gets into beer, becomes bigger (6)
This was the first clue I answered, and worked the puzzle from the NE corner out. Definition is "becomes bigger" and if we take the R from "Romeo" and put that into a synonym for "beer" or LAGER we get LARGER

9D - Amateur obits by H. Butcher (8)
Definition is "Amateur" and it may look like "H. Butcher" is a proper noun but it's not. "Butcher" is an anagrind. Take the remaining letters "obits by H." and rework them to get HOBBYIST.

15D - Bottom you squeezed in fancy cinema (3,5)
Definition is "Fancy cinema" and...uhm. Well? I'm not entirely sure. The answer is ART HOUSE. and I can see "bottom" = ARSE but where the middle letters that are "squeezed in"  are supposed to make, I'm not sure. South? Shout? Oshut? I don't know. AH! It's been pointed out to me by @CrypticQix 

@Crypticrochet 15d is THOU inside ARSE Yes I was using the S twice - thanks for pointing out my blatant goof. Nest time I'll try that pen I use next to the paper to, I don't know, write it out!

16D - Concur to get into biro colour (3,5)
We are looking for a "colour". It was so tempting to make the 3-letter word Red. Glad I didn't. It's wrong. A synonym for "Concur" is AGREE. and a "biro" is a PEN we want AGREE "to get into" PEN to give PEA GREEN.

18D - Cockney's search to get into Cracknell's fib (7)
We want a word for "fib", and "Cockney's" is a hint the clues here have Hs starting that will then be dropped as in a Cockney accent. A synonym for search = HUNT -H and thought Aha! UNTRUTH. But just to be sure, is there a Ruth Cracknell? Well yes there is.

19D - Jailbird damaged lace cover (7)
Definition is "cover" and Jailbird = CON and "damaged lace" where damaged is an anagrind, mix-up "lace" to get CONCEAL.

20D -Used an épée, enclosed (6)
Double definition here. FENCED.

22D - Obligations to surround southern Springfield (5)
We want a famous "Springfield" "Obligations" = DUTY and that is "to surround Southern" or just the S from southern for DUSTY.

There, done. Gosh that felt good. Let's hit another!