The Age Cryptic by DH #20,448

The Tuesday puzzle I treat warily because some weeks it's great fun and others a chore. This week it was more chore. The puzzle, for the most part was straightforward to solve but it had many 25¢ words for answers. Words I'd never heard of and had to use the dictionary to confirm, not only it was a valid word but that it meant what the solution said it meant. I'm not opposed to the use of rare and challenging words it's just as a novice solver it pinches my doubts and saps my confidence. That said, most of the time I was spot on and the answers were real words that matched the clue's definitions, so I will take those victories.

I have noticed midweek puzzled use a lot of anagrams and this puzzle is good example. In the pic I've noted all of the clues that are anagram clues. We have eight anagram clues, most of those full anagrams and not partials. My strategy is to always go for the anagrams first. There were plenty to choose from. I list them in the pic:

1A - Wasted their time in birthright (8)
"Birthright" is our definition and "wasted their" is anagrind and partial fodder. Add to that "time" = AGE to get HERIT(AGE)

5A - Andersen to order a cab (6)
"Cab" is our definition and a famous "Andersen" = HANS and here I'm lost because somehow "to order" = OM for HANS(OM)  which are the old fashioned horse-drawn carriage style of cab. When I lived in Edinburgh, family referred to the black taxis as Hansom cabs but I don't think others do. This made this clue confusing for me.

9A - Pet Simon trained a family preference (8)
"Family preference" is our definition and "pet simon trained" is fodder and anagrind to give us NEPOTISM.

10A - Female monster making advancement without public relations (6)
"Female monster" is what we are looking for and "advancement" = PROGRESS but "without Public Relations" = -PR which leaves us an OGRESS.

12A - Extra great (5)
Double Definition: SUPER.

14A - I like that! Capricorn has uniform properties in all directions (9)
I needed all the cross letters and then googled "uniform properties in all directions" to get Isotropy. I then thought "Capricorn" = TROPIC which left the first three letters to give us ISOTROPIC. This means "I like that" = I SO? I don't like that use of "so" and I've mentioned it before.

16A - Strip Robert! (4)
With cross letters in place it's not going to be removing the first and letter of "robert" for our answer. OBER wouldn't make much sense anyway. We want a synonym of "strip" that is the surname of a famous guy whose first name is "Robert" and that is PEEL. I had to do some googling to confirm Robert Peel is who we wanted.

15A - And mulga is chopped for a miscellaneous bunch (10)
"Miscellaneous bunch" is our definition with "and mulga is chopped" being fodder and anagrind to give us SALMAGUNDI which I'd never heard of before and had to use an anagram solver to get.

18A - At piano, Irish master, little known as Black in Paris (4)
"Black in Paris" is our definition and I jumped right to the definition and answered. To solve this I'm less sure. I can see it's a hidden word clue with "piaNO IRish," hiding the answer NOIR. Is the hidden word signpost simply "At" or was that a coincidence? I don't believe it is. What's the purpose of " master, little known" or is that just filler?

19A - Blooms for lands of motor vehicles (10)
"Blooms" is what we are looking for and "Lands of motor vehicles" becomes CAR NATIONS.

21A - Said the apartment you let me use is windy (9)
"Windy" is the definition and we must note "Said" as that tells us it's a homophone clue. "Apartment you let me use" could be a "FLAT YOU LENT" or FLATULENT.

22A - Ancient car doesn't start (5)
"Ancient" is our definition and "car" = HOLDEN that "doesn't start" = -H for OLDEN.

24A - No Sir! Duck back for some prayer (6)
"Prayer" is the definition and I solved this as "no sir!" being fodder and the exclamation point being a hint that something funny was going on with those two words. "Duck" = O as a zero score in cricket, to be placed "back" along the fodder - or in front of - to make O(RISON) - Ok, now I see it. This proves sometimes you have to write out answers to fully get them. "No sir" is not fodder and that exclamation point means nothing but distraction. it's simply NO SIR O reversed by the word "back."

25A - Soon Graf beaten cheaply (3,1,4)
"Cheaply" is our definition and "soon graf beaten" is fodder and anagrind to give us FOR A SONG.

27A - Contradiction in deal arrangement (6)
"Contradiction" is our definition and "in deal arrangement" is fodder and anagrind to give us DENIAL.

28A - Toes broken? It is bone inflammation (8)
"Bone inflammation" is our definition and "toes broken" is partial fodder and anagrind, then we add the clues "IT IS" on the end to make (OSTE)ITIS.

2D - Knock average up (3)
"Knock" is our definition and an "average" = PAR to be placed "up" in the grid to give us RAP.

3D - Knocked out in test seminar (8)
"Seminar" is our definition and "knocked out" is anagrind and partial fodder to be placed "in" a word for "test" = TRIAL like this: T(UTO)RIAL.

4D - Giles cut seat badly and waves his arms about (12)
"Waves his arms about" is our definition and "Giles cut seat badly ," is fodder and anagrind to make GESTICULATES.

6D - Gold floor covering back? May finish prophecy (7)
"Prophecy" is our definition and "gold" = AU, "floor covering, back" = RUG reversed to GUR with "maY finish" = Y put together to get: AU(GUR)(Y) a word I'd never heard of before.

7,1D - Some watches clean? Used Sulphur?  (5,6,5)
I think I got this on a technicality. I got the last word first from cross letters and a guess that "watches" have HANDS. As more cross letters fell in I figured the answer was SWEEP SECOND HAND but the grammar was iffy. Turns out it's right. I love watches and have several. I used to collect Swatch watches. I knew that a feature of a Rolex was that the second hand doesn't tick like cheaper quartz watches but moves in a smooth sweep. It's a sign of a fake Rolex if its second hand ticks along. In the clue it's: "Clean" = SWEEP, "used" = SECOND HAND and "sulphur" = S as that's its chemical symbol.

8D - So Australian in backless slippers for concerts? (9)
"Concerts" is the definition and I have a gap in this clue. I know "backless slippers" = MULES but I don't know why "So Australian" = SICA, only that it's supposed to go "in" the MULES like this MU(SICA)LES. It could be "So Australian" = SA but I still don't know where the IC comes from

11D - Pardons countries with lots of apartments (12)
"Pardons" is our definition and I got this late. Cross letters, no real idea. I didn't have a first letter then I noticed the words country and nation had been used in other clues - what are the odds? What stumped me again was both "countries" and "apartments were plural but the answer is
CONDO + NATIONS but not condos plural. I think this clue is still not fully solved. How do I know to swap the words around?

13D - Ballot on Irish land being part of the fertilisation process (11)
"Fertilisation process" is our definition and a "ballot" = POLL, "Irish" = I and "land" = NATION (see, nation again) to give us POLLINATION.

15D - Wrong gas in Ford shows composure? (9)
"Composure" is our definition and "wrong gas in ford" is anagrind and fodder to give us: SANGFROID.

17D - Cause to become pale and weak when Leo ate it? Rubbish! (8)
"Cause to become pale and weak" is our definition and "leo ate it rubbish"  because we ignore punctuation, is fodder and anagrind to give us ETIOLATE. New word for me.

20D - Distinct atmosphere otherwise in colourful aerial display (6)
"Colourful aerial display" is our definition and a "distinct atmosphere" = AURA and "otherwise, in" = OR to be in AURA like this: AUR(OR)A.

23D - In sunrise, for instance, an old Ethiopian emperor (5)
"Ethiopian emperor" is our definition and this is a gobbeldegooky clue. "in, sun rise" is saying to put SUN backwards in the grid but it is to have something "in" it, and that's "for instance" = EG like this: N(EG)US.

26D - Old folks threaten leaders regularly (3) 
"Regularly" is our definition and after a brief "is the signpost leaders or regularly?" debate, I saw that "Old Folks Threaten" = OFT and that satisfied the question.

And we are done! Still need help with 5A, 8D and 11D. If you have any solutions that are more elegant than mine then please share in the comments.

May your Humpday be smooth.