The age Cryptic by LR #20,447

I was told last week there was a mini-theme within this puzzle and on reading through the clues It did not seem to show itself. Where were the cross referencing of clues or everything hinging on one clue? No, this was a pay attention theme. I had a slow start but as the answers started coming along I noticed something - some answers for the early Down clues began with the letter N. Coincidence? Well a lot of the left side answers were ending with an E, the right side began with W and yes! The bottom row all ended with an S. The edges of the puzzle were compass points. Once I saw that I could run about filling in the edge unches with their compass points. It was a great help because I often struggle to get a word if its's missing its first letter so two sides of the puzzle had the first letters in place. Here's the pic:

8A - Wrath in tangled power cable (4,4)
"Cable" is our definition and "wrath" = IRE to be place "in" "tangled power" =  which is anagrind with partial fodder mixed like this: W(IRE)ROPE.

9A - Turn east, following topless bird in street (6)
"Street" is our definition and we just had "turn" = U on Friday so I'm canny to that trick, "East" = E  which will be "following" or put after  the "topless bird" = RAVEN -R to give us AVEN(U+E).

10A - Wild dog among wood life regularly (4)
"Wild dog" is our definition and the word "regularly" is an odds/even signs post. Looking closely we can see "WoOd LiFe" = WOLF.

11A - www.capecanaveral.com? (6,4)
Nice lateral thinking clue: LAUNCH SITE.

12A - Yes, dad, news was broken in Midweek Times (10)
This was my first clue in the grid. "Midweek times" is our definition and it's not like a newspaper so ignore the capitalisation. "Yes, dad, news was broken" is fodder and anagrind to give us: WEDNESDAYS.

14A - Group of ships endlessly take flight (4)
"Take flight" is our definition and a "group of ships" = FLEET "endlessly" = -T, leaving FLEE.

15A - Aussie rugby player's method holding spinning ball (7)
"Aussie rugby players" is our definition and there's no need to go searching for player lists (yes I did) because "method" = WAY which will be "holding" the "spinning BALL" which means to reverse ball  in the grid like this: WA(LLAB)Y.

17A - Brag about 1,000,000 bill? (3,4)
Double definition: BIG NOTE.  I put this one in last as it's not a phrase I know and I made a guess and hen googled to confirm.

19A - Driver in court, going over 500 (4)
"Driver" is our definition and "court" = WOO and "500" = D in Roman numerals for WOOD.

20A - Accountant company member bugs associate (10)
"Associate" is our definition and "accountant" = AC (I've always used ACCT but puzzles seem to use just AC), "company" = CO, "member" = MP as a member of parliament, and "bugs" = LICE for an ACCOMPLICE.

22A - Spouse-like quality of West Indies cat on ship? (10)
"Spouse-like quality" is our definition and "West Indies" being a proper noun we take the WI, "cat" = FELINE and "ship" = SS for WI(FELINE)SS.

25A - Ripped tuxedo edges again! (4)
"Ripped" is the definition and "TuxedO edges" = TO, "again" = RE for TORE.

26A - Schoolyard prank pulled by jocks (6)
I cannot decide what type of clue this is but the answer is WEDGIE. The definition is the whole clue I'm leaning towards &lit. Or is it a double definition? Or a cryptic definition? I cannot decide.

27A - Physical therapist for widespread ecstasy consumption? (8)
"Physical therapist" is our definition and "widespread ecstasy consumption" = MASS E USE. One of the last clues solved and I ruled this a clever but terrible, or terribly clever.

1D - Kidman put carbon monoxide in river (6)
"Kidman" is our definition and "carbon monoxide" = CO to be placed "in" a "river" = NILE for NI(CO)LE.

2D - Reportedly understood sharp tooth with light emitting diode was innovative (10)
"Innovative" is our definition and "reportedly understood" has a homophone signpost and we want a synonym for "understood" = KNEW homophone is NEW. "sharp tooth" = FANG and "light emitting diode" = LED for NEWFANGLED.

3D - Coward is negative to the Spanish (4)
"Coward" is our definition and a "negative" = NO and "Spanish" = EL as it's a common cryptic crossword reduction for the word Spanish to give us NOEL. (A quick reference to other common reductions)

4D - Blurry sun able to be seen in space dust clouds (7)
"Space dust clouds" is our definition and "Blurry sun able" is anagrind and fodder to give us NEBULAE. I was a t first distracted by the "seen in" thinking it was a hidden word clue.

5D - Miss Cairn's shocking vanity (10)
"Vanity" is our definition and "Miss Cairn's shocking" is fodder and anagrind to give us NARCISSISM.

6D - All bridge players gossip (4)
"Gossip" is our definition and often any hint with a "bridge player" usually wants us to use a compass point because in the game of Bridge each player is either North, East, South or West position. Here we want all the "players" and mix them up to form NEWS.

7D - Head and neckwear on extreme scientist is most eccentric (8)
"Most eccentric" is our definition and "head" = NUT, "neckwear" = TIE and "extreme ScientisT" = ST to give us: NUTTIEST

13D - Warcraft destroyed armies' buns (10)
"Warcraft" is what we are looking for "destroyed armies buns" is anagrind and fodder to give us a SUBMARINE. Such a waste of good buns.

14D - Female at home with great boxer draws conclusions (10)
"Conclusions" is our definition and "Female" = F, "at home" = IN "great boxer" = ALI and "draws" = TIES put together for FINALITIES.

16D - Leader's off the wagon, one emergency service worries (8)
"Worries" is our definition and "Leader's off the wagon," means remove the first letter from
WAGON - W = AGON, "one" = I and "emergency service" = SES put together for AGONISES.

18D - Shouts secondary college lots of paper (6)
"Shouts is our definition and "Secondary College" = SC and "lots of paper" = REAMS for SCREAMS.

21D - Heartless Carl, Tess and Pat? (6)
"Pat" is our definition and "heartless CARl tESS" = CARESS as we remove the middle letters.

23D - You can beat these...urges (4)
"Double definition: EGGS. You can beat them and you "egg" someone on. This had me quoting classic Frantics skits for most of the day. Not that I need much persuading.

24D - Dubious American in secret service (4)
"Dubious" is our definition and "American" = US to be put "in"  "secret service" = SS to give us SUSS.

All done. I took this puzzle in chunks through the day and finished it by bedtime.

I have a busy week with two Halloween parties and a book drive to organise for the Guides and primary school. It looks like Australia is catching the American fever for Halloween. It's still cold enough to feel autumnal but it is weird to have this as a Spring holiday. All the sombre autumn colours don't fit Springtime.

My order of board games has arrived! We have friends coming over for the weekend and I'll have to learn all the rules so we can coax them into a few rounds. We now have Munchkin (which my 15yo was all "I'm not playing some long ass game like that" and then after playing once was asking "Can we Munchkin again?") Lords of Waterdeep which is my first ever D&D game, Love letter which is a quick card game we played last night and had great fun. It's a quick strategy, bluffing game. Finally, I got Ticket To Ride which I'm looking forward to but there will be no leg wiggling or table dancing allowed as it uses lots of little pieces we don't want knocked over. Hyper kids are banned.

If you have solutions to share please add them in the comments. Enjoy your day.