Lots of lovely clues here. Well done, setter. My favourite was the unusual wordplay in 28ac. I also liked the disguise in 3dn, which was my LOI although it’s not that hard in hindsight. For me it was a “slow but steady” solve, although I wouldn’t be surprised by some lightning times.
Clues are blue, with definitions underlined. Answers are in BOLD CAPS, then wordplay. (ABC*) means ‘anagram of ABC’. Deletions are in [square brackets].
Across
1 Lots of nameless numpties (6)
OODLES – [n]OODLES. I suspect both ‘numpties’ and ‘noodles’ are British usages?
4 Very strong wine imported by African country (7)
DRASTIC – ASTI ‘imported’ by DRC – the Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly Zaire.
9 Infuriate supporter, changing sides (5)
ANGER – ANGEL changing from left to right.
10 Article with hint concerning hors d’oeuvre (9)
ANTIPASTO – AN, TIP, AS TO.
11 Inexperienced boy going round North Island (9)
GREENLAND – GREEN, LAD ‘round’ N. I thought the answer would be ‘inexperienced’; must remind myself (yet again) to examine both ends of the clue for possible definitions!
12 Eager, articulate commie chap shunned by many (5)
READY – unusual wordplay, or at least hard to see: READ sounds like ‘red’; Y is [man]Y ‘shunning’ the MAN/CHAP.
13 Hard drinker knocked back moonshine (4)
TOSH – H[ard] SOT ‘knocked back’.
14 Verses stir volatile attendant (10)
SERVITRESS – anagram (volatile) of (VERSES STIR*). I often find the -TRESS answers somewhat archaic. In this case I feel even SERVITOR would be archaic?
18 Paying one to follow academic panel (10)
PROFITABLE – PROF, I, TABLE.
20 Half-cut scally initially makes racket (4)
SCAM – SCA[lly] ‘half-cut’, then M[akes] ‘initially’.
23 Article on father and pioneer of French film (5)
PATHE – PA, THE. Pathé Freres.
24 Mate on the ground, the worse for wear (4-5)
MOTH-EATEN – anagram (ground) of (MATE ON THE*). To quibble, moth-eating occurs in the cupboard, surely, not while wearing?
25 Vacuous Alfred and Oscar share deep love (9)
ADORATION – A[lfre]D ‘vacuous’, O for Oscar in the phonetic alphabet, RATION.
26 Short-stay children’s homes must recruit regularly (5)
UTERI – even letters of mUsT rEcRuIt. I can imagine some mothers taking exception to this perhaps flippant definition!
27 Study point and bulk of tooth (7)
DENTINE – DEN, TINE.
28 Having tail extended worries pet (6)
CARESS – extend the tail of CARES by adding another S.
Down
1 Flyer operating flaps (6-3)
ORANGE-TIP – anagram (flaps) (OPERATING*). It’s a butterfly.
2 Stray cat heading off after daughter (7)
DIGRESS – D[aughter], then ‘heading off’ [t]IGRESS.
3 Unruly and merry, wants to shed clothing (6)
ERRANT – [m]ERR[y], [w]ANT[s], both ‘shedding clothing’.
4 Took out old hat (5)
DATED – double definition.
5 Pirates punished with variable harshness (8)
ASPERITY – anagram (punished) of (PIRATES*), then Y is the (algebraic) variable.
6 Pilot put away food with a will (7)
TESTATE – TEST (pilot), ATE (put away food). ‘Testate’ as opposed to ‘intestate’.
7 Ally of NATO for example ignoring borders (5)
CRONY – NATO is an [a]CRONY[m]. Ignore the borders.
8 Dance hall losing money twice over Prohibition period (8)
HABANERA – HA[ll] losing both L’s for pounds, BAN, ERA. A style of Cuban dance. Lucky I didn’t have to guess – I might have thought it was a cigar!
15 Cleaning car, see beer can on top of gearbox (8)
VALETING – V (see), ALE, TIN, G[earbox].
16 Meaning of extremely strange male capers (9)
SEMANTICS – S[trang]E, M[ale], ANTICS.
17 The learned elite rationalise to an extent (8)
LITERATI – hidden answer.
19 Tired old couple filling vase (7)
OUTWORN – O[ld], then TWO ‘filling’ URN.
21 Reflective stud as yet uneasy in church (7)
CATSEYE – anagram (uneasy) of (AS YET*) inside CE (church).
22 Jellyfish in sea north of America (6)
MEDUSA – MED (sea), USA.
23 Tartan pants left aesthete in distress at first (5)
PLAID – first letters of each word. (‘At front’).
24 Man turning up teaching bible material (5)
MOIRE – I.O.M. (Isle of Man, ‘turning up’), RE (teaching bible).
I agree that 14 and 26 were a bit strange.
Edited at 2019-08-10 04:17 pm (UTC)
I have not seen Servitress before. Will have to start using it in restaurant reviews online.
David
FOI 25ac ADORATION – shepherds come to mind, in August!
LOI 24dn MOIRE there’s a pattern here
COD 1dn ORANGE TIP
WOD 23ac PATHÉ – I still miss the newsreels with Bob Danvers-Walker!
Edited at 2019-08-10 06:30 am (UTC)
I’ll continue to do my blog in Times New Roman as a small protest!
Most of us in amateur choirs have done the HABANERA from Carmen on Opera Nights.
I’ve tried (so far in vain) to excise SERVITRESS from my memory. 21.06 so more or less average.
NHO SERVITRESS, and never did manage to parse the rather covuluted clue to READY.
FOI OODLES
LOI CRONY
COD UTERI
TIME 12:10