Across
Start to concentrate before bishop leads meeting in intellectual manner (10)
Bird lives on Irish beaches primarily (4)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Times for the Times have:
I (Irish) B~ followed by (on) IS (lives)
Actress to feel bad about taking off a dress — nothing to finish with! (5,5)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Times for the Times have:
reGRET (in Yoda-speak, ‘to feel bad taking off about’ equates to REGRET minus ‘re’) A GARB (dress) O (nothing); after parsing this, I just want to be alone (a line she spoke in 1932’s Grand Hotel, if I remember aright)
Trick rogue, quietly departing (4)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Times for the Times have:
SCAMp
A small number helping almost everyone having high hopes (12)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Times for the Times have:
A S PI (number) RATION (helping) ALl
Poet Edmund eats soft food that comes in rolls (9)
Restrict learner with self-aggrandizing boast (5)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Times for the Times have:
L (learner) ‘I’M IT!’
Examinations of small vessel within bigger one (5)
City halved effort to stop protection (9)
Human replica evolved like characters in Fahrenheit 451? (12)
English lord failing to keep right sword (4)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Times for the Times have:
E PEEr; fencing principally uses three blades: epee, sabre and foil
Foreign capital quietly blocking raised matter of only local interest (6-4)
Killed a large number (4)
Ditched plane caught side on in crash (10)
Down
Composer using four notes — or none! (4)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Times for the Times have:
C A G and E are all musical notes; my dear friend John Cage once composed a piano piece lasting 4 and a half minutes or so with no notes. I played it once. Does that make me a concert pianist?
Money that is held by opposing sides (4)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Times for the Times have:
i.e. in RL; the monetary unit of Cambodia, though they’d prefer US dollars
French mathematician developed basis with Laplace (6,6)
Fine instrument used in dramatisation (5)
Story about female underwear I originally read in bookshop abroad (9)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Times for the Times have:
BRA I R~ in LIE (story – pretty much anything President Trump says, according to the Guardian, those fine arbiters of Truth); a French, ‘ow you zay, bookshop; [update] in fact, an unaccounted for ‘I’ means this clue doesn’t parse. The crossword editor informs us that he will be replacing ‘start to’ with ‘originally.’
For instance, net something no longer deemed fashionable? (4-6)
Parable I utilised in original way to convey meaning primarily (10)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Times for the Times have:
M~ (Meaning, primarily) in I UTILISED*
Legislation brought by British, bad old folk not looking good (4,2,6)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Times for the Times have:
B ILL O FRIGHTS (people not looking good; by analogy with ‘Ooh! He looked a real fright, Mavis!’ you could have ‘Ooh! They looked real frights, Colin!’ Okay, doesn’t quite have the same ring, but this is Crosswordland.)
At rest, so we abandoned cars (3-7)
Change still perceived as feature of church (10)
Right to graze cattle in former city once upon a time (9)
One apprehended by journalist with court order (5)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Times for the Times have:
I in ED CT
Particle of meat, not dry (4)
Party's set up something to eat (4)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Times for the Times have:
reversal of DUP’s (Democratic Unionist Party, from ‘Nrn Irn’)
Type letters or click words in the clue