Across
Durham's foremost dons translated Horace with variable use of improvisation (2,6)
Carefully considers idiosyncrasies in speech (6)
Focusing on man lost on incorrect path (15)
School field (10)
Limits of glossary concerning literary circle (4)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Times for the Times have:
G(lossar)Y + RE (concerning). Nho, so word no. 3. But gettable, if you think of (eg) gyroscope. Or remember Jabberwocky: Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe The “literary” I think is there to suggest that the word is mainly used poetically.
Ignore information about the French court (7)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Times for the Times have:
GEN rev. (information, about) + LE (French for the) + CT (court)
Quiet about breaking false teeth (7)
Front of cabin covered and carpeted (7)
Throw mud at faceless Samoan? (7)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Times for the Times have:
(i)SLANDER, Samoa being an island.
Undisturbed hiding place for drug (4)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Times for the Times have:
(pl)ACID, (undisturbed), the hidden pl being an abbreviation for place. Shorthand for LSD.
Instrument about to capture this female nutritional need (10)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Times for the Times have:
TOOL (instrument) containing COP HER (to capture this female). Word no. 5, and proud I was to work this one out. It is a fat-soluble alcohol apparently, and you eat them every day, if you have anything approaching a balanced diet.
Ex-PM's fashionable royal post (15)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Times for the Times have:
(Neville) CHAMBERLAIN’S HIP, ie fashionable, a singularly inappropriate description of the former PM, from what I’ve seen. Word no. 6.
Some flipped, reportedly unwelcome (2,4)
Just read out passage in knitting pattern (4,4)
Down
Regrettably snubbed theology graduate during panto (7)
Stifling each other's essential characters (3)
Unhappily recording second of many errors (10)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Times for the Times have:
*(RECORDING) + (m)A(ny). Word no. 7, what’s wrong with “error,” after all..
One sent to Coventry returned in disgust (5)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Times for the Times have:
LEPER rev. I expect we would send them to hospital, rather than Coventry. Curable nowadays, and only occurs in the UK from folk recently returned from less fortunate countries abroad.
Exhausted employees having to keep working for ages (4)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Times for the Times have:
ON (working), in E(mployee)S.
Cook festive goose after swapping tips (11)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Times for the Times have:
MERRY GANDER, with the M and G swapped. Bonus point for not mentioning Spooner, so I won’t add it to my word list, although I don’t recall ever discussing fiddling an electoral boundary.
Exude mystery and energy (7)
New programs bolstering school spirit (8)
Considerable gin is in fact drunk (11)
Revolutionary who was French polisher and athlete (10)
Cross nationalist from south India cooked over charcoal (8)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Times for the Times have:
ROOD (cross) + NAT(ionalist) reversed, + I(ndia), NATO alphabet.
Risked neck, regularly fleeing English country houses (7)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Times for the Times have:
N(e)C(k) + E(nglish), in CHAD, a country. Borderline, I seldom chance, but I let this one go.
Get sick again close to Khyber Pass (7)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Times for the Times have:
(khybe)R + ELAPSE, pass. Neat clue.
Love mum's ace raw tripe (5)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Times for the Times have:
O + MA’S A(ce). Nho (so, word no.9), it means “the third compartment of the stomach of ruminants, between the reticulum and abomasum.” My Sheffield mum and granny both loved tripe. But definitely not me. The tripe is only the lining of the stomach, so not a very precise definition maybe..
Soldiers occupy a position around river (4)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Times for the Times have:
OR (other ranks, soldiers) + BE, occupy a position, all reversed. The longest river entirely in Spain, (very) vaguely heard of but still, word no. 10, just to round things off.
Bears and hyenas scratching itch (3)
Type letters or click words in the clue