9A Double definition 10A Def: Stones; ring = O; friends = PALS 11A Def: "disaster"; anagrind "torn"; fodder "BED LACE" 12A Def: "She"; "a couple of points" = ES; "to explain at first" = TE; "returns" = reversal indicator; "everyone" synonym of ALL 13A Def: "ties"; anagrind "break" fodder "HE CLOSES A" 16A Whimsy: song from the film "Annie" 17A Double definition with whimsy; 20A Double definition 21A Def. by example; anagrind "shot"; fodder "NEAR TREES" 24A Definition by example: the Derby is an English horseracing classic; C = "college"; LASS = "girl"; IC = "running" [IC is an acronym for In Charge, so can mean any position of leadership] 25A Def: "dog"; TIFF = "quarrel"; MAS = "academics"; "leading" juxtaposition indicator 27A Def: "evidence"; DA = "lawyer"; UM = hesitation; T = "bone"; "following" juxtaposition indicator 28A Whimsy; "Return" = PROFIT; NET suggests a fisherman
1D Double definition 2D Def: "sieze"; smash and GRAB is a type of "robbery" 3D Something has gone wrong here! I've changed the anagrind to "setting" Def "friendly"; I ="one"; anagrind "setting"; fodder "A CALM" 4D Def: "quiet; MU = character; TE = "note" 5D Double definition 6D Whimsy; competitors in the Boat Race are called "blues" 7D Def: "town"; definition by example = Grace DARLING; TON = "considerable weight 8D Def: "got free"; ES = points; CAPE = "point"; D = "day" 14D Whimsy 15D Def: "stoop"; CON = "learn"; DESCEND = "swoop" 18D Def: "tedious"; anagrind "becoming"; fodder "REMOTE" 19D Def: "fabric"; anagrind "woven"; fodder "BARCODE" 22D Def: "to provide"; EN = measure; SURE = "certain" 23D Def: "disprove"; JUDGE = "ref"; UTE = "half a minute" 25D Def: "friend" MA = "graduate"; TE = "tea" without A 26D Def: "up in the air" (meaning "uncertain"); JIFFY = "a moment"; deletion indicator "less than"
Goodness, I think I got about half of the idea of these ones- the rest I hadn't the foggiest. A lot of abbreviations I'm not familiar with, and device indicators. I notice you use a lot of varied connectors - 'and', 'with', 'a', 'to' -- etc. I didn't know such was allowed based on what I read here as "fair" connectors: https://www.crosswordunclued.com/2009/07/connectors.html
Tonic sol-fa; the final term is presented as TI or TE, depending on which system is being considered. The use of "padding" in crossword clues seems to be a matter of debate; this is a very interesting article: https://davidastle.com/da-blog/ximenes-vs-araucaria
Well I'm not sure I felt any were unfair, I was only sticking to the ~4 or so mentioned on that website in my own crosswords since I'm still learning cryptics.
Very nice! I agree that "of" in 4D is in the way. Jumping from "running" to "IC" is too big a leap for me. I have never seen "less than" as a last letter remover before (Not that I draw any conclusions from it, mind you.)
Thanks for the feedback. 4D I'm sorry that "of" caused a problem; it was there to improve surface reading. Isn't the fascination of cryptic crosswords that part of the clue may have nothing to do with the solution? 24A Chambers Thesaurus lists "in charge of" as a synonym for "running". 26D "less" is a general subtraction/deletion indicator; I thought that "less than" would similarly indicate a deletion of one letter from a synonym of "moment". Thanks again for the feedback.