No 11435, Wednesday 01 Jul 2015, Arden

ACROSS
1   Half pound hail stone (6) PUMICE {PUMmel}{ICE}

4   Fate also played truant recently (2,2,4) AS OF LATE*
9   Attractive boy's out — it's tempting (6) LURING alLURING
10 He provides top cover as prospector gets sick (8) MILLINER {M{ILL}INER}
12 Engaged? Go in and send freely (6,2) SIGNED ON {GO+IN+SEND}*
13 Mercury perhaps gives surface temperature (6) PLANET {PLANE}{T}
15 Considering no hospital in Delhi will be dressing down... (12) DELIBERATING {DELhI}{BERATING}
18 ...here it's about workers’ apprehension (12) PRESENTIMENT {PRESENT}{I{MEN}T}
21 Drug one had after work (6) OPIATE {OP}{1}{ATE}
22 With a fiddle boy broke the law (8) VIOLATED {VIOLA}{TED}
24 Show record drop (8) DISCLOSE {DISC}{LOSE}
25 One doing assembly in shade (6) INDIGO {1}{DOING}*
26 Starts changing — you need only certain focus (8) CYNOSURE {Ch...g}{You}{Need}{Only}{SURE}
27 Applications in America over the years (6) USAGES {US}{AGES}

DOWN
1   Fence — one’s blue inside, white outside (8) PALISADE {PAL{1}{SAD}E}
2   Short girl or a flower (8) MARIGOLD {MARy}{GOLD} (Addendum - {MARIe}{GOLD} - See comments}

3   Classic run and hide — makes least difference (10,5) CANTERBURY TALES {CANTER}{BURY} {LEAST}*
5   Initially served whiskey in glass, one takes it from bottle (4) SWIG Acrostic
6   Time wasted in talk, used force instead — as two countries had interest in this place (8,7) FALKLAND ISLANDS {(-t+f)FALK}{LAND {I}S}{LANDS} Semi &lit

7   It accompanies a prayer without name, providing cover (6) AWNING {A}{W{N}ING}
8   Heart rate varies — ignoring the list of mistakes (6) ERRATA {heARt+RATE}*
11 Feed chopped up in hours (7) NOURISH*
14 Clients form a pattern (7) STENCIL*
16 Support it — it's part of early growth (8) TEETHING {TEE}{THING} My COD
17 Painstaking movie maker, American (8) STUDIOUS {STUDIO}{US}
19 Fifty per cent average in North Carolina is Scandinavian, maybe (6) NORDIC {ORDInary} in {NC}
20 Gets set for the odd gossip amid all the noise (4,2) DIGS IN {DI{GoSsIp}N}
23 It upsets a ruler, somewhat (4) TSAR [T] Definition in the middle and also forms part of the fodder

Reference List

Boy = AL; TED, Temperature = T, Hospital = H, Work = OP, Gold = OR, Time = T, Force = F, Interest = I, Name = N, Support = TEE

GRID