25 across: Relaxed dope beginning to rile short bloke (8)
Here, the answer is relaxed = informal. The rest, though, umm…
24 across: Pygmy race pelt famine site (6)
famine site = darfur, which means pelt = fur, but how does dar = pygmy race?
20 down: Lean Eastern director! (3, 3)
The exclamation mark means this is one of those where the direct clue is the entire clue, so lean Eastern director = ang lee, but although I can see the letters of lean within ang lee, I can’t explain why the g is there or the i.
9 across: Yonder mower sounded absurd (8)
Absurd = farcical, meaning that yonder = far, but how does cical = mower sounded? Is this really a contender for DA Bullshit?
2 down: Managed to cinch front evenly on little Bavarian dress (6)
A German co-worker gave me dirndl = little Bavarian dress, but even though he was able to help me out on that, I didn’t put it in because I had absolutely no idea how dirndl = managed to cinch front evenly.
4 down: Like nursing, like making new… (diode) (12)
The answer is reassembling. I can offer little more.
Update: NC has supplied the solution to 4 down in the comments, and it now takes its rightful place in DA Gold.
25A: This is one of the three AJ and I failed to solve.
dope = info, beginning to rile = r, bloke = male, short bloke = mal
Hence, dope beginning to rile short bloke = INFORMAL = relaxed
24A: We got this out at Pushka, without completely knowing why.
I think race = dart, pygmy race = dar, pelt = fur
So, pygmy race pelt = DARFUR = famine site. At the time I had the horrifying thought that the dar had something to do with dark or darkie, but while no-one would accuse DA of being PC, I am sure he is no racist.
20D: lean = angle, eastern = e. Hence lean eastern = anglee (ANG LEE) = director. I don’t think this is strictly speaking one of those “direct clue = whole clue” thingies (sometimes called & lit clues). But as is DA’s wont he cleverly echoes aspects of the answer in the body of the clue. Got this late Friday night.
9A: yonder = far, mower = sickle, mower sounded = cical = FARCICAL = absurd. Nomination for DA Gold? Got this close to midnight.
2D: managed = did (yes, really!), cinch = clasp or grab (yes, really!) is the containment indicator, front evenly = rn (evenly is the “take letters at regular intervals” indicator), little = l, on is just a link word,
hence, managed to cinch front evenly = di rn d l = DIRNDL = little Bavarian dress. Another of the three clues JA and I missed. Dirndl. A new word for me. I know about lederhosen though, (but not intimately, I hasten to add).
4D: This one is DA Gold, in my opinion. Got this Friday evening.
Like = resembling, like = as, nursing= containment indicator,
hence, like nursing like = re as sembling = REASSEMBLING = making new.
Oh boy, oh boy. DA was on fire.
You’re right about 4d, that’s gold!
9A though is eclipsed by the syndrome clue, which was special.
25A dope = info is one of those passive bits of information that I understand when I hear but is not in my active vocabulary.
2D is ridiculously difficult — a complicated clue is always good, but a complicated clue with a curious word is a nightmare.
Thanks for the explanations! They were much needed.