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Times article about a rare material (6) TART*N

It must be TARTAN but how does it parse?

TT times, AN around A R(are) I think

R = rare has made several appearances recently, usually in the Indy, though it's not in Chambers.

It is Collins though.

Just for information, and curiously, Collins is the reference dictionary of choice for the Sunday Times crossword, even though it’s the BRB for the Listener.

“ We use two dictionaries as our main references for the Sunday Times crossword, both free online:
Collins English Dictionary — in the dictionary content at https://www.collinsdictionary.com/ this is the source for the content marked as “English:”
Oxford Dictionary of English — this is the source for the UK Dictionary content at https://www.lexico.com/“

Thanks, loge. Not over the moon with r = rare. Whatever Collins might say!!

I'm not keen on it either, BC. It's not one I've come across in real life, so don't know if it's used in the context of rare meat (a waiter might note an order as "1 fillet steak, R") or as a lexicographical abbreviation to signify that the usage or spelling of a word is rare. Can anyone enlighten?

19d. How to sound lower class (6). I can only see “lesson” but how does it parse?

Lesson sounds like lessen (lower), and lesson is a synonym of class.