Times for the Times

Based on comments in last week’s blog, I clearly underestimated the difficulty of that puzzle. Undeterred, I’m going to call this week’s “easy for a Saturday”! I was finished in about 25 minutes. How did others go?

Many of the clues had a fresh feeling about them. There were a lot of clues with anagrams inside some other piece of wordplay – in one case, inside another anagram. But they all worked nicely for me. My clue of the day was 19dn, for its sheer elegance, with 25ac as an honourable mention.

Thanks to the setter for a very enjoyable puzzle.

Clues are in blue, with definitions underlined. Answers are in BOLD CAPS, then wordplay. (ABC*) means 'anagram of ABC', with the anagram indicator in bold italics. Deletions are in [square brackets].

Across
1 Publish charter again (7)
RELEASE: or RE-LEASE.

5 Triviality media bigwig messed up (7)
FLUFFED: FLUFF / ED.

9 Realisticrepresentation of death row cages not amended (4-2-5)
DOWN-TO-EARTH: nested anagrams! Something over-complicated about that, but the setter no doubt did it that way to make the surface smoother. It’s (NOT*) “caged by” (DEATH ROW*).

10 Bash meat loudly (3)
LAM: sounds like (“loudly”) LAMB.

11 Cabinet's primary material for drawer? (6)
CRAYON: C[abinet] / RAYON.

12 Lovely, neutral country preparing for war (8)
CHARMING: CH (the code for Switzerland) / ARMING.

14 Drill crushing walls bare when plastered (6-7)
SQUARE BASHING: (BARE*) “walled by” SQUASHING. Is this expression used in North America? I think it’s mainly a British usage.

17 Absolute farce bunglingset of measurements (8,5)
BEAUFORT SCALE: (ABSOLUTE FARCE*). Is a scale a “set” of measurements? I think it’s acceptable here, since the scale is a set of 18 values for measuring wind strength, running from 0 for dead calm to 17 for the worst level of hurricane.

21 Concerned with babies one treated in African province once (8)
NEONATAL: (ONE*) inside NATAL.

23 Outline prow of sailing vessel (6)
SKETCH: S[ailing] / KETCH.

25 Report of outstanding au pair (3)
DUO: sounds like “DUE” + the French pronunciation of “AU”. What a nice move, juxtaposing “au” as a sounds-like element with “pair” as the definition!

26 Uncertain feelings of ladies perhaps back in a mood (11)
AMBIVALENCE: LAV (“ladies”, perhaps) reversed and inserted into AMBIENCE.

27 Simple cattle pens sow destroyed (2,5)
NO SWEAT: (SOW*) inside NEAT (cattle). It took me a while and some helpers to give up looking for an anagram of (PENS SOW*).

28 Tease feeble individual, one undesirable in bed? (7)
RAGWEED: RAG / WEED. A garden bed, that is.

Down
1 Censor favouring the left turn (6)
REDACT: RED (the left) / ACT (turn).

2 What priest gives has little substance (3,4)
LOW MASS: a nice little double-definition joke from our setter.

3 Surface for playing on a run amid waves (9)
ASTROTURF: A, then TROT inside SURF.

4 Manager in old country club, once (4)
EXEC: EX (old) / EC (European Community - absorbed into the EU in 2009, but up till then a “club of countries”, non?)

5 Garrison protecting ancient city is advisable (3,3,4)
FOR THE BEST: FORT “protecting” THEBES.

6 Guide drug addict around hospital (5)
USHER: USER around H[ospital].

7 Aligned with current film-maker (7)
FELLINI: FELL IN (aligned, as in “they all fell in/aligned with the proposal”?) / I (current). Federico Fellini, 1920-1993.

8 Size of book about excited rabble-rousing (8)
DEMAGOGY: DEMY (not a word I knew, nor am likely to remember! It’s a pre-metric paper size, approximately A2), placed “about” AGOG.

13 British go on about stray animal in stories (4,6)
BRER RABBIT: B (British), then ERR (stray) in RABBIT (go on). The answer jumped out once I had the first R to help and assumed a B would go before.

15 Special old box and trailer is part of car (5,4)
SPARK PLUG: SP (special – it’s in Chambers for one) / ARK (old box, as in Raiders of the Lost ARK) / PLUG (trailer - that thing they show before the movie in the cinema).

16 A great teacher entertains new English town (8)
ABINGDON: A BIG DON entertains N. My LOI – not top of mind as English towns go!

18 Romantic queen in a low country (7)
AMOROUS: R (queen) in A / MOO / US.

19 Agreement 3 x 10 needs no tips (7)
ENTENTE: TEN / TEN / TEN, minus first and last letters. Delightful!

20 Sharp fragment containing tungsten (6)
SHREWD: SHRED containing W (chemical symbol for tungsten).

22 Current period a lengthy one for gnome (5)
ADAGE: AD (current period) / AGE (a lengthy period).

24 State in America — Vermont? (4)
AVER: hidden answer.

I thought this was just a great jumbo, full of good words, smooth surfaces, concisely brilliant cryptic definitions and a general uneasy feeling that the setter might be a couple of steps ahead of me at all times.
I'll nominate 15ac as Clue of the Day just because it's so short and neat. Embarrassing Admission of the Day goes to the fact that I initially entered SHINE ON HARVEYS MOON for 19ac because I only knew the 80s sitcom and not the original song.

A genuine achievement to make cluing so many things look so effortless in any case and I am rather in awe of the setter. Sincere thanks for another superb puzzle!

1 Shrub of note with instant appeal (6)
MIMOSA - MI [note] with MO SA [instant | appeal]

4 Treaty recognised quietly to have stopped bellicose deed? (6,4)
WARSAW PACT - SAW P [recognised | quietly] "to have stopped" WAR ACT [bellicose deed?]

10 Veil at first is quickly tucked inside collar (5)
NIQAB - I{s} Q{uickly}, "tucked inside" NAB [collar]

14 Legal tussles with club: one may have blown it (5-4)
BUGLE-CALL - (LEGAL + CLUB*) ["...tussles with..."]

15 This looks secure (6,7)
BEAUTY CONTEST - cryptic definition. Clue needs to be re-read as "Victory in this is secured by one's looks".

16 Escape from hospital, maybe, heading off to shelter? (7)
LEEWARD - {f}LEE WARD [escape from hospital, maybe; losing its first letter]

17 Contained by which restraint on western ambassador? (7)
WHEREIN - REIN [restraint] on W H.E. [western | ambassador]

18 Get shot of escort after worry (3,4)
EAT LEAD - LEAD [escort] after EAT [worry]

19 Soho environment has corrupted a number (5,2,7,4)
SHINE ON HARVEST MOON - (SOHO ENVIRONMENT HAS*) ["corrupted"]

21 Half the characters in the garden do dig (4)
BARB - BARB{ecue} - take half the characters of a "garden do", as in a party in a garden.

24 “Physician heal thyself” inferred instruction here? (5)
DRILL - If the physician needs to heal himself, then the doctor is ill, equals DR ILL

26 Proceeding smoothly and evenly, judge back observing cases (8)
SEGUEING - reversed {j}U{d}G{e} "cased" by SEEING [observing]

27 For example, knight’s uniform (2,1,5)
OF A PIECE - a knight is a piece, so "a knight's" is "of (belonging to) a piece".

29 Space craft following girl and family: I’m serious! (6,5)
JOKING APART - GAP ART [space | craft] following JO [girl] and KIN [family]

30 Group of fans of United, 21, rarely on time (7,4)
TRIBUTE BAND - (UNITED BARB*) ["rarely"], on T [time]

32 Make fun when Charlie, entering briefly to prepare for karaoke? (4,3,4)
TAKE THE MICK - C [Charlie], entering TAKE THE MIK{e} ["briefly", to prepare for karaoke]

35 On tour, the French boast new sporting achievement (6,5)
TRIPLE CROWN - On TRIP [tour], LE CROW N [the French | boast | new]

37 Studies end of ancient cutting wearing glasses (8)
INSPECTS - {ancien}T "cutting" IN SPECS [wearing | glasses]

39 Plane, before descent, to remain low (8)
FLATLINE - FLAT [plane] before LINE [descent]

40 Gather— as people attending shows (5)
PLEAT - hidden in {peo}PLE AT{tending}

43 High school year (4)
GAMY - GAM Y [school | year]

44 Metal strip of lead and gold to put on fast (9,9)
LIGHTNING CONDUCTOR - CONDUCT [lead] and OR [gold], to put on LIGHTNING [fast]

47 Inferior stuff that is hard to fix (7)
SCHLOCK - SC H LOCK [that is | hard | to fix]

48 Philosopher’s inclination to overact (7)
BENTHAM - BENT HAM [inclination | to overact]

50 Spanish girl’s holding a hundred and one in reserve (7)
ICINESS - INES'S [Spanish girl's] "holding" CI [one hundred and one]

51 Everyone is in trim, behold, with a lightweight figure (13)
PARALLELOGRAM - ALL [everyone] is in PARE LO [trim | behold] with GRAM [a light weight]

52 How long one can last as a spinster? (5,4)
SHELF LIFE - cryptic definition. If a spinster is someone "on the shelf"...

53 Alien you discovered in small, unknown spacecraft (5)
SOYUZ - (YOU*) ["alien"] discovered in S Z [small | unknown]

54 I’m obliged to lead eleven reindeer partner hired (4-6)
TAXI-DANCER - TA [I'm obliged], to lead XI DANCER [eleven | reindeer]

55 Left party after recalling youth’s song (6)
BALLAD - reversed LAB [left party] + LAD [youth]

DOWN
1 Pack I told stories about has finally got going (9)
MOBILISED - MOB I LIED [pack | I | told stories] about {ha}S

2 What’s recycled etc in making material for printing (8,3)
MAGNETIC INK - (ETC IN MAKING*) ["recycled"]

3 Transsexual attention-seeker appearing in market (7)
SHEMALE - HEM [attention-seeking interjection] appearing in SALE [market]

5 Permit needed for rearing two llamas (5)
ALLOW - hidden reversed in {t}WO LLA{mas}

6 Defers, ultimately, but is never outrageously fawning (11)
SUBSERVIENT - ({defer}S BUT IS NEVER*) ["outrageously"]

7 Our side declares upcoming strike something binding (7,4)
WEAVERS KNOT - WE AVERS [our side | declares] + reversed TONK ["upcoming" strike]

8 My aunt loves freely being able to do as she wishes (8)
AUTONOMY - (MY AUNT O O*) ["freely"]

9 Like things you’ve done, perhaps, to be criticised (6,3)
TICKED OFF - double definition. Things on a to-do list may be ticked off as they're done.

10 A number in female side upset about goal (6)
NINETY - reversed YIN [female side "upset"] about NET [goal]

11 Hit with rubber article after short pursuit (3,4,4)
QUE SERA SERA - ERASER A [rubber | article] after QUES{t} ["short" pursuit]

12 Heard how fish hook may be suspended (5)
BATED - homophone of BAITED ["heard", how fish hook may be]. Hopefully none of us here is one of those people who writes "with baited breath", as that's wrong unless you're talking about a cat with its mouth open and cheese on its tongue.

13 Lumbering beast close to large jetty (7,5)
LANDING STAGE - LANDING STAG [lumbering | beast] + {larg}E

20 Method of preparing a film classification, promoting the end (2,6)
AU GRATIN - A U RATING [a film classification], moving the last letter up a little

22 Man’s intention to get a husky coat? (7)
BRENDAN - END [intention] to get a coat of BRAN, which is husk-y

23 Busy clock-watching? (5,3)
SPEED COP - cryptic definition. Recall that a "busy" is an informal word for an officer of the law, and that a "clock" can be a measurer not just of time but of things such as speed...

25 Spin out of control, finally, subsequently holding our tongue (8)
LENGTHEN - {contro}L + THEN [subsequently], "holding" ENG [our tongue]

28 Recording I find, not over after thirty seconds? (8)
MINIDISC - I DISC{over} [I | find, minus OVER] + MIN{ute}

29 Going outside, when cooler keeping dry at home (7)
JUTTING - JUG [cooler] "keeping" TT IN [dry | at home]

31 The Irish wind up Nepalis: lie abysmally (7,5)
UILLEAN PIPES - (UP NEPALIS LIE*) ["abysmally"]

33 Request to be bussed from scene of battle (4,2,5)
KISS ME HARDY - cryptic definition, hinging mainly on reading "bussed" as "kissed" and not "transported".

34 Spirit bordering on excellent — and port (11)
KALININGRAD - KA LINING [spirit | bordering] on RAD [excellent]

35 Mummy’s mild rebuke, cross, having the last word (11)
TUTANKHAMEN - TUT ANKH [mild rebuke | cross], having AMEN [last word]

36 On descent from plain, chap on horse suffering (4,3,4)
OVER THE HILL - OVERT HE [plain | chap] on H ILL [horse | suffering]

38 Most demanding strain on one entering exam (9)
TRICKIEST - RICK [strain] on I [one] entering TEST [exam]

41 Carelessly trash duke’s ornamental fastening (5,4)
TURKS HEAD - (TRASH DUKE*) ["carelessly"]

42 Thanks for including ME city, and part of another (3,5)
THE BRONX - TX [thanks] including HEBRON [Middle East city]

45 Break asunder to find its translation (2,5)
UT INFRA - separate "asunder" into "as under", and translate into the Latin phrase.

46 Composer of regulation, not the first to feature in Dickens (6)
BOULEZ - {r}ULE [regulation, losing its first letter] to feature in BOZ [Dickens]

47 Groups of thirty days? (5)
SEPTS - thirty days hath September.

49 Shot that would be collected placed in ad (5)
MASSE - reverse cryptic; if you placed MASSE in AD you'd get AMASSED [collected]

15:24. I didn’t find this too difficult for a Dean Mayer puzzle, which judging by comments on the blogs last weekend is unusual. When this happens, I generally have absolutely no idea why: it’s just that wavelength thing. When I say ‘wavelength’, I don’t mean some sort of mysterious supernatural force (what one contributor here once referred to as ‘mystic Meg’): it is just an observable fact that some find certain puzzles quite significantly easier or harder than others for reasons that are hard to pin down. Sometimes it's because the vocabulary is tricky but this one only has a couple of unusual words.

A good fun puzzle, in any event. There are a couple of usages here that I find rather offensive but I’m not going to play that tune again. There’s also one I don’t understand, to the extent that I’m far from sure I have the right answer. I can't think of anything else though. No doubt it will all come out in the wash.

Definitions are underlined, anagrams indicated like (THIS)*, anagram indicators like this.

Across
1	New Avengers agent, deadly one
	NERVE GAS - (AVENGERS)*. An agent of the chemical variety.
6	Deep pockets right for money
	BRASS - B(R)ASS.
9	Lebanon isn’t cut out to be like India
	SUBCONTINENTAL - (LEBANON ISN’T CUT)*.
11	What’s wrong with feeling arrogant?
	UPPITY - UP (wrong, as in ‘what’s up doc?’), PITY (feeling).
12	Backing identity parade, initially in 20’s strip club
	FLESHPOT - reversal of SELF (identity), H(P~~arade~~)OT. 20 here refers to 20ac.
14	For a joke, holding on to me
	PERSONALLY - PER (for), S(ON)ALLY. A SALLY is, according to Collins, a ‘jocular retort’. This seemed at best vaguely familiar, but certainly likely enough.
16	Junkie husband absent from show
	USER - UShER. ‘Show’ seems a bit of an overstatement of the usual instruction to head left or right depending on the answer to the question ‘bride or groom?’
18	Birds around me, not them
	EMUS - reversal of ME, US (not them).
19	People still suffer from it
	STAGNATION - CD.
21	Funding remainder’s due
	ENDOWING - END (remainder), OWING (due). END for ‘remainder’ struck me as a little bit loose while solving, but it’s undoubtedly there in the expression ‘odds and ends’. How would we feel about ‘odd’ defined in the same way?
22	Spa — huge disappointment
	BATHOS - BATH is the spa, then OS for ‘outsize’.
25	A domestic row
	TERRACED HOUSES - CD, and a very nice one. It’s so neat wondered if it had been done before, and sure enough Dean himself gave us 'those involved in a domestic row' in January of this year. This clue is, to my mind, an improvement on that one.
26	Freshitem of make-up
	LIPPY - DD. I wonder how familiar either meaning is to non-UK solvers.
27	Islander’s problem — a coach leaving island
	SUMATRAN - SUM (problem), A, TRAiN.

Down
2	End of the crack supply
	EQUIP - thE, QUIP. For once ‘supply’ doesn’t mean ‘supply’. There will be a version of that meaning along shortly though…
3	See combat without a break
	VACATION - V (see) AC(A)TION. V for vide.
4	Award accepted? One’s rejected
	GONG - GOiNG, as in the ‘going rate’ I guess.
5	Irish club needs decoy — what about convict?
	SHILLELAGH - SHILL (decoy), E(LAG)H. I remembered there was a word for an Irish club ending ELAGH but couldn’t remember how it started and it took me a while to come up with SHILL for ‘decoy’.
6	Mamma’s face
	BREAST - at least I think this is the answer, I don’t understand the first half of the clue.
7	Pour wine after an assortment of starters
	ANTIPASTI - TIP (pour) ASTI (wine) after AN.
8	Sad as it is, loner’s condition?
	SOLITARINESS - (AS IT IS LONERS)*. Semi-&Lit.
10	More plastic bananas
	SUPPLEMENTAL - SUPPLE, MENTAL.
13	Almost slide hands over soap
	EASTENDERS - EASe, TENDERS.
15	Journey to the bar and back?
	ROUND TRIP - CD.
17	Weedkiller ingredient containing water
	PARAQUAT - PAR(AQUA)T. The word was vaguely familiar but I wouldn’t have been able to tell you what it meant.
20	Wet, say, after running?
	SWEATY - (WET SAY)*. &Lit.
23	Carnivore had endless desire to feed
	HYENA - H(YEN)Ad.
24	Fancy wife? Not her
	WHIM - W, HIM.

There were a few traps laid here, at 1 across 7 down and 21 down in particular where there are two obvious (or less than obvious words that kind of fit the clue). I knew the long anagram at 9 across which gave me a good start across the top, and I had read a short story by an Argentinian writer with almost the same last name as the plant at 15 down. It was the bottom left side that was the last to fall.

Grid watch: 12 by 12, 180 degree symmetry but lots of crossing between quadrants. Rather nice grid I thought.

The first definition is underlined - all definitions are confirmed by checking the entry in Chambers.

Away we go...

Across
1	Prohibition has young hooligan stuck in outhouse (6)
	BARNED - BAR(prohibition) and NED(young hooligan)
5	Gift to hospital — holy book (6)
	GRANTH - GRANT(gift) next to H(hosptial)
9	Flea perhaps coming to grief in Erica’s teapot (12)
	ECTOPARASITE - anagram of ERICA'S TEAPOT
10	Nocturnal animal may be food to a snake (7)
	NAGAPIE - the snake may eat a NAGA PIE
13	Leading Greek character said to be a grass (4)
	ALFA - sounds like ALPHA(Greek character)
14	Maybe an old bird perches finally on beast of burden (6)
	SCAMEL - ~~(perche)~~S, CAMEL(beast of burden)
16	Creature from outer space children design (4)
	ETCH - ET(extra terrestrial), CH(children)
17	Scripture that may be rendered in a chant (6)
	TANACH - anagram of A,CHANT
18	Dung and fibre kept in tin (6)
	SHAIRN - HAIR(fibre) in SN(chemical symbol for tin)
22	Robber making return, getting cut short, one captured (6)
	REIVER - REVERT(return) shortened, with I inside
23	Anxious and cross when one deemed good displaces king (6)
	ANGSTY - ANGRY(cross) with ST(saint, one deemed good) instead of R(King)
24	Snow yet to return (4)
	NEVE - EVEN(yet) reversed
27	Show fear, weeping — no yen, little energy (6)
	CRINGE - CRYING(weeping) with no Y(yen), then E(energy)
28	Senior not all trainees wanted (4)
	AINE - hidden in trAINEes
29	Darling husband taken into a shop (7)
	ASTHORE - H(husband) in A, STORE(shop)
30	Troubled ass — indicator reveals disease caused by worms (12)
	DRACONTIASIS - anagram of ASS,INDICATOR
31	Municipal officer beginning to cheer in call for round of drinks (6)
	SCHOUT - C~~(heer)~~ inside SHOUT(call for a round of drinks) - a Dutch municipal officer
32	Something that cat sat on tot sits on (6)
	SUMMAT - the cat sat on the MAT, with SUM(tot) first

Down
1	Plant with insect gathering prime bit of nectar repeatedly (5)
	BENNE - BEE(insect) containing N~~(ectar)~~ twice - sesame plant
2	A container, yours, decorated with a prickly plant (9)
	ACANTHINE - A CAN(container), THINE(yours)
3	Limited number with a skill in the time of the Flood (7)
	NOACHIC - NO(number), A, CHIC(skill)
4	Jock’s occasional place of retreat with interior design (6)
	DAIMEN - DEN(place of retreat) containing AIM(design)
5	Being received inadequately, weep as of old (6)
	GREETE - remove the last letter from GREETED(received)
6	When a river makes more than one bank (4)
	ASAR - AS(when), A, R(river) - for those of you new to barred puzzles, get used to ASARS, ESKERS and ESKARS
7	Antelope, one seen in Netherlands and part of Germany once (6)
	NILGAU - I(one) in NL(Netherlands), and GAU(germam territorial district)
8	Shrub no longer easy for the female to accommodate (7)
	HEATHER - EATH(easy) inside HER(the female)
11	Hunger after salmon in a traditional Scottish dish (8)
	PARRITCH - ITCH(hunger) after PARR(salmon)
12	Chance going round avenue you’ll see insect captured (8, two words)
	SLAVE ANT - SLANT(chance) containing AVE(avenue). SLANT = CHANCE(slang) is in Chambers, don't think I've seen or heard it used that way
15	Plant I found in cave here unexpectedly (9)
	ECHEVERIA - I inside an anagram of CAVE,HERE
18	Old deer springs, keeping time, jumping up (7)
	SPAYADS - SPAS(springs) containing DAY reversed
19	Material old-fashioned company’s given to poor actor (7)
	GINGHAM - GING(company), HAM(poor actor)
20	This unfortunate woman, getting red, is harangued terribly (6)
	AGUNAH - anagram of HARANGUED minus RED
21	Heartless bloke to show great anger spinning round (6)
	GYRANT - G~~(u)~~Y(bloke), RANT(show great anger)
22	Unruly sort around island behaves rowdily (6)
	ROISTS - anagram of SORT aorund IS(island)
25	Sheep on street close by in Scotland (5)
	EWEST - EWE(sheep) on ST
26	After a brief time duck becomes dry (4)
	SECO - SEC(brief time), O(duck, score of zero in cricket)

Right, I really liked this puzzle, and found a lot of the clues entertaining and challenging. Unfortunately it shows in my time which was uncomfortably near the 12-minute mark.

Oh I can make excuses. Chief among them being that I haven't even looked at a Quickie since I blogged my last one because if you remember I was having a wobble around the 15x15 at the time and was feeling a bit jaded about the whole prospect of crosswords generally. Well, that has passed, but I still haven't got back into the daily routine of doing the Quickie as well. Nevertheless, if I'm doing the 15x15 every day then to my logic I ought to be able to pick up the Quickie, give it some bread, pat it on the head and put it to bed more quickly than I did today, no matter how long it's been. But I didn't. Maybe I was rusty. Maybe it takes time to get back into the rhythm of the Quickie. But I think that's just making excuses. I just don't think I was up to it. Hope the rest of you found it easier.

But as I say, I enjoyed it and admired a lot of the clues. Thank you and well done Hurley. FOI was 5A (as with so many of the clues today 1A was not far from my mind but on the first pass was somehow just beyond my reach). LOI I think was 14D. Difficult to choose a COD because I liked so many of them, but I'd probably go for 1A itself. Great to see an & lit. in the Quickie, and stuck up there boldly at the top of the table as well.

Definitions are underlined in italics and everything else is explained as simply as possible just as I see it.

Across
1	Name initially used in memoirs wrongly? (8)
	MISNOMER - N (name initially) 'used in' an anagram of MEMOIRS ('wrongly') gives MISNOMER, the whole of the clue then acting as a definition of the answer, giving us a rare & lit. clue for a quickie (and in the first clue no less).
5	Judge is French — that’s funny (4)
	JEST - J (judge) + EST ('is' in French).
9	Portion, slim, reduced, provided by church (5)
	SLICE - reduce SLIM by cutting off its end, add on CE for the Church of England and there you have your portion served up in front of you.
10	One might betray characteristic worry, oddly overlooked (7)
	TRAITOR - TRAIT (characteristic) + OR (wOrRy with the odd letters 'overlooked').
11	Flier, ace, associated with this country (3)
	AUK - A (ace) plus UK (this country).
12	Talk about troubled teen — be understood (9)
	PENETRATE - PRATE is one of those words often used in Crossword Land and not so much anywhere else. Put it 'about' an anagram of TEEN ('troubled') and this clue can easily 'be understood'.
13	A case for frail boat not starting in the water (6)
	AFLOAT - A + FL (the 'case' of FraiL) + OAT (boat not starting).
15	Claimant legally keeping cloak (6)
	MANTLE - hidden word: claiMANT LEgally.
17	Son currently at Southern headland finding wintry scene (9)
	SNOWSCAPE - S (son) + NOW (currently) + S (southern) + CAPE (headland).
19	Drunk very tiresome at start (3)
	SOT - SO (very) + T (Tiresome 'at start').
20	Oregon provided diamonds for opening (7)
	ORIFICE - OR (Oregon) + IF (provided) + ICE (diamonds).
21	Senseless idea not alerting new entrants first of all (5)
	INANE - the initial letters ('first of all') of Idea Not Alerting New Entrants.
22	Cricket score, good — a step up! (4)
	RUNG - RUN (a score in cricket) + G (good).
23	One readily deceived a mate? Yes, sadly (4,4)
	EASY MEAT - anagram of A MATE YES ('sadly').

Down
1	Mother’s vehicle, a thing of beauty? (7)
	MASCARA - MA'S (mother's) + CAR (vehicle) + A.
2	Pong from black liquid at bottom of street (5)
	STINK - INK (black liquid, although in my experience you can have other colours) at the bottom of (i.e. underneath in this down clue) ST (street).
3	Maintaining advantage, open main push possibly (3-9)
	ONE-UPMANSHIP - straight anagram ('possibly') of OPEN MAIN PUSH.
4	We hear school’s taken in (5)
	EATEN - homophone for Croswword Land's favourite educational establishment, ETON.
6	Additional court clip (7)
	EXTRACT - EXTRA (additional) + CT (court).
7	Ultimately elegant Celtic language, neat and concise (5)
	TERSE - T ('ultimately' eleganT) + ERSE (Celtic language).
8	Potentially catalyst, like this US capital (4,4,4)
	SALT LAKE CITY - another straight anagram ('potentially') of CATALYST LIKE.
14	Lot divided by a fellow’s language (7)
	LAOTIAN - LOT 'divided by' A gives LAOT. Add on a IAN (a fellow) and there you have it.
16	Implore centre attendant a bit (7)
	ENTREAT - hidden word: cENTRE ATtendant.
17	Society with little money for track (5)
	SPOOR - S (society) + POOR (with little money). At first I had this as S + CENT (litttle money) giving SCENT which was perfectly plausible. Had I written in ORIFICE when I first thought of it at 20A then I would not have been delayed by this but as it was my reticence meant that my mind started thinking illogically of EDIFICE when I came back to 20A (although somehow still retaining the idea of ORIFICE without actually writing it straight in, and looking back it is only because of the chime with ORIFICE that EDIFICE jumped into my mind anyway even though it has nothing to do with the definition). Nice bit of potential misdirection there but easily avoidable if you solve the clues in the correct order!
18	Where to contest article about North America (5)
	ARENA - A ((indefinite) article) + RE (about) + NA (North America).
19	Criticize schedule (5)
	SLATE - double definition.

Time: 35 minutes
Music: Mingus Ah Um

This one was a bit of a biff-fest, as some of the wordplay was rather questionable and many of the answers were quite obvious. There are a number of clever letter-removal clues, which are always good fun it you can figure them out. However, some of the clues are rather far-fetched; unless, that is, I fail to understand them correctly. I certainly don't get at least one, which will provide fodder for discussion, I'm sure.

My time would have been faster if I had not bunged in a misspelt 18 down, making 'aforementioned' quite impossible, even after I had correctly deduced the anagram of 'idea not' and put those letters in their proper places. If I had been a llittle quicker, I might have beaten my time for tonight's Quickie, which is another story altogether.

Across
1	Mended pliers and another tool to make fake backing (3,7)
	LIP SERVICE - Anagram of PLIERS + VICE
6	Press article hidden among manuscripts (4)
	MASS - M(A)SS, where the plural of MS is MSS.
9	Run out of good English wood for site with raised beds? (4,6)
	ROOF GARDEN - R + O + OF + G + ARDEN, I believe, although I have not seen 'out' = 'o'. Or maybe 'o/of' is short for 'out of', on the analogy of 'w/o'?
10	Elegant edible plant stops short of old railway (4)
	CHIC - CHIC[o ry], of course.
12	Distant cousin cultivating the land near isle (11,3)
	NEANDERTHAL MAN - Anagram of THE LAND NEAR + MAN, the usual isle. Maybe not so distant?
14	10 hear about goal (6)
	TRENDY - TR(END)Y, where the definition is a cross-reference to CHIC.
15	He gives up clubs formerly associated with the German (8)
	CONCEDER - C + ONCE + DER.
17	Fertile academic ringing large one in charge (8)
	PROLIFIC - PRO(L I)F + IC.
19	A hybrid tea said to be a talisman (6)
	AMULET - A + MULE + T.
22	Bad idea not bringing in supervisors earlier (14)
	AFOREMENTIONED - A(FOREMEN)TIONED, where the enclosing letters are an anagram of IDEA NOT.
24	Stand for artist, endlessly calm (4)
	EASE - EASE[l], one from the Quickie.
25	Passenger going around with women’s credentials everywhere (3,3,4)
	FAR AND WIDE - FAR(AND W I.D.)E.
26	Pack volunteers representative (4)
	TAMP - TA + MP, stock cryptic elements.
27	Desert more stormy loch (10)
	WILDERNESS - WILDER + NESS, one I think we have seen before.

Down
1	Wealth loses its core attraction (4)
	LURE - LU[c]RE.
2	Ward for example toured by publicity person, note (7)
	PROTEGE - PRO + T(EG)Em where a 'ward' is not exactly a 'protege', but close enough.
3	Cab boss, English, in east supported by club (6,6)
	ENGINE DRIVER - ENG + IN + E + DRIVER, like my 12-degree Ping Rapture 2, for example..
4	It spins five or nearly ten times (6)
	VORTEX - V + OR + TE[n] + X.
5	Our beginning or our end, Mass excepted? (8)
	CREATION - CRE[m]ATION.
7	Embarrassed when this writer has fooled around (7)
	ASHAMED - AS HA(ME)D, where 'had' has its slang sense of 'fooled' - "you almost had me there".
8	Not the best assistant to judge (6-4)
	SECOND-RATE - SECOND + RATE, in different senses.
11	Fixing cold-water pump almost makes toilet drier (6,6)
	TALCUM POWDER - anagram of COLD-WATER PUM[p].
13	Family member in stage role swallowing nut (4-6)
	STEP-PARENT - STEP + PAR(EN)T. I admit, I don't get the EN bit, but you don't need to understand the clue to get the evident answer.
16	Novel devoured by 52 bookworms? (8)
	LITERATI - LI(TERAT)I. Terat- is a combining form meaning 'monster' or 'abnormal'.
18	Work problem involves very big animal (7)
	OPOSSUM - OP + OS + SUM, one where I carelessly biffed an incorrect spelling by not heeding the cryptic.
20	A good place to tie up the Confederate army? (3,4)
	LEE SIDE - double definition, one referring to the famous Confederate general.
21	Abandon Republican trapped by bear (6)
	STRAND - ST(R)AND.
23	You might catch guy here running water in northeast (4)
	TEES - double definition, referring to the attachment of a guy wire and the river in Yorkshire.

Just over ten minutes for this one and all the time it seemed pretty tricky. Loi 22ac. Whilst the old timers may sail through, serenely or otherwise, I feel there are a lot of learning opportunities for beginners here. There’s the short form for sickbay, an unusual word for mournful, a gun, a word meaning cunning, a 4 part parse at 25ac and, for those outside U.K., an area of London. Good luck!

ACROSS

3. LOLLIPOP - boiled sweet. Lounge about (LOLL) with father (POP) eating (inside which is) one (I).
7. BLOTTO - canned - one of the many options for drunk. (B)eer, before game (LOTTO).
8. ARTISTIC - pleasingly arranged. Anagram (somehow) of ITS loaded into lorry (ARTIC).
9. INFO - news. Characters inside tra(IN FO)llowing.
10. ARC - part of circle. A (A), church member (RC - Roman Catholic).
11. RECALL - remember. RE MEMBER=a soldier enlisted in the Royal Engineers.
13. TACK - double definition - sharp nail and tack for a horse.
15. STAG - deer. A gat, I think originally from gatling, is a gun. The plural is gats and the whole thing is turned backwards.
17. WHOPPING - very large. Homophone of Wapping.
19. ELI - priest. Regular letters of bell hit - b(E)l(L) h(I)t.
22. RAPT - absorbed. (R)eaders, liable (APT).
23. OUTSIDER - non-member. Forbidden (OUT), homophone of a drink - cider.
24. SATURN - heavenly body. Trade Union (TU) plus final letter of leade(R) inside sickbay (SAN - short for sanatorium).
25. PEAR-TREE - source of fruit. Exercises (PE), cunning (ART), about (RE), key (E).

DOWN

1. PLANGENT - mournful - a resonant and mournful sound. Bloke (GENT) holding up (underneath in a down clue) map (PLAN).
2. STROVE - tried hard. Last or dinne(R) inside oven (STOVE).
3. LOAN - advance. Homophone (reportedly) of without companions - lone.
4. LOTHARIO - libertine. Reluctant (LOTH) to go over a (A), Brazilian port (RIO).
5. INSECT - eg butterfly. Caught (C) inside a small picture (INSET).
6. OMIT - leave out. Books (OT - Old Testament) about Military Intelligence (MI).
12. BEWILDER - baffle. Anagram (mixed up characters in) of (BRIDEWEL)l almost=without the last letter.
14. CONSPIRE - plot. Chapter (C), on (ON), church feature (SPIRE).
16. GEYSER - water heater. Homophone (talked of) of chap - geezer.
18. PARITY - equality. Initially (I)ntroduced inside political organisation (PARTY).
20. HUGE - of substantial size. Embrace (HUG), European (E).
21. ERSE - Irish Gaelic. Poem with the first letter turned out v(ERSE).

Not the easiest of puzzles and on a par with yesterday's rather tricky offering in my opinion as both took me in the region of 50 minutes. Also like yesterday, there were one or two words or meanings previously unknown to me but I managed to complete the grid without reference to aids.

As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones]

Across
1	Squatter — I must leave truck (6)
	DUMPER - DUMP{i}ER (squatter) [I must leave]. More properly called a 'dumper truck' it has a body that tilts or opens at the back for unloading.
4	Burn boxes turned off platform (8)
	SCAFFOLD - SCALD (burn) contains [boxes] OFF reversed [turned]
10	Attend to Antony and learn English, free (4,2,3)
	LEND AN EAR - Anagram [free] of AND LEARN E (English). Reference the opening of Marc Antony's famous speech from Julius Caesar: "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears..."
11	Coat back-to-front of no benefit for William (5)
	RUFUS - FUR (coat) reversed [back-to-front], U/S (of no benefit - unserviceable, useless). William II, son of the Conqueror, was known as William Rufus from the Latin meaning 'the red' as he had red hair in his youth and a ruddy complexion.
12	Polish girls here— Hogwarts? (5,6)
	CHARM SCHOOL - Two cryptic definitions. Charm schools are/were not necessarily restricted to the female of the species. A famous one was established by the Rank Organisation in 1945 in an attempt to create British film stars of the future. Amongst its more successful alumni were Christopher Lee, Diana Dors, Petula Clark, Joan Collins, Donald Sinden and Shirley Eaton. I know almost nothing of Harry Potter, but Hogwarts school and its association with magic have found their way into my brain by osmosis.
14	Formally, I triumphed in speech (3)
	ONE - Sounds like [in speech] "won" (triumphed). In formal speech the Queen, for example, usually refers to herself as 'one' rather than 'I'.
15	Travel with new leader for military sport (7)
	TOURNEY - {j}OURNEY (travel), [with a new leader] becomes TOURNEY - jousting and the like.
17	Bung soldier back into hazardous situation (6)
	SPIGOT - GI (soldier) reversed [back] contained by [into] SPOT (hazardous situation). "Turn on the spigot, Pour the beer and swig it, And Gaudeamus igit-ur [Bright College Days by Tom Lehrer].
19	Touch judge officiating at the start in a row (6)
	ADJOIN - J{udge} + O{fficiating} [at the start] contained by [in] A + DIN (row)
21	Grey in mountain range? Shame (7)
	CHAGRIN - GR (grey) contained by [in] CHAIN (mountain range). I didn't know 'gr' as an abbreviation for 'grey' but it's in the dictionaries with reference to the colour of horses (see also 25dn).
23	One stolen by Knave almost, or Jack (3)
	TAR - TAR{t}(one stolen by Knave) [almost]. "The Queen Of Hearts made some tarts, all on a summers day. The Knave of hearts, stole the tarts, and took them clean away!" 'Jack' as in 'jolly Jack tar'.
24	Out on a limb, raced our military transport (8,3)
	ARMOURED CAR - ARM (limb), anagram [out] of RACED OUR
26	In cricket, Edgbaston’s principal scorer (5)
	GRIEG - E{dgbaston's) [principal] contained by [in] GRIG (cricket - insect). Grieg (Edvard) the composer, not to be confused with Greig (Tony) the late cricketer. A very devious clue and not one for biffing. The I-checker may have been required by many a solver to avoid error.
27	We are very busy, also housing relatives (9)
	HUMANKIND - HUM (are very busy), AND (also) containing [housing] KIN (relatives)
29	Computer experts’ jibe: after a period, reject it (8)
	DIGERATI - DIG (jibe), ERA (period), and after that, reverse [reject] IT. Not a word I knew but it seemed reasonable as a combination of 'digital' and 'literati'. This is its first appearance in a Times 15x15 although it turned up at TftT in 2015 in a special science-based puzzle compiled for us by The Rotter, one of our regular QC bloggers. Having 'literati' in the puzzle only yesterday helped.
30	Way to circle tier (6)
	STRING - ST (way), RING (circle). Tier pronounced "tie-er".

Down
1	One induced to get up on tiger? Outcome finally requiring careful handling (8)
	DELICATE - I (one) + LED (induced) reversed [to get up], CAT (tiger), {outcom}E [finally]
2	Casting a lot, fisherman tackles huge fish (5)
	MANTA - Hidden: {fisher}MAN TA{ckles} [casting a lot]. Aka 'manta ray' or devilfish'.
3	Some may understand this character to be a consumer (3)
	ETA - Sounds like [some may understand this to be] "eater" (consumer). It's not often that we have a definition bang in the middle of a long clue.
5	Odd evidence people can’t settle yet for dogs? (7)
	CURIOUS - CUR IOUS (evidence people can’t settle yet) (for dogs)
6	GP’s motto: “I’m not bothered!” (3,3,1,4)
	FOR ALL I CARE - A cryptic hint leading to a phrase with similar meaning to the answer
7	Blue being cancelled, look embarrassed (3,6)
	OFF COLOUR - OFF (being cancelled), COLOUR (look embarrassed - flush, turn red). 'Blue' is usually sad or depressed, and 'off colour' slightly unwell. I wouldn't have said they are exactly the same but there may be some crossover. Edit: 'blue / off colour' in the sense of 'smutty' - thanks to kevingregg.
8	Cleaner departs, pounds removed from overcoat (6)
	DUSTER - D (departs), U{l}STER (overcoat) [pounds removed]
9	Hurting after exercise is excellent (6)
	PEACHY - PE (exercise), ACHY (hurting)
13	Sadly no bar stops robber, one regularly at his peak? (5-6)
	MUNRO-BAGGER - Anagram [sadly] of NO BAR is contained by [stops i.e. fills] MUGGER (robber). The definition is cryptic. Another answer unknown to me that sounds more like the name of a Hobbit, but I knew MUNRO as something to do with Scottish mountains and the rest was getable from wordplay. Collins defines the term as 'a person who climbs as many Munros as possible' and 'munro' as 'any separate mountain peak over 3000 feet high'.
16	No end of stress good for junior (9)
	UNDERLING - UNDERLIN{e} (stress) [no end], G (good)
18	Not becoming popular, appreciate possessing brother (5,3)
	INFRA DIG - IN (popular) + DIG (appreciate) containing [possessing] FRA (brother - a title given to an Italian monk or friar)
20	Precocious girl’s speed in swimming Tyne (7)
	NYMPHET - MPH (speed) contained by [in] anagram [swimming] of TYNE. Some of these at 12ac perhaps?
21	Poor card game — lead is clubs (6)
	CRUMMY - C (clubs), RUMMY (card game)
22	Put onin layers (6)
	STAGED - Two meanings
25	Chestnut, I claim regularly, is hot to eat (5)
	CHILI - CH (chestnut - horse), I, {c}L{a}I{m} [regularly]. One L in 'chilli' is an alternative apparently.
28	By leaving close trap (3)
	NET - NE{x}T (close) [by, leaving]. By / x as in multiplication.

Continuing the high standard of recent Quickies, this was tricky in places. I found enough starting points to gradually fill the grid in no particular order, with LOI 5dn. Had to look up the (vaguely familiar) second definition at 17ac, and the (new to me) definition in the middle of 5dn.

Thanks to Joker, and I look forward to finding out how you all got on...

Definitions underlined.

Across
1	Is most of gift in seedy venue related to handouts? (12)
	DISTRIBUTIVE - IS with all but the last letter of (almost) TRIBUTe (gift), all inside DIVE (seedy venue).
8	Atop mark (5)
	ALPHA - double definition.
9	Former partner has to pretend with lady, heartless indeed (7)
	EXACTLY - EX (former partner), ACT (to pretend), and outside letters of (heartless) LadY.
10	Fear losing fine musical ability (3)
	EAR - fEAR without the f (fine).
11	Trying to prevent train sets being laid out wrongly (9)
	RESISTANT - anagram of (being laid out wrongly) TRAIN SETS.
13	Part of Burbank city (5)
	URBAN - hidden in (part of) bURBANk.
14	Cruel person beheaded river creature (5)
	OTTER - rOTTER (cruel person) missing its first letter (beheaded).
16	Wild eglantine is far from lovely (9)
	INELEGANT - anagram of (wildly) EGLANTINE.
17	Only just defeatstarseed (3)
	PIP - triple definition. The star is one on an officers arm, signifying rank.
19	Strange being away from work with strike (7)
	OFFBEAT - OFF (away from work) and BEAT (strike).
21	At first, bearings are seized tightly enough. Pour oil on (5)
	BASTE - first letters of (at first) Bearings Are Seized Tightly Enough.
22	Unruly old boy upset superstore (12)
	OBSTREPEROUS - OB (old boy) with an anagram of (upset) SUPERSTORE.

Down
1	Admiral’s daughter pursued by libertine (5)
	DRAKE - D (daughter) then RAKE (libertine).
2	Southern European story with a moral that might be unconnected (9)
	SEPARABLE - S (southern), E (european), and PARABLE (story with a moral).
3	Raise stove intended, we hear, for a new layout (13)
	REARRANGEMENT - REAR (raise), RANGE (stove), and a homophone of (we hear) "meant".
4	Brute grabbing queen’s bosom (6)
	BREAST - BEAST (brute) surrounding (grabbing) R (queen).
5	Managed to amuse oneself cutting board that’s not fixed (13)
	TRANSPORTABLE - RAN (managed) and SPORT (to amuse oneself), inside (cutting) TABLE (board).
6	Son got out of enormous bath (3)
	VAT - s (son) removed from (got out of) VAsT (enormous).
7	Strange story about the end of expensive seafood (6)
	OYSTER - anagram of (strange) STORY surrounding (about) the last letter (end) of expensivE.
12	Against former old Italian food (9)
	ANTIPASTO - ANTI (against), PAST (former) and O (old).
13	United Nations is working in simultaneous action (6)
	UNISON - UN (united nations), IS, and ON (working).
15	Playing piece has all the actors leave gutted (6)
	CASTLE - CAST (all the actors) with the outermost letters of (gutted) LeavE.
18	Crowd in Fleet Street? (5)
	PRESS - double-ish definition.
20	Untruth I found in key book (3)
	FIB - I inside (found in) F (key) and B (book).

Even after four or more years of weekly Wednesdays, I still look forward to producing a blog, hoping it will test and titillate me (and you) and occasionally involve learning something new. Yesterday's was a good example. Today was a disappointment. I even wondered if I'd printed the wrong puzzle and done the Quick Cryptic. It took me less than 15 minutes with nothing to slow me down, 29a being the LOI after a little thought and a smile at the end. I hope I'm not going to cheese off people who found it hard, if any, but it was unsatisfyingly easy and unmemorable. I'm struggling to find more to say about it, so I'll just unravel the wordplay.
Favourite clue? 13a, of course.

Across
1	Kitchen device to ruin plumbing fitment (10)
	DISHWASHER - DISH = to ruin, WASHER is a plumbing 'device'. Well, it's just a little circular thing, not much of a device.
6	Item is piano tune (4)
	PAIR - P for piano, AIR = tune; an item as in a couple.
9	Hell surrounding Biblical city seen by an austere religious follower (7)
	PURITAN - UR that old city inside PIT = hell, then AN.
10	Note cut lines — join again? (7)
	REMARRY - REMARK = note, is 'cut' then RY for railway lines.
12	Herd straying and straying? Don't follow it (3,7)
	RED HERRING - (HERD)* then ERRING = straying.
13	Something that swoops near the ground, head right back (3)
	OWL - LOW = near the ground, move the L to the end.
15	Stop last of dodgy group of settlers (6)
	COLONY - a COLON : is a kind of stop, Y = end of dodgY.
16	Exciting about Conservative (not Republican) taking a broad view (8)
	ECLECTIC - ELECTRIC for exciting; delete the R, insert a C a bit earlier.
18	Marine marker left by second person returning after start of month (4-4)
	LIFE-BUOY - L = left, 1 FEB = start of month, then YOU reversed.
20	Nothing quartet recalled about old instrument (6)
	VIOLIN - NIL = nothing, IV = quartet, reverse all and insert O for old.
23	Servant, giving one away, cracked (3)
	MAD - MAID = servant, remove the I.
24	Healthy as a pampered inmate? (2,4,4)
	IN GOOD NICK - A pampered inmate could be in a GOOD NICK or jail.
26	Threatening to have party for graduate suffering grief (7)
	DOLEFUL - BALEFUL = threatening, replace the BA (graduate) by DO (party).
27	Brand of motor ending in remote display area (7)
	MARQUEE - MARQUE = brand of motor car, E = end of remotE.
28	Line chest for a bit of fun (4)
	LARK - L for line, ARK for chest.
29	What you get up to in the way of tweeting (4,6)
	DAWN CHORUS - Cryptic definition.

Down
1	Party leaders in politics expect information (4)
	DOPE - DO = party (yet again!), P E = initial letters of politics expect.
2	Most of certain area offloading millions of unusual paintings? (7)
	SURREAL - SUR(E) = most of certain, REAL(M) = area, losing its M for millions.
3	Hunter perhaps reset gin, with transient opportunity for observation (8,5)
	WATCHING BRIEF - a hunter could be a WATCH; (GIN)*, BRIEF = transient.
4	One guards small number of competitors (6)
	SENTRY - S for small, ENTRY for number of competitors.
5	I creep about, going after each listening device (8)
	EARPIECE - EA = each, (I CREEP)*.
7	6 ceding power left transport hub (7)
	AIRPORT - 6a was PAIR, lose the P, add PORT = left.
8	Original shell of confectionery recreated in sugary coating (5,5)
	ROYAL ICING - (ORIGINAL C Y)*, where C Y = the 'shell' of confectionery.
11	Crumbling Gothic remnant — it's something of an attraction (8,5)
	MAGNETIC NORTH - (GOTHIC REMNANT)*.
14	Representation to go up — way to attract Liberal (5,5)
	SCALE MODEL - SCALE = to go up, as in scale a wall; MODE = way, L for Liberal.
17	Upset record number entering target country (8)
	MONGOLIA - AIM = target, LOG = record, NO = number; insert LOG NO into AIM gives you AILOGNOM, upset it all to get the country.
19	Fine supplier of puzzles, overlooking first one cheating (7)
	FIDDLER - F = fine, RIDDLER = one supplying puzzles, remove the first R.
21	Varnish nearly all fine material? Question stopping short (7)
	LACQUER - LAC(E) = fine material, nearly; QUER(Y) = question stopping short.
22	Usual trick, hiding ring and military medal (6)
	COMMON - CON = trick; insert O = ring and MM abbr. for a military medal.
25	Communiqué given no time in part of military base (4)
	MESS - MESSAGE = communiqué, remove the AGE = given no time.

I panicked a bit at the beginning of this one, not settling to proper solving for some considerable time, and coming home in 26 minutes, well down the early birds list. If I hadn’t left 9 across unparsed when pressing submit, I might rather more authentically claim I was being diligent in solving properly and not just guessing, but I was relieved when no pink squares showed up. I’ll avoid the risk of being seen as either condescending or pathetic by not saying whether this is hard or easy, but I will venture that this is a decent crossword, with the more arcane words fairly and helpfully clued, though I suppose if you’re really trying you could fluff the anagram at 10.

My conclusions are submitted with SOLUTIONSclues and definitions.

ACROSS

1 Platform favourite entertaining everyone (6)

PALLET It’s favourite PET enclosing everyone ALL. And yes, a pallet is a platform, so says Chambers (and if you think about it). Takes me right back to a (long forgotten) schoolboy piece I wrote about palletisation of bricks, when still relatively innovatory, with pictures culled from who knows where, of which I was particularly proud

5 Slurthat brings two characters together (8)

LIGATURE Just about a double definition, a mark in music joining two notes ͡ or two letters conflated to form one Œ – this one’s capital ligature OE.

9 Inadequate sign at entrance to dull entertainment zone (8)

CLUBLAND The best I can do for this is CLUe as inadequate sign and BLAND for dull, with “at entrance to” as a verbose position indicator.

10 First of Tia Maria’s done for a divine drink! (6)

AMRITA So not nectar, that’s for the Olympian gods, but the Hindu version. Anagram (done) of T(ia) MARIA.

11 Don's conjecture (6)

ASSUME Double definition, don as in put clothes on.

12 Sort to confront Roman maybe (8)

TYPEFACE As exemplified by our own dear Times New Roman. TYPE from sort and FACE from confront

14 Childminder sent for pater when in difficulty (6-6)

FOSTER-PARENT Anagram (in difficulty) of SENT FOR PATER

17 Playing field has offensive smell coming back again (12)

RECRUDESCENT The REC is a playing ground, primarily where Bath RFC plays, (on edit, thanks Brnchn C) RUDE is offensive (see anon yesterday describing Pip) and SCENT smell.

20 Very elaborate punishments — a joke (8)

FINESPUN punishments: FINES, joke: PUN. Chambers defines as “finely spun out; over-subtle”. Ça va.

22 An expression of emotion when that lady's in red (6)

CHERRY The expression of emotion is CRY, and that lady HER. In tells you where to put her.

23 Girl mostly difficult for boy to catch (6)

SHARON Our random name for today. Mostly difficult is HAR(d) “caught” by SON for boy.

25 Harmful substance to be limited? Europe's prime task (8)

EMISSION Much research goes on into the limiting of noxious gases and such from our industries, lifestyles and cows. Europe’s prime is E, and task MISSION. A timely clue given the recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

26 Riding attire splits audibly (8)

BREECHES Sounds very like the split version spelt with an A. US solvers might prefer BRITCHES, but they don’t fit here.

27 Advanced travel needing gas (4,2)

GONE ON Travel GO and the gas NEON.

DOWN

2 Ace endowed with divine favour better than the rest (6)

ABLEST Ace is abbreviated to A, and BLEST, a variant on blessed, is tacked on.

3 Workers in party beneficial to Anglican church (6,5)

LABOUR FORCE The (political) party is LABOUR, beneficial to give FOR and the Anglican Church is the C (of) E

4 Bridged river to the north, having installed some lines? (9)

TRAVERSED The river you want is the DART, navigable as far as Totnes. In Devon, it goes roughly north-west. In the grid it goes north (it’s reversed) and the required lines to install are VERSE

5 Deficient character? Could include a daughter! (7)

LADETTE&lit, assuming a rather dismissive view of the genre. Deficient character gives you LETTER with that R dropped. A D(aughter) is included.

6 Express horror about king getting total possession (5)

GRASP Express horror GASP surrounds R for king

7 A “mini-mountain” of rubbish piled up (3)

TOR Further up the Dart from Totnes, loads of these on the Moor, Hey Tor being perhaps the most impressive, if indeed only a miniature mountain. Rubbish is ROT, which is “piled up” or reversed

8 Reluctant to talk when name is brought up in rift (8)

RETICENT I did try taciturn, but it’s CITE for name reverses (brought up) in RENT for rift.

13 One exemplifies it formally (5,6)

FIRST PERSON A couple of days ago we had “formally, I triumphed in speech” to a background of protests about one and won not (necessarily) sounding alike. As a punishment, the setters’ union has us make do with a cryptic definition.

15 Priest initially getting to a particular clerical activity (9)

PREACHING The initial letter of Priest getting to: REACHING

16 Fairy nothing other than heartless, a mischievous little thing (8)

PERISHER PERI is the fairy, and SHEER can mean “nothing other than”, from which to excise the heart, or middle letter.

18 Perfect and totally dull — one bound for university! (7)

SINLESS A bit of a bear trap this. The way the clue works is that you take SUNLESS for totally dull, and bind (so to speak) I (one) in in place of U(niversity).

19 A funny person finishing early with extremely operatic piece? (6)

ARIOSO A funny person: RIOT without its last letter plus extremely: SO. An arioso is halfway between an aria and a recitative.

21 Quiet island in critically difficult time (5)

PINCH P is quiet (more music) and INCH an island, usually either Scots or Irish.

24 Whiskey or port? (3)

RYE What the good ol’ boys were drinking. Rye is one of the historic Cinque ports, now about two miles inland

A gentler puzzle today from Teazel, hopefully something of a relief after a run of trickier offerings. I tackled this directly after doing Tuesday's 15x and QC, both of which were tough, and was rewarded with something like a PB of 5:08 (at least, I don't remember every breaking the 5 minute mark). Difficult puzzles can be dispiriting for a beginner, but they do make good practice. Every more experienced solver has spent many an hour staring blankly at an almost-blank grid, the optimism after getting that early anagram now a soured, taunting vestige of false hope. I got all bar 22ac with my first read through of the acrosses, which made for a merry feast of biffing come the downs, hence the time. Nice change of pace - many thanks to Teazel!

Across
1	Brand or scar, we hear (6)
	MARQUE - sounds the same ("we hear") as MARK (scar)
4	Slice beer ingredient into container (4,2)
	CHOP UP - HOP (beer ingredient, with a current tendency to be overused to the point of tasting of pot pourri) in CUP (container)
8	Travelling to old city in west of Ghana (7)
	TOURING - TO (to) UR (old city) IN (in) G ( the "westernmost" letter of Ghana). Nicely masked use of "to" and "in".
10	Lines some observer sees (5)
	VERSE -"some" of the letters of obserVER SEes
11	Victor Middleton regularly recording (5)
	VIDEO - V(ictor), and then the regular/alternate letters of mIdDlEtOn
12	Stuffy, as a bald man is commonly? (7)
	AIRLESS - HAIRLESS (as a bald man is), commonly = drop the aitch.
13	Having shed fat, I’m terribly clumsy (3-6)
	HAM-FISTED - anagram (terribly) of SHED FAT IM
17	Bill’s relation (7)
	ACCOUNT - nice double definition, the second as in a narration/recount.
19	Racecourse is firm, in a way (5)
	ASCOT - CO. (company/firm) in A ST. (a street/way)
20	A lake frequently high (5)
	ALOFT - A L(ake) OFT (frequently)
21	Decideto do puzzle again (7)
	RESOLVE - double definition.
22	Personal ornament that’s over a foot? (6)
	ANKLET - cryptic definition, an anklet going above a foot. Ruined my clean sweep, dammit!
23	Small wait for such a clear sky (6)
	STARRY - S(mall) TARRY (wait)

Down
1	After car check, I have reason to act (6)
	MOTIVE - MOT (car check) I'VE (I have)
2	How hands move without stopping (5,3,5)
	ROUND THE CLOCK - gentle cryptic hint.
3	Special clothes, even (7)
	UNIFORM - double definition
5	Hang around south coast resort, then run (5)
	HOVER - HOVE (south coast resort) then R(un)
6	Not the architectural style of the Pisa tower? (13)
	PERPENDICULAR - cryptic(ish) definition. Like Trump's tower (according to Ms Daniels), the Leaning Tower of Pisa is a monumentally disappointing erection.
7	Asleep, after upheaval: a delight (6)
	PLEASE - anagram (after upheaval) of ASLEEP
9	Happy one is at a peak as fighter (9)
	GLADIATOR - GLAD (happy) I (ONE) is at A TOR (a peak)
14	Characteristic to employ poles for crossing (7)
	TRANSIT - TRAIT (characteristic) to employ/engage N(orth) S(outh) (poles)
15	Criticise a parent for hat (6)
	PANAMA -PAN (criticise) A MA (a parent)
16	Very hard putting fish into pig-pen (6)
	STEELY - put EEL (fish) into STY (pig-pen)
18	Release neckwear for NY assembly? (5)
	UNTIE - a U.N. (NY assembly) TIE (neckwear)

Apologies in advance for any delay in replying to comments and queries - I bring you this blog from Marbella in Spain, where I am taking part in the Marbella Walking Festival, and have a 20km walk to do before coming back here. I found this a typically neat and concise crossword from Tracy today, with lots of gentle clues that should encourage our less-experienced solvers. Indeed, I thought 7A summed it up exactly. Lots of lovely clues to pick from. I enjoyed 9A but, mindful of where this is hosted, I have to say the highlight for me was the clever 21A. Thanks Tracy! I hope you all found it as much fun as I did and didn't get snookered by the slightly trickier ones. How did you all get on? Oh, and if you care about times, this took me about 5 3/4 minutes.

Definitions underlined in italics, (ABC)* indicating anagram of ABC, {} deletions and [] other indicators.

Across
7	Meticulous from beginning to end, assuming nothing (8)
	THOROUGH - From beginning to end is THROUGH. Insert [assuming] O (nothing).
8	Every single fruit having penny off (4)
	EACH - The fruit is a {p}EACH. Remove the P (penny off). So that would make my 4 for £1 at my local supermarket just 96p.
9	Unlawful act beginning to annexe part of Ukraine (6)
	CRIMEA - An unlawful act is a CRIME. Add A{nnexe} [beginning]. Beautiful surface, referring to this act of the Russian Federation, perhaps?
10	First of bids in auction for a fur (5)
	SABLE - Put B{ids} [first of] into SALE (auction). Hello to my fellow blogger Guy of that ilk!
11	Secure floor, right away (3)
	TIE - The floor is a TIE{r}. Take the R away.
12	Fill inpuzzle (6)
	RIDDLE - Double definition. The first one is perhaps a bit of a stretch, but think "riddle me this", meaning to ask someone to solve or explain something.
14	Seafood affected is taken back outside (6)
	SCAMPI - CAMP (affected) with IS [taken back outside]. A yes, I love a bit of Norwegian lobster.
16	Anxiety of rest working on board (6)
	STRESS - If you are on board you might be in a ship, or SS. Put (rest)* [working] inside.
18	Unassuming ways associated with leader of team (6)
	MODEST - MODES (ways) + [leader of] T{eam}. No 23A-ing here, please.
19	Likewise at solo, ignoring the odds (3)
	TOO - Every other letter [ignoring the odds] of aT sOlO. Do people bet on solo whist?
20	In tearoom, I served penny-pincher (5)
	MISER - Hidden word, in tearooM I SERved. I bet he didn't leave a tip.
21	Instructions read initially, before piece cooked (6)
	RECIPE - R{ead} [initially] (piece)* [cooked]. Another very neat surface, and a lovely semi &lit.
23	Boast made by head of broadsheet paper (4)
	BRAG - Another decapitation... [head of] B{roadsheet} RAG (paper). Perhaps he/she needs to be more 18A.
24	About to put down extra for sword (8)
	CLAYMORE - C (about) LAY (put down) MORE (extra). A scottish sword.

Down
1	Check with painter, one in old working-class movement (8)
	CHARTIST - CH (Check) ARTIST (painter). Chartism was "a working class movement, which emerged in 1836 and was most active between 1838 and 1848. The aim of the Chartists was to gain political rights and influence for the working classes."
2	Streetcar has clipped hobo (4)
	TRAM - TRAM{p} (hobo) [clipped] - i.e. losing the last letter. Keep off the tracks.
3	Copper to assess vicar's assistant (6)
	CURATE - CU (Copper) RATE (assess). Famous for being polite about a dodgy egg.
4	Research papers, original sheets (6)
	THESES - [original] (sheets)*. And they had better be original. No plagiarism, please.
5	A pianist could play this essential sheet (8)
	KEYBOARD - KEY (essentail) BOARD (sheet). Another sheet, and another bit of a stretch in definition, perhaps, but think "a flat insulating sheet used as a mounting for an electronic circuit".
6	Continuous pain? One must ring hospital (4)
	ACHE - ACE (One) outside [must ring] H (hospital). Just an ache? Ring 111 instead.
13	Groom ahead of time in equestrian event (8)
	DRESSAGE - DRESS (groom) [ahead of] AGE (time).
15	Travel document graduate left (8)
	PASSPORT - PASS (graduate - the verb) PORT (nautical left).
17	Small wagon hit (6)
	STRUCK - S (Small) TRUCK (wagon). Hit what? Not another poor hobo, I hope.
18	Eel, new in, served with a cheese sauce (6)
	MORNAY - MORAY (type of eel) includinng N (new) [in]. "Served with a" is just filling.
20	Horse from Durham area (4)
	MARE - Another hidden word. DurhaM AREa.
22	Tease small company doctor (4)
	COMB - CO (small company) MB (doctor). I hope that wasn't some encouragement to be sizist to the vertically-challenged.

Something of a disaster last night as I clicked submit to post this blog and LiveJournal instantly ate it, beyond any of my attempts at recovery. I have to dash out to catch a train right now... but there was plenty to talk about on this excellent crossword, so I promise I'll return and sort this placeholder out! In the meantime...

ACROSS
1 Goal minders do it (6)
OBJECT - double definition: to mind something is to have an objection to it

4 Rank alongside aphids, ultimately, as parasites (8)
SPONGING - PONGING [rank] alongside {aphid}S

10 Sort of tall beast that’s kept in cellar? (5,4)
TABLE SALT - (TALL BEAST*) ["sort of..."]

11 Assume that one judge must visit French city (5)
DIJON - DON [assume] that I J [one | judge] must "visit"

12 Dashed busy? (9,5)
INSPECTOR MORSE - we've talked in here only recently about how a "busy" is a member of the police force, and Morse code contains many dashes (as well as dots)... suggesting this groanworthy/brilliant pun of a definition.

14 What was taken from Samson and Lot (5)
SIGHT - double definition. Samson was blinded after being shorn; and "a sight" is a lot in some idiomatic uses as, again, I think we've discussed in here recently. "He's a damn sight more friendly than you are," that kind of thing.

16 Grabbing armband, collecting pants (9)
SNAFFLING - SLING [armband], "collecting" NAFF [pants]

18 Something said to be complete, note, within one (9)
UTTERANCE - UTTER [complete] + N [note], within ACE [one]

20 Inadequate person finally found new life, some job (5)
DWEEB - {foun}D {ne}W {lif}E {som}E {jo}B

21 MCC aim: come repeatedly for batting average abroad (5,2,5,2)
COMME CI COMME CA - (MC AIM COME COME*) ["for batting"]. Every schoolboy's favourite response to "Comment ca va?" if I recall correctly, due it being the most fun thing to say.

25 Covered on the insidewith wrinkles (5)
LINED - double def

26 Girl fashioned garland, almost new (9)
MADELEINE - MADE LEI [fashioned | garland] + NE{w}

27 Further comment, often too complicated (8)
FOOTNOTE - (OFTEN TOO*) ["complicated"]

28 Beef, for example, from across the pond or canal? (6)
MEATUS - MEAT U.S. [beef, for example | from across the pond]

DOWN
1 Course books containing sign of error troubles publisher (6,4)
OXTAIL SOUP - O.T. [books] containing X [sign of error] + AILS O.U.P. [troubles | publisher]

2 After first of January, one’s having to live in digs (5)
JIBES - after J{anuary}, I'S [one's] having BE [to live] in

3 Mild Liberal getting stick all round (7)
CLEMENT - L [Liberal] getting CEMENT [stick] all round

5 Pan perhaps necessary for recipe — teriyaki? (5)
PETER - hidden in {reci}PE TER{iyaki}

6 Green light’s extinguished: then sleeps (4,3)
NODS OFF - to give someone the green light is to give them the NOD; so NOD'S OFF [green light's | extinguished]

7 Fair distance beyond home? Wrong (9)
INJUSTICE - JUST ICE [fair | distance] beyond IN [home]

8 On the way out, I dispatched award (4)
GONG - GO{i}NG [on the way out, losing its I]

9 Resistance fighter trained in Sparta (8)
PARTISAN - (IN SPARTA*) ["trained"]

13 Helicopters from Richmond bringing winning team perhaps to the Oval (3,7)
EGG BEATERS - egg beaters are an American term for copters, so this is probably Richmond, VA, not the one south of the Thames. Bring BEATERS [winning, team perhaps] to EGG [the oval]. Whew!

15 Duck excessively short tackle (3,4,2)
GET DOWN TO - GET DOWN [duck] + TO{o} [excessively, "short"]

17 One used to call a contact, briefly, before work (4,4)
AREA CODE - A REAC{h} [a | contact, "briefly"] before ODE [work]

19 Raced round like a loony, after a fast time (7)
RAMADAN - RAN [raced] round MAD [like a loony], after A

20 Director finally accepted Zola and his article (2,5)
DE MILLE - {accepte}D + EMIL [Zola] + LE [his (i.e. a Frenchman's) article]. But wasn't it EMILE?

22 Space traveller wasn’t the only one to get in contact? (5)
COMET - if you get into contact with someone you meet them, so multiple people getting into contact could be said jocularly to have CO-MET.

23 Turn out fine in the end: I’m out of Casualty (5)
EVICT - {fin}E + VICT{im} [casualty, losing it's I'M]

24 Scandinavian of note is visiting (4)
OLAF - OF, visited by LA [note]

Unless you’re very experienced you are unlikely to solve a Mephisto without using Chambers. The idea is that you use the precise wordplay to derive an answer that you then verify in the dictionary. 8D is a perfect example.

This was a very pleasant puzzle of average complexity. In the clues definitions are underlined. Wordplay explanation is followed by very helpful comments.

Do PM’s puns across the top of the grid continue to deteriorate? Correct!

ACROSS

1 Republican gets outside division for tactical purposes (5)
CORPS: CO(R)PS; Republican=R; gets=COPS; a tactical army unit – the military police for example
5 You and I did set about care for drunk (7)
WRECKED: W(RECK)E’D; care for=RECK;
10 I more or less agree: trade show finally made almost nothing (10, two words)
FAIR,ENOUGH: FAIR-(mad)E-NOUGH(t);
11 Panel identifying grasses within hedging west of green (8, two words)
SHOP,SIGN: SHOPS-I(G)N; grasses=dobs in=SHOPS; west of green=G(reen);
13 Some dislike pistols such as are issued to legionnaires? (5)
KEPIS: hidden (disli)KE-PIS(tols); French military cap;
14 Clear about loading up a very light ship (7)
CARAVEL: (clear)* surrounds A-V; a small, highly manoeuvrable sailing ship;
16 This signals the end in recognised lines for wife (5)
KNELL: recognised=knew then change ”w” into LL;
17 Thoughtlessly bring forward old hag until stopped (7, two words)
TROT,OUT: TRO(TO)UT; old hag=TROUT;
19 Hurdle made from bundle containing sort of thorn (5)
BAYLE: BA(Y)LE; sort of thorn=Old English letter=Y (see initial entry for Y in C);
22 Wit, for example, endlessly gives us sauce (5)
SALSA: SAL(t)-SA(y); wit=SALT;
23 Society ladies blocking a turn that’s no laughing matter to SNP (7, two words)
NAE,MOWS: S-WOME(A)N all reversed; dialect in Dundee for “no joke”;
24 Illuminated fragment of long-forgotten literature (5)
ENLIT: hidden (long-forgott)EN-LIT(erature);
28 Captain and dancer / sleep in a dosshouse (7)
SKIPPER: three definitions all underlined;
29 Established moot objection about Israel (5)
BUILT: BU(IL)T; Israel=IL;
30 Strike across difficult one in the manner of later batsmen? (8)
TAILLIKE: TA(ILL-I)KE; strike=TAKE; cricket reference, the lower order batsmen are called the tail;
31 Berlin’s too easily seen as a feature of some nights out (10, two words)
ORION’S,BELT: (berlin’s too)*; an asterism in the constellation Orion. It consists of the three bright stars Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka.
32 Tense old dog circling new block (7)
TRANCH: T-RA(N)CH; tense=T; old word for dog=RACH;
33 What gets Disgusted going? Unsubstantial sort of food (5)
DAIRY: D(isgusted)-AIRY; cheese for example

DOWN

1 Pussies around with perishing asymmetrical boxes (7)
CASKETS: CA(SKE-w)TS;
2 Those struggling to get round runs with gross men (10, two words)
OTHER,RANKS: (those)* surrounds R-RANK; personnel who are not commissioned officers;
3 We believe in bull! Photograph is bordering on tackiness (7)
PAPISTS: PAP-IS-T(ackines)S; photograph=PAP; reference the Papal Bull;
4 Listen to little Cecilia being a crybaby about Canada (5)
SISSY: sounds like “Cicy”; North American spelling of cissy;
5 Strain with stack (5)
WRICK: W-RICK;
6 At sea tear around strait in ____? (7)
REGATTA: (tear)* surrounds GAT=straight;
7 Company on top of peelie-wally Scottish mason (5)
COWAN: CO-WAN; peelie-wally=WAN; mason in Motherwell who had not been trained and initiated
8 New Yorker hiding upper-class and rude sort of sign for SA carrier (8)
KURVEYOR: (Yorker)* surrounds U and V; a traveling trader in southern Africa
9 In a different way hold tip of little Indian plant (5)
DHOLL: (hold)*-L(ittle);
12 Outdoorsy sort’s ruthless shriek of disbelief (10)
FELL-WALKER: FELL-(Hookey) WALKER; ruthless=FELL; shriek of disbelief=Hookey Walker (Victorian slang term). Today we would say “are you pulling my leg?”
15 Parrot in Iowa finds fertiliser in grainy clumps (8)
POLLINIA: POLL-IN-IA; a coherent mass of pollen grains
18 Free security force switch around English (7)
UNLEASH: UN-L(E)ASH;
20 Before lunch tug made fast to a vessel carrying oil (7)
AMPULLA: AM-PULL-A;
21 Boozer covered with weird secret principles rarely seen (7)
ESOTERY: E(SOT)ERY;
24 Dramatically pay for supermarket having shifted head south (5)
ESCOT: supermarket=TESCO then move the “T” to the end; Waggle-Dagger for pay for;
25 Japan topped this perfect winner (5)
IPPON: (n)IPPON; the highest score a fighter can achieve in a Japanese martial arts ippon-wazari contest
26 Bung something to barbecue into the edges of it (5)
BRIBE: B(RIB)E; BE from B(arbequ)E; bung=slang for BRIBE
27 Robust article leaked
ABLED: A-BLED;

This was a struggle. Particularly horrible were the clues with obscure answers which one couldn’t construct with certainty from the wordplay. Yes, I’m looking at you, Carne Ebbas Giant (sic) and Fianne Fáil (sic). Those two I had to google, both to check they were things and to find out how to spell them. In neither case (grumble) did the wordplay unambiguously specify the spelling. Fine if you live in or near that parish, I suppose, but too bad else. And yes, I do know now that the spellings above are wrong.

The rest was tough but doable. I guess my clue of the day is 9ac, for its nice structure and echo of the wonderful TV series. Thanks to the setter.

Clues are in blue, with definitions underlined. Answers are in BOLD CAPS, then wordplay. (ABC*) means 'anagram of ABC', with the anagram indicator in bold italics. Deletions are in [square brackets].

Across
1 It's Let It Be that concludes this great live event (4)
STET: last letters (“this concludes”) of the last four words.

4 Fish surprises, served with chopped fruit (4,6)
ROCK SALMON: ROCKS / ALMON[d].

9 Rumpole pays out, scrapping over sweetener (5,5)
MAPLE SYRUP: (RUMP-LE PAYS*), having “scrapped” O for “over”.

10 Irish drawn to saint excited reaction (4)
STIR: ST (saint) / IR (Irish).

11 Mountain girl in historic subcontinental region (6)
BENGAL: BEN / GAL.

12 Always travelling west, minister in eastern capital (8)
EVERMORE: REV inside E / ROME, all reversed (“travelling west”).

14 Pass through having taken in Slovakia's capital (4)
VISA: S[lovakia] taken in by VIA (through).

15 Support British on search for swimmer (10)
RIBBONFISH: RIB / B / ON / FISH (search).

17 Cook has minutes to find relish (10)
ENTHUSIASM: (HAS MINUTES*).

20 Mock Shakespeare's ending in Tempest (4)
RAGE: RAG (mock) / [shakespear]E.

21 Letters Heather's about to bring in (8)
LEARNING: LING “about” EARN.

23 Old Greek sailor turning in as consequence (6)
THEBAN: AB “turning” in THEN (as consequence).

24 Good to deliver in box (4)
GRID: G / RID. Chambers gives “grid” as “framework”, which seems near enough.

25 Party girl Formula One founder entertains (6,4)
FIANNA FAÍL: ANNA (not ANNE, obviously, if you know the answer you’re looking for, although in that case you hardly need the wordplay!) “entertained by” F1 / FAIL (founder, as in “sink”). It’s an Irish political party.

26 Mimicking bird, cat who looks for excitement? (7,3)
PEEPING TOM: PEEPING (mimicking a bird) / TOM (cat).

27 Connection used by school in Karachi (4)
LINK: hidden answer.

Down
2 One to elicit pity generated in plays? (11)
TRAGEDIENNE: (GENERATED IN*).

3 Communications device to signal unwittingly (9)
TELEGRAPH: double definition, the second as in “he telegraphed his next move”.

4 Sovereign holds good man to be lawbreaker (7)
RUSTLER: RULER “holds” ST (saint).

5 Figure Caribbean agents may give (5,5,5)
CERNE ABBAS GIANT: (CARIBBEAN AGENTS*). The exact spelling is a punt unless you know the answer. It’s a hillside figure in Dorset.

6 Drink on tick for boss (7)
SUPREMO:~~SUP / REMO (another name for Riesling, apparently). I didn’t know this name for the grape, but this time the answer was obvious.~~ On edit: forget that nonsense! A sensible parsing suggested in the comments is SUP (drink) / RE (on) / MO (tick).

7 Noise from the herd about race becomes slogan (5)
MOTTO: MOO (noise from the herd) “about” TT (motor cycle race).

8 Message sensibly delivered in this bottle? (5)
NERVE: double definition. The first alludes to signals to or from the brain travelling along the nervous system.

13 Notice eating irons wrongly placed (11)
RESIGNATION: (EATING IRONS*).

16 Remiss to hammer out soaring German air (9)
FORGETFUL: FORGE (to hammer out) / TFUL (reversal of – i.e. “soaring” – LUFT. It's the German word for the air that we breath).

18 Make firm points to clinch argument (7)
STIFFEN: S[outh], E[ast] and N[orth] around TIFF.

19 Reductive substitution English man used in mass medium (7)
METONYM: E / TONY in M (mass) / M (medium).

21 Set cryptically? That brings advantage! (3,2)
LEG UP: the idea is that “LEG UP” could be a cryptic clue for GEL (set).

22 Bad blood initially denied young heroine (5)
ALICE: [m]ALICE.

A puzzle that seemed easier than average with just the one troublesome clue (21A), which fortunately fell on the right side of ~~a coin toss~~ an educated guess. The standouts, at least for this solver, were the two pieces of music that were both composed in my lifetime AND are in my iTunes collection - an occurrence only infrequently seen in the Times crossword. Granted, I'm not the biggest fan of either of the artists concerned but, in a Crosswordland where classical music predominates, it's nice to be thrown a bone every so often, even if not the absolute tastiest. Thanks, setter!

Definitions are underlined, * = anagram, {} = omission, dd = double definition

Across
1	Couple of daughters turn back, following black Irish setter? (4,3)
	BIRD DOG - B (black) + IR (Irish) + DD (Couple of daughters) + reversal of GO (turn), to give (Collins): "a dog used or trained to retrieve game birds after they are shot"
5	Dish, one on board streetcar, is heading for university (8)
	TIRAMISU - I (one) in TRAM (streetcar) + IS + U{niversity} (heading for university)
9	A Carmelite, possibly, not fully crossing cold land mass (6)
	AFRICA - A + FRIA{r} (Carmelite, possibly, not fully) around C (cold), where a Carmelite is (Chambers): "A White Friar, or friar of the order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, in Palestine (now Israel), which was founded there c.1156, becoming a mendicant order in 1247"
13	Game in wind, with runs by opener for Surrey (6,3,7)
	SNAKES AND LADDERS - SNAKE (wind) + S{urrey} (opener for Surrey) + AND (with) + LADDERS (runs)
14	Progressive comedian knocked (4,2)
	WITH IT - WIT (comedian) + HIT (knocked)
16	Closeness of main city redevelopment (8)
	INTIMACY - (MAIN CITY)*
17	Ruler in eastern border heading west (4)
	EMIR - E (eastern) + reversal of RIM (border)
18	Tunes, each differently arranged for nightclub singer (9)
	CHANTEUSE - (TUNES, EACH)*
20	Sad act in decline (8)
	DOWNTURN - DOWN (Sad) + TURN (act)
21	Having captured a prisoner, the German left hurriedly, according to Americans? (4,1,6)
	TOOK A POWDER - TOOK (captured) + A + POW (prisoner) + DER (the German). Not an expression I knew and the wordplay unhelpfully also admitted TOOK A CONDER, which sounded marginally less likely.
24	Voting to recall comic following end of performance (9)
	ELECTORAL - {performanc}E (end of performance) + (TO RECALL)*
25	Rock'em, interrupting G&S air (8)
	GEMSTONE - 'EM in G&S, + TONE (air)
26	State of confusion in canteen (4)
	MESS - dd
29	Not regarded with approval, tasteless, litres thrown out (3,2,6)
	OUT OF FAVOUR - OUT OF F{l}AVOUR (tasteless, litres thrown out)
31	Chose top set, fancy listening device (11)
	STETHOSCOPE - (CHOSE TOP SET)*
33	English writer’s book of French rival (6,5)
	DANIEL DEFOE - DANIEL (book - from the Old Testament) + DE (of French) + FOE (rival)
36	Head of unit tucked into mutton chop, sadly of poor quality (3,2,2,4)
	NOT UP TO MUCH - (MUTTON CHOP)* around U{nit} (Head of unit)
38	What sounds like quite a ceremony (4)
	RITE - homophone of RIGHT (quite)
39	Famous Belgian showing determination in match (8)
	MAGRITTE - GRIT (determination) in MATE (match)
41	Booka sail (9)
	MOONRAKER - dd, the first a reference to James Bond's third outing in print
44	Realise mistake maybe in clue's answer, having "boil" at first (3,3,5)
	SEE THE LIGHT - SEETHE (boil) + LIGHT (clue's answer)
45	Learner driver with insolent manner, first time out, must show licence (8)
	LATITUDE - L (Learner driver) + A{t}TITUDE (insolent manner, first time out)
48	University town, not western? Charming, perhaps, earlier (9)
	PRINCETON - PRINCE (Charming, perhaps) + TO{w}N (town, not western)
49	Poetic river and mountain, second in chain (4)
	ALPH - ALP (mountain) + {c}H{ain} (second in chain), to give the river mentioned in Coleridge's Kubla Khan
50	Retired agent ringing about a church minister (8)
	PREACHER - reversal of REP (agent), around RE (about) + A + CH (church)
52	First-born, European duke, taken inside just in case (6)
	ELDEST - E (European), + D (duke) in LEST (just in case)
53	A number in unconventional spa-hydro abroad (8,8)
	BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY - BOHEMIAN (unconventional) + SPA-HYDRO*, to give the Queen track that topped the UK charts in 1975 and 1991
54	Understudy's responsibility to maintain record (6)
	DEPUTY - DUTY (responsibility) around EP (record)
55	First chess player attending match in formal dress (5,3)
	WHITE TIE - WHITE (First chess player, i.e. the player who moves first in a game of chess) + TIE (match)
56	Glib talk by northern model (7)
	PATTERN - PATTER (Glib talk) + N (northern)

Down
1	Part of terrain so bare, rising in Balkan region (6)
	BOSNIA - hidden reversed in terrAIN SO Bare
2	Bespoke tailor in part of Venice (6)
	RIALTO - TAILOR*
3	Very attractive person met aboard at sea? (9)
	DREAMBOAT - (MET ABOARD)*
4	Relative is able to, on song in island resort (4,7)
	GRAN CANARIA - GRAN (Relative) + CAN (is able to) + ARIA (song)
5	Largereceptacle for odds and ends (4)
	TIDY - dd, the first as seen in expressions such as "a tidy sum"
6	Name of male engaging publicity specialist, a member of band's crew (4,7)
	ROAD MANAGER - ROGER (Name of male), around AD MAN (publicity specialist) + A
7	Film made by present-day newspaper (6,5)
	MODERN TIMES - MODERN (present-day) + TIMES (newspaper), to give the 1936 Charlie Chaplin film
8	Removed small vehicle in error (6,3)
	STRUCK OUT - S (small) + TRUCK (vehicle) + OUT (in error)
10	Lie about Republican conflict (8)
	FRICTION - FICTION (Lie) about R (Republican)
11	A chart-topping single, "If Only"? (1,6,2,2,5)
	I SHOULD BE SO LUCKY - dd, the first referring to the Pachelbel's Canon-inspired hit by Kylie Minogue that was number 1 in the UK charts in the late '80s
12	A group of conservationists tolerate a nocturnal creature (7)
	ANTBEAR - A + NT (group of conservationists, i.e. National Trust) + BEAR (tolerate)
15	A vehicle nicked by German guy turned up in a port in Georgia (8)
	SAVANNAH - A + VAN (vehicle), in reversal of HANS (German guy)
19	Very good, below par — begin play again (5,3)
	BULLY OFF - BULLY (Very good - a slang term) + OFF (below par), to give the (now obsolete?) term for starting or restarting a game of (field) hockey
22	Judge playing field booking (8)
	RECORDER - REC (playing field) + ORDER (booking). I partially biffed this but I can't say the equivalence of order and booking was (or, even now, is) blindingly obvious.
23	Becoming nervous burping baby? (7,3,4,2)
	GETTING THE WIND UP - literal interpretation
27	Tender and soft on that woman in shelter (8)
	SHEPHERD - P (soft) + HER (that woman), in SHED (shelter)
28	Starts to observe swinging London, our capital city (4)
	OSLO - initial letters of O{bserve} S{winging} L{ondon}, O{ur}
30	Left in charge, head for the hills (4)
	FLEE - L (Left) in FEE (charge)
32	I'm dividing possessions for valuation (8)
	ESTIMATE - ESTATE (possessions) around I'M
34	Fortune to be had in matches ending level? Pick randomly (4,4)
	DRAW LOTS - LOT (Fortune) in DRAWS (matches ending level)
35	English country squire after a property dealer (6,5)
	ESTATE AGENT - E (English) + STATE (country) + A + GENT (squire)
36	Embroidery evident in novel Eliot penned (11)
	NEEDLEPOINT - (ELIOT PENNED)*
37	University office in favour of place on board, no longer urgent (11)
	PROCTORSHIP - PRO (in favour of) + {dire}CTORSHIP (place on board, no longer urgent), where a proctor is (Chambers): "An official in some English universities whose functions include enforcement of university regulations"
40	Otherwise has to come up with good joke about an Indian dish (5,4)
	ROGAN JOSH - reversal of OR (Otherwise), + G (good) + JOSH (joke) around AN, to give a curry featuring a tomato-based sauce
42	Racecourse, favoured one, gets special treatment (3,6)
	RED CARPET - REDCAR (Racecourse, in the same town as my old secondary school) + PET (favoured one)
43	Very friendly group in squat (8)
	THICKSET - THICK (Very friendly) + SET (group)
44	Baldy dropping line, exposing fool (7)
	SAPHEAD - S{l}APHEAD (Baldy dropping line)
46	Reportedly dislodged ceremonial seat (6)
	THRONE - homophone of THROWN (dislodged)
47	Original piece of cotton fabric in drawer (6)
	CRAYON - C{otton} (Original piece of cotton) + RAYON (fabric)
51	Formerly working with church (4)
	ONCE - ON (working) + CE (church)

It was pleasant looking back over this puzzle, which I recall as a(n) 13ing outing, after a week. In the first edition of this blog, I thought that the one clue where I detected a problem still seemed deficient when I came back to it, but Jackkt and Kevin have set me straight. I would guess that most of y’all got through this one in a speedy fashion. I was watching YouTube while I worked it.

There sure were a lot—eight, plus one partial!—of (mangaras)*. Anagrinds are italicized in the clues.

ACROSS

1	I don’t know bishop in drink, okay (8)
	PASSABLE—PASS or “I don’t know” + AL(B)E
5	American beer had befuddledone supposedly enlightened (6)
	BUDDHA—That brew, to speak loosely, would be BUDweiser + (had)*. I sort of like the sceptical “supposedly,” though my impression is that Guatama was on to something.
10	New man cutting top of lip in close shave (4,5)
	NEAR THING—N + EARTH[-l]ING
11	Song of soprano that nut producer picks up (5)
	PSALM—P(S)ALM
12	Banker head of redundancy put up in temporary digs? (5)
	TRENT—T(R)ENT. “Banker” is a word used for a river only in crosswords, cf. “flower”
13	Flirt with nurse I natter about (9)
	ENTERTAIN—(EN or “nurse” + I natter)*. As in “entertain an idea.” Sometimes the anagrind is “nurse.” (At first I had RN for "nurse," as I was not familiar with the British term "enrolled nurse" and hadn't bothered to actually work out the anagram. Thanks again to Kevin.)
14	Decide a map needs altering for military adviser (4-2-4)
	AIDE-DE-CAMP—(Decide a map)*. This was my FOI. Bit of an echo below. (Did Ondine or Billy Name act as Warhol aides-de-camp? …Sorry.)
17	Fail to understandone teaching classes (4)
	MISS—Double definition (and the real thing). Do English schoolchildren still call their (female) teachers “Miss”? What about the male ones? I really want to know.
19	One costly, but ultimately lacking, plan (4)
	IDEA—I (“one”) + DEA[-r]
20	Horror story provided by Don King’s stylist? (4-6)
	HAIR-RAISER—Har de har har
22	Knight tyrannised after daughter’s gone and proposed (9)
	NOMINATED—N is for “knight” (because the king gets the K) + [-d]OMINATED
24	Yearn to have a partner, in practice? (5)
	COVET—I should have gotten CO[-]MET a lot more quickly Friday, having already worked this one not quite two weeks ago. My friend Emma is a veterinarian, but I don’t know if she shares her practice.
26	A large group of people going around island (5)
	ATOLL—How exactly is this supposed to work? It comes close, but… Lessee. A is A and “large” is L; in between we have a “group of people” going around, LOT <—. There’s nothing to say the A and L are themselves going around (the backward) LOT. Am I missing somethi I don't know why I couldn't see that after the A both L(arge) and LOT are going backwards. D'oh!
27	One plated molar lad cracked around lunchtime? (9)
	ARMADILLO—(molar lad + I [or "1" for "lunchtime"])*
28	Equipment associated with school camp (6)
	KITSCH—KIT +SCH(ool).
29	Advance publicity awful types ultimately diss (8)
	PROGRESS—PR + OGRES + [-dis]S

Down
1	Travelling up mountain track, perhaps (11,4)
	PUNCTUATION MARK— (up mountain track)* I’m not 2’ed to say that this was my LOI, the definition was so carefully camouflaged. I love this trick, which we don’t see often, though probably often enough (you wouldn’t want to ruin the element of surprise).
2	Fraud finally destroyed yours truly? Oh, that’s awful! (5)
	SHAME—SHA[-m] + ME. Of course, all of SHAM is actually there too, but then you’d just be left with E. Still seems a little odd to lop off the M just to add it again, though this kind of thing is done often enough (if not too often. Ha).
3	New IT update for facility (8)
	APTITUDE—(IT update)*
4	French department learning about head of interior (5)
	LOIRE—LO(I)RE
6	Politician’s anger with posh Lord’s official? (6)
	UMPIRE—M(ember of) P(arliament) IRE “with” (coming before it) U for “posh.” “Politician’s anger” has to be read as “Politician has anger,” which always irks me a bit because one so rarely hears this particular elision in real life (as opposed to the contraction of “has” as a helping verb).
7	Aberrant mad and racist histrionics (9)
	DRAMATICS—(mad + racist)*
8	Governmentsreshuffling amid transitions (15)
	ADMINISTRATIONS—(amid transitions)*
9	Soldiers might be prepared before one goes off (3,5)
	EGG TIMER—Cryptic definition, “soldiers” being little strips of toast for sticking into soft-boiled eggs at breakfast
15	Hot chapdoing Rome with a bad temperature (9)
	DREAMBOAT—(ROME + A BAD T[emperature])*
16	Give a hand to break up upset cobblers (8)
	CLAPTRAP—CLAP + PART <—
18	Party in possibly automatic Golf tailed guard (8)
	WATCHDOG—“automatic” is kind of WATCH (hence “possibly”), which has “Party,” or DO, between it and G(olf), or “in” them
21	Finish cut on black, short hair all at once (2,4)
	EN BLOC—EN[-d] or “Finish cut” + B(lack) + LOC[-k] or “short hair”
23	Object veterinarian used to restrain bird (5)
	DEMUR—The vet is a DR, holding that flightless wonder the EMU
25	Cost oftreasure (5)
	VALUE—Double definition, though the two are not so disparate as to produce any kind of spark

Unless you’re very experienced you are unlikely to solve a Mephisto without using Chambers. The idea is that you use the precise wordplay to derive an answer that you then verify in the dictionary. 5A is a perfect example.

This was a very pleasant puzzle of average complexity. It included a memory jog for Saturday Morning Pictures and the cowboy films starring Roy Rogers, Tom Mix, etc. Those were the days!

In the clues, definitions are underlined. Wordplay explanation is followed by very helpful comments.

ACROSS

1 Extremist in bizarre rituals is thrown out (5)
ULTRA: (rituals – is)*;
5 Pleased to keep one favoured cereal ingredient (7)
GLIADIN: GL(I)AD-IN; a protein in gluten;
11 Your setter finally tails off? The reverse, lots on offer here (8)
SALEROOM: MOORE(y)-LAS(t);
12 Matrix ducks accommodating extreme Brazilian state (10, two words)
MATO,GROSSO: MAT-O(GROSS)O;
13 Dislike days without a course of action ending in victory (8)
DYSPATHY: D(a)YS-PATH-(victor)Y;
16 Sheep shelter from sun on hill (5)
STELL: S-TELL; S=sun; hill=TELL;
17 Very good old van for youngster or banger from the Gorbals? (4)
PIOY: PI-O-Y(oungster); a firework in Fife;
18 Two notes on long, decorative braid (8)
SOUTACHE: SO-UT-ACHE;
19 Seattle plant succeeded with present and former President (8)
SNOWBUSH: S-NOW-BUSH;
21 Flies back for boring thing in Scotland (4)
STOB: BOTS reversed;
23 Perfume ingredient: get it in Middle Eastern state, no question (5)
ATTA: (Qu)AT(‘T)A;
26 Spring roll said to be refined (8)
WELLBRED: WELL-sounds like “bread”;
27 Heraldic animals formerly seen in French city square (10)
LIONCELLES: LI(ONCE)LLE-S;
28 Weapon’s protective covering whitish as mentioned (8)
ARMALITE: sounds like “armour”-“light”;
29 Wyn, once a gorgeous lady is Sorbian (7)
WENDISH: WEN-DISH; WEN= old word for wyn;
30 Fox TV’s latest: 9/11 vacuously presented (5)
VIXEN: (t)V-IX-E(leve)N;

DOWN
1 Clapped-out like a brolly (6)
USED-UP: USED-UP;
2 Seasons in the case of Blackpool: rainy or windy! (12)
LABYRINTHINE: (in the bl rainy)*; bl from B(lackpoo)L;
3 Highland forecaster upset by cuts (5)
REAPS: SPAER reversed;
4 Article about large Mediterranean units (5)
ARTAL: ART-A-L; unit of weight, see rotl in Chambers;
6 Record gambling game in cabin (8)
LOG-HOUSE: LOG-HOUSE; Bingo was once known as HOUSE;
7 Insectivore not popular in a south-eastern state (6)
AGOUTA: AG(OUT)A;
8 Short written treatise on area not special for examiner (9)
DISSECTOR: DISS-(s)ECTOR;
9 Is the outline styled as such? (12, two words)
IN, SILHOUETTE: (is the outline)*; nice clue;
10 Head, / one ending in the soup (6)
NOODLE: two meanings;
14 Film unhappy defeat (9, two words)
SHOOT, DOWN: SHOOT-DOWN;
15 University in turn mocks sexual disease? Supposedly (8)
GOUJEERS: GO-U-JEERS; Waggle-Dagger for VD;
19 Quite filling spread with pasty (6)
SALLOW: S(ALL)OW;
20 Rod reportedly became pale (6)
WANNED: sounds like “wand”;
22 Outlaws second-class guys seeking publicity (6)
BADMEN: B-ADMEN; Jack Palance, Lee Marvin, the ones with the black hats whilst Roy Rogers et al wore white
24 Irishman who’s learned nothing lost office (5)
OLLAV: O-L-LAV; office=slang for toilet; I don’t understand “lost” = L
25 Honour given to lecturer, one showing marks on script (5)
OBELI: OBE-L-I;

Times Cryptic No 27156 - Saturday, 29 September 2018. Blowing in the wind.

Times Cryptic Jumbo 1344: No Time To Stay Outdoors And Spoon

Sunday Times 4818 by Dean Mayer

Mephisto 3031 - Don Manley

QC 1195 by Hurley

Times 27163 - All you ever get from me!

Times Quick Cryptic 1196 by Orpheus

Times Cryptic 27164

Quick Cryptic 1197 by Joker

Times 27165 - have I done the right puzzle?

Times Cryptic No 27166 Thursday, 11 October 2018 I is Adam

Times Quick Cryptic No 1198 by Teazel

Times Quick Cryptic No 1199 by Tracy

Times 27,167: Joculus Riffed

Mephisto 3030 by Paul McKenna

Times 27,167: Joculus Riffed

Times Cryptic No 27162 - Saturday, 06 October 2018. Parish pumps primed?

Jumbo 1345

Sunday Times Cryptic 4819, by David McLean — Comma chameleon

Mephisto 3032 Tim Moorey starring Jack Palance and Lee Marvin