Sunday Times 4676 by Jeff Pearce - no bawl

10 minutes on the nose, but with one ‘error’. I whizzed through most of this, but was slowed down a little by a couple of clues.

The first was 9ac, where I could see what was required but it took me a while to sort the anagram fodder into the right places. Obscure words clued by anagrams are a bit of a pet peeve of mine, but it seemed reasonably clear where the letters were supposed to go in this case.

My second problem was 16ac, where I saw immediately that the clue was ambiguous and spent a few minutes agonising over which might be the required answer. The last time this happened I managed it by picking the definition that was at the end of the clue, but that wasn’t possible here, since both possible definitions are at the end. On reflection I decided that “bouncer, say, heard” was a marginally more natural reading for a homophone than “heard to cry”, and put in BAWL. In reality though this a coin toss: either answer is perfectly valid so a discussion about which is marginally more valid is pointless.

If this puzzle was test-solved (which I assume it was) I confess I’m rather surprised that this got through, since the ambiguity is so glaring. But we’re all human, including crossword setters and editors, so no matter. Whichever answer you put in, I suggest you award yourself a successful completion and stop worrying about it. You have a Dean Mayer puzzle waiting for you and it’s not going to solve itself.

Across
1	Linen flower on short American entertainer
	CAMBRIC - CAM (river = flower), BRICe. I put this in from the definition and CAM with absolutely no idea who the entertainer might be. A bit of googling suggests that it’s Fanny BRICE, who was the subject of the film Funny Girl. I expect there will be a marked age divide between those who have heard of her and those who haven't.
5	Summon gang during drink
	SCREW UP - S(CREW)UP. Chambers defines this as ‘to summon up (courage, etc)’: I can’t think of an etc.
9	Drunk ape drinks aromatic liquid
	SPIKENARD - (APE DRINKS)*. An essential oil, apparently.
10	One cuts a device that supports front of rusty pipe
	BRIAR - BR(I)A, Rusty. I know that a BRIAR is a pipe from previous crosswords, I think. That’s definitely how I know that a churchwarden is also a pipe.
11	Greek Island imports American produce
	CREATE - CRE(A)TE.
12	With no idea how this puzzle started
	CLUELESS - conjuring up an image of the setter contemplating a blank grid.
14	Drive to tour?
	WANDERLUST - a CD cunningly disguised as a DD.
16	Bouncer, say, heard to cry
	BALL - sounds like ‘bawl’, or...
16	Bouncer, say, heard to cry
	BAWL - sounds like ‘ball’. Harrumph.
18	Kit — second for Manchester City
	RIGA - RIG, mAnchester.
19	Expressionist movie plot is more complicated
	METROPOLIS - (PLOT IS MORE)*. I’m not sure I’d have been able to tell you that this was an expressionist movie, but I knew it was a (very early) movie, and that was enough.
22	New statue I’d located
	SITUATED - (STATUE I’D)*.
23	Perhaps Rip Van Winkle’s cure?
	KIPPER - what you do to a herring to produce, er, a KIPPER. I like them a lot but I have never understood why anyone would want to eat them for breakfast.
26	Follow first of tourists to bar
	TRAIL - Tourists, RAIL (bar).
27	Game nobleman has drink
	COUNTDOWN - COUNT (nobleman), DOWN (drink, usually in the context of a pint). A game played on the telly that I have never watched and still associate with Carol Whatsername.
28	On the wholeit protects clothes
	OVERALL - DD. I’m more used to seeing the clothing version in the plural, but the singular is also in use and seems to denote something slightly different: a protective coat rather than a boiler suit. In the plural it's also what North Americans call dungarees.
29	Shorten a spanner
	ABRIDGE - because to span is to BRIDGE.

Down
1	Carbon residue on Jersey, perhaps, is a money-spinner
	CASH COW - C (Carbon), ASH (residue), COW (Jersey, perhaps). Not the most precise of definitions for those of us familiar with the BCG matrix, but close enough.
2	Tall grass labyrinth I entered
	MAIZE - MA(I)ZE.
3	Opening information about old physicist
	ROENTGEN - R(O)ENT, GEN. Willem Röntgen, discoverer of X-rays and winner of the first Nobel Prize in Physics.
4	Gas a bird
	CHAT - DD.
5	The gall of the rider!
	SADDLE SORE - CD. One of the meanings of ‘gall’ is a ‘sore due to chafing’ (Chambers). It can also be a ‘painful swelling’ in a horse, coincidentally.
6	Material part of 29 tournament?
	RUBBER - I don’t know what RUBBER is in the context of bridge, but I know it’s a thing.
7	Halt while changing admin staff here
	WHITEHALL - (HALT WHILE)*. I’m not sure all the denizens of WHITEHALL would appreciate being called ‘admin staff’, but you get the idea.
8	Fighters look around for shade
	PARASOL - PARAS, then LO reversed (around).
13	Censor? Presumably Picasso had one for a period!
	BLUE PENCIL - because Picasso famously had a blue period.
15	Punk German hit is an awful experience
	NIGHTMARE - (GERMAN HIT)*.
17	Bolt, say, front of stapler to machine in an office
	SPRINTER - Stapler, PRINTER.
18	Is Roman Emperor following right Italian course?
	RISOTTO - R, IS, OTTO.
20	One leaves Tangiers resort for rum
	STRANGE - (TANGiERS)*.
21	Girl after dad is a dish
	PAELLA - PA, ELLA. Our tour of the rice dishes of Southern Europe continues.
24	Boastful United in bar at conclusion of championship
	PROUD - championshiP, RO(U)D.
25	Bath with a bit of brass
	TUBA - TUB, A.