A quick, and possibly unreliable, search shows this to be only Juno's fourth puzzle - the previous one being QC 430, all the way back in November 2015. On that occasion, blogged by Jack, there was a nina (a hidden theme), revealing part of a poem by Thomas Hood lamenting November, "no flowers, no leaves, no birds! - November!". (On the plus side, a year-and-a-half down the line, no 2016 yet either.) I'm much too unobservant to look out for ninas, and wouldn't even have done so today unless prompted by this. So, in contrast to the main puzzle, there's clearly something of an election theme going on: we have a 1d 1ac, even a "1d 1ac 10ac - 9ac!" A clear bid to offset voter fatigue, I'd say, as it will have you scurrying off to the polls in joy or dread in equal measure. We certainly have various mentions of parties and things electoral, and if Mrs May's middle name began with a "T", we could 6d 19d 23ac 24ac - which would work as a neutral double definition, as "put down" can mean either to select for office or depose from office. As you can see, I'm quite hopeless at this, so I think I'll leave it there. As for the puzzle itself: an excellent offering, with lots of witty, inventive, concise cluing that flowed together very nicely courtesy of the six anagrams, taking me a notch over the 10 min mark as a result - very many thanks to Juno, and I hope we don't have to wait as long for another!
| Across | |
| 1 | Dangerous movement in which Linda’s led astray (9) LANDSLIDE: anagram (astray) of LINDAS LED |
| 6 | Girl father married (3) PAM: PA (father) M(arries) |
| 8 | Very goodfish! (5) BRILL: double definition |
| 9 | Female lieutenant going to monarch for protection (7) SHELTER: SHE (female) Lt. (lieutenant) ER (monarch) |
| 10 | Progressing beneath street (5,3) UNDER WAY: UNDER (beneath) WAY (street) |
| 11 | Politician spinning 50 percent of tommyrot (4) TORY: spinning 50% = half reversing of tommYROT. |
| 13 | Her ten giant blunders constituting a menace (11) THREATENING: anagram (blunders) of HER TEN GIANT. |
| 17 | Canvassing part of tent as one speaks (4) POLL: or POLE (part of tent), when spoken. |
| 18 | Witty remarks from salesman, skill and energy doubled (8) REPARTEE: REP (salesman) ART (skill) and E(nergy), doubled. |
| 21 | Generous interpretation of braille (7) LIBERAL: anagram (interpretation) of BRAILLE. |
| 22 | Rawpart of course (5) GREEN: double definition, relating to naivety and golf respectively. |
| 23 | Restedpart of the weekend (3) SAT: double definition. |
| 24 | A month in addition? Why not, I suppose (3,2,4) MAY AS WELL: MAY (a month) AS WELL (in addition) |
| Down | |
| 1 | Herculean task reducing flab ourselves (6) LABOUR: hidden in the reduced letters of fLAB OURselves. |
| 2 | Diana unusually displaying natural spirit (5) NAIAD: anagram (unusually) of DIANA. A naiad is a water nymph. |
| 3 | Female group of stars getting regular payments (8) SALARIES: SAL (female) ARIES (group of stars) |
| 4 | After coffee, perhaps, respond about a film repeat (7,6) INSTANT REPLAY: after INSTANT (coffee, perhaps) goes REPLY (respond), going about A. |
| 5 | Old PM’s paradise (4) EDEN: double definition. |
| 6 | Insult: what you can’t do to a good book! (7) PUTDOWN: cryptic definition, when you separate "putdown" into two words. |
| 7 | Try arm wrestling victim (6) MARTYR: anagram (wrestling) of TRY ARM. |
| 12 | Lee’s gran, confused, blows up (8) ENLARGES: anagram (confused) of LEES GRAN. |
| 14 | Article 21 in shed, an alternative to 8? (7) HALIBUT: HUT (shed), with a (article) LIB (21ac) going in. |
| 15 | Indicatesterms (6) SPELLS: double definition. |
| 16 | Marshy ground, not exactly level at first, for plant (6) FENNEL: FEN (marshy ground) NEL (not exactly level, at first) |
| 19 | Sappers in attendance (5) THERE: THE R(oyal) E(ngineers) are Sappers. |
| 20 | Collector of folk tales, mostly unpleasant (4) GRIM: GRIMm (collector of folk tales, mostly = dock the last letter). |