No real time for this: I spent 35 minutes on it, but I dozed off half way through, and then got fed up and cheated to get the last two or three obstinate answers.
This puzzle wasn't really to my taste I'm afraid. There are a couple of clues that are hard purely by dint of using obscure meanings of relatively familiar words, some cryptic definitions that I didn't enjoy, and some wordplay that to my eye at least is awkward. I've nothing against CDs in general but these just didn't float my boat. There's nothing really wrong with any of it so this is purely a matter of taste, and perhaps mild grumpiness.
| Across |
| 1 | Before start of fight heavyweight backed Prince a lot |
| NOT HALF - TON (heavyweight) backwards, then Prince HAL, all before F(ight). |
| 5 | Crushes relative |
| STEPSON - or STEPS ON. |
| 9 | Diamond is an American singer |
| SOLITAIRE - DD. A SOLITAIRE is 'an American or West Indian fly-catching thrush'. But you knew that already of course. |
| 10 | Host runs out in skimpy underwear |
| THONG - take an R out of THRONG. |
| 11 | Unorthodox priest's wittiness |
| ESPRIT - an anagram of PRIEST. |
| 12 | Uncovered runner disturbing course of events |
| STREAKER - cryptic definition. |
| 14 | A natural player might be using it |
| TUNING FORK - another cryptic definition. |
| 16 | Copper with degree on an island |
| CUBA - or Cu, B.A. |
| 18 | Hood caught wolf endlessly in disguise |
COWL - C (caught), then an anagram of WOLF. |
| 19 | China backed educational reformist going round about quickly! |
| GET A MOVE ON - a reversal of MATE inside Michael GOVE , then ON (about). The current Secretary of State for Education has been much in the news recently, although more for falling out with the Home Secretary than for his reforms. He is a reformer though, in the sense that he has taken an old Labour party policy and changed its name. |
| 22 | Scaremonger gets top celebs to carry weapon |
| ALARMIST - A-LIST containing ARM. |
| 23 | Warning doctor about onset of hepatitis |
| THREAT - H in TREAT. 'Doctor' is a verb here, of course. |
| 26 | Completely avoid an unpleasant thing |
| SHEER - DD. According to Chambers SHEER can mean 'to take onself off, esp to avoid something disagreeable'. I didn't know that, so this is one of the answers I checked before putting it in. I was tempted by CLEAR, which sort of fits. Hurdles are unpleasant things if you fail to avoid them at full speed... |
| 27 | Play it like Hendrix - no strings attached! |
| AIR GUITAR - I was looking for something to do with teeth, or the back of the head, or perhaps brilliance, but it's just a cryptic definition. I suppose an AIR GUITAR doesn't have any strings, but this seems a minor detail when set against the fact that it doesn't have any guitar. There are air guitar championships, you know. |
| 28 | Excessive silver in church dwelling |
| COTTAGE - a collection of crossword standards: OTT, Ag in CE. |
| 29 | Bucket clergyman put in Triumph |
| PREVAIL - REV inside PAIL. The wordplay here strongly suggests a word for 'clergyman' inside a word for 'triumph'. Technically the word order works this way round but I find it a little bit awkward. |
| Down |
| 1 | New American perfume being developed |
| NASCENT - N, A, SCENT. |
| 2 | I left upset ram without something it would eat? |
| TULIP - I, L upside down (upset) inside TUP (ram). Would a ram eat a TULIP? I suppose it would probably eat anything. |
| 3 | Are big cats unable to head off insects? |
| ANTLIONS - take the first letter off CAN'T LIONS (are big cats unable to) to get 'a neuropterous insect similar to a damselfly, whose larvae trap ants in a funnel-shaped sand-hole'. I'm pretty sure I've come across these before: it can only have been in a crossword. |
| 4 | Repulse thin metal sword |
| FOIL - double definition. 'Repulse' seems just a little bit loose to me. |
| 5 | Loud senator going around with tin |
| STENTORIAN - anagram of SENATOR and TIN. I probably wasn't alone in trying to get an F and Sn in here somewhere. |
| 6 | Hospital department about to finally serve main course |
ENTREE - ENT, RE (about) SERVE. To me an ENTREE is a starter, and 'main course' is distinctly North American usage. Perfectly familiar though and of course neither is correct. |
| 7 | Chef's aid holding 8? |
| STOCK CUBE - STOCK (holding), CUBE. 2 x 2 x 2 = 8. I'm sure we all tried to fit NIGERIA into this somehow. Not sure about the definition: no self-respecting chef would use one. |
| 8 | Country song, say, in reverse |
| NIGERIA - reversal of AIR, EG, IN. |
| 13 | Fragrance puddings possess? |
| AFTERSHAVE - or AFTERS, HAVE. |
| 15 | Shop with mint and herb books |
| NEWSAGENT - or NEW, SAGE, NT. |
| 17 | Shout about garden around conservatory |
| HOTHOUSE - an anagram of SHOUT inside HOE. |
| 18 | Indian drink in Cricket Club - Derby, say |
| CLASSIC - LASSI inside CC. The Derby Stakes at Epsom is one of the five Classics, the others being the 2,000 and 1,000 Guinea Stakes at Newmarket, the Oaks (also at Epsom) and the St Leger Stakes at Doncaster. |
| 20 | Ordinary person regarded as certain to qualify |
| NATURAL - double definition: one an adjective ('ordinary'), one a noun. I'm not entirely sure about the second but the answer was obvious. |
| 21 | Shadow one going in part of Italy |
| UMBRIA - I inside UMBRA. |
| 24 | Minor player added |
| EXTRA - straightforward double definition. |
| 25 | Part of Noddy's haircut |
| CROP - double definition. A noddy is a bird, so it has a CROP. |