Across
1 CRUISE – “crews”
4 LACERATE – lace, rate
9 LEDGER – L(edge)R
10 GOODWOOD – Guessable from wordplay. A racing course in England.
12 FALLS DUE – F(all)s due* – “under duress” is the anag. signal.
16 ANTENNA – a, n, tenna (“tenner”) – The def. “provides good feeling” does not point to a noun and maybe that is why there is the question mark at the end of the clue.
20 CHINWAG – chin, wag
26 FREE FALL – f(reef)all – One can solve this clue with just the definition
28 CALORIES – anag. of ‘close air’ – I don’t get the drift of the surface reading.
29 Not solved
30 THROTTLE
31 Not solved
Down
1 COLD FEET – One might have these if one were wearing “inadequate hose”.
2 UNDULATE – un(dulat*)e
3 SPEISS – S(PE is)S – The clue does not really indicate that the word required is a noun. Not an everyday word but easily obtainable from wordplay.
7 ADONIS – anag. of ‘is on ad’
8 ELDEST – anag. of ‘setled’ after removing t (time) from ‘settled’. This raises a question. The word ‘settled’ has two t’s but we are required to remove only one ‘t’. In such situations should the clue-writer give suitable direction?
11, 14 RUNNING REPAIRS – The surface reading is no great shakes. Do repairs bring about improvements, I wonder.
17 THEOCRAT – rather a straightforward def.
18 Not solved
19 Not solved – I do see the stuttering element yet I am unable to get the answer immediately.
24 REFILL – ref.,i’ll
18d – I have ‘malarkey’ for this but can’t see the work-play.
19d – ‘table top’ – (able in t-top)
29a – ticket – he is on the train when he checks it.
31a – play up -(shades of Vitai Lampada at school, play up, play up and play the game)
I agee with your comments – perhaps not the most satisfying of puzzles. ‘Antenna’ did not seem very exact.
“18d – I have ‘malarkey’ for this but can’t see the work-play.”
‘malar’ – of or relating to the cheek
‘key’ – a set of answers to problems
IMO a slightly deficient clue in that ‘answer’ should have been in the plural.
Thanks Geoff. Malar is a new word for me – if I ever knew the Latin for cheek-bone I had certainly forgotten it!