An enjoyable crossword with a couple of clues having intricate elements in wordplay. Since I began blogging here, this is the third Neo puzzle that I solved, the other two being 12719 and 12784.
Across
1 CRISES – c, rises
5 SEAFARER – se(afar)er
9 SANCTION – (contains)*, ‘redraft’ is a lovely anagrind. But I am afraid the surface reading of this clue is not smooth
10 AGREED– a, greed (a deadly sin)
11 DECIDE – I think this is the answer, ‘conclude’ being the def. I am yet to see the wordplay in this deletion clue. (On edit: See comments below)
12 Not solved (On edit: PORT ERIN from ‘porter in’)
14 EVEN-TEMPERED – cryptic def.
18 INTERSTELLAR – (r n satellite)*, r – ‘travelling’ is the anagrind for you.
22 MESSMATE – mess, (meat)*
25 CANCAN – can, can
26 CALLER – C, aller (Fr., to go) – I don’t accept the def. ‘salesperson’, even though this might be a door-to-door salesperson.
27 APOLOGIA – a (polo,GI) a
28 BEVERAGE – B, ever,age – Ask Uncle Yap.
29 SISTER – two def.
Down
2 READER – rea(d e)r – How ‘Tower’ gives ‘rear’ I don’t know. is it tow-er?
3 SACRILEGE – ‘crile’ (anag. of ‘relic’) in ‘sage’
4 SPINELESS – s, pine less – Is ‘no such’ all right? Should it be ‘not much coniferous trees’ giving ‘pine less’?
5 SUNSPOT – sun,spot
6 Not solved (On edit: ADAIR. See comment below)
7 AERIE – (Erie, a)<
8 EYELINER – cryptic def. – an eyeliner accentuates (gives definition to) the eye (looker)
13 TAP – (Pat)<
15 MALICIOUS – malic(Io)us* – Io is a satellite of the planet Jupiter
16 ERRONEOUS – “mistaken” is the def. – Queen gives ER… I am yet to see the rest of the wordplay… one minute, just got it… ‘difficult’ is onerous – when the king rises, it becomes ‘roneous’, which comes after ER. Phew.
17 UNDERAGE – UN (United Nations), (derage)* – ‘disagree’ is the anagrind, whether you like it or not
19 RAM – R (take, from ‘recipe’ (L)),a, M(from Monsieur), ‘butter’ being crosswordese for one that butts.
20 ELEVATE – two def. (though not a very good example of such a clue)
21 Not solved (On edit: MA(X)INE)
23 SALVE – sal(v)e
24 AORTA – rev. hidden in ‘CraighAT ROAd’, ‘driven north’ being the rev. hidden ind. in this Down light
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