Excellent puzzle from Phi, thought it was going to be relatively easy when I got both 14-letter entries on first run through, but I found it was tricky in both SW and particularly NE corners. Solving time, 24 mins. Nina: see end
* = anagram < = reversed
ACROSS
1 MO DISH
4 S(t)IMULATE Two ts in ‘stimulate’ so only the first t = time is ‘missing’
10 DEFRAUDER (Fared rude)*
11 (c)LOSER My last entry
12 SYNERGY (Angry yes)* less a
13 CUT BACK TUC< Amusing surface
14 L AT CH
15 TUN(G)S TEN ten = quite a few
18 S (HANG) HA I (has)*
20 PIT TA
23 BURG(H)ER Excellent surface
25 A GRIP PA
26 OCEAN (Nae Co)< Tricky
27 CELE(B)RITY Brabham was a racing driver
28 DISPERS E (spread is )* less a 3 spreads in the clue
29 REJE CT (jeer)*
DOWN
1 MO (D E) STLY last letters (finishes)
2 D E (FUN) CT (etc)*
3 SEA URCHIN U in SEARCHIN(g)
5 IRRECONCILABLE (One circle Blair)*
6 UN(L)IT &lit
7 A SSUAG E (Gauss)< e = base for logarithms
8 EUREKA Very good – refers to the story of Archimedes running naked around Syracuse just (seconds) after discovering his most famous law. Means ‘I found it’ in Greek.
9 A DAY AT THE RACES Crossword antennae when they see ‘Marx’ tend to ask which – this is a Marx Brothers film from 1937 that I’d heard of (can’t remember if I’ve seen) so this went in straight away.
16 S(am)E PARABLE Brilliant surface
17 CA (TAL(l)Y)ST
19 HAR (N) ES S n = van’s third (letter) Not sure if you’d get to seventy in third gear…
21 TOP SIDE
22 A B-ROAD Excellent, definition ‘in Germany, say’
24 HINGE Hidden
HUGGER MUGGER
Great blog nmsindy, thank you. I enjoyed this one too. I just got stuck in the NE, I didn’t pick up Gauss I’m afraid to say.
I guessed that a Day at the Races must be a Marx Brothers film, but hadn’t bothered to check, so thanks for confirming that. Loser was my last entry as well.
Thanks for the post, nmsindy – this puzzle was very enjoyable, I thought. The misdirection in 22 down is very nice – having got the crossing ‘B’ I was trying to think of homophones of “bahn” for some time 🙂