I have two clues to go but my blog can’t wait any longer.
4dn is clue of the puzzle for me.
Across
1 HYSTERIA – anag. of this year
5 SHREWD – cha. of shrew, d. Scold is v. in surface reading but a noun as indicator for the component reqd.
9 STOPOVER – I got this from the def. ‘the night’s billet’ – full anno elusive at the moment.
10 Not solved (On edit) See Comments below for solution.
12 LATCH – ha. in halL AT CHatsworth
13 ARISTOTLE – anag. of to realist
14 ROOKIE – cha. of rook, i.e.
16 PREFACE – c/c. – ref in pace – Wouldn’t the singular ‘preliminary’ itself sufficed as the def.?
19 HANGDOG – cha. of hang, dog – ‘defeated’ does a switcheroo as adj. for the def. of the word reqd.
21 CATNAP – cha. of cat, nap – nap in the sense of a certainty is from racing.
23 UNCHARTED – anag. of cure hadnt
25 CHAIR – cha. of ch, air
26 DROOPY – c/c – oop in dry
27 OVERSTAY – cha. of over ([six] deliveries), stay – Haven’t figured out how ‘river’ gives stay.
(On edit) Actually, it’s overs, Tay. Thanks to Eileen for setting me right.
28 RESIDE – deleting p from preside
29 PRESERVE – cha. of P, reserve
Down
1 HUSTLE – anag. of sleuth
2 SHOOT DOWN – cha. of shoot (film, v.) down
3 EPOCH – rev. of h., cope
4 ITERATE – deleting l from literate
6 HEARTBEAT – cha. of hear (pick up), T., beat – The def. is lost on me.
7 EDICT – c/c – c in edit
8 Not solved (On edit) See Comments below for solution.
11 LISP – c/c – s in lip (rudeness)
15 KIDNAPPED – cha. of kid, napped
17 ALABASTER – got this from def. (stone) – Is the cluetype C/c and the parsing baste (hammer, v.) in Alar? Not sure. I don’t find any reference for Alar = god. Help!
(On edit) Which I got from Eileen. See comments below.
18 SHOULDER – cha. of should (ought), e, r (ERitrean leaders)
20 GOTH – cha. of got, h.
21 CADAVER – c/c – Dave in car
22 GROYNE – anag. of Grey on – An opportunity for a homophone clue was lost, perhaps, I thought, but see below.
24 CROSS – two def.
25 CERES – homophone of series (succession)
Good morning, Rishi
10ac: MARI[N]A
8dn: DIAMETER = calibre [of bullet] D[I AM]ETER
17dn You were nearly there – A Lar was a Roman household god.
Thanks, Eileen.
In 8dn I couldn’t get out of the mindset ‘put off = DEFER’.
In 10ac I did think of N but Maria didn’t come to mind, though I knew thefemale name as a character in Twelfth Night. There the def. “port” held me up. If it were “beach” I would have got it instantly. BTW, please google for Marina beach – one of the loveliest parts of Madras that is Chennai.
Thanks for that, Rishi: it looks beautiful – especially on a dank January English morning. [I keep promising myself a trip to India.]
I forgot to say [6dn] HEARTBEAT was a Buddy Holly song 50 years ago. You can hear that, courtesy of Google, too!
Me again – something else I forgot: 27ac; ‘deliveries’ usually does mean ‘over’ but this time it’s OVERS and the river is the TAY [longest river in Scotland].
Hi Rishi
It seems Eileen has only left me one on which to comment.
9a POTS (kitty’s) reversed OVER (left)
Thanks, Geoff.
Ah, yes! I remember the “kitty parties” that these women organise! The false capitalisation put me off the scent!