Straightforward puzzle today. Some of the wordplay uses lesser-known meanings of familiar words (such as to=shut, out=seawards), but nothing very obscure or controversial.
Across
1 PASTRY PA’S TRY. Nice surface.
4 TOP BRASS POT (prize) reversed + BRASS (money). Isn’t TOP BRASS showing up very often of late? Yesterday’s FT, and the last Everyman which had nearly the same clue.
10 TIGER MOTH dd
11 TROUT TR (Turkey) OUT (seawards)
12 NEAT dd
13 BILLPOSTER d&cd
15 NEUTRAL (RENAULT)*
16 ORIOLE O + (LOIRE)*
19 DEPART DE (ends of ‘desirable’) PART (role). This word again was in yesterday’s FT.
21 STEAMER (MASTER)* around E (end of ‘Cape’)
23 PASSED OVER PASSE (out-of-date) DOVER (port)
25 FUSS F (loud) US’S (American’s). Liked this.
27 DREAD DAD around RE
28 BALLERINA (IN BAR ALL)* around E
29 REMINDER RE (sapper i.e. Royal Engineer) MINDER (bodyguard). A reminders jogs the memory, so – jogger.
30 CAREER triple-def. e.g. she seeks a career (calling, noun), she is a career woman (professional, adj), watch the car career down the road (whizz, verb).
Down
1 PUT ON ONE PUT ON (present, as in, to carry out) ONE (unit). I’m not familiar with this phrase but it seems to fit.
2 SIGNATURE (ART GENIUS)* Clever choice of anagrind (pop).
3 RARE R (king) (EAR)*
5 OTHELLO TO (shut) reversed + HELLO
6 BATH OLIVER (THE BOVRIL)* around A
7 ABOUT A BOUT (contest). ‘engaged in’, as in, ‘Get me a book, and a cookie too while you’re about it.’
8 SATURN SA (it) TURN (go round)
9 SOCIAL (I ALSO)* around C
14 ARMAGEDDON A RM (jolly i.e. Royal Marine) AGED (old) DON (fellow)
17 LIMOUSINE LIMOUSIN (French region) E (end of ‘Lorraine’)
18 FRESH AIR FRESH (new) AIR (tune)
20 TROUBLE (BUTLER)* around O (round). ‘with’ is a connector I suppose…I wish it were avoided, it suggests an adverb meaning ‘with difficulty’.
21 STELLA STELLAR (excellent) – R
22 SPIDER (PRIDE’S)*
24 STEAM S TEAM (crew)
26 FETA hidden in ‘kniFE TAken’
Re 4: Falcon is Everyman I think
Yes. I can confirm that Falcon is Everyman. Obviously this is a lesson to all of us compilers not to repeat or present similar clues to the same solution in different puzzles in close proximity, ‘cos we’ll be found out!
I’m not knocking ‘Everyman’. He’s introduced me to the wonderful world of cryptics. It’s just that, as you say, clues often appear in close succession in different papers.
I noticed in yesterday’s Times ‘DECOCT’ clued in exactly the same way as in the FT a few weeks ago. Same setter?
Ask yourself how you would clue DECOCT and you’d probably come up with the two months — I know I did several years ago. So was that the clue you saw? But just imagine trying to think of a second clue for this intractable word!
Bradman, thanks. Yes the clue was the same (Mudd I think). I agree, a difficult word to clue, and one I wasn’t aware of unti I started doing cryptics.
No incredibly witty homophones allowed for that one then, should we suppose?