Smiffy has been sidetracked by some unforeseen commitments so apologies for the lateness of this post.
A straightforward solve today with all but about four answers being entered on the first pass through the clues. I cannot recollect anything that merits specific comment, good or bad, so let’s just say this was a workmanlike puzzle.
Across
1 SPHERE S[i]P (drink I avoided) HERE (present)
4 FARCICAL FAR (distant) C (century) I CAL[l] (term largely)
10 BANGALORE *(ALONG) in BARE (poor)
11 LIMIT M1 (road) in LIT (bed, in French)
12 TOOL [s]TOOL (seat lacking second)
13 GO TO PIECES GOT O (nothing) PIECES (bishops, chess)
15 RECOVER R[ace] E[merge] COVER (position in field, cricket)
16 ENAMEL NAME (celebrity) in EL (the, in Spanish)
19 ABACUS A C (city initially) in A BUS (vehicle)
21 SLANDER [i]SLANDER (Hebridean, say, rejecting leader)
23 ATTRACTIVE [close]T in *(TIE CRAVAT)
25 CROP dd
27 HAITI H (hot) AIT (island) I (island)
28 ATROCIOUS *(CAIROS OUT)
29 MUTINEER MU (Greek character) *(ENTIRE)
30 KENNEL KEN (man) NEL[l] (woman endlessly)
Down
1 SOB STORY *(BOSS) TORY (right-winger)
2 HANSOM CAB HANS (German) *(A COMB)
3 REAP RE[c]AP (summary having removed chapter)
5 ANEMONE A MEN (number of chaps) reversed ONE (individual)
6 CALL IT A DAY L (line) in *(A DAILY ACT)
7 COMIC CO (firm) MIC (Mike, microphone)
8 LATEST hidden in ‘cocktaiL AT ESTablishment’
9 HONOUR dd
14 EVACUATION E (English) U (university) in VACATION (holiday)
17 EIDERDOWN DO (party) in *(RED WINE)
18 PROPOSAL PROP (support) O (love) SAL (girl)
20 SATIATE T[rattoria] I[n] A[ugust] in *(A SET)
21 SEVERN S (sun) EVER (continuously) N (northern)
22 MAYHEM MAY (guitarist) HE (explosive) M[usic]
24 TWIST S (singular) in TWIT (fool)
26 ACRE A CRE[w] (group on board reduced)
Thanks for the post, Gaufrid. It was nice to have an easier puzzle to go through after today’s Rover and Bannsider. One thing I thought remarkable was how AIT for “island” stood out as being much more difficult vocabulary than everything else required here…
Hi Gaufrid and mhl
I learned AIT through crosswords, where it frequently crops up, but have not met with it elsewhere! I thought this was a really good clue.
I also liked 19ac: ABACUS must be one of the most frequently clued words but this was, for me, an original take.
Altogether, I found this a more satisfying puzzle than the Rover, which honestly didn’t cause me any problems but didn’t give me any satisfaction either – which bothers me, because I found myself at odds with people with whom I usually agree!
However, we seem to be in agreement about the Bannsider – a fiendishly clever puzzle!
Apologies if all this cross-talk is ‘off-topic’!
The ‘Chiswick ait’ crops up regularly during the boat race commentary (Oxford v Cambridge) so ‘ait’ should be common knowledge.