A solve of two halves for me – all but 25ac and a handful in the SE corner went in very quickly, while the rest took two or three more sessions, a bit of brute-force work and perhaps even some mild cheating. Still, I got there and can have no grumbles about any of the clues.
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | AFEARED – EAR in A FED. |
| 6 | APSIS – AP + S + IS. |
| 10 | ROLLING STONE – ST in (ROLLING + ONE). |
| 11 | OWLER – [b]OWLER. “Runs” in the smuggling sense. |
| 12 | VACUATE – A in (V + ACUTE). |
| 13 | BEGUNKED – BEGUN + KED. |
| 15 | DIP IN – DI + PIN. |
| 18 | OSMOMETER – (SEEM + MOTOR)*. “I’ll assess solution” is a nicely misleading definition here. |
| 20 | OGEN MELON – MEL in (0 GEN ON). |
| 23 | DOUAI – D + (A in OUI). |
| 25 | FIRBOLGS – (GIRLS OF B[elfast])*. Solving was slightly slowed by not finding this unfamiliar term in Chambers, but the wordplay is clear and the unusual checking letters meant it could be little else. |
| 26 | LEISURE – (1 + SUR[e]) in LEE. |
| 27 | BIKIE – 1 in (BK + IE). |
| 28 | ACCELERATION – (LACE CREATION)*. The def “I’m represented by a…” was very cleverly hidden. |
| 29 | BEAUT – U in BEAT. |
| 30 | PSCHENT – SCH in PENT. |
| Down | |
| 1 | A-ROAD – A[b]ROAD. |
| 2 | FOWLING-PIECE – hom. of “fouling peace”. |
| 3 | ELLIPSE – E + SPILL< + [gam]E. |
| 4 | ALERIONS – from AILERONS, “with I out of place”. |
| 5 | ENVERMEIL – (NEVER LIME)*. |
| 6 | ASCUS – CU in ASS. |
| 7 | SOAKS – OAK in SS. |
| 8 | INTENERATION – ERA in INTENTION. |
| 9 | SEEDERS – E[nemy] D[efences] in SEERS. |
| 14 | GEOLOGERS – GOOGLE* + E[ach] R[esearch] S[tudy]. |
| 16 | XENOLITH – (H + OIL NEXT)*. |
| 17 | CONFLAB – CON + FLAB. |
| 19 | TRUCKIE – RUCK in TIE. |
| 21 | ERICA – IRE< + CA. |
| 22 | OULT – L in POUT. |
| 24 | IDENT – DEN in IT &lit. |