Guardian Quiptic N° 657, by Moley

Moley gives us a pleasant variety of devices clueing mostly familiar word – which fills the Quiptic description very adequately.

	Across
7.	Tribunal to convey suit (9)
	COURTSHIP	A charace of COURT (‘tribunal’) + SHIP (‘to convey’).
8.	It’s pleasant to hug husband in recess (5)
	NICHE	An envelope (‘to hug’) of H (‘husband’) in NICE (‘pleasant’).
9.	Song to sing in the nude (9)
	BARCAROLE	An envelope (‘in’) of CAROL (‘sing’) in BARE (‘nude’; ‘in the nude’ would give a better fit, with ‘in’ doing double duty). A barcarole is a gondolier’s song.
10.	Vowing to lose five, being in debt (5)
	OWING	[v]OWING without V (‘losing five’).
12.	Backlash from river: source of E coli, perhaps (6)
	RECOIL	A charade of R (‘River: source of’) + ECOIL (‘perhaps’). ‘source of’ is equivocal: it is perhaps best regarded as an indication that the first letter of ‘river’ is to be taken (although R is a standard abbreviation for river without any further elucidation).
13.	Nice girl could be more emotionally dependent (8)
	CLINGIER	An anagram (‘could be’) of ‘nice girl’.
16.	Rescue bear (7)
	DELIVER	Double definition.
19.	No French added to puzzle (7)
	NONPLUS	A charade of NON (‘no French’) + PLUS (‘added to’)
22.	Fluent transformation of student to queen (8)
	ELOQUENT	An anagram (‘transformation’) of L (‘student’) + ‘to queen’.
25.	Dumb — ie not properly penetrated (6)
	IMBUED	An anagram (‘not properly’) of ‘dumb ie’.
27.	Greek for Room at the Top (5)
	ATTIC	Double definition.
28.	Hit trouble, despite double illumination (9)
	LAMPLIGHT	A charade of LAM (‘hit’) + PLIGHT (‘trouble’). I take it that ‘despite double’ is intended to indicate that LAMP and LIGHT are synonyms.
29.	First character in the set’s incomplete: bet’s off! (5)
	ALPHA	ALPHA[bet] (‘set’) with ‘bet’s off’. Alpha is the first character of the Greek alphabet.
30.	Cheat a sculptor? (9)
	CHISELLER	Double definition.

	Down
1.	Capone involved in more team spirit (6)
	MORALE	An envelope (‘in’) of AL (‘Capone’) in ‘more’.
2.	Greens, the cause of little brother’s awful colic (8)
	BROCCOLI	A charade of BRO (‘little brother’) + CCOLI, an anagram (‘awful’) of ‘colic’. Greens are more commonly leaf vegetables, but might cover broccoli as well.
3.	Wrecked altars, resembling stars (6)
	ASTRAL	An anagram (‘wrecked’) of ‘altars’.
4.	Idiom in which to ring English council tenant initially (7)
	DIALECT	A charade of DIAL (‘ring’) + E C T (‘English Council Tenant initially’).
5.	Large locks for VIP (6)
	BIGWIG	A charade of BIG (‘large’) + WIG (‘locks’).
6.	Coinage conversion (6)
	CHANGE	Double definition.
11.	Store soil, after a fashion (4)
	SILO	An anagram (‘after a fashion’) of ‘soil’. ‘Store’ as a noun in the definition.
14.	Complaint from mill worker (3)
	ILL	An answer hidden (‘from’) in ‘mILL‘; ‘worker’ is just along for the ride. The light is ILL as a noun meaning ailment.
15.	Estate agents’ desirable place to live (3)
	RES	From the estate agent’s abbreviation DES RES (desirable residence), and RES as an abbreviation for reservation, perhaps.
16.	Teacher abandons desire to reach river (3)
	DEE	A subrtraction (‘abandons’) of SIR (‘teacher’) from DE[sir]E.
17.	Sign of a big cat (3)
	LEO	Double definition.
18.	Original woman’s right? Always! (4)
	EVER	A charade of EVE (‘original woman’; discounting Lilith) + R (‘right’).
20.	Bar to Lily carrying 100 without concealment (8)
	PUBLICLY	A charade of PUB (‘bar’) + an envelope (‘carrying’) of C (‘100’ Roman numeral) in ‘Lily’.
21.	Diplomat’s case (7)
	ATTACHE	Double definition.
23.	Allow insect to attack (3,3)
	LET FLY	A charade of LET (‘allow’) + FLY (‘insect’).
24.	Guatemalan savoury pie (6)
	QUICHE	Double definition. The Quiché are a Mayan people of Guatemala, and a quiche is a savoury custard tart, with the quiche Lorraine as the best known example.
25.	Road up: ship’s run into arch (6)
	IMPISH	A charade of IM, a reversal (‘up’) of MI ( M 1, the UK motorway) + PISH, an anagram (‘run’) of ‘ship’.
26.	Repeated code he designed (6)
	ECHOED	An anagram (‘designed’) of ‘code he’.