A mixed challenge
Across
9 HEARTACHE (anguish) HE (man) ART (skill) ACHE (longing)
10 GRIPE (complain) G[eorge] RIPE (ready)
11 UNCANNY (mysterious) UNC[le] (relative cut short) ANN (girl) [holida]Y
12 ODDBALL dd
13 TOR (rise) hidden in [audi]TOR[ium]
14 GENERATION X (those born after baby boomers) (EXONERATING)*
17 EXTRA dd
18 BUS (vehicle) SUB< (return of loan)
19 ROCKS dd
21 BAKED ALASKA (sweet) BAKED (hot and dry) A LA (like) SKA (music)
23 ROT (rubbish) hidden in [t]ROT[sky]
25 AVENGER (nemesis) ENG (English) in AVER (swear)
27 VIBRATE (swing) BRA (support) in VITE (quickly)
28 OF USE (practical) O (old) FUSE (combine)
29 ZERO-RATED (no tax) ZERO (nothing) RATED (worthy)
Down
1 THRUST dd
2 BACCARAT (cards) ACC (accountant) A (@) in BRAT (whippersnapper)
3 STAND GUARD (police) STAND (support) GUARD (railway official)
4 ICKY (most unpleasant) [d]ICKY (not well) minus D (dead)
5 BED OF ROSES (easy place) (SEEDS FOR B O)*
6 AGED (over the hill) DEGAS< (artist regressed) minus S (son)
7 VIRAGO (bad-tempered woman) A in VIRGO (sign)
8 REFLEXES (knee-jerk reactions) FLEX (cable) in SEER<
15 NOBEL PRIZE (top award) NO B (small business) EL (Spanish the) PRIZ E[xec]
16 THREADBARE (worn) (HERE TABARD)*
17 EMBLAZON (publicise) AZ (Arizona) in (M NOBLE)*
20 CURRANTS (dried fruit) sounds like CURRENTS (courses)
22 KEEP UP (stick with) KEE sounds like KEY (guide) PUP (young animal)
24 TRENDY (in) (DENTRY)* IT’S taken out of DENTISTRY
26 GLEE (fun) odd letters G[i]L[l] E[v]E[r]
27 VERY dd
( )* = anagram [ ] = omit dd = double definition < = reverse
Thanks Hamilton for an enjoyable puzzle and Jed for the blog. I found the NW corner the most difficult part. At about half way through I noticed that I had already needed 22 different letters. The very next answer I got was 17dn which gave the M, but there was no sign of J, Q, or W. No reason why there should be, of course.
2dn: I read this as ACCA for accountant, taking the “at” as a linking word.
15dn: I think this has to be BIZ for “small business”, so it parses as “NO plus {(EL PR) in BIZ} plus E.
16dn: “Especially” as an anagram lead does not work for me. Mind you, I really liked some of the other ones used in this crossword.
27dn: To me, this was by far the best of the double definition clues. Two completely different meanings with the same spelling.
Well Pelham B as opposed to the other PB round here, I guessed thrust, but not the DD part and vary light always gets me. Cheers Jed and Hamilton.