I’m going to be accused of peacocking again if I say that this was a doddle… so instead I’ll say that it was an enjoyable, playful puzzle, with a nice mix of mechanisms; a lovely way to start the day, and no complaints from this quarter. Thank-you, Orense.
ACROSS
1. CUT AND DRIED Double definition
7. DIP Double definition: “decline, sink” and “quick swim”
10. OFFSPRING Off [out of form] + spring [season of the year]
11. PROMENADE Rome [city] within anagram ofpedan(t)
12. OFTEN (S)often [mellow]
13. LINNETS Lin(e) [range] + nets [profits] to give a particularly twittery species of finch
15. TOAD Hidden in naTO ADvisor
18. NOUS No us(e) [useless]
20. JAYWALK Jay [tweeter, used in a very general sense to include all perching birds] + reversal of law [rule] + K [king]
23. UNZIP Un [‘a’ in French] + zip [Americanism meaning ‘nothing’]
24. PUNCH BOWL Punch [strike] + bow [front (of ship)] + l [line]
26. PERPETUAL Anagram of applet ru(d)e
27. VYING Yin [Chinese principle of shadow, complementary to yang, light] within VG [very good]
28. EMS Hems [edges] minus H [hospital]
29. EQUIDISTANT Anagram of quantities + d(river)
DOWN
1. CATAPULT Cryptic definition
2. TRICORNE Anagram of town crier minus W [wife]
3. NUDGE G [musical key] within nude [with nothing on]
4. DEODARS O [old] + D [dead] within dears [darling]
5. INFLECT Fl [fluorine] within anagram of client
6. DIPLOMACY Diploma [award from college] + c(elebrit)y
7. DRIFTS D [day] + rifts [breaks]
8. PAGING P [quiet] + aging [getting on]
14. EXOSPHERE Anagram of expose her
16. MAJOLICA Majo(r) [officer] + L [left] + IC [in charge] + a
17. SKYLIGHT K(enn)y within slight [flimsy]
19. SEPPUKU Anagram of pukes up to give the term for Japanese ritual disembowelling (not one to dwell on before breakfast)
20. JANGLED J [Jack] + angled [approached obliquely]
21. RUMPLE MP [Member of Parliament, legislator] within rule [legislation]
22. AZORES A [area] + Z [unknown] + ores [minerals]
25. HAVES Hidden in furnisH A VESsel
Thanks Ringo – agree with your comments and thanks also to Orense.
There’s a minor error in the parsing of 5d – the chemical symbol for fluorine is just F.
This was fun, though I was stymied for a while by 20 across- I had written in SKYLARK (assuming definition= “tweeter”) based upon the Y, A & K, which led to problems with 20d. Got there in the end though- a lesson to never write a clue in just because it fits!
Thanks, Ringo. But you seem to have omitted 9a:
TRIED = R [river] within TIED [bound]