Consistently good and quite hard too, thank you Dogberry.
The first solution I entered contained Z and very soon after found X and Y, so I was then led astray by trying to force the remaining solutions into a pangram. Only Q and J are missing, I wonder if this started out as a pangram attempt or if it is just chance?
Hold the mouse pointer over any clue number to read the clue.
| Across | ||
| 1 | COCKLE | COCK (bird) Laying Eggs (first letters of) – a shellfish |
| 4 | WARHORSE | A RO (first letters of rhapsody’s origins) in WORSE (inferior) – children’s novel by Michael Morpurgo |
| 9 | URANUS | UR (prefix meaning original) ANUS (orifice) |
| 10 | STARFISH | FIR* (anagram=diseased) in STASH (hoard) |
| 12 | PRINCESS | INC (incorporated) in PRESS (media branch) |
| 13 | SCREEN | CREE (indian) covered in SN (tin, chemical symbol) |
| 15 | TEAL | sTEAL (nick) missing head |
| 16 | SOUSAPHONE | SO (thus) UNE (the, as said in Paris) holds (embraces) SAPpHO (Grekk poet, half hearted) |
| 19 | GUIDELINES | DELI (food store) in GENIUS* (deranged=anagram) |
| 20 | STAB | BATS (mad) reversed (going west, right to left on map) – have a go at |
| 23 | MISSUS | MISS US (American beauty queen) – ‘dutch’ is slang for wife |
| 25 | RIGATONI | RIGA (capital of Latvia) with TON (100) and I (1, Roman numeral) – type of pasta |
| 27 | LAUDABLE | ELBA (island) DUAL (twin) reversed |
| 28 | DEVOUT | (DUE TO V)* v=five, conversion=anagram |
| 29 | NIGHTCAP | NIGH (comes close) to PACT (agreement) backing |
| 30 | KOSHER | HOoKERS* lovelorn=missing O (love, zero) |
| Down | ||
| 1 | CRUMPET | CRUET (jar) taking in (drinking) MP (politician), as opposed to ‘politician drinking jar’ |
| 2 | CHARIVARI | CHAV (yob) taking in (embracing) RI (religious instruction, scripture) and AIR* (anagram=dreadful) – a banging of pots, pans and general din-making |
| 3 | LAUNCH | A in LUNCH (meal) |
| 5 | ALTO | found in celestiAL TOrtoise |
| 6 | HARD COPY | COP (bobby) splits (sunders) Thomas HARDY |
| 7 | RHINE | HERNIa* (draining=losing A) anagram=developed |
| 8 | ENHANCE | HENNA* before CE (Church of England) |
| 11 | OSMOSIS | cOSMOS (everything, missing the start) IS |
| 14 | ASTERIX | REST* (anagram=disturbed) in AIX (Gallic city) – Asterix the Gaul |
| 17 | OSTROGOTH | (TO GO SHORT)* |
| 18 | RECUSANT | FT (us, the newspaper) in RECANT (change one’s mind) |
| 19 | GAMELAN | GAME PLAN (sporting strategy) missing P (piano) – an Indonesian instrument |
| 21 | BLISTER | B (black) and Joseph Lister (scientist) |
| 22 | GAZEBO | GAZE (look) OB (old boys) reversed (up) |
| 24 | STUNG | STUN (amaze) G (guerrilla, first letter of) |
| 26 | FLEA | ELF (a little person) reversed (turning) into (going next to) A |
*anagram
A top quality puzzle. I particularly liked the way that the more uncommon words were clued very clearly. Thanks Dogberry & PeeDee. My little quibble would be Yob = Chav, to my mind one might well be the other, but then again, not. However I’m sure it’s probably given in a dictionary – I don’t have access to one at the moment – and therefore o.k.
My little quibble was the lack of an 18d in the online version 🙁
The online version also had ACROSS spelled as AROSS. Some more careful editing needed!
Dogberry is a rare visitor but I really enjoyed his smooth surfaces and clever wordplay. Favourites were the clues to Uranus, Missus, Laudable, Kosher.. What’s the point? Too many to mention really.