This was just about the difficulty, perhaps a bit more, for an easygoing Sunday cryptic. Thanks to Poins. Definitions are underlined in the clues. [[The pictures at the bottom have unidentified links to the puzzle. Please enclose any comments on them in double brackets. Thank you.]]
Across
1 Oppose reduction of support at first (6)
RESIST : REST(a support on which something, well, rests) minus its last letter(reduction of) plus(at) IST(the letters that look like 1st).
4 Evident after everybody gets permission to proceed (3,5)
ALL CLEAR : CLEAR(evident;visible) placed after(after, in an across clue) ALL(everybody).
9 Divided over Norway’s support (6)
SPLINT : SPLIT(divided;forked) containing(over) N(International Vehicle Registration code for Norway). Not to be confused with a sling, another type of support.
10 Is concerned about the French becoming negligent (8)
CARELESS : CARES(is concerned about) containing(about) LES(French for “the” applied to plural nouns).
12 Departed from the London area after a month at each department (8)
DECEASED : SE(the London postcode area) placed after(after) { DEC(abbrev. for December) plus(at) EA(abbrev. for “each”) } + D(abbrev. for “department”).
Defn: … from life.
13 Acrimonious Times leader following a piece on the Queen (6)
BITTER : { First letter of(leader) “Times” placed after(following, in an across clue) BIT(a piece) } plus(on) ER(abbrev. for Elizabeth Regina, the Queen).
15 What our boss does somewhat meditatively (4)
EDIT : Hidden in(somewhat) “meditatively “.
Defn: Reference to the work of the crossword setter’s;our (as setters refer to themselves, using 1st person pronouns) boss.
16 Decline of French teenager abroad (10)
DEGENERATE : DE(French for “of”, the preposition) + anagram of(abroad) “TEENAGER“.
19 Acquainted with rector since coming back into a religious community (10)
CONVERSANT : { R(abbrev. for “rector”) + reversal of(coming back) AS(since, as in “as/since you were not here”) } contained in(into) CONVENT(a religious community of nuns).
20 Rod lacking energy before Orient’s opening game (4)
POLO : “pole”(a rod) minus(lacking) “e”(abbrev. for “energy” especially in physics) placed before(before) first letter of(…’s opening) “Orient“.
23 Academy study covering the origin of Dickens’ anger (6)
MADDEN : { MA(abbrev. for the military academy) + DEN(a study;a room for quiet activity including, well, study) } containing(covering) the first letter of(the origin of) “Dickens’“.
Answer: To anger.
25 Withdrew statement from philosopher reportedly into grass (8)
RECANTED : Homophone of(reportedly) “Kant”(Immanuel, philosopher, pronounced “kahnt” in his native German) contained in(into) REED(a long grass).
27 Girl in charge inside plant (8)
ANGELICA : ANGELA(a girl’s name) containing(… inside) IC(abbrev. for “in charge of”).
28 Consider keeping dog in stable (6)
SECURE : SEE(to consider, as in “I’ll see what I can do”) containing(keeping) CUR(a mean or worthless dog).
29 Dad needs representation when they make further progress impossible (4,4)
DEAD ENDS : Anagram of(representation) DAD NEEDS.
30 Is unable to get girl into bed (6)
CANNOT : ANN(a girl’s name) contained in(into) COT(a small bed). It’s not what you’re thinking; it’s a mother with a cranky little child.
Down
1 Unsettling desire to entrap Unionist remains (7)
RESIDUE : Anagram of(Unsettling) DESIRE containing(to entrap) U(abbrev. for “Unionist”).
2 The French return in part by choice (9)
SELECTION : Reversal of(return) LE(French for “the” applied to masculine singular nouns) contained in(in) SECTION(a part of).
3 Malicious gossip about missing shoe (6)
SANDAL : “scandal”(malicious gossip, especially about others’ private lives) minus(missing) C(abbrev. for “circa”;about;approximately in reference to dates).
5 Film director‘s list (4)
LEAN : Double defn: 1st: David, British film director; and 2nd: To tilt to one side.
6 Caught socialist newspaper boss hiding it’s believed (8)
CREDITED : C(abbrev. for “caught”, in cricket notation) + RED(a radical leftist;extreme socialist) + ED(short for a newspaper editor) containing(hiding) IT.
Answer: Accepted as true.
7 Found letters from the rector (5)
ERECT : Hidden in(letters from) “the rector “.
Answer: To set up;to build.
8 Book of extremely rude foreign verse (7)
RESERVE : The first and last letters of(extremely) “rude ” + anagram of(foreign) VERSE.
Defn: As with seats in a theatre or tables in a restaurant.
11 Soldiers join general outside when set free (7)
RELEASE : RE(abbrev. for the Royal Engineers, engineering unit of the British Army) plus(join) LEE(Robert E., Confederate general in the American Civil War) containing(outside) AS(when, as in “as you wave goodbye”).
14 Wind about average before start of downpour on the outskirts of Exeter (7)
MEANDER : MEAN(an arithmetical average of quantities) placed above(before, in a down clue) first letter of(start of) “downpour ” placed above(on, in a down clue) first and last letters of(the outskirts of) “Exeter “.
Answer: To follow a winding course with many changes of direction.
17 Concerned with change of order to the troops (5,4)
ABOUT TURN : ABOUT(concerned with;relating to) TURN(to change, as in “to turn tears into laughter”).
18 What soldiers get up to when originally intending to make merry around the centre of Hartlepool (8)
REVEILLE : First letter of(originally) “intending ” contained in(… around) REVEL(to make merry;to celebrate boisterously) + the 2 innermost letters of(the centre of) “Hartlepool “.
Answer: The bugle call that wakes up soldiers in a camp/base.
19 Soldier ignoring old order (7)
COMMAND : “commando”(a specially trained soldier for surprise and aggressive attacks) minus(ignoring) “o”(abbrev. for “old”).
21 It’s left over additional pieces at the front end (7)
ODDMENT : ODD(being a bit over the specified amount, as in “fifty-odd pounds”) MEN(pieces in a chess game)plus(at) the last letter of(… end) “front “.
22 Whipped cream on a brownie perhaps (6)
CAMERA : Anagram of(Whipped) CREAM placed above(on, in a down clue) “A “.
Answer: An example of which was the Brownie, any of a series of simple and inexpensive rollfilm cameras manufactured by the Eastman Kodak Company. (Note the capital letter for the trademark name.) And guess how much it cost then.
24 Follow mother’s set of beliefs (5)
DOGMA : DOG(to follow;to tail) + MA(an informal name for “mother”).
26 Killed for diamonds twice (4)
ICED : ICE(slang for diamonds, the precious stones) plus(… twice) D(abbrev. for the suit of diamonds in bridge notation).
Answer: Slang for killed;murdered commonly used by mobsters, apparently.
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For the answer to pic 5 please click here, for pic 6 here, for pic 7 here, for pic 8 here, for pic 9 here.
Thanks for the blog, scchua. I agree this was about right for a Sunday. My favourite was ICED, and I liked RECANTED too. Four of the down clues had soldier(s)/troops in them, but it doesn’t seem to be a real theme.
[[Pic 4 might be David LEAN. Pic 6 is Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct, but I can’t see the link. Pic 7 might be Dickens. None of them looks exactly like Immanuel Kant]]
I think the ‘rest’ in 1A may refer to a ‘rest’, a support for a snooker cue.
Yes, nmsindy, “rest” may refer to the support for a billiards cue (reminiscent of my misspent youth).
I was referring to a more general meaning, eg. in the online Collins:
” 12. a thing or place on which to put something for support or to steady it; prop “,
and it also gives:
” 13. billiards, snooker any of various special poles used as supports for the cue in shots that cannot be made using the hand as a support”.
Unless there is something in the surface about billiards which I can’t place?
Enjoyed the puzzle, and many thanks for the blog.
[[I’ve identified the pictures by the tried and trusted method of cheating, but I’m stumped for most of the links.
1 is John and Anjelica Houston, and Angelica appears in 27?
4 is Italian actor Rossano Brazzi who acted in the film Summertime directed by David Lean (5d)]]
[[Pic 1 couldn’t be as devious as Me And Er (14d) could it?]]
[[Pic 8 – maybe a string of Polo (20a) ponies?]]
Time I got out and found a life…..
[[Muffyword and cumbrian, Sharon Stone and Basic Instinct is right. Pic 1 has the homophone of ANGELICA, and Pic 4 is right. Pic 8’s link is to POLO, but it’s not polo ponies. Hint: Between them, the 9 pics share only 4 separate links to the puzzle.]]
[[No.3 is I think Noel Coward, who made a number of films with Lean – This Happy Breed, Brief Encounter, etc. He also wrote Bitter Sweet (13ac).
No.5 is Charles Laughton in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, but I can’t see a link.
No. 7 I thought maybe Galileo, and a quick check on Wikipedia shows the same picture. (Much too early for Dickens.) No. 9 I think is Martin Luther. Can’t see either link for those two.]]
[[Oh, of course, no.2 is E.M. Forster, another name linked with Lean.]]
[[Right, Dormouse. The other significant Noel Coward work associated with Lean was Blithe Spirits, and, of course, E.M.Forster wrote A Passage To India, another Lean film. And Charles Laughton, Galileo and Martin Luther are correctly identified but without the links.]]
[[is the horsey one that they are about to be mince?]]
[[Muffyword, cumbrian, Dormouse, i’ve added links under the pics to the rest of the answers.]]
I enjoyed this puzzle. My favourites were 8d, 10a, 11d, 30a, 22d, 19a.
I couldn’t parse 3d.
Thanks for the blog, scchua.