I enjoyed this, not difficult. but not a pushover either. No themes, ninas, special instructions, bells or whistles; just a good traditional crossword. Thank you Aardvark.
| Across | ||
| 1 | WILLOW | Boy’s entertaining run down wood (6) |
| WOW (exclamation, oh boy!) including (entertaining) ILL (run down) | ||
| 4 | SMUGGLER | Runner satisfed injured leg getting right (8) |
| SMUG (satisfied) LEG* (injured=anagram) with R (right) – a runner of contreband | ||
| 10 | SENEGAL | US elite soldier gathers information about republic (7) |
| GEN (information) reversed (about) in (gathered by) SEAL (US special forces soldier) | ||
| 11 | GUESTED | Current newsman touring Spain was invited on show (7) |
| GUST (current) ED (editor, newsman) going around (touring) E (Espana, Spain) – to have appeared as a guest on a show. For some reason this word (not the clue) really rubs me up the wrong way. | ||
| 12 | ELAN | Style of journalese that’s revolutionary (4) |
| part of jouNALEse reversed (revolutionary) | ||
| 13 | ROLLING PIN | Possibly nip to get kitchen implement (7,3) |
| the letters PIN could make NIP if they are reversed (rolled) | ||
| 15 | ICEMEN | Ancient tribe briefy consume writer making archaeological discoveries? (6) |
| ME (the writer) in (consumed by) ICENe (ancient tribe) briefly=unfinished – definition is ‘archeological discovery’ | ||
| 16 | WARWICK | Castle rejected bare piece of candle (7) |
| RAW (bare) reversed (rejected, sent back) WICK (part of candle) – Warwick Castle in England | ||
| 20 | TREACLY | Sentimental attempt to take up lace embroidering (7) |
| TRY (attempt) containing (take up) LACE* embroidering=anagram | ||
| 21 | FRAPPE | Recording level loud, refecting booze (6) |
| EP (extended play recording) PAR (level) F (forte, loud) reversed (reflected) – an alcoholic drink made with liqueur poured over cracked ice | ||
| 24 | UNTROUBLED | Peaceful ‘ound with foreign bread heading for doghouse (10) |
| UNT (‘ound, hunt missing h) ROUBLE (foreign money, bread) D (first letter of doghouse) | ||
| 26 | ONUS | Load old paper back-to-front (4) |
| O (old) SUN (paper) reversed | ||
| 28 | REPLETE | Stuffed agent authorised end of barbecue (7) |
| REP (agent) LET (authorised) E (last letter of barbeque) | ||
| 29 | SQUEAKY | High-pitched broadcaster defends that French article (7) |
| SKY (broadcaster) contains (defends) QUE (that, French) A (indefinite article) | ||
| 30 | HAY-ON-WYE | Over there – amongst fruit – the ancient festival site (3-2-3) |
| YON (over there) inside (amonst) HAW (fruit of the hawthorn) YE (the, ancient=archaic) – site of the Hay Festival of Literature and Arts | ||
| 31 | CONDOR | Bird misdirected staff on party (6) |
| ROD (staff) reversed (misdirected, going the wrong way) on CON (Conservative Party) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | WISTERIA | Female group on settee regularly boosted dry fower (8) |
| WI (Womens Institute) on SeTtEe (regular selection from) AIR (dry) reversed (boosted, sent up) – definition is ‘flower’ | ||
| 2 | LENT AN EAR | Conservationists in pastureland close by, listened (4,2,3) |
| NT (National Trust, conservationists) in LEA (pastureland) NEAR (close by) | ||
| 3 | OLGA | Russian skimmed river there? (4) |
| vOLGA (river) missing top (skimmed) – Olga is probably (hence question mark) a Russian | ||
| 5 | MAGELLAN | Publication number 12’s about lecturer and explorer (8) |
| MAG (publication) ELAN (number 12 across) containing (is about) L (lecturer) – Ferdinand Magellan was a Portuguese explorer | ||
| 6 | GREENSWARD | Amount of work raised by wardens ordering turf (10) |
| ERG (measure of energy, work) reversed (raised) by WARDENS* (anagram=ordering) | ||
| 7 | LET-UP | Pause, as the Parisian put on something woolly (3-2) |
| LE (the, as said in Paris) put on TUP (sheep, something woolly) | ||
| 8 | RIDING | Some of county documents seized by criminal gang (6) |
| ID (documents) in (seized by) RING (criminal gang) – a division of a county, most noteably Yorkshire | ||
| 9 | BLOOM | Flower beginning to limp in thunder (5) |
| L (beginning of limp) in BOOM (thunder) | ||
| 14 | GET A MOVE ON | Tory politician welcomes partner back working shift (3,1,4,2) |
| GOVE (Michael Gove, Tory politician) includes (welcomes) MATE (partner) reversed (back) then ON (working) – definition is ‘shift’. I thought the definition was nicely disguised here. | ||
| 17 | CAP IN HAND | Accountant to attach guide, in a respectful way (3,2,4) |
| CA (chartered accountant) PIN (to attach) HAND (guide, help) | ||
| 18 | BLUBBERY | Rotund Oxbridge sportsperson coming over books transport (8) |
| BLUE (Oxbridge sportsperson) containing (coming over) B B (book, two of) RY (railway, transport) | ||
| 19 | YEA SAYER | Sycophant easy to unravel in time (3-5) |
| EASY* (anagram=unravel) in YEAR (time) | ||
| 22 | HURRAH | Actor’s last performance perhaps given a cry of approval (6) |
| a double definition – a ‘last hurrah’ is a final appearance or effort, especially at the end of a career (from the novel The Last Hurrah by Edwin O’Connor). The two definitions are a bit too closely related for this clue to work well for me. | ||
| 23 | BEAST | Britain’s peak 90 degrees – it’s savage (5) |
| B (peak of Britain, first letter) EAST (bearing 90 degrees) | ||
| 25 | TIPSY | Unstable coastal tract upset journey’s end (5) |
| SPIT (a tract of land along a coast) reversed (upset) Y (last letter of journey) | ||
| 27 | SUMO | Grappling maths problem with Oscar (4) |
| SUM (maths problem) O (Oscar, phonetic alphabet) – definition is ‘grappling’, sumo wresting | ||
Thanks PeeDee
21A – I liked the word-play for the subsidiary part of the clue, more so than the definition
17D – Cap in hand seems to me to imply in a submissive manner rather than in a respectful one.