Good variety of devices
Across
9 RATEPAYER RATE (grade) PLAYER (musician) minus L (beginner)
10 CHESS (might end with mate) hidden in[narcoti]C HE’S S[ynthesized]
11 GROUNDS dd
12 PATTERN (style) PATTER (tiptoe) N (north)
13 EEL (fish) LEE< (shelter – wrong way)
14 ECHO CHAMBER (reverb) H (hot) in ECO (green) CHAMBER (room)
17 RIDER dd
18 LEO (stars) LE (the French) O (love)
19 DITTY (air) D[issolve] I[n] T[he] T[hickest] Y[east]
21 JOIN THE CLUB (in same predicament) JO IN THE CLUB?
23 RAJ (sovereignty) RA (god) J (judge)
25 CHEVRON (stripes) CHEVR[e] (cheese) ON (not off)
27 COLLARS (grasps) ALL< (everything returned) in COR (my) S (success)
28 EIGHT (rowers) WEIGHT (ballast) minus first letter
29 COINTREAU (liqueur) (TONIC)* R (river) EAU (French water)
Down
1 PRAGUE (city) PLAGUE (epidemic) L to R
2 STROLLED (wandered) S[how] TROLLED (caused controversy on Internet)
3 OPEN SECRET (common knowledge) (ONE RESPECT)*
4 DYES (changes colour) sounds like DIES (croaks) loudly homophone indicator?
5 PREP SCHOOL (for kids older than 4) P (power) in PRESCHOOL (nursery)
6 SCAT triple definition
7 REVERB (music device) EVER (always) in R & B
8 ASYNERGY (lack of co-ordination) (ANGRY YES)*
15 HALTER-NECK (revealing clothing) HALTER (ender) NECK (kiss)
16 AUDIBILITY (noise quality) AUDI (car) ABILITY (power) minus A
17 REJECTED (turned down) DEJECTED (down) R for D
20 TAR-PAPER (roofing material) TARP (tarpaulin) APER (copier)
22 ICE AGE (extreme climate) … SAGE wise man ..?
24 JOSHUA (book) JOSH (joke) [c]U[b]A[n]
26 ROTA (schedule) A TOR< (hill)
27 CHIC (elegant) CHICK (slang for woman) minus last letter
( )* = anagram [ ] = omit < = reverse dd = double definition
Thanks Jed and Phssthpok,
I liked the musical mini-theme. SCAT and CHEVRON were also very nice.
I think ICE AGE is a homophone of “eye sage”, indicated by “for advice”.
Ta Jed, generally quite easy on the train home, couldn’t place chevre cheese so thanks for that. Had the same eye sage construction. Didn’t like tar paper just seems a bit weak, too close to tarpaulin.
Anyway thanks to the unpronounceable setter.