There was something just a bit unsatisfying about this puzzle – it seemed to lack a certain zippiness or precision.
Some of the longer clues, in particular, felt rather under-worked. There were some nice touches, though, and only a couple of quibbles, so thank-you, Jason.
| Across | ||
| 9 | CLEARANCE | The last break? OK (9) |
| Double definition; a ‘clearance’ is the last break that ends a frame of snooker | ||
| 10 | MAORI | Antipodean is one to travel aimlessly about (5) |
| Reversal of I [one] roam [travel aimlessly] | ||
| 11 | EXPRESS | Retired hack, I suppose, is clear (7) |
| Ex-press [former journalist, retired hack] | ||
| 12 | ULYSSES | Grant for one available in July’s session (7) |
| Hidden in jULYS SESsion – an allusion to the US president Ulysses S. Grant | ||
| 13 | MAR | Spoil parade by ignoring church (3) |
| March [parade] minus ch [church] | ||
| 14 | RANK AND FILE | The hoi polloi? Very unpleasant, too smooth (4,3,4) |
| Rank [very unpleasant] too [and (??)] file [smooth] | ||
| 17 | DRYAD | Nymph in subtle promotion (5) |
| Dry [subtle (as in a dry sense of humour)] ad [promotion] | ||
| 18 | TAD | Thanks start to drag somewhat (3) |
| Ta [thanks] d(rag) | ||
| 19 | LEAST | No less than fifty facing the orient (5) |
| L [fifty] east [orient] | ||
| 21 | WATERPROOFS | Software pro designed things for rainy days (11) |
| Anagram of software pro | ||
| 23 | TOP | Ice cap (3) |
| Double definition – ‘ice’ in the sense of kill, murder | ||
| 25 | TOPICAL | Of immediate interest, hot and humid weather finally stopped (7) |
| Tropical [hot and humid] minus (weathe)r | ||
| 27 | SMIDGEN | Tin cans fly and drop (7) |
| Midge [fly] within Sn [tin] | ||
| 28 | MOUSE | Minute river creature (5) |
| M [minute] Ouse [river] | ||
| 29 | AMBULANCE | What carries injured Cuban male? (9) |
| Anagram of cuban male | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | SCREAM | Society utterly beat comedian (6) |
| S [society] cream [utterly beat] | ||
| 2 | TEA PARTY | Where Alice went alone, inside yet worried (3,5) |
| Apart [alone] within anagram of yet | ||
| 3 | FREE TRADER | Smuggler who believes in open business (4,6) |
| Cryptic definition (?) | ||
| 4 | ONUS | Head of bank shunning extra duty (4) |
| Bonus [extra] minus b(ank) | ||
| 5 | GET UP AND GO | Outfit with drive for energy (3-2- 3-2) |
| Get-up [outfit] and [with] go [drive] | ||
| 6 | EMMY | Put them on my award (4) |
| Em [them] my | ||
| 7 | BONSAI | Nursery dwarfed such a little thing (6) |
| Cryptic definition (I think?) | ||
| 8 | MISSPELT | Fail to get career as proffessional (8) |
| Miss [fail to get] pelt [career] | ||
| 15 | NATURAL GAS | Fuel the expected gossip (7,3) |
| Natural [expected] gas [gossip] | ||
| 16 | DULLSVILLE | Town where squares are supposedly pedestrian (10) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 17 | DOWNTIME | Feeling gloomy? Schedule an idle spell (8) |
| Down [feeling gloomy] time [schedule] | ||
| 20 | ANTIGONE | Opposed to dead Greek tragedy (8) |
| Anti [opposed to] gone [dead] | ||
| 22 | TOP OUT | What steel erectors do finally . . . . glower! (3,3) |
| To pout [(to) glower (?)] | ||
| 24 | PENNED | Dashed off pasta dish at first (6) |
| Penne [pasta] d(ish) | ||
| 26 | CHEW | Gnaw on cold cut (4) |
| C [cold] hew [cut] | ||
| 27 | SOBS | Bishop during emergency call cries (4) |
| B [bishop] within SOS [emergency call] | ||
Thanks for the blog, Ringo. I agree with your comments.
8D proffessional is professional misspelt
I agree too (as usual). For instance, I got 7dn BONSAI and 16dn DULLSVILLE because they fitted, but I still can’t parse them. Despite that it was a good brain-stretcher so thanks, Jason. And thanks to Ringo, whose brain seems to work the same way as mine (which is always reassuring).
Thanks Jason and Ringo
Pretty much agree with other views on this. My first try at this setter and no real highlights. Lazily didn’t parse CLEARANCE properly with the snooker definition.
Thought the MISSPELT device was clever and PENNED was too. 3d and 16d left me a little cold though.