I found this a mixed bag of the easy-peasy, the puzzling, the hackneyed and the really rather clever. With a couple of movie-stars thrown in. Good stuff.
Any grumbles I had were subjective rather than technical, so shouldn’t really count as grumbles. So I’ll leave it at that! Thank-you, Peto.
| Across | ||
| 1 | SHAMAN | Article on bogus medicine man (6) |
| Sham [bogus] an [article] | ||
| 4 | PROBABLE | Likely to happen when Pearl and Bob break up (8) |
| Anagram of pearl bob | ||
| 10 | ON THE MEND | Becoming better when working close by them (2,3,4) |
| On [working] them end [close] | ||
| 11 | CONGO | A masterstroke reportedly to take in the outskirts of Nanking by river (5) |
| N(ankin)g within coo [sounds like coup, masterstroke] | ||
| 12 | TURN | Head coming around over right to convert (4) |
| R [right] within reversal of nut [head] | ||
| 13 | GREENHOUSE | Eco-friendly place used for cultivation (10) |
| Green [eco-friendly] house [place] | ||
| 15 | GLAMOUR | German film star’s fascinating beauty (7) |
| G [German] Lamour [film star Dorothy] | ||
| 16 | SUNDER | A star gets the German part (6) |
| Sun [star] der [German for ‘the’] | ||
| 19 | LEGEND | An inscription providing information on the French duke (6) |
| Le [French for ‘the’] gen [information] d [duke] | ||
| 21 | SEEK OUT | Look for drugs in abandoned souk near centre of Batna (4,3) |
| E E [Es, drugs] within anagram of souk (ba)t(na) | ||
| 23 | INVIOLABLE | To be kept sacred in a bottle they say and left in Lincoln (10) |
| In viol [sounds like ‘vial’, bottle] l [left] within Abe [Lincoln] | ||
| 25 | HERA | Letters from another American goddess (4) |
| Hidden in anotHER American | ||
| 27 | BILGE | Drivel showing little thought about the end of innocence (5) |
| Reversal of glib [showing little thought] (innocenc)e | ||
| 28 | PRESS-GANG | Insist on taking criminal band with force (5-4) |
| Press [insist on] gang [criminal band] | ||
| 29 | SWANSONG | American actress needing good final performance (8) |
| Swanson [American actress Gloria] g [good] | ||
| 30 | ARDENT | Burning old forest trees primarily (6) |
| Arden [old forest] t(rees) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | SHORTAGE | Lack of time after attempt to cross river (8) |
| R [river] within shot [attempt] age [time] | ||
| 2 | AFTERCARE | Subsequently taking supervisory control of post-operative support (9) |
| After [subsequently] care [supervisory support] | ||
| 3 | ABET | Assist in wrongdoing when helping to make Mugabe triumphant (4) |
| Hidden in mugABE Triumphant | ||
| 5 | REDRESS | About to put clothes on? Correct (7) |
| Re [about] dress [put clothes on] | ||
| 6 | BACKHANDER | What Andy Murray might produce as a bribe (10) |
| Double definition | ||
| 7 | BANTU | Foreign language graduate needs books on the capital of Uruguay (5) |
| BA [Bachelor of Arts, graduate] NT [New Testament, books] U(ruguay) | ||
| 8 | EVOKED | Called up first lady touring Oklahoma on December 1 (6) |
| OK [Oklahoma] within Eve [first lady] D(ecember) | ||
| 9 | TERROR | Nonsense served up about sin causes extreme fear (6) |
| Err [sin] within reversal of rot [nonsense] | ||
| 14 | ROLE MODELS | They are copied in part by workers in the fashion industry (4,6) |
| Role [part] models [workers in the fashion industry] | ||
| 17 | EXONERATE | Free, without having to make a speech around Newcastle area (9) |
| NE [north-east, Newcastle area] within ex [without] orate [make a speech] | ||
| 18 | STRAIGHT | Manage to see gripping paintings mounted in sequence (8) |
| Reversal of art [paintings] within sight [manage to see] | ||
| 20 | DEADPAN | God following absolutely expressionless (7) |
| Dead [absolutely] Pan [god] | ||
| 21 | SILVER | An element of surprise at first over the Italian priest turning up (6) |
| S(urprise) il [Italian for ‘the’] reversal of rev [reverend, priest] | ||
| 22 | AIRBUS | We object after broadcast on British passenger transport (6) |
| Air [broadcast] b [British] us [objective form of ‘we’] | ||
| 24 | VILLA | A house in Virginia habouring evil (5) |
| Ill [evil] within VA [Virginia] | ||
| 26 | USER | About to be raised after nurse oddly neglected an addict (4) |
| Even letters from nUrSe reversal of re [about] | ||
You summed it up perfectly, Ringo. The one that puzzled me for a long time was 22dn AIRBUS, because my brain insisted it was NIMBYS. Thanks, Peto, for a benign tussle.
Thanks, Hornbeam. I laboured under that same misapprehension at 22dn (and, at 2dn, I spent far too long trying to make “afterward” work).
Not just me that went for afterward then and spent rather too long looking at an answer for role models as the checking letters really don’t help.
Thanks Ringo.
That’s terrific, Ringo. I started with Afterward (ward having to do with nursing). And then realised that it’s not really a word.