A slow start to this, but then a quick finish. Thanks to Provis. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1 Mock journalist about journey by bike (6)
DERIDE : Reversal of(… about) ED(abbrev. for “editor”, the journalist) + RIDE(a journey by bike).
4 Former buxom model (7)
EXAMPLE : EX-(prefix signifying former;once) + AMPLE(as one would describe a buxom person’s chest).
9 Persuade uncle fine is out of order (9)
INFLUENCE : Anagram of(… is out of order) UNCLE FINE.
10 Bury in back half of cemetery without your head (5)
INTER : IN + the last 4 letters of(back half of) “cemetery” minus(without) the 1st letter of(… head) “your“.
11 Time off to slow down, we hear (5)
BREAK : Homophone of(.., we hear) “brake”(to slow down).
12 Surprisingly quiet about boxer having special attributes (9)
QUALITIES : Anagram of(Surprisingly) QUIET containing(about) ALI(Momamed, boxing cchampion) plus(having) S(abbrev. for “special”).
13 Increase luck without beginning to follow directions (7)
ENHANCE : “chance”(luck) minus its 1st letter(without beginning) placed after(to follow) E,N(abbrev. for , respectively, the east and north directions).
15 Hint at member to go quietly (6)
TIPTOE : TIP(a hint;a pointer) plus(at) TOE(a member of your foot).
17 He appears in court for the French state against the Queen (6)
LAWYER : LA(“the” in French) + WY(abbrev. for Wyoming, the US state) plus(against) ER(abbrev. for Elizabeth Regina, the Queen).
19 Gasp for a brew of herb tea (7)
BREATHE : Anagram of(brew of) HERB TEA.
22 Writer with personal magnetism has unknown power (9)
AUTHORITY : AUTHOR(a writer) plus(with) IT(the undefinable quality that is one’s personal magnetism) plus(has) Y(symbol in maths for an unknown quantity).
24 Charming mother caught going after soldier (5)
MAGIC : MA(a familiar name for one’s mother) + [C(abbrev. for “caught”, in cricket scores) placed after(going after) GI(an American soldier).
26 Pay obeisance to king born to take on the Spanish (5)
KNEEL : K(abbrev. for “king”, in chess notation) + NÉ(born, say, as applied to the name a man was born with) + EL(“the” in Spanish).
27 Nobody not ninety is dancing (9)
NONENTITY : Anagram of(… is dancing) NOT NINETY.
28 Out of service, police officers took drugs (7)
DISUSED : DIS(abbrev. for “detective inspectors”) + USED(took drugs).
29 Amateur allowed in play (6)
HAMLET : HAM(an amateur;a bad actor) + LET(allowed).
Defn: … by Shakespeare.
Down
1 Slaver over tailless river bird (7)
DRIBBLE : Reversal of(over) [“Elbe”(the German river) minus its last letter (tailless …) + BIRD].
2 Woman involved in resistance on French island produces a gun (5)
RIFLE : F(abbrev. for “female”, a woman) contained in(involved in) [ R(abbrev. for electrical resistance, in physics) + ILE(“island” in French) ].
3 Extremely enthusiastically supports alcoholic in his normal manner of behaving (9)
DRUNKENLY : The 1st 2 and the last 2 letters of(Extremely) “enthusiastically ” placed below(supports, in a down clue) DRUNK(an alcoholic).
Defn: …, an alcoholic’s, that is.
4 Teen gal could be stylish (7)
ELEGANT : Anagram of(… could be) TEEN GAL.
5 Adult sex drive won’t do as a defence (5)
ALIBI : A(abbrev. for “adult”) + “libido”(sex drive) minus(won’t) “do “.
6 Undergarment I cover with favourite tee on top (9)
PETTICOAT : [I + COAT(a cover over a surface) ] placed below(with …on top, in down clue) [ PET(a favourite thing) + T(the letter represented by “tee”) ].
7 European progressive edges away from exit (6)
EGRESS : E(abbrev. for “European”) + “progressive ” minus the 1st 3 and the last 3 letters of(edges away from).
8 One and only bit of fun I queried (6)
UNIQUE : Hidden in(bit of) “fun I queried “.
14 Cruel to let shares crash (9)
HEARTLESS : Anagram of(shares crash) LET SHARES.
16 Knew more complaining reportedly causes serious illness (9)
PNEUMONIA : Homophone of(… reportedly) [“Knew ” + “moanier”(moaning;complaining more) ].
18 Was King George in control before Edward? (7)
REIGNED : G(abbrev. for George) contained in(in) REIN(to control;to hold back) placed above(before, in a down clue) ED(short for “Edward”).
19 Better than very regularly wearing tie (6)
BEYOND : The 2nd and 4th letters of(… regularly) “very ” contained in(wearing) BOND(a tie that binds).
20 Starts to engage underground cell to put messages into code (7)
ENCRYPT : The 1st 2 letters of(Starts to) “engage ” + CRYPT(an underground cell).
21 England loses heart after move to the rear is supported (6)
BACKED : “England ” minus all its inner letters(loses heart) placed below(after, in a down clue) BACK(to move to the rear;to retreat).
23 Eyes up internet company lacking drive with customers finally (5)
OGLES : “Google”(the internet company) minus(lacking) “go”(drive;energy) plus(with) the last letter of(… finally) “customers “.
25 Interrogate gutless grenadier wrongfully (5)
GRILL : “grenadier ” minus all its inner letters(… gutless) + ILL(wrongfully, as in “to think ill of one”).
Thanks Provis and scchua
I found this far from easy, and spent about 3 times as long on it as the Rufus in the paper. I was confused by the parsing of DRIBBLE, as the River Ribble is far more familiar to me than the Elbe!
Thanks Provis and scchua. Couldn’t see past the river Ribble in 1d – doh!
Snap, Shirl!
Muffin @1 – we crossed. Glad to see you had the same problem!
Thanks Provis and scchua.
Another RIBBLE here. I found this as easy as Rufus today, just my level.
Typo 26a, né masculine.
Thanks Provis and scchua.
I was another ‘ribble’ person. You (and Provis) seem to have too many e’s in KNEEL. ‘Extremely enthusiastically’ should mean EY, not LY in my book. I think the parsing was supposed to be DRUNKEN/LY unless I have misunderstood. I think G = George is only in GR, King George, so I found the clue confusing, although I think you have the correct parsing.
I think this was slightly more difficult than Rufus.
Wot no quiz??
[Robi @6, thank heavens there is no quiz, scchua messed up my writing of Christmas cards last year with one!]
On DRUNKENLY, I think Provis is using ‘extremely enthusiastically’ to indicate EN (first two letters) and LY (last two letters) of ‘enthusiastically’. These then support the ‘alcoholic’ DRUNK.
I meant to add: compare the EGRESS clue, where the ‘edges’ of ‘progressive’ are quite thick ones 🙂
This is something of a characteristic of Provis’s clueing.
Indeed, newmarketsausage, as is ‘starts to engage’ for EN.
I think this was a good Quiptic.
Not too hard but with also enough food for thought.
I wasn’t very taken by the deletion indicator in 5d (won’t).
Not even sure whether it’s right.
Altogether, an enjoyable puzzle for which thanks to Provis.
Once again thanks to scchua for a good blog
For once, I did this after midnight rather than the following morning, finishing before the blog was up so I couldn’t comment then. I enjoyed it and found it quite straightforward, though initially seeing 1d as D-RIBBLE did delay me for a while. I parsed DRUNKENLY in the same way as newmarketsausage @8. Favourites were NONENTITY and ALIBI.
Thanks Provis and scchua.
Sorry for the 3 errors:
Cookie, it should of course have read “ne(born, say, as applied to the name a man was born with)” (pardon my French).
Robi, newmarketsausage is right. I had meant to say “the 1st 2 and last 2 letters of …“, but didn’t catch it on editing. Provis uses a similar instruction for “progressive” in 7 down.
Sil, there’s a missing “A” for “adult”.
I blame above on the 3 hour wait I had to see the doctor today. Thanks for pointing out. Blog corrected.
And Robi, you can now understand the absence of a quiz, apart from letting Cookie do her Christmas cards!
Late to the party but here all the same. I solved it just before midnight. Muffin & Cookie are fond of saying Rufus was easier but it has never been so for me. Now that Robi shares their opinion, I must be alone in my persuasion.
Kim @13, my comment is relative, the only crossword I can usually solve without ‘help’ is the Everyman, and that takes me about two hours. With Rufus and the Quiptic I sometimes use the check button so as not to go too far astray, but today I did not need to, however I took over an hour on each.
scchua, not sure why you address ‘there’s a missing A for “adult”‘ to me.
My point was that I questioned the use of ” won’t ” in this clue (5d).
LIBIDO won’t DO? I’m afraid not for me.
Sorry, Sil. Only meant that after you questioned the clue, I took another look, and discovered the error in my explanation.
The more I do cryptics the more I realise that sometimes you can’t solve a clue through wordplay and instead you get it from the definition and then check afterwards to see how it parses. For me this puzzle had more of these “wordplay second” clues than normal but still an enjoyable diversion.
I did struggle with the deletion clues – deleting four letters in DRUNKENLY, and six letters in EGRESS, instead of the usual two letters. Is this normal in cryptics? Must remember this for next time.