I had a couple of minor quibbles on this but overall it was nice puzzle with a reasonable range of clues from fairly easy starters to more demanding fare.
I liked 9 where the clue cunningly had exactly the right number of letters to make you think ground was being used as an anagram indicator and 20 was a nice use of pop culture.
| Across | ||
| 1 | ENTRANCE | Competitor taking time getting to church door (8) |
| Entran[t] + ce | ||
| 5 | OYSTER | Enjoys terrine containing seafood (6) |
| Hidden in “enjOYS TERrine” | ||
| 9 | CASTAWAY | Rejected players playing at rival’s ground (8) |
| Cast + away – actually quite deceptive with the clue looking much like an anagram. | ||
| 10 | SCENES | Special educational needs involving constant and regularly messy episodes (6) |
| (S(pecial) E(ducational) N(eeds) around c) + even letters of messy. | ||
| 12 | THERMOSES | Almost at that place Old Testament figure built vessels (9) |
| Ther[e] + Moses | ||
| 13 | TURBO | Fish losing tail in part of engine (5) |
| Turbo[t] | ||
| 14 | EPIC | Great and exciting performance influencing current leaders (4) |
| Initial letters of “exciting performance influencing current”. | ||
| 16 | DIMPLES | Smiles as stupid request almost succeeded (7) |
| Dim + ple[a] + s(ucceeded) | ||
| 19 | CRICKET | Insect mound found during time in France (7) |
| Rick in CET (Central European Time, which would be used in France). | ||
| 21 | CANT | Inclination to hypocrisy (4) |
| DD | ||
| 24 | INCUR | Provoke semi-emaciated mongrel (5) |
| [Th]in cur | ||
| 25 | MELODIOUS | Sweet made by Bake Off participant causing offence(9) |
| Mel (Giedroyc) + odious | ||
| 27 | VERBAL | Vicar returning to black tie event missing last bit of speech (6) |
| Rev< + bal[l] | ||
| 28 | SPRINTER | You might find her on the fast track? (8) |
| CD. Feel as if I’m missing something with this one, but can’t come up with any other explanation. | ||
| 29 | DULCET | Boring model sounds sweet (6) |
| Hom – I would probably pronounce it as “dull set” but it appears the proper pronunciation is “dull sit”, which gives the model part. | ||
| 30 | CONSIDER | Reflect on society consumed by alcohol (8) |
| “On s(ociety)” in cider | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | EXCITE | Provoke former partner to name names (6) |
| Ex + cite | ||
| 2 | TESTES | Nuts put TV upside down (6) |
| Set twice (from put and TV) reversed with the slang meaning of nuts. | ||
| 3 | ALARM | Alabama gun scare (5) |
| Al + arm – you could maybe criticise the fact that a gun is an example of an arm. | ||
| 4 | CLASSIC | School group one caught going to Derby perhaps (7) |
| Class + I + c | ||
| 6 | YACHTSMAN | Doctor chats with many a sailor (9) |
| (Chats many)* | ||
| 7 | TENDRILS | Number of exercises said to produce curls (8) |
| Ten + hom of drills | ||
| 8 | RESPONSE | Disturbed person ingesting drugs makes comeback (8) |
| Person* around Es | ||
| 11 | USED | Upright attitude suddenly adopted when employed (4) |
| Hidden, rev in attituDE SUddenly”. | ||
| 15 | POKER FACE | Blank stare of female in contest following provocation (5,4) |
| F(emale) in race after poke | ||
| 17 | ACHIEVED | Advice he disseminated got intended result (8) |
| (Advice he)* | ||
| 18 | VISCERAL | Five éclairs possibly contributing to something felt in gut (8) |
| (V eclairs)* | ||
| 20 | TOME | Book classic Chuckle Brothers routine (4) |
| DD referring to the Chuckle Brothers’ “to me, to you” sketches. | ||
| 21 | CALYPSO | Charlie plays unusual love ballad (7) |
| C (Charlie in phonetic alphabet) + plays* + o | ||
| 22 | SORTED | Kind journalist equipped with drugs (6) |
| Sort + ed – I’m assuming again this is slang expression | ||
| 23 | USURER | Leader of coup deposing prince and extortionist (6) |
| Usur[p]er | ||
| 26 | DRIBS | Doctor with digestive complaint goes to bits (5) |
| Dr + IBS (irritable bowel syndrome). | ||
*anagram
I think 28A refers to short journey trains on British Rail network (mainly), that are referred to as sprinters (and are on tracks). Can’t quite see what the word “when” means in the fodder for 11D (is it “when (if) it’s employed, it’s used”?).
A good mix with some clues more straightforward than others. Liked MELODIOUS.
Thanks to Vigo and NealH.
Thanks Neal. No complaints apart from my own obtuseness. I was sure 25 was going to be MALICIOUS even though perfectly aware that the presenter is Mel not Mal Giedroyc. That roughly doubled an otherwise PB solve time. Grr.
I think SPRINTER is a bit of (quite justified) misdirection not unconnected with the gender of Vigo, to whom many thanks. Good Monday puzzle.
A nice coffee-time puzzle with just enough in the way of minor traps to keep one on one’s toes. A little surprised by the repetition of provoke/provocation (in 24ac, 1dn & 15dn). I thought the clues to 1ac and 5ac could well have been linked by ellipses.
SPRINTER, incidentally, is also a class of train operated by Netherlands Railways; in fact the name was used there first.
There’s a minor typo or a predictive text error in the blog for 19ac – should be ‘time’, not ‘team’.
Thanks Vigo and NealH.
A lovely, Monday-morning-on-the-bus solve for me. Loads to admire here. Especially liked TOME, VISCERAL and CALYPSO, and good to see the slang use of SORTED getting an outing. Thanks Vigo and NealH
Thanks for blogging, Neal.
Good puzzle. Didn’t know that meaning of SORTED, but couldn’t be much else; never watched Bake Off, but couldn’t be much else; never seen the Chuckle Brothers, but couldn’t be much else. Otherwise all fine and dandy. Just right for a Monday.
Thanks to Vigo.
Thanks Vigo & NealH.
Same as K’s Dad except I vaguely knew Mel. Good variety of clues with nice surfaces.
Thank you, NealH, for the blog. Thank you also to everyone who took the time to post a comment.
As far as ‘sorted’ goes, it’s a word I know best in the drug related context from the Pulp song ‘Sorted for Es and Wizz’ from the 90s.
The Chuckle Brothers have been around since before I was born so well done to those of you who avoided them!
Do give Bake Off a go if only for Mel and Sue’s truly awful puns.
V