Independent 9387/eXternal

I struggled with this a bit, but after getting a foothold in the various parts of the grid, the rest came with a bit of brainwork.  Some good clues, though.

 

 

 

Abbreviations
cd  cryptic definition
dd  double definition
(xxxx)*  anagram
anagrind = anagram indicator
[x]  letter(s) removed

definitions are underlined

Across

1  Cry about foot throughout the game
SOFTBALL
An insertion of FT in SOB followed by ALL.  ‘Throughout the day/all day’

5  Head of bakery poked in bread before turning out
ABLOOM
A reversal of B for the first letter of ‘bakery’ in MOOLA for a slang word for ‘money’.  As indeed is ‘bread’.

10  Steal pub’s profit
BARGAIN
A charade of BAR and GAIN.  More slang: ‘I tell you what, it was a steal’.

11  Study reviewed Spaniard’s article on SA country
PERUSAL
PERU for the South American country followed by a reversal of LAS for one of the definite articles in Spanish.  I would normally associate SA with South Africa, but I’m sure the abbreviation will be in dictionaries somewhere.

12  This farm animal would be seen in vid
EWE
This is suggesting that if you insert EWE in ‘vid’ you’d get VIEWED, which is ‘seen’.  I think.

13  This contains smell from audibly discharged guts
SCENT BOTTLE
A charade of SCENT as a homophone (‘audibly’) of SENT for ‘discharged’ and BOTTLE for ‘guts’ or courage.  Plenty of slang already.

14  Old fragment obtained by tiler when working is a fossil
TRILOBITE
An insertion of O BIT in (TILER)* for the extinct but, back in the day, extremely successful marine arthropod.

17  No particular interest about African country
GABON
A reversal of NO and BAG.  The reversal indicator is ‘about’ and it’s BAG as in ‘My bag is jazz music’.

19  Dog with no head strength
ASSET
[B]ASSET

20  Centre of York being replaced with strangely drastic measure
YARDSTICK
The setter is asking you to replace the middle two letters of ‘York’ with (DRASTIC)*

22  Derision from one leaving GAP – shirt not ironed out
PARTING SHOT
(GAP SHIRT NOT)* with ‘ironed out’ as the anagrind.

26  Answer back from teen and from tweeny. ‘Whatever‘
ANY
A charade of A for ‘answer’ and the last letters of ‘teen’ and ‘tweeny’.  The clue is faulty, because teens and tweenies never answer back, but do as they are told without complaint.

27  Send communication after sheep run wild
RAMPAGE
A charade of RAM and PAGE.

28  Shakespearean character, 5, perhaps
ORLANDO
The Shakespearean character, ORLANDO, appears in As You Like It.  And eXternal is referring to 5 across, where A BLOOM could be LEOPOLD BLOOM, the protagonist in Ulysses by James Joyce. So it’s a dd.

History, Stephen said, is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake.

29  Current eroded banks of Slav river
LATEST
You need to take the ‘banks’ of ‘Slav’ away to leave you with LA, and then add TEST for the river in Hampshire.

30  Captain leading the way for aircraft
SKIPLANE
A charade of SKIP and LANE.  Nice misdirection, since the pronunciation is different to the charade.

Down

1  About to enter craft after another citizen
SUBJECT
An insertion of C for ‘about’ or circa in JET, following SUB for ‘another craft’ or ‘submarine’.  Those of a republican persuasion might not consider ‘citizen’ and SUBJECT to be synonymous, but you can argue about that among yourselves.

2  Warnings about monarch being taken in by US soldier’s deceits
FORGERIES
An insertion of ER for ‘monarch’ in GI for ‘US soldier’ all inserted into FORES.  FORE is a golfing warning.  Can you make it plural?  Don’t ask me.

3  Beginning to break, beams making harsh sounds
BRAYS
A charade of B for the first letter of ‘break’ and RAYS.

4  Durability of novelty gift not half bad
LONGEVITY
The anagrind is ‘bad’.  (NOVELTY GI[FT])*

6  Author‘s difficulty to write up basic intro to story
BURROUGHS
Because it’s a down clue, it’s a reversal of RUB for ‘difficulty’ followed by ROUGH and the first letter of ‘story’.  You can choose between William S and Edgar Rice; both were American authors.

To sleep, perchance to dream; aye, there’s the rub …

7  Start rewriting notes
ONSET
(NOTES)*

8  Guy embracing paramour, leaving old spa town
MALVERN
An insertion of L[O]VER in MAN for the Worcestershire spa town.

9  Release last bit of venom as some snakes do
SPIT
Took me ages to see this, but it’s SPIT[E]

15  UV problematic with tailor’s tops
OUTRIVALS
Not a word I think I’ve ever used, but it’s (UV TAILORS)*

16  Fortification of body with exercise
EARTHWORK
A charade of EARTH for a celestial ‘body’ and WORK for ‘exercise’.  Talking of celestial bodies, don’t forget to look out for the supermoon tonight if the clouds part.

18  Rain a bit?  It’s torrential around northern Roman province
BRITANNIA
An insertion of N in (RAIN A BIT)*  The anagrind is ‘torrential’, which is perhaps a bit of a stretch.

19  Clobber engineers in outrage
APPAREL
An insertion of RE for Royal Engineers in APPAL.

21  Gap to help us enter part of harbour undamaged, we’re informed
KEYHOLE
A homophone of QUAY and WHOLE.

23  Bank holding money overturned transfer
REMIT
An insertion of M for ‘money’ in TIER reversed.

24  Agree, without borders, yard is dull
GREY
We need to get rid of the outer letters or ‘borders’ of ‘agree’ and then add Y for ‘yard’.

25  Plant starts to unfurl lavishly in raised bed
TULIP
The first letters of ‘unfurl lavishly’ in PIT reversed.  ‘He never gets out of his pit until after midday.’  More slang.  Perhaps the setter was in a slangy mood today.

Many thanks to eXternal for the start to the Indy week.