A typically sparky puzzle from Vigo. None of the clues were too difficult.
I had some doubts about see for grasp in 1 down and 24D could have had at least two possible answers. But those are minor quibbles and overall the standard was very good. 30A was my favourite for the smooth surface.
| Across | ||
| 1 | STRANGER | Holy man runs incense for foreigner (8) |
| St (saint) + r(uns) + anger | ||
| 5 | THINGS | Considers dropping thousand for good stuff (6) |
| Thinks with K replaced by g(ood) | ||
| 9 | DIATRIBE | Admiral regularly getting family abuse (8) |
| Even letters of aDmIrAl + tribe | ||
| 10 | PORTAL | Entrance men starting to travel in China (6) |
| OR + t[ravel] in pal (as in “my old China”) | ||
| 12 | CATHEDRAL | Each dart shot bit of light into place of worship (9) |
| (Each dart)* + l[ight] | ||
| 13 | METAL | Element found in motorway and elsewhere (5) |
| M(otorway) + et al | ||
| 14 | DEMO | Made money holding rally (4) |
| Hidden in maDE MOney | ||
| 16 | GORGONS | Monsters and thugs boxing outside of ring (7) |
| Goons around r[in]g | ||
| 19 | REDHEAD | Socialist leader such as Kinnock perhaps? (7) |
| DD/CD | ||
| 21 | BASE | Corrupt foundation (4) |
| DD | ||
| 24 | FILCH | Take something the wrong way? (5) |
| DD, although without crossing letters it would be impossible to know it wasn’t steal. | ||
| 25 | WINDMILLS | Will keeps changing mind ahead of opening of sweet factories (9) |
| Will around mind* + s[weet] | ||
| 27 | UPSIDE | Positive and proper Greek character with skin of doe (6) |
| U + psi + d[o]e | ||
| 28 | WHEREVER | Admire husband and wife returning to some place or other (8) |
| (Revere + h(usband) + w(ife))< | ||
| 29 | DISOWN | Reject half of meal featuring pig (6) |
| Din[ner] around sow | ||
| 30 | SENTINEL | Head of security sacked lenient guard (8) |
| S[ecurity] + lenient* | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | SEDUCE | Entice tailless water fowl within grasp (6) |
| Duc[k] in see | ||
| 2 | ROASTS | Criticises cooks (6) |
| DD | ||
| 3 | NURSE | Tend to race back to Home Counties (5) |
| Run< + SE | ||
| 4 | EMBARGO | Ban English doctor on Greek ship (7) |
| E(nglish) + MB + Argo | ||
| 6 | HOOF MARKS | Horse’s trail bends around ramshackle farm (4-5) |
| Hooks around farm* | ||
| 7 | NOTATION | Symbols used to represent people binding books (8) |
| Nation aroun OT | ||
| 8 | SELFLESS | Generous fairytale creature the French found aboard ship (8) |
| Elf + les(=French the) in SS | ||
| 11 | SLUG | Bullet belt (4) |
| DD | ||
| 15 | EYE SHADOW | Cosmetic agreement had misery rising all around (3,6) |
| (Yes had) with woe< around | ||
| 17 | PROFOUND | Great and favourable point discovered (8) |
| Pro (as in pros and cons) + found | ||
| 18 | IDOLISES | Worships one cheat going to foreign isles (8) |
| I do + iles* | ||
| 20 | DOWN | Throw from university fellow taking wicket (4) |
| Don around w(icket) | ||
| 21 | BANSHEE | Has-been cast as female spirit (7) |
| (Has been)* | ||
| 22 | ELEVEN | Team left Europe in uniform (6) |
| L(eft) E(urope) in even | ||
| 23 | ASTRAL | Like craft capsizing on lake belonging to star (6) |
| As art< + l(ake) | ||
| 26 | MERIT | Excellence encountered around Royal Institution (5) |
| Met around R(oyal) I(nstitution) | ||
*anagram
Lovely stuff from Vigo.
A ghost theme too. DEMO and GORGONs were my first two answers in, and then it was straight back to the top to stick in STRANGER THINGS. Plenty of other references too – UPSIDE DOWN, ELEVEN, PORTAL, Will in 25a, and others I’m sure I’ve missed.
Thanks to V for the fun and Neal for the blog
Another super puzzle from the consistent lady but the ghost theme not only passed me by, I still don’t understand what it is!
Almost went astray with 24a – had the checking ‘H’ in place and wanted to put PINCH until 17d set me straight. No problem for me with see = grasp, I thought of to grasp the idea and that seemed to work OK.
19a made me smile but there were plenty of contenders for the top spot.
Many thanks to Vigo and to Neal for the blog.
It’s always a pleasure to see Vigo’s puzzles which I think are consistently well-written and offer the coupon of a ghost theme more often than not. A quick search of STRANGER THINGS did the job.
Thanks to S&B
Thanks for the heads up, baerchen, not a genre I would associate with Vigo but she does have a young family – who knows what they enjoy watching!
Enjoyed this. Lovely surfaces. Hadn’t come across stranger things. I liked HOOF MARKS, WHEREVER, EYE SHADOW and many more.
Many thanks Vigo and Neal
Never seen Stranger Things so didn’t spot the theme.
Thanks Vigo, enjoyable crossword.
Thanks NealH for a good blog. Strictly a metal is not equivalent to an element (although many are) as alloys are classed as metals, I think.
The ghost theme was, of course, lost on me. I didn’t know that ‘et al’ meant ‘and elsewhere.’ I’ve only come across it meaning ‘and others.’
Agree with @7Robi, et al is an abbreviation for “and others (or other things)” and I don’t think anybody else has come across it as meaning “and elsewhere”; though I stand to be enlightened. Don’t get the connection between THROW and DOWN.
Overall a pleasing if untaxing start to the week, I also thought 30A the pick of the clues for an immaculate surface.
Thanks to Vigo and NealH.
A fairly quick solve for us though there were one or two answers we got without understanding them.
Robi/gwep: Agree that strictly speaking ‘et al’ means ‘and others’ but I think at a stretch (and even then doubtfully) it could mean ‘and elsewhere’. We weren’t too happy with ‘throw’ = ‘down’ either, but thought it could possibly refer to throwing one’s opponent in wrestling.
Dormouse: Same here!
A nice one, though. Thanks, Vigo and NealH.
Robi@7: As I recall, to an astronomer, any element heavy than hydrogen in a star’s atmosphere is called a metal.
I spotted 1a/5a and guessed that I’d found the ghost theme, but that’s as far as I went with that. Enjoyed the whole thing, but didn’t note particular favourites, except that the wordplay for EYE SHADOW struck a chord.
Many thanks Vigo and Neal.