I found this easier than usual. Azed has one of the most consistent levels of difficulty of any setter I know, so I attribute this quick solve to my being in a sharper frame of mind on this occasion than my usual mental fog. Thank you Azed.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | CHAMBER-STICK | What’ll we see serge in? Our recommendation has mark of correctness (12) |
| CHAMBERS (our recommendation, recommended dictionary) has TICK (mark of correctness) | ||
| 9 | LUDO | Ivy follows line that’s contested on the board (4) |
| UDO (ivy) follows L (line) | ||
| 10 | ASAR | Some banks charging extras? A racket (4) |
| found inside (charging) extrAS A Racket | ||
| 12 | INRO | What Japanese rarely dressed without – or is this for ferry? (4) |
| OR is IN RO (this, the solution) in the word RO-RO (ferry) | ||
| 13 | ON-JOB | Unwelcome comforters called this ‘doing normal work’ (5) |
| Job’s Comforters (unwelcome comforters) called “on Job” | ||
| 14 | ARCUS | Ocular deposit? Old poet, I’ll be seen with this, possibly (5) |
| OCULAR DEPOSIT is an anagram (possibly) of OLD POET with ARCUS (this, the solution) | ||
| 16 | SKENE-OCCLE | Knife, even used in cracking cockles (10) |
| ENE (even, used=archaic) inside anagram (cracking) of COCKLES | ||
| 18 | WHEEPLE | Scots pipe was reeling, mostly round piano (7) |
| WHEELEd (was reeling, mostly) contains P (piano) | ||
| 19 | DEMEANOR | Behaviour of Trump men adore, abnormally (8) |
| anagram (abnormally) of MEN ADORE – of Trump indicates an American spelling | ||
| 22 | INCHMEAL | What, digging into pot, my very tight clothes do, bit by bit (8) |
| INCHMEAL inside (digging into) POT gives PINCH ME A LOT (what my very tight clothes do) | ||
| 26 | HARICOT | A grain, mostly included in heated meat stew with veg, … (7) |
| A RICe (grain, mostly) inside HOT (heated) | ||
| 29 | TARTE TATIN | … Followed by this treat cooked by Jacques, new? (10, 2 words) |
| anagram (cooked) of TREAT then TATI (Jaques Tati) and N (new) – what might follow a haricot stew | ||
| 30 | PLINK | Pizzicato sound, soft, part of chain (5) |
| P (piano, soft) then LINK (part of chain) | ||
| 31 | U-TUBE | Basin replacing bend in use for piping that’s far from straight (5) |
| TUB (basin) replaces S (an S-bend) in UsE | ||
| 32 | PESO | Monetary unit in Peru and so on (4) |
| PE (Peru, IVR code) with (and…on) SO | ||
| 33 | STEN | US secretary with no love for deadly piece (4) |
| STENo (secretary, US) missing O (love) – a piece is a gun | ||
| 34 | ANUS | Mean muse that’s shunned this writer twice – waste passage ends here (4) |
| meAN mUSe missing ME (this writer) twice | ||
| 35 | PRESSED GLASS | Urged girl to accept good moulded fragile stuff (12, 2 words) |
| PRESSED (urged) LASS (girl) contains (to accept) G (good) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | CLOSED SHOP | School’s dep. sacked where union holds sway (10, 2 words) |
| anagram (sacked) of SCHOOL’S DEP | ||
| 2 | HUNKY | Like beefcake in thick pieces without cold topping (5) |
| cHUNKY (in thick pieces) missing Cold (first letter, topping) | ||
| 3 | MOONIE | Member of sect? I’ll get involved in second one (6) |
| I inside (will get involved in) MO (moment, second) ONE | ||
| 4 | BABEL | Book penned in a thorny tree? An ill- conceived idea (5) |
| B (book) inside (penned in) BAEL (a thorny tree) | ||
| 5 | RANCHO | Hut for travellers rest, last given precedence (6) |
| ANCHOR (rest) with last letter moved to the front | ||
| 6 | TIRLED | Jock’s rattled, with bonds round both hands (6) |
| TIED (with bonds) contains (round) RL (right and left, both hands) | ||
| 7 | INCEPTED | Having completed MA, I had about abandoned pen etc (8) |
| I’D (I had) contains (about) anagram (abandoned) of PEN ETC | ||
| 8 | CRUELLA | Devilish villainess gang once completely overturned (7) |
| CRUE (gang once, old spelling of crew) then ALL (completely) reversed (overturned) – Cruella de Vil | ||
| 11 | STOWN | Southern borough the Scots plundered (5) |
| S (southern) TOWN (borough) | ||
| 15 | STEELINESS | Peg ropes on board ship, showing stamina (10) |
| TEE (peg) LINES (ropes) inside (on board) SS (steam ship) | ||
| 17 | AMORTISE | Pay o? bit left in a payment due to new ruler (8) |
| ORT (bit left) inside A MISE (payment due to new ruler) | ||
| 20 | EMAILER | Norman going after English? He sends unwritten message (7) |
| MAILER (Norman Mailer) follows E (English) – I think for many people writing now includes creating a message on a keyboard or other device, but Chambers hasn’t caught up yet so emails remain unwritten in crossword land. | ||
| 21 | PIANOS | Drink up, a drink (not grand) imbibed? They could be grand (6) |
| SIP (drink) reversed (up) contains (with…imbibed) A NOg (drink) missing G (grand) | ||
| 23 | NOTATE | Write a score part for one of the foregoing? Ta – terriffc (6) |
| found inside (part for) piaNO (one of the foregoing, 22dn) TA TErrific | ||
| 24 | CTENE | Part of marine organism, catch hauled up devoured by odd members of crew (5) |
| NET (catch) reversed (hauled up) inside (devoured by) CrEw (odd numbered letters of) | ||
| 25 | MEATAL | Half of Panama let off It’s to do with canal’s opening (6) |
| anagram (off) of panAMA (half of) and LET | ||
| 27 | STUNG | Had onset of niggle in insides, laid up (5) |
| Niggles (first letter, onset of) inside GUTS (insides) reversed (laid up) – to have been tricked | ||
| 28 | GIBUS | Topper collapsing, second in line, with nasty bugs around (5) |
| I (second letter of line) inside (with…around) anagram (nasty) of BUGS | ||
Thanks to Azed and PeeDee
I didn’t get stuck on a few obstinate clues as I often do, and finished this relatively quickly.
1ac was a real palm to forehead slap moment when I got it. Lovely clue.
Thanks, PeeDee. Isn’t 13a slightly tighter: the comforters called on Job, ie visited him.
Incidentally, one of Job’s comforters was called Bildad the Shuhite, which is also the answer to the question “Who’s the shortest man in the Bible?”. (Job ch 2 v 11)
Thanks for that brian-with-an-eye, you have a better way of putting it. I’ve updated the blog.
23 Dn is not acceptable. It is a clue to a clue. I assumed the Grauniad had just been doing their usual and misprinted it. I construed it as Write a score part for soprano—ta—terrific.
Why can I still not understand 12 Ac, even though I got the ro-ro?
Stefan