Independent on Sunday 1,562 by Flitwick

The puzzle can be found here.

Hello all.  On a pleasingly palindromic date we have perfect Sunday fare from Flitwick, of which I particularly enjoyed FATHOM.  I also noted the simple but very nice ESPIED and the seamless definition-wordplay join in IVORY.  Finally, I can’t not favourite FRAGRANCE.  Thanks Flitwick!

Definitions are underlined in the clues below.  In the explanations, quoted indicators are in italics and I’ve capitalised and emboldened letters which appear in the ANSWER.

Across

1a    Man-eater exchanges tips with hoary old general (8)
HANNIBAL
cANNIBAL (man-eater) swaps first letters with (exchanges tips with) Hoary

5a    Fahrenheit, in short, is a unit (6)
FATHOM
F (Farenheit) + AT HOMe (in) without the last letter (short)

9a    Trump or head of state in the garden, perhaps (8)
OUTDOORS
OUTDO (trump), OR (from the clue), and the first letter of (head of) State.  Here’s Larry the Cat in the garden of No 10:

10a   Watched new episode, missing nothing (6)
ESPIED
An anagram of (new) EPIS[o]DE without (missing) O (nothing)

12a   Requiem, for example, held in cathedral city (5)
ELEGY
EG (for example) contained within (held in) ELY (cathedral city)

13a   Drunk venetian left an anonymous message (9)
VALENTINE
An anagram of (drunk) VENETIAN with L (left)

14a   Miss the start of terrible telling off (6)
EARFUL
Omit the first letter from (miss the start of) [f]EARFUL (terrible)

16a   Perhaps ravioli stuffed with spam (oddly) and tomato sauce (7)
PASSATA
PASTA (perhaps ravioli) containing (stuffed with) odd letters of (… oddly) SpAm

19a   Pull swimmer around sheltered area (7)
LEEWARD
DRAW (pull) + EEL (swimmer), all reversed (around)

21a   Face struggle to conceal droop (6)
VISAGE
VIE (struggle) containing (to conceal) SAG (droop)

23a   As if by magic, the osprey takes flight (3,6)
HEY PRESTO
THE OSPREY is anagrammed (takes flight)

25a   Lady starts to move about restlessly inside aeroplane (5)
MARIA
Initial letters of (starts to) Move About Restlessly Inside Aeroplane

26a   Very smart but initially a bit wet (6)
BRAINY
The first letter of (… initially) But plus RAINY (a bit wet)

27a   Strange moves by Glasgow’s top criminal (8)
GANGSTER
STRANGE is anagrammed (moves) next to (by) Glasgow’s first letter (top)

28a   Find a match here: it’ll burn nicely (6)
TINDER
A double definition, the first referring to the online dating app

29a   Butch subordinates? (8)
HENCHMEN
Cryptic definition of some male henchpersons

Down

1d    Owl‘s nose (6)
HOOTER
A double definition

2d    Message admitting king made up place of worship (5-4)
NOTRE-DAME
NOTE (message) containing (admitting) R (king), then MADE anagrammed (up)

3d    Material found in teeth or in a plant (5)
IVORY
OR (from the clue) in IVY (a plant)

4d    Hear an adversary coming (7)
ARRIVAL
Said aloud, you would hear A RIVAL (an adversary)

6d    Child is involved in trickery for criminals (9)
ARSONISTS
SON (child) + IS (from the clue) inside (involved in) ARTS (trickery)

7d    Strike Iraqi leader surrounding a country (5)
HAITI
HIT (strike) + Iraqi’s first letter (leader) surrounding A (from the clue)

8d    Antique award I’ve cunningly pocketed (8)
MEDIEVAL
MEDAL (award) with an anagram of (… cunningly) I’VE inserted (pocketed)

11d   Lift up cobber’s clobber (4)
SLAP
Reverse (lift up, in a down answer) PAL’S (cobber’s)

15d   Newspaper divides EU country: it stinks! (9)
FRAGRANCE
RAG (newspaper) goes inside (divides) FRANCE (EU country)

17d   Vice President abruptly hit out over spymaster’s problem-solving method (9)
ALGORITHM
AL GORe (vice president) without the last letter (abruptly) and HIT anagrammed (out) followed by (over, in a down answer) M (spymaster)

18d   Letters from mountain hospital: help! (8)
ALPHABET
A charade of ALP (mountain), H (hospital), and ABET (help)

20d   Serve someone attractive (4)
DISH
A double definition good enough to eat.  This reminded me of something which happened* recently.  A really attractive waiter asked if I was single.  I said yes.  And with that, he took the other chair away

21d   Defile musical instrument with empty tune (7)
VIOLATE
VIOLA (musical instrument) with the outer letters only of (empty) TunE

22d   Girl and boy’s benefactor (6)
PATRON
PAT (girl) and RON (boy).  What with this and a certain famous Rufus clue, boy Pats must be feeling sorely underrepresented in crosswords.  Cow pats probably feature more often!

24d   Pine tree finally included in story (5)
YEARN
TreE’s last letter (finally) inside (included in) YARN (story)

25d   Charm of coat worn by soldier (5)
MAGIC
MAC (coat) around (worn by) GI (soldier)

*What happened was I enjoyed a joke told by Tom Allen, which I have shamelessly stolen.  Which is good, because otherwise Mr K would be asking some awkward questions!