Thank you to Zamorca. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1. Spar has bread in front of till (5,3)
MONEY BOX : BOX(to spar/to box without landing heavy blows as a form of training) placed after(has … in front) MONEY(in slang, bread).
Defn: …/locked box to keep money in, in a shop, say.
5. Still shortly intend to join police (6)
PLACID : “plan”(intend to act to achieve an objective) minus its last letter(shortly …) plus(to join) CID(abbrev. for the Criminal Investigation Department of the police force).
9. In gold, carats’ value is precise (8)
ACCURATE : AU(symbol for the chemical element, gold) containing(In …, …) C,C(2 x abbrev. for “carat”) + RATE(to determine the value of/to grade).
10. Judge old man playing the fool (6)
JOKING : J(abbrev. for “judge”) + O(abbrev. for “old”) + KING(a piece/man in chess).
12. Gets rid of letters penned by infamous Tsar (5)
OUSTS : Hidden in(letters penned by) “infamous Tsar“.
13. Perhaps sister’s wearing veil in order not to be seen (9)
INVISIBLE : SIB(short for “sibling”, an example of which/perhaps is one’s sister) contained in(wearing) anagram of(… order) VEIL IN.
14. Deer taken by lion’s making a comeback challenge (6)
TACKLE : Reversal of(…’s making a comeback) [ ELK(a red deer native to North America) plus(taken by) CAT(a family of animals which includes the lion) ].
16. Wife takes right approach in quarrel (7)
WRANGLE : W(abbrev. for “wife”) plus(takes) R(abbrev. for “right”) + ANGLE(an approach/a particular way of considering a problem or issue).
19. May freak when imprisoned without charge (7)
PAYMENT : Anagram of(… freak) MAY contained in(… without) PENT(when imprisoned/closely confined).
21. Company has power for every PC (6)
COPPER : CO(abbrev. for “company”, a commercial organisation) plus(has) P(symbol for “power” in physics) + PER(for every/for each).
Defn: Slang for a PC/Police Constable.
“Evening all.”
23. Ducks fine in new enclosure, hope you don’t mind (2,7)
NO OFFENCE : [O,O(2 x letter representing 0, and zero is the number of runs scored, or not, by a cricketer who has scored a duck) + F(abbrev. for “fine”) ] contained in(in) [ N(abbrev. for “new”) + FENCE(an enclosure/a barrier enclosing an area) ].
Defn: Phrase expressing the sentiment “I hope you don’t mind”.
25. Overt corruption in key part of democratic process (5)
VOTER : Anagram of(… corruption) OVERT.
26. Have a hunch some Latin tuition’s required (6)
INTUIT : Hidden in(some …’s required) “Latin tuition“.
27. Futile pursuit of cup’s plucky (4,4)
MUG’S GAME : MUG(a large cup used without a saucer) + GAME(plucky/willing to do something challenging).
Defn: An activity/pursuit that does not benefit the doer/is futile.
28. Row with young girl about stowing drug in boat (6)
DINGHY : DIN(row/loud, unpleasant noise) plus(with) reversal of(… about) YG(abbrev. for “young girl”, in texting) containing(stowing) H(abbrev. for the drug, heroin).
29. Easiest solution’s one to be adopted in my opinion (2,1,3,2)
AS I SEE IT : Anagram of(… solution/a mixture of solute and solvent) EASIEST containing(… to be adopted) I(Roman numeral for “one”).
Down
1. Cut each last weed in field (6)
MEADOW : MOW(to cut, grass on the lawn, say) containing(… in) [EA(abbrev. for “each”) + last letter of(last) “weed” ].
2. Move scenery as required (9)
NECESSARY : Anagram of(Move) SCENERY AS.
3. Always rejected Twitter’s right wing points and threads (5)
YARNS : Reversal of(… rejected) AY(archaic term for “always”/ever) + last letter of(…’s right wing, reading from left to right) “Twitter” + N,S (abbrev. for “north” and “south” respectively, 2 compass points).
4. Huge al fresco day out includes heading to zoo (7)
OUTSIZE : “outside”(al fresco/in the open air, as when dining out) minus(… out) “d”(abbrev. for “day”) containing(includes) 1st letter of(heading to) “zoo“.
6. Seem keen to get a move on (4,5)
LOOK SHARP! : LOOK(to seem/to appear to be) + SHARP(keen, descriptive of a knife’s edge, say).
Defn: …/be quick.
7. Rise of Conservative member (5)
CLIMB : C(abbrev. for a member of the Conservative Party) + LIMB(a member of a person’s body).
8. Comic verse cruelly eviscerated Lloyd George (8)
DOGGEREL : Anagram of(cruelly) [ “Lloyd” minus all its inner letters(eviscerated …) + GEORGE ].
11. State of West Virginia raised ordinary income (4)
AVOW : Reversal of(… raised, in a down clue) [ W(abbrev. for “west”) + VA(abbrev. for the US state of Virginia) ] containing(… income/an inflow) O(abbrev. for “ordinary”).
15. Look up article supporting federal leader – it’s hard to stay loyal (4,5)
KEEP FAITH : Reversal of(… up, in a down clue) PEEK(to look quickly or furtively) + [ A(an article in grammar) placed below(supporting, in a down clue) 1st letter of(… leader) “federal“] + IT plus(‘s/contraction of “has”, as in “it’s wandered off”) H(abbrev. for “hard”).
17. Have lunch in garden relaxed with large dog (5,4)
GREAT DANE : EAT(to have lunch, or any meal) contained in(in) anagram of(… relaxed) GARDEN.
… great enough.
18. Love writer’s intellect and unprejudiced way of thinking (4,4)
OPEN MIND : O(letter representing 0/love in tennis scores) + PEN(a writer/an implement to write with) + MIND(intellect/one’s mental powers).
20. In Marseilles you catch endless fish (4)
TUNA : TU(the pronoun “you”, in the language of Marseilles, France) + “nab”(to catch/apprehend a wrongdoer) minus its last letter(… endless).
21. On telephone makes certain promises of money (7)
CHEQUES : Homophone of(On telephone) “checks”(makes certain/verifies).
22. Father has bother with rain regularly coming in (6)
PRIEST : PEST(a bother/a nuisance) containing(with … coming in) 1st and 3rd letters of(… regularly) “rain“.
Defn: … as a clerical title.
24. Generally get mushy when son leaves (5)
OFTEN : “soften”(to get mushy/semi-liquid) minus(when … leaves) “s”(abbrev. for “son”).
25. Praises avenue lined with elevated flower containers (5)
VASES : Hidden in(… lined with) reversal of(… elevated, in a down clue) “Praises avenue“.
This was a good way to wind down after doing the Imogen in the Guardian today. I didn’t find anything too obscure but took a while to get my last few in including MUG’S GAME, VASES (a good reverse hidden) and for some reason PRIEST, which wasn’t difficult in retrospect. Best bit was the surface for 16a – correct of course!
Nice to have a pangram as well.
Thanks to Zamorca and scchua
It was a very pleasant puzzle. For some reason I failed to spot that PC was a copper which shows how one has been conditioned by the digital age. Alas.
Many thanks to setter and blogger for an enjoyable start to a damp day.
Sometimes a pangram is helpful when completing a grid but not today; it crept up on me so subtly that I didn’t spot it until the end. Luckily, this fun grid from Zamorca was a steady, fuss-free solve anyway.
I liked DOGGEREL, TUNA, NO OFFENCE and MUG’S GAME best. Some neat surfaces too, like 16A, and refreshing to see ‘flower’ mean ‘bloom’ in 25d.
Thanks very much to Zamorca and
Oops! Pressed before I was ready.
And thanks to Scchua for the illuminating blog.
I got stuck on 27a, a phrase we don’t use in the US, but its meaning is obvious. Also got stuck on 21a, because I entered LOOK SMART for 6d. Otherwise a very fun puzzle. Thanks Zamorca for the pangram puzzl and Scchua for helping me fix my errors.
Thanks to Zamorca and scchua. A quick solve but very enjoyable. I had trouble parsing TACKLE, my LOI and much liked the picture of the GREAT DANE (I regularly see one of our neighbors walking one)..
Don’t you mean – one walking one of your neighbours?
Thanks for the blog, some nice clues here and DOGGEREL my favourite.
YG = young girl seems a bit dodgy to me ?
A nice steady solve with no real problems. We liked MUGS GAME and DOGGEREL. We agree with Roz@8 about YG – it’s not in Chambers, even as Y and G separately (although if memory serves correctly radio hams, in the days before political correctness, used to refer to female radio hams as YLs – young ladies.)
Thanks, Zamorca and scchua.
Thanks Zamorca, that was fun. I missed MUGS GAME, an unknown expression for me but all else fell into place. Favourites were TACKLE and TUNA. Thanks scchua for the blog.
[Roz @8: YG = young girl — I’ve come to the point where I assume that every noun and adjective can be abbreviated using just its first letter; I know that’s not correct but it works in crossword land quite often.]
After explaining to a new solver what a pangram was, I spotted one myself for the first time!
Roz. Wonder if anyone else remembers the old ham radio jargon when XYL (ex young lady) meant wife! Those were the good old days of conversing in morse code.
Thanks for the afternoon stretcher Zamora.
I was convinced 4d was not OUTSIZE because “out” was there in the clue so spent far too long looking for a alternative. In the end it was the only thing that would fit.
The rest was fine and I am another who looked sideways at YG for young girl but in the back of my mind is the idea it has been used (and justified) before.
Thanks for all the untangling Scchua.
……Zamorca – mutter at iPad. Sorry.
Thanks Zamorca and scchua
A backlog puzzle that didn’t take all that long fortunately as I make up ground. Still a pleasant enough solve with enough little tricks hidden throughout to not get to overconfident in working them out.
Liked the use of ‘West Virginia’ to general the W and VA at 11d and the reversing of the word play with TACKLE.
Finished with DINGHY (with the ‘young girl’ giving a slight delay – used them as separate abbreviations and wasn’t overly concerned with them), KEEP FAITH and that TACKLE the last one in.