Thank you to Sleuth. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
9. Reckless sort varying speed, source of renewed commotion (9)
DESPERADO : Anagram of(varying) SPEED + 1st letter of(source of) “renewed” + ADO(a commotion/disturbance).
10. Staged production backed in Birmingham ardently (5)
DRAMA : Hidden in(in …) reversal of(backed …) “Birmingham ardently“.
11. A poet might use this independent publication linked to English network (7)
IMAGERY : I(abbrev. for “Independent”, one not committed to a political party) + MAG(short for “magazine”/a periodical publication) plus(linked to) E(abbrev. for “English”) + RY(abbrev. for “railway”/a network of train tracks and their operation).
Defn: …, ie. visually descriptive or figurative language to conjure up, well, images.
12. Note terrible trouble for subject of pedicurist’s attention? (7)
TOENAIL : Anagram of(… terrible) NOTE + AIL(to trouble/to afflict in mind or body).
13. Cut endlessly vapid chatter (3)
GAS : “gash”(a long, deep cut or wound) minus its last letter(endlessly).
14. Two that stir in a haphazard way initially (2,5,4)
TO START WITH : Anagram of(… in a haphazard way) TWO THAT STIR.
17. Boost too in pitch after regular cancellations (5)
TONIC : “too in pitch” minus its 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th and 10th letters(after regular cancellations).
Defn: …/something that invigorates.
18. Maybe, caught striking (3)
OUT : Double defn: 1st: In cricket, what a batsman is after being “caught”, for example/maybe; and 2nd: Descriptive of workers on strike/striking.
19. Artist close to park and a house bordering lake (5)
KAHLO : Last letter of(close to) “park” plus(and) A + HO(abbrev. for “house”) containing(bordering) L(abbrev. for “lake”).
Answer: …, Frida, Mexican artist.
A self-portrait:
21. A street cred ruined? It’s not something professionals divulge (5,6)
TRADE SECRET : Anagram of(… ruined) A STREET CRED.
23. Brass instrument lacking a container (3)
TUB : “tuba”(a musical instrument in the brass family) minus(lacking) “a“.
25. Complaint from fancy mogul boarding airline? The opposite! (7)
LUMBAGO : Anagram of(fancy) MOGUL contained in(boarding …? The opposite) BA(abbrev. for the airline, British Airways).
Defn: A medical ….
27. Ship pilot circles in the morning (7)
STEAMER : STEER(to pilot/to control the movement of a vessel or aircraft) containing(circles in) AM(abbrev. for “ante meridium”/before noon/the morning time).
28. Board game about to include first of some prickly stuff (5)
GORSE : GO(a Japanese board game) + RE(about/with reference to) containing(to include) 1st letter of(first of) “some“.
29. Manager is altering a set of free market beliefs? (9)
REAGANISM : Anagram of(… altering) MANAGER IS.
Defn: The set of economic policies promoting free market capitalism advocated by former US President Ronald Reagan.
Down
1. One left in a lot of murkiness, being lazy? (6)
IDLING : I(Roman numeral for “one”) + [ L(abbrev. for “left”) contained in(in) all, but last, letters of(a lot of …) “dinge”(dinginess/murkiness/not having enough light)].
2. Repeatedly, Las Vegan’s behind favoured hitman (8)
ASSASSIN : ASS,ASS(twice/Repeatedly slang for one’s behind/backside, in the vocabulary of one from Las Vegas, America) + IN(favoured/popular).
Defn: …/killer.
3. Wild place with tree containing cold box, maybe (10)
RECEPTACLE : Anagram of(Wild) [PLACE plus(with) TREE] containing(containing) C(abbrev. for “cold”).
Defn: An example of which/maybe is a box.
4. Last pair in extravaganza notably on the fringes are clownish (4)
ZANY : Last 2 letters of(Last pair in) “extravaganza” + 1st and last letters of(… on the fringes) “notably“.
5. Working sort first off with stamps welcoming latest of clientele? (10)
POSTMASTER : Anagram of(Working) [ “sort” minus its 1st letter(first off) plus(with) STAMPS] containing(welcoming) last letter of(latest of) “clientele“.
Defn: One whose work involves selling stamps to a post office’s clientele? I could be wrong with this.
6. Skirt pleated generally? Not altogether (4)
EDGE : Hidden in(…? Not altogether) “pleated generally“.
7. A week taken in African country or another (6)
MALAWI : [A + W(abbrev. for “week”) ] contained in(taken in)MALI(an African country).
Defn: … African country.
8. British colleague with short catchy phrase creates commotion (8)
BALLYHOO : B(abbrev. for “British”) + ALLY(a colleague/one who helps with another) + “hook”(a catchy phrase in a piece of popular music) minus its last letter(short …).
15. Cricket ground features this small centre attended by executives (10)
SCOREBOARD : S(abbrev. for “small”) + CORE(the centre of something, a fruit, say) plus(attended by) BOARD(the committee of senior executives in an organisation).
16. Get unjustified blame with secure diplomat entering hidden danger (4,3,3)
TAKE THE RAP : TAKE(to secure/to achieve in getting) + [ HE(abbrev. for “His/Her Excellency”, form of address for a high-ranking diplomat such as an ambassador) contained in(entering) TRAP(a hidden danger/a device or trick to catch one by surprise) ].
17. Egyptian ruler held unrestricted period for instruction (8)
TUTELAGE : TUT(King …, short for Tutankhamen, ancient Egyptian ruler/pharaoh) + inner 2 letters of(… unrestricted) “held” + AGE(a time period).
20. Something on top European chap for broadcast gets unwelcome feedback (4,4)
HATE MAIL : HAT(something/what you wear on top of your head) + E(abbrev. for “European”) + homophone of(… for broadcast) “male”(a chap).
22. Greatly respect Democrat put in a complicated situation (6)
ADMIRE : D(abbrev. for “Democrat”, a member of the Democratic Party) contained in(put in) [A + MIRE(a complicated situation/a mess from which it is difficult to escape) ].
24. One not being straight with set of engineers in ancient craft (6)
BIREME : BI(short for “bisexual”/one not being straight/heterosexual) plus(with) REME(abbrev. for the “Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers”, set of engineers in the British military).
Defn: … with two banks of oars.
26. A secret place of illegal activity somewhere in the Arab world (4)
ADEN : A + DEN(a place of illegal activity, an opium den, say).
Defn: …, specifically the city in Yemen.
27. See red photograph (4)
SNAP : Double defn: 1st: …/suddenly lose one’s self-control; and 2. …/snapshot.
Had to cheat with a word fit to get POSTMASTER. Could only think of “contractor”, which wouldn’t parse. Reckon it is meant to be an &lit but, imo, not a very good one. Not met “dinge” before.
I could figure out the wordplay (even if it was my last one in) but otherwise I had the same thoughts as Hovis @1 about POSTMASTER. Everything else made sense, though I was thinking of the wrong part of speech for ‘of murkiness’ at 1d and was sucked in by 28a, looking for a ‘Board game’ called GORE.
Favourite was LUMBAGO.
Thanks to Sleuth and scchua
@Hovis I parsed 1D as dingy, not dinge FWIW
I think “dingy” equates to “murky” not “murkiness”, so I looked for an alternative ending and found “dinge” in Chambers.
A pleasant and steady solve with HATE MAIL my favourite. Nice to see KAHLO given an airing and ticks for MALAWI and BALLYHOO too.
I also thought ‘dingy’ not knowing ‘dinge’ but agree with Hovis that it is more ‘murky’ than ‘murkiness’. In any case, the result is the same.
I too failed to spot ‘go’ but the crossers made it plain; liked the use of ‘not straight’ in 24d.
No problem solving POSTMASTER but still not sure about the workings of it.
Thanks to Sleuth and Scchua
5D: Anagram of SORT without S (first off), STAMPS, and E.
Thanks Sleuth and scchua
5dn: I am certain that the wordplay is as indicated by scchua, with the E inserted into the anagram rather than being part of it. That is the only way that I can account for the word “welcoming” in the clue. That means that the whole clue forms the wordplay. There is room for reasonable doubt as to how much of the clue is meant to be the definition. I can sympathise with the view that it is just the first six words, which would make the clue what I would call a partial “& lit” clue. However, I do not think it is too much of a stretch to regard the whole clue as the definition and call the clue a complete “& lit”.
Yes, Tank. Agreed, as it states in the blog, but ‘working sort’ as definition? Hmm…
A fairly quick solve and all pretty straightforward although we hadn’t come across ‘dinge’ in that sense before. We just saw 5dn as a kind of clue-as-definition. A bit of déja-vu with MALAWI, though, Everyman in The Observer had an almost identical clue recently.
Thanks, Sleuth and scchua.
All good fun but I handicapped myself by entering TUTORIAL for 17d – eventually sorted it.
Thanks for the blog scchua – some might be interested to learn the steamship you have pictured is the TSS Earnslaw, which has been sailing Lake Wakatipu since 1912 and is still going strong.
Thanks for fun Sleuth
Very late, but I had to thank Sleuth for a rewarding crossword and scchua for the wonderfully illustrated blog. I couldn’t solve BIREME and couldn’t parse TUTELAGE, GAS, or POSTMASTER entirely but I’m not complaining because I really liked DESPERADO, TOENAIL, TUB, BALLYHOO, and SNAP.
Thanks Sleuth and scchua
This was today’s train entertainment heading into the two days of ‘working in office’, which I found quite a deal easier than yesterday’s one. Did have a couple of parsing errors – went down the ‘dingy’ path (‘in a lot of murkiness’, without realising that would entail double use) and missed the US term for behind (had used the AS of Las and S of Vegas to generate AS S twice).
RECEPTACLE pleased me when I finally twigged to it and thought that HATE MAIL was well put together.
Finished up the top with POSTMASTER (no issues with the parsing), that RECEPTACLE and IMAGERY as the last one in.