Thank you to Sleuth. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1. Remains in a hot place forgetting number for drinks (6)
CIDERS : “cinders”(remains in a hot place/pieces of unburnt coal or wood in a fireplace, say) minus(forgetting) “n”(abbrev. for “number”).
4. Start to tease female with gold among a lot dressed excessively (2,1,5)
TO A FAULT : 1st letter of(Start to) “tease” + { [ F(abbrev. for “female”) plus(with) AU(symbol for the chemical element, gold) ] contained in(among) anagram of(… dressed) A LOT }.
9. A British metropolis has part for money? That’s sudden (6)
ABRUPT : A + “Brum”(informal name for Birmingham, a British metropolis) with PT(abbrev. for “part”) replacing “m”(abbrev. for “money”).
10. A Tamil disorientated in Germany and Austria or in Croatia (8)
DALMATIA : Anagram of(… disorientated) A TAMIL contained in(in) [G and A(International Vehicle Registration codes for Germany and Austria, respectively)].
Defn: Coastal region …
12. Chairman working round estate, maybe, gets biscuit (8)
MACAROON : [ MAO(Zedong or Tse-tung aka Chairman Mao of China) + ON(working/functioning) ] containing(round) CAR(an example of which/maybe, is the estate, a vehicle with a large boot accessed by a door at the rear).
13. One with a request might use this place with facility (6)
PLEASE : PL(abbrev. for “place”) plus(with) EASE(facility/absence of difficulty or effort).
Defn: … word (if he/she were polite), when making the request.
15. Tennis players do not welcome this rule, it’s said (4)
RAIN : Homophone of(…, it’s said) “reign”(rule by a monarch).
Defn: Outdoor sports participants, like …
16. One detail misplaced about good group of representatives (10)
DELEGATION : Anagram of(… misplaced) ONE DETAIL containing(about) G(abbrev. for “good”).
19. Consider overlooking lake in uncontaminated part of Japan? (10)
PREFECTURE : “reflect”(to consider/to think about) minus(overlooking) “l”(abbrev. for “lake”) contained in(in) PURE(uncontaminated/clean).
Defn: One of the main administrative sub-regions/…
20. Modern artist observed in film ironically (4)
MIRÓ : Hidden in(observed in) “film ironically“.
Answer: Joan, Spanish …
23. Note a tense expression almost in conversation (6)
NATTER : N(abbrev. for “note”) + A+ T(abbrev. for “tense”, in grammar) + “term”(expression/a phrase or word to describe something) minus its last letter(almost).
25. Sick kid requiring treatment hugs European assistant (8)
SIDEKICK : Anagram of(… requiring treatment) SICK KID containing(hugs) E(abbrev. for “European”).
27. Climate’s varied for climber (8)
CLEMATIS : Anagram of(… varied CLIMATE’S) .
Defn: …, in this case, a climbing plant.
28. Priest penning unfortunate article needs support in church? (6)
PILLAR : PR(abbrev. for “priest”) containing(penning) [ ILL(unfortunate/poor) + A(article in grammar) ].
29. Request made by conservationists in fancy eatery (8)
ENTREATY : NT(abbrev. for the National Trust, an organisation dedicated to heritage conservation) contained in(in) anagram of(fancy) EATERY.
30. US actor has power and variable energy (6)
SWAYZE : SWAY(power/influence) plus(and) Z(symbol for a variable quantity in maths) + E(symbol for energy in physics).
Answer: Patrick, … and dancer too.
Down
1. College rector has tool first off as aid for passing exams (7)
CRAMMER : C(abbrev. for “college”) + R(abbrev. for “rector”) plus(has) “hammer”(a tool for giving heavy blows) minus its 1st letter(first off).
Defn: A person or institution that prepares students for exams.
2. Instruction I’ve cited needs revision? About right (9)
DIRECTIVE : Anagram of(… needs revision) I’VE CITED containing(About) R(abbrev. for “right”).
3. Written account about Liverpool, say (6)
REPORT : RE(about/with reference to) + PORT(an example of which/say, is Liverpool).
5. Precious material in address for mate? (4)
OPAL : [O PAL!](how one might/? address one’s mate/friend).
6. A militia without it in France is recognisable (8)
FAMILIAR : “A militia” minus(without) “it” contained in(in) FR(abbrev. for “France”).
7. Extremist starts to undermine legal traditions regulating activities (5)
ULTRA : 1st letters, respectively, of(starts to) “undermine legal traditions regulating activities“.
8. Tried an alternative for part-payment transaction (5-2)
TRADE-IN : Anagram of(… alternative) TRIED AN.
Defn: …/a deal in which a used article is given as part-payment for a purchase.
11. Short story writer has rental property concealed by coast in Brittany (7)
COLETTE : LET(a rental property/property let out) contained in(concealed by) COTE(“coast” in the language of Brittany, France).
Defn: French …
Based on one of her longer stories:
14. Young rebel flips admitting criminal riot in US city (7)
DETROIT : Reversal of(… flips) TED(short for “teddy boy”, a young rebel in a British sub-culture, in the 50s/60s) containing(admitting) anagram of(criminal) RIOT.
17. Ground in Italy lit with no end of excitement in the beginning (9)
INITIALLY : Anagram of(Ground) “in Italy lit” minus last letter of(with no end of) “excitement“.
18. Do nothing productive, say, kept by one previously serving at back of store (8)
VEGETATE : EG(abbrev. for “exempli gratia”/for example/say) contained in(kept by) [ VET(short for “veteran”, one previously serving, in the military, say) + AT] + last letter of(back of) “store“.
19. Old man with new longing for style (7)
PANACHE : PA(a familiar term, like “old man” for one’s father) plus(with) N(abbrev. for “new”) + ACHE(longing/yearning for).
21. A trek is arranged in borders of Oxfordshire to see part of forest? (3,4)
OAK TREE : Anagram of(… is arranged) A TREK contained in(in) 1st and last letters of(borders of) “Oxfordshire“.
22. Priest that is beginning to welcome critical contribution (6)
REVIEW : REV(abbrev. for “reverend”/a member of the clergy/priest) + IE(abbrev. for “id est”/that is) + 1st letter of(beginning to) “welcome“.
Defn: …/an appraisal of a book, play, film, etc. published in a newspaper or magazine.
24. Doctor to deal with special celebration? (5)
TREAT : Triple defn: 1st: To give medical care; and 2nd: …/to handle a matter; and 3: A celebration that is out of the ordinary and gives great pleasure.
26. Scorer picked up in catalogue (4)
LIST : Homophone of(… picked up /heard) “Liszt”(Franz, a Hungarian composer/one writing musical scores/a scorer).
My first pass was miserly but I tried not to panic, took time over the wordplay and was handsomely rewarded in the end.
I enjoyed VEGETATE and PREFECTURE for their wordplay, RAIN (neat surface), the pithy CLEMATIS, PANACHE (lovely word), SWAYZE and COLETTE (more novellas than short stories but also articles, novels and memoirs).
Thanks to Sleuth for keeping me on my toes and to Scchua for a wonderfully illustrated blog (esoecially for explaining ABRUPT).
Very enjoyable. My favourite was PREFECTURE. I’m slowly coming to terms with all the Britishisms, and eventually worked out why NT are conservationists, that an estate is a car, that Ted is a rebel and that Liverpool is a port. The only one that defeated me was Brum.
Well, Geoff, my parents were both born in Brum but I still missed that in parsing ABRUPT, relying on crossers and definition! (Hangs head in shame).
In the blog, I think ‘this’ (RAIN) is part of the definition and there’s an ‘a’ missing from NATTER, both oversights, I’m sure.
Thanks Scchua for the explanation of “abrupt”. Although I am familiar with “Brummie”, I wasn’t aware of its shortened form. The answer was obvious from the cross letters but I didn’t manage to parse it, hence my visit here.
Re 1D, I know that people “cram” for exams but I wasn’t familiar with this word. Again, obvious from the cross letters.
Re 7D, I have never come across “ultra” as a noun, as “extremist” is. I had only ever known it as a prefix or an adjective.
Diane re 23A: “Note” gives “N”; “a tense” gives “A” and “T” and the “expression almost” gives “TER(m).
Thanks Diane, oversights rectified.
Thanks, Peter. I parsed it that way too but just noticed the ‘a’ was missing from the blog ? now rectified, as per Scchua above.
Ooops, sorry Diane, I mis-read your comment…
No worries, Peter!
Thanks for the blog, I thought the clues were put together very neatly, many favourites. Geoff @2 TED was in very recently with a similar idea.
Peter@4 some sports teams have some very extremist supporters known as ULTRAS.
Thanks Sleuth. Despite failing with NATTER and COLETTE I enjoyed this with RAIN, PREFECTURE, and CIDERS being my top choices. Thanks scchua for the illustrated blog.
I found the parsing of many (e.g. 9, 12, 19 and 23 across) more difficult than the solutions so thank you sichua for the blog and Sleuth for an enjoyable solve.
A pleasant diversion with nothing too difficult. RAIN and OAK TREE were about the nearest it came to write-ins; on the other hand PREFECTURE and VEGETATE required some thought. SWAYZE was our LOI – we worked out that was what it had to be but it was only when we googled to check the name that we remembered we had heard it before. We liked the illustration for 20ac.
Thanks Sleuth and scchua.
A DNQF as it is time for bed. Missed Prefecture and Vegetate and Colette.
Most of the rest went in fairly uneventfully.
Too many first letter abbreviations for my liking – always strikes me as a easy way out of a corner for crossword setters.
Eg College rector = CR
Note a tense = Nat
Marvellous, marvellous blog. Congratulations on a work of art.