Thank you to Zamorca. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
It’s a pangram.
Across
1. Murder is detective’s province (8)
DISPATCH : DI(abbrev. for “detective inspector”)‘S + PATCH(province/an area of one’s interest or responsibility).
5. Sailor has uniform tucked in and eyes front to show respect (6)
SALUTE : SALT(an informal term for a sailor) containing(has … tucked in) U(abbrev. for “uniform”) plus(and) 1st letter of(… front) “eyes“.
9. Stops lads eating junk and fries essentially (8)
STATIONS : SONS(form of address for “lads”/boys) containing(eating) TAT(junk/worthless items) plus(and) middle letter of(… essentially) “fries“.
Defn: … along a railway line, say.
10. Miss fellow cutting head in fall (6)
FUMBLE : F(abbrev. for “fellow”) replacing(cutting) 1st letter of(head in) “tumble”(fall/trip).
12. Put down sandwich container and brewed tea (9)
SUBJUGATE : SUB(short for the North American “submarine sandwich”/one made of a long roll with filling) + JUG(a cylindrical container with a handle and a lip) plus(and) anagram of(brewed) TEA.
Defn: …/to dominate or control.
13. Holy woman’s heartily rejoicing, bearing suffering without complaint (5)
STOIC : ST(abbrev. for “saint”, a holy woman or man) + middle 3 letters of(heartily) “rejoicing“.
14. Talk with bowler perhaps, following century (4)
CHAT : HAT(an example of which is/perhaps a “bowler”) placed after(following) C(abbrev. for “century”).
16. One’s cross, drawn into horseplay with practical jokers (7)
HOAXERS : [ A(one/single) + X(letter representing a cross/crucifix] contained in(drawn into) anagram of(…play) HORSE.
19. Not knowing French, article’s a struggle to penetrate (7)
UNAWARE : UNE(an article in French grammar) containing(… to penetrate) [A + WAR(a struggle/a conflict) ].
21. Sketched Doctor with bridge partners (4)
DREW : DR(abbrev. for “doctor”) plus(with) E,W(abbrev. for “East” and “West”, respectively, representing partners in a bridge game).
24. Get quietly drunk after parents finally divorce (5)
SPLIT : [ P(abbrev. for “piano”, a musical direction to play softly/quietly) + LIT(drunk/intoxicated) ] placed after(after) last letter of(… finally) “parents“.
Defn: …/to go separate ways.
25. Photocopy amendment to procedure (9)
REPRODUCE : Anagram of(amendment to) PROCEDURE.
Defn: …/to use a photocopier.
27. Collision has traffic, initially better on motorway, turned back (6)
IMPACT : Reversal of(…, turned back) [ 1st letter of(traffic, initially) “” + CAP(to better/to outdo) plus(on) MI(the English motorway, M1 with the Roman numeral substitution) ].
28. Boot gang off sledge (8)
TOBOGGAN : Anagram of(… off) BOOT GANG.
29. Agreed to recycle odds and ends sons left out (6)
NODDED : Anagram of(recycle) [ “odds” plus(and) “ends” minus(… left out) 2 x “s”(plural of abbrev. of “son”) ].
30. Intellectual from CERN abridged book, cutting real analysis (8)
CEREBRAL : “CERN” minus its last letter(abridged) + [ B(abbrev. for “book”) contained in(cutting) anagram of(… analysis) REAL].
Down
1. Stop taking sides, recklessly heading for trouble (6)
DESIST : Anagram of(…, recklessly) SIDES + 1st letter of(heading for) “trouble“.
2. Embarrassed sailor boy coming aboard scruffy (6)
SHABBY : SHY(embarrassed/self-conscious) containing(… coming aboard) [ AB(abbrev. for “able-bodied seaman”, a sailor) + B(abbrev. for “boy” – as in combinations like “bf”) ].
3. See you in France – you said to follow crazy idea! (5)
ADIEU : Homophone of(… said) “you” placed below(to follow, in a down clue) anagram of(crazy) IDEA.
4. Approach prisoner with discretion (7)
CONTACT : CON(short for “convict”/a prisoner) plus(with) TACT(discretion/sensitivity dealing with matters).
Defn: …/to initiate communication with.
6. Something only a fool would do, like admitting fix over match (1,4,4)
A MUG’S GAME : [ AS(like/highlighting similarity) containing(admitting) reversal of(… over) GUM(to fix/to attach with glue) ] + GAME(a competitive match).
7. Entire organisation’s bankrupt by November (8)
UNBROKEN : UN(abbrev. for the United Nations Organisation) + BROKE(bankrupt/having completely run out of money) plus(by) N(letter represented by “November” in the phonetic alphabet).
8. Use drill (8)
EXERCISE : Double defn: 1st: …, as in to “to exercise your authority”; and 2nd: Say, a military drill or training manoeuvre.
11. Knit up edge round top of sweater (4)
MESH : Reversal of(up, in a down clue) HEM(an edge/a rim) containing(round) 1st letter of(top of) “sweater“.
15. Try and teach relaxation for pain (9)
HEARTACHE : HEAR(to try in a court of law) plus(and) anagram of(… relaxation) TEACH.
17. Problem with mission no-one raised (8)
QUESTION : QUEST(a mission/a search for) + reversal of(… raised, in a down clue) [NO + I(Roman numeral for “one”) ].
Defn: …/a matter requiring resolution/an issue.
18. Dashed good work everyone put in on education (8)
GALLOPED : [ G(abbrev. for “good”) + [OP(abbrev. for “opus”, a major piece of literary or musical work) ] containing(… put in) ALL(everyone) placed above(on, in a down clue) ED(abbrev. for “education”).
20. Regret turning up with zero cash abroad (4)
EURO : Reversal of(… turning up) RUE(to regret/to feel sorry about) plus(with) O(letter representing 0/zero).
Defn: … if you’re outside the eurozone.
21. Record in old collection has soldiers’ lament (7)
DEPLORE : EP(abbrev. for “extended play”, a form of music recording formerly, as opposed to the single or the longplay) contained in(in) anagram of(… collection) OLD plus(has) RE(abbrev. for the Royal Engineers, a unit of soldiers in the British military).
Defn: …/to express extreme disappointment or disapproval about something.
22. Old Queen caught posh gal acting common (6)
VULGAR : VR(abbrev. for “Victoria Regina”, a former/old Queen of the UK) containing(caught) [ U(letter denoting posh/upper class) + anagram of(… acting) GAL].
23. Vegetable from marsh eaten primarily in the Netherlands (6)
FENNEL : FEN(a marsh/a low-lying area, often flooded) + [ 1st letter of(… primarily) “eaten” contained in(in) NL(ISO code for the Netherlands) ].
The bulb: … and the flowers:
26. Old quarter has a bit of atmosphere (5)
OZONE : O(abbrev. for “old”) + ZONE(a quarter/a region).
Defn: …/in very small concentration, a constituent of the earth’s atmosphere.
I started confidently by writing in “homicide” for 1A. I figured that “province” was close enough to “home”; and “CID” close enough to “detective”; and didn’t worry too much about the other “i”. As a consequence, 1A ended up being my last one in.
Other than that, a pretty easy outing today. Thanks scchua – I didn’t notice the pangram.
This was quite enjoyable with a good number of smiles. French isn’t my forte, but I thought “see you” would be closer to “au revoir”, and that “adieu” is a more permanent parting. Happy to be corrected. I’d have thought “deplore” and “lament” are fairly approximate synonyms. I’d not heard of CERN, but it didn’t matter. My favourite was probably SPLIT, with its great surface.
I thought of HOMICIDE but waited until the crossers said no
Quite fun
Despite a few glitches I had fun with this. I missed A MUGS GAME, an unfamiliar expression to me. I liked SUBJUGATE, SPLIT, and HEARTACHE. I knew to look for a pangram because I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Zamorca crossword without one. Thanks to both.
For a long time I was convinced that 6d was A DOPE TEST which clearly made the NE corner unsolvable! Cryptically speaking, I think I’d rather fail a dope test!
Thanks for the blog and the pictures , good set of clear, concise clues.
Geoff@2 a few snippets from Cern, first detection of the Higgs Boson, discovery of the W and Z bosons of the weak interaction, direct evidence for the violation of CP invariance. Also responsible for the World Wide Web.
Remembering this would be a pangram helped us solve this without too much difficulty and meant that 12ac, our LOI, had to be SUBJUGATE. We thought from the first that 1ac had to be DIS—–, but took a while to get the rest of the word. A pleasant solve for our mid-afternoon break, and we particularly liked FUMBLE, TOBOGGAN, CEREBRAL and FENNEL.
Thanks, Zamorca and scchua.
Lovely crossword- thanks Zamorca. Minor quibble- as blogged by scchua, 10a needs f replacing t, not cutting it?
[Tony @4 if you ever pop back. I just read your comment from 2019 on the demise of the Stickler Weekly. I check back once in a while with fingers crossed for its return. Not yet. If it ever does I’ll let you know here.]
[GreginSyd @9: I always enjoyed The Stickler. I sometimes found it challenging but it was always penetrable and ultimately enjoyable. I learned that its setter had health issues and that was the reason for its demise.]
[Hi Tony, I noticed today on his website that he’s recently restarted his AFR commentary (so presumably his setting) for the Australian Financial Review. I sent him a note asking about any future plans for the Stickler, but unfortunately no, he’s still not in great health. Nice to hear from him though..
PS, for anyone wondering what Tony and I are talking about, google Stickler Weekly. Pretty sure the back catalogue is there on the site. I’d equate the Stickler crossword with a Tuesday Orlando or Arachne by way of accessibility.