Monday and Italicus gets us off and running, I still think of the setter as one of the Indy’s new crop but I see the first was 2018.
I struggled for a while with some of this but I’m pretty happy with it now, thanks Italicus.
ACROSS
1. Allocate American bum home with grand interior (6)
ASSIGN
ASS – American bum & G(rand) in IN – home
4. Swimsuit model given grief about naked men in photo (3-5)
TWO PIECE
T model car & [a naked (m)E(n) in PIC] inside WOE – grief
10/15. Cyberbully concealing email, but mischievously creating workplace conflict? (7,2,4)
TROUBLE AT MILL
[EMAIL BUT]* mischievously inside TROLL – cyberbully
11. Welsh, say, united to stop Frenchman (7)
RENEGUE
EG & U(united) in RENE – Frenchman
12. Crazy revolutionary in communist uniform (4)
NUTS
Hidden reversed in communiST UNiform
13. Nuns sloped off in confusion (10)
NONPLUSSED
16. Stress of morning meeting with husband in capital (3,4)
RAM HOME
AM – morning & H(usband) all in ROME
20. Communication from English stately home covering discontented servant (7)
EPISTLE
E(nglish) & S(ervan)T in PILE – stately home
21. Tender tuber regularly used in dish (6)
FONDUE
24. Jokes I text after John receives extremely impertinent note (10)
WITTICISMS
WC – toilet, John with extremes of I(mpertinen)T & TI – musical note inserted & I & SMS – text
26. Excess alcohol ultimately clogs alimentary canal (4)
GLUT
28. Teacher claiming European sailor discovered odd marine creature (7)
SEABIRD
E(uropean) & AB – sailor in SIR – teacher & a discovered (o)D(d)
29. Enchanting type hurt in church beside river (7)
CHARMER
HARM – hurt in C.E. – church & R(iver)
30. American writer aboard ship beginning to experience anxiety (8)
SUSPENSE
US – American & PEN – writer inside SS – ship & E(xperience)
31. Final words defending foul antics (6)
PRANKS
RANK – foul in P.S. final words
DOWN
1. Bet Anne put out feelers (8)
ANTENNAE
ANTE – bet & ANNE* put out
2. Store stocking books on fast-moving Australian action movie (5-2-2)
SHOOT EM UP
O.T. – books & EMU – Oz bird all inside SHOP – store
3. Desert island covered by rising swamp (4)
GOBI
BOG – swamp reversed & I(sland)
5. Argument over key work’s exploitation of ambiguity (8)
WORDPLAY
ROW reversed & D – a key say & PLAY – work
6. One frequently gets stuck in tailor’s shop (10)
PINCUSHION
I think this is just a Cryptic Def
7. Journalist starts to gather evidence on Sweden’s borders (5)
EDGES
ED – journalist & starts of G(ather) E(vidence) & S(weden)
8. Revises conclusions to protect yours truly (6)
EMENDS
ME – yours truly inside ENDS – conclusions
9. Dante eviscerated rival author (5)
DEFOE
D(ant)E eviscerated & FOE – rival
14. Mixing tin with special trademarked material (10)
PLASTICINE
17. Agents end dilemma about missing article (9)
MIDDLEMEN
No A(rticle) in [END DILEMM(a)]* about
18. Sisters beg outside independent energy suppliers’ summit (8)
PLEIADES
Mythological sisters. I(ndependent) in PLEAD – beg & E(nergy) & the summit of S(uppliers)
19. Study elevated position, circling ancient city in choppers (8)
DENTURES
DEN – study & UR – ancient city in SET reversed – elevated
22. Perverts dance on Sabbath (6)
TWISTS
TWIST – dance & S(abbath)
23. Belt securing maiden’s loose garment (5)
SMOCK
M(aiden) inside SOCK to belt
25. Splits rent with son (5)
TEARS
27. One adopted by average couple (4)
PAIR
Very enjoyable without perhaps being absolutely top-notch.
Runaway winner for me was WORDPLAY though to my mind the clue would have benefitted from a question mark. Also liked RAM HOME and SHOOT ‘EM UP, my last one in where I needed all the checkers.
Many thanks ITALICUS and flashing.
This was challenging in parts but good fun to start the week, with TROUBLE AT MILL my favourite.
Many thanks to Italicus and to flashling.
After a bit of a mauling in the other place, this was a smooth and relatively swift solve which I very much enjoyed – my brain feels thoroughly exercised after the various hoops through which it has had to leap this morning. Probably time for a lie down.
Everything was clearly clued so, by following the instructions, even the initially obscure gave way in the end. I’d agree with Stephen L wrt WORDPLAY, RAM HOME and SHOOT EM UP. TWO PIECE, TROUBLE AT MILL, FONDUE, PLEIADES and DENTURES were my other faves.
Thanks Italicus and flashling
Liked WITTICISMS, PRANKS and WORDPLAY.
Thanks, Itlaicus and flashling.
PINCUSHION:
The ‘One gets stuck in’ part can mislead us to think about a
sewing enthusiast. I go with flashling’s ‘just a cryptic def.’
opinion.
Solved off and on the road in what has been a beautiful, warm autumn day on the motu. Thought it was excellent. Top clues are TWO PIECE, RAM HOME, WITTICISMS, and PLASTICINE of which I remember the smell and the taste. Thanks Italicus and flashling.
I enjoyed this, especially with the perspective of having done a couple of tough ones since, as mentioned by PM @3. There was some tricky parsing to work out, eg for TWO-PIECE and WITTICISMS and an interesting def for the “in-house” WORDPLAY. I ended up with PINCUSHION which I eventually decided was a cryptic def, being unable to make the er… wordplay work.
Thanks to Italicus and flashling
Had to wait for checkers to get the unknown film but everything else fell into place given some concentration.
Top clues for me were TROUBLE AT MILL, EPISTLE,GLUT & GOBI.
Thanks to Italicus and to flashling – particularly for the help with FONDUE.
Very enjoyable. Fast on LHS, much slower on the right. Not helped by thinking the argument in 5d was WORDS not ROW reversed.
Thanks Italicus and Flashling.
Many thanks to flashling for his blog which has everything parsed as I intended, except for 13 across where the definition is ‘in confusion’ rather than ‘confusion’. And yes, PINCUSHION was just supposed to be a cryptic definition. The definition for WORDPLAY is lifted pretty much directly from Chambers: Verbal AMBIGUITY EXPLOITED to produce puns and witty repartee.
Thanks to everyone else for the generous comments; glad I was able to raise a few smiles.
Until next time.