Thank you to Aardvark. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1. This writer’s work, wicked, brought about complaint (6)
MYOPIA : MY(first-person possessive pronoun, as used self-referentially by this writer) + OP(abbrev. for “opus”, a literary or musical work) + reversal of(…, brought about) AI(A1/excellent/in slang, wicked with the Roman numeral substitution).
Defn: Medical … affecting one’s eyesight.
4. Concerned about teacher following flutter occasionally (3,3,2)
OFF AND ON : OF(concerned about/in relation to, as in “the study of science …”) + [ DON(a teacher/lecturer at university, say) placed after(following) FAN(to flutter/flap) ].
10. Day student embraced by selected attendant (9)
SATELLITE : SAT(abbrev. for “Saturday”) + [ L(letter displayed by a student driver) contained in(embraced by) ELITE(the selected/the privileged) ].
Defn: Describing something or somebody who is dependent on or controlled by another.
11. Book with single belief regularly cited? (5)
BIBLE : B(abbrev. for “book”) plus(with) I(Roman numeral for 1/single) + 1st, 3rd and 5th letters of(… regularly cited) “belief“.
Defn: Book with beliefs (more than one?) that is regularly cited.
12. Pound, for example, fifth grade put in kitty (4)
POET : E(fifth letter in the alphabet, indicating a grade/rank that is fifth in line) contained in(put in) POT(kitty/the pool of money to be won, in a gambling game, say).
Defn: An example of which is the American, Ezra Pound.
13. Stop and photograph, tracking bear (10)
STANDSTILL : STILL(a photograph/a single static shot) placed after(tracking) STAND(to bear/to tolerate).
15. Footwear for sale all over the shop (7)
LOAFERS : Anagram of(… all over the shop) FOR SALE.
16. Piece of cloth primarily scouring hands and face? (6)
SWATCH : 1st letter of(primarily) “scouring” + WATCH(refered to by its second, minute and hour hands, and face/dial).
19. Complete run that’s comparatively stifling (6)
CLOSER : CLOSE(to complete/to end) + R(abbrev. for “run” in cricket scores).
Defn: …./more uncomfortably airless.
21. More work beginning to nag daydreamer (7)
UTOPIAN : UTOPIA(Thomas More’s fictional work/book) + 1st letter of(beginning to) “nag“.
Defn: A …/idealist.
23. Studying firearms first in command found amid rubbish (10)
BALLISTICS : [ IST(1st/first with the Roman numeral substitution) + IC(abbrev. for “in command”) ] contained in(found amid) BALLS!(like “Rubbish!” or “Nonsense!”, expression of one’s disagreement with something).
25. Captain putting pressure on runner (4)
SKIP : P(symbol for “pressure” in physics) placed after(putting … on) SKI(runner/one of the ski-like long narrow pieces of wood or metal on which a sleigh or sled slide).
Defn: … of a bowls or curling team, and short for “skipper”, the …/master of a ship.
27. On the counter section of deli, Victoria polished (5)
CIVIL : Reversal of(On the counter) hidden in(section of) “deli, Victoria“.
Defn: …/well-mannered.
28. Scholarly Greek count enters Israel excitedly (9)
ARISTOTLE : TOT(to count/to add up) contained in(enters) anagram of(… excitedly) ISRAEL.
29. Temperature recorded in coastal reserve (3,5)
SET ASIDE : T(abbrev. for “temperature”) contained in(recorded in) SEASIDE(coastal/by the sea, as in “a coastal resort”).
30. In first half hour, Arsenal’s fervent fans could be so (6)
HOARSE : 1st half of the total letters, respectively, of(In first half) “hour, Arsenal’s“.
Defn: … as a result of cheering for their football team, Arsenal, during the first half hour of the match.
Down
1. Assail post girl having wrong letters? (8)
MISSPELT : PELT(to assail/to hit with powerful blows) placed below(post …, in a down clue) MISS(a girl/maiden).
2. Ordered hat online without delay (2,3,4)
ON THE NAIL : Anagram of(Ordered) HAT ONLINE.
3. Unemployed daughter captivated by Corsica, possibly (4)
IDLE : D(abbrev. for “daughter”) contained in(captivated by) ILE(“island”, in French, the language of Corsica, an example of/possibly an island).
5. Adventurous chap‘s style of waltz endlessly supporting female (7)
FIENNES : “Viennese”(a style of the waltz) minus its 1st and last letters(endlessly) placed below(supporting, in a down clue) F(abbrev. for “female”).
Answer: Ranulph …, British explorer who holds several endurance records.
6. American soda’s ordered in pub for VIP (10)
AMBASSADOR : AM(abbrev. for “American”) + [ anagram of(ordered) SODA’S contained in(in) BAR(a pub/a watering hole) ].
7. Somewhere in Middle East, we’re told you must purchase (5)
DUBAI : Homophone of(we’re told) “do buy”(“you must purchase”).
8. Part of compass that one uses for trips? (6)
NEEDLE : Double defn: 1st: … that points to the magnetic north; and 2nd: That which one who is an addict uses to inject the drugs to get his/her hallucinatory experiences/trips, viz. a hypodermic syringe.
9. A working group disturbing man’s break (6)
HIATUS : [ A +TU(abbrev. for “trade union”/a group of workers) ] contained in(disturbing) HIS(the possessive pronoun applicable to a man/man’s).
Defn: …/a pause in a continuous sequence or activity.
14. French location that might be linked with vice (harmful drugs) (10)
VERSAILLES : VERSA(word linked with “vice” in the phrase “vice versa”) + ILL(harmful/damaging, as in “ill effects”) + E(abbrev. for the drug, Ecstasy)S .
17. Root perhaps with twist disfigured tree (9)
CRICKETER : CRICK(to twist or strain one’s neck or back, causing pain) + anagram of(disfigured) TREE.
Defn: An example of which/perhaps is Joe Root, English cricket international.
18. Unharmed when in this jump-suit? (3-5)
ONE-PIECE : When one is in this, in other words, when one is in one piece, one is unharmed.
20. Macho behaviour by youth claiming new territory in Midlands (7)
RUTLAND : RUT(macho behaviour/sexual activity in deer and certain mammals during which males fight for access to females) plus(by) LAD(youth/young male) containing(claiming) N(abbrev. for “new”).
Defn: …, England.
21. Religious sect welcome northern brat (6)
URCHIN : URC(abbrev. for the United Reformed Church, a religious sect in the UK) + HI!(a word of welcome/greeting) + N(abbrev. for “northern”).
22. Uber’s first taxi to turn up in while, one reckons (6)
ABACUS : Reversal of(… to turn up, in a down clue) [ 1st letter of(…’s first) “Uber” + CAB(a taxi) ] contained in(in) AS(while/at the same as, as in “as the screw turns”).
Defn: …, ie. a tool used to reckon/count.
24. Army man collects eggs, bluish-green (5)
LOVAT : LT(abbrev. for “lieutenant”, a rank in the army/an army man, or woman) containing(collects) OVA(unfertilised egg cells).
Defn: … colour.
26. Oil wheels around bike event (4)
OTTO : OO(letters representing circular objects such as wheels) containing(around) TT(abbrev. for “Tourist Trophy”, an annual motorcycle race/bike event in the Isle of Man).
Defn: A fragrant essential … from flower petals, also called “attar”.
Thanks to Aardvark for a grid I found rather chewy.
RUTLAND, FIENNES and LOAFERS were among my favourites.
And thanks to Scchua not just for the fashion-forward blog but for explaining those I couldn’t parse like BALLISTICS and URCHIN.
Thanks Aardvark and Scchua. I think the use of letter I for figure 1 is more a matter of appearance than Roman numerals. Even Azed has been known to use “ten” for IO.
11ac: I think at least some Christians would regard the whole of their religion as being a single belief. Actually, I would as well, even though I do not agree with it. That makes the definition the whole clue, which I would therefore call a complete “& lit” clue.
An enjoyably fiendish puzzle with some challenging definitions (eg attendant for satellite) but all fair and everything came together nicely in the end – except I couldn’t work out what the URC in URCHIN stood for. If I had to pick favourites, I’d go for FIENNES, LOAFERS and BALLISTICS.
Thanks, Aardvark and scchua.
Thanks Aardvark and scchua!
Liked OFF AND ON, BIBLE (considered it an &lit clue as Pelham Barton did), SWATCH and HOARSE (nice def).
Aardvark has been pretty tough lately so I approached this with trepidation. In the end I didn’t find it too hard, though the parsing of VERSAILLES and URCHIN escaped me. LOVAT was just remembered for ‘bluish-green’ so I was grateful for the wordplay. I liked BIBLE and the interesting construction of NEEDLE; a sort of non-cryptic cum double def cryptic.
Thanks to scchua for the as ever comprehensive, multi-media blog and to Aardvark
I was pleasantly surprised that this was not as demanding as other Aardvark puzzles although I did need the blog for some of the parsing. As always I enjoyed the illustrations.
For 12ac I had fifth grade as e being the fifth letter in grade rather than the fifth letter in the alphabet.
Thanks to both for cheering up a frosty morning.
This required some GK to complete (or, at least, to parse fully), most of which fortunately I was familiar with. This could very easily have been a DNF. I could not figure out how AI = wicked, but I suppose that that works. Thanks for the illustrated blog.
Thanks Aardvark and scchua
For 12A I simply had E as ‘fifth grade’ where A is the top grade.
And I was dubious of the second definition in 8D, as ‘tripping’ is normally associated with the consumption of LSD, which is generally ingested orally, not injected (I’m told…).
Good fun from Aardvark and the usual entertaining illustrated blog from scchua. Thanks to both.
[ I have always preferred to think of the explorer by his full title – Captain Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham Fiennes, Baronet]
This is the sort of puzzle that makes me question doing crosswords during the week. The clues were so fiddly that the whole enterprise took up too much of my spare time, which is limited to the evening. Io is ‘no no’ for that reason, and unfortunately Aardvark may end up in the same boat.
Only a couple of favourites – all mentioned above.
Thanks Aardvark and sschua
Dnf because I missed Skip and Cricketer.
When I was checking the answers I saw Skip and immediately realised that cricketer was the answer to 17 down. So skip was the one that floored me.
Hmmm
I spent ages trying to finish this one. Pleased with the progress I made. All seemed pretty fair and some marvellous clues, particularly loafers and swatch.
Thanks.