Thank you to Jason. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1. Perhaps corruption is in study (6)
MISUSE : IS contained in(in) MUSE(to be absorbed in thought/to study).
Defn: An example of/…, such as the misuse of public funds.
4. Wounding witticism troubles island (8)
BARBADOS : BARD(a deliberately spiteful remark/a wounding criticism) + ADOS(instances of fussing/troubles).
9. Jack’s article on joint (6)
SEAMAN : AN(an article in grammar) placed after(on) SEAM(line where pieces of fabric are sewn together/a joint).
Defn: … or Jack Tar/a sailor.
10. Waste expression of doubt for rat, say (8)
DESERTER : DESERT(a large area of barren land/a waste) + ER(expression of doubt/uncertainty).
Defn: An example of/say a rat is one who leaves his/her job in the armed forces without permission
12. With daughter away wait for supporter (4)
ALLY : “d”(abbrev. for daughter) deleted from(With … away) “dally”(to linger around/to wait).
13. Judge one before time getting a facelift (5)
REFIT : REF(short for “referee”, a judge in a competitive match) + I(Roman numeral for “one”) plus(before) T(abbrev. for “time”).
14. Second-hand so unsteady in odd places (4)
USED : 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th letters of(… in odd places) “unsteady”.
17. Such as make successive teams, loosely (7,5)
RUNNING MATES : RUNNING(occurring one after another/successive) + anagram of(…, loosely) TEAMS.
Defn: A loose term for those who might succeed the one before, as in “running mates in the Presidential elections”).
20. Damn! In appearance vase could be a very hot thing (5,7)
BLAST FURNACE : BLAST!(like “damn!”, an expression of annoyance) + FACE(appearance/the look) containing(In …) URN(a tall, rounded vase used to, say, store a cremated person’s ashes).
23. Curious turn in silver (4)
AGOG : GO(a person’s turn to use or do something) contained in(in) AG(symbol for the element, silver).
24. Father to pick on flipping heathen? (5)
PAGAN : PA(an informal term for one’s father) + reversal of(… flipping) NAG(to pick on/to badger someone constantly).
25. Butter is good to bear in mind for the most part (4)
GHEE : G(abbrev. for “good”) + “heed”(to pay attention to/to bear in mind) minus its last letter(for the most part).
Defn: …, in this case, made from buffalos’ or cows’ milk
28. Reversing trucks full of fruit for craftworker’s site? (8)
SHIPYARD : Reversal of(Reversing) DRAYS(trucks used for delivering heavy loads) containing(full of) HIP(the fruit of a rose).
29. Amazing cress sandwiches, English niche (6)
RECESS : Anagram of(Amazing) CRESS containing(sandwiches) E(abbrev. for “English”).
30. Who stays up near large haul first? (5,3)
NIGHT OWL : NIGH(near/a short distance away) + [ L(abbrev. for “large”) placed after(… first) TOW(to haul/to drag along) ].
Defn: One who habitually stays up at night.
31. Test gold market (6)
ORDEAL : OR(the colour of gold/yellow in heraldry) + DEAL(to take part in commercial transactions/market).
Down
1. Service runs into first-class butcher (8)
MASSACRE : MASS(a religious service) + [ R(abbrev. for “runs”, in cricket scores) contained in(into) ACE(first-class/excellent) ].
2. Bird found in celebrated heather (8)
STARLING : STAR(celebrated/famous) + LING(heather, a plant that grows abundantly on moorland and heathland).
3. Unexpected reversal of complaints (4)
SNAP : Reversal of(reversal of) PANS(criticises severely/finds fault with/complains … complaints?).
Defn: …, such as in “snap elections”.
5. Calm if Reagan flies his banner? (8,4)
AMERICAN FLAG : Anagram of(… flies) CALM IF REAGAN.
Defn: Reagan’s (once President of the USA) banner.
6. Grumble as book price goes up (4)
BEEF : B(abbrev. for “book”) + reversal of(… goes up, in down clue) FEE(cost/price of using a service).
7. Detective estimated hate (6)
DETEST : DET(abbrev. for “detective”) + EST(abbrev. for “estimated”).
8. Possibly direst jazz style (6)
STRIDE : Anagram of(Possibly) DIREST.
Defn: Describing a rhythmic style of jazz piano playing.
11. Flier’s protection? Fight controversy (5,7)
HEDGE SPARROW : HEDGE(a way of protecting oneself against financial loss or other dire circumstances) + SPAR(a bout of sparring/a fight using light or pretend blows) + ROW(a controversy/a serious dispute).
15. Upset about female getting sack (5)
RIFLE : RILE(to upset/to annoy) containing(about) F(abbrev. for “female”).
Defn: …/plunder.
16. Study line on warrant (5)
LEARN : L(abbrev. for “line”) placed above(on, in a down clue) EARN(to deserve/warrant).
18. Charlie remains with nothing better for soft fabric (8)
CASHMERE : C(letter represented by “Charlie” in the phonetic alphabet) + ASH(remains after burning) + MERE(nothing better or more important)
19. Upset several accepting King’s change of heart? (8)
REVERSAL : Anagram of(Upset) SEVERAL containing(accepting) R(abbrev. for “Rex”/king).
21. Without energy produce popular fruit (6)
RAISIN : “e”(symbol for “energy” in physics) deleted from(Without …) “raise”(to produce/to generate) + IN(popular/trendy).
22. Flag-waver endlessly taking in sure hilarity? (6)
JOKING : “jingo”(a flag-waver/a forceful supporter of his/her nation waging war) minus its last letter(endlessly) containing(accepting) OK(okay/sure/certainly).
26. Something like a bag cyclist carries in outer parts (4)
CYST : 1st 2 and last 2 letters of(… carries in outer parts) “cyclist”.
Defn: A sac containing fluid in the body.
27. Booze is something admirable lieutenant refused (4)
BEER : “belter”(something admirable/outstanding) minus(… refused) “lt”(abbrev. for “lieutenant”).
Found this tricky, just not on his wavelength today.
Thanks for the excellent blog, especially the succinct explanation of “stride”. If you are going to clue a lesser-known term using an anagram, it’s probably best that it be the most obvious word you could form from the letters. Had the answer been “sertdi” I would’ve been a bit miffed!
I thought a couple of these were loose – scchua has questioned “pans” for “complaints” and I thought “running mates” was best described by its own last word. It kind of works if you squint, but don’t look too closely! However, in contrast with some weak clues I felt that, once I had the answer it, it had to be right. I hate it when a cryptic definition is either so straightforward or so loose you write in an answer with no idea if you have solved the clue or not.
Like James P @1, I struggled to feel fluent here but it all came clear in the end. Many thanks scchua and Jason.
The grid here divides roughly into fifths, and I found the NW quintile the hardest for some reason. I revealed the square at 1A/1D, which turned out to be all I needed.
Amazing how many different species of sparrow this world contains; I had ____SPARROW for the longest time, awaiting some crossers to give me a clue.
mrpenney@3: Our facility to sift single words from the many thousands in our brain, and how that can be triggered by a single letter, is a continual source of amazement for me.
Like you “sparrow” went in from a couple of crossers followed by a long pause. Over here a “hedge sparrow” is a dunnock, not a sparrow at all but it may be different in North America. I find it best not to make too many assumptions about birds of the old and new worlds – or you end up, like us daft Brits, thinking “the red, red robin” is a Christmas song…
I too found this tough in places and agree with Jack@2 that there were several loose clues/synonyms. I had too many “eh?” moments to list.
I ticked AGOG.
Thanks Jason and scchua
I too got stuck in the NW corner. I thought the answer to 3dn was intended to be PANS, but could not see why. I have had to go to the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (2007 p 2082) for “pan noun¹ 11 Severe or dismissive criticism. colloq.” I could not find the relevant meaning of pan as a noun in any of the single volume dictionaries that I usually cite.
(I always solve these puzzles unaided as far as I can, and only look at dictionaries to support my comments on the blog.)
Thanks scchua for the blog.
Well, you guys have covered it. I got it done, had the same sparrow delay and looseness issues.
All good though. Thanks Jason, scchua et al.
Very enjoyable puzzle. Thanks Jason.
Superb blog. Thanks scchua.
Top picks:
RUNNING MATES, AMERICAN FLAG and REVERSAL.
Sorry if this is a dumb question: in 14a, why is it ‘so unsteady’ and not just ‘unsteady’? Does the ‘so’ serve any purpose at all? If not, why is it there?
Calluna @9: “so” (read to mean “hence”) acts as a link word indicating the separation of definition and wordplay and it works in the surface if read as “very”. However, I agree that the clue would work perfectly well without it and the setter seems happy not to use link words in other clues. I can only imagine they thought it read a little more smoothly like that. Not a dumb question at all.
I agree this was a challenge but enjoyable. HEDGE SPARROW held me up for ages. Two precious metals OR and AG.
Great blog. . A small typo in 4ac BARB not BARD.
Thanks Jason and scchua
Yes it was tricky today and after a quick start I ground to a halt, ran out of time and did not finish. One I failed to get was SEAMAN. Although I come from a long line of sailors, I had never come across Jack as a name for a seaman, only Jack Tar. Strange how you learn things from crosswords really quite late in life.
Jack Of Few Trades @10, thank you! It’s little things like that which get newbies like me stuck sometimes, so I’ll know for next time. It’s great to have such a friendly and helpful forum.
Got here a few days late. I gave up with a few to go in the top left hand corner. I didn’t enjoy this much. Jason goes down and down in my estimation; I used to enjoy his puzzles but I think they got worse. Too many of the “find the words and then work out the parsing” type clues created largely for the self-gratification for the setter.
Also, as already mentioned, some loose clueing and thus poor editing.
PS. Also, an unpleasant five part grid.
For 3D I had SNAG, a clumsy movement of the S from NAGS, but not much worse than the clumsiness of SNAP, in my opinion.
It amuses me (I am easily amused) when solvers are unable to see the clue constructions before getting the solutions, and then blame the setter for their deficiencies.
I sometimes see the wordplay first and sometimes the definition – there’s more than one way to skin a cat – and sometimes the cat keeps its skin, but I try not to blame others for my inadequacies. I prefer to enjoy the wit and cleverness that goes into the creation of a puzzle.
Thanks, Jason for the wit, and sschua for the wisdom (and the reminder of the genius of Oscar Peterson).
Well said, Cellomaniac@17. The way I solve, I try fairly hard to leave only one clue to solve after getting all of its checked letters. Occasionally, I do not even read that clue until I have solved all of the others. Either then or earlier in the solving process, it can sometimes be obvious what the answer is going to be just from the checked letters, before I have read the clue. Does that mean the clue is faulty? Of course not.