Very straightforward from Dante this morning.
All-time record solve, I think. A plethora of double definitions, scarcely-disguised cryptics, simple constructions and I had this done-and-dusted in two passes. Slightly disappointing challenge, but a welcome early night. Thanks, Dante.
| Across | ||
| 1 | SILENT | Is back fast without a sound (6) |
| IS reversed + LENT (‘fast’) | ||
| 4 | KANGAROO | Is the bounder brought before this court? (8) |
| Jocular cryptic definition. | ||
| 9 | INTENT | Plan a camping holiday? (6) |
| And another (‘in tent’, ho,ho). | ||
| 10 | CO-DRIVER | Second mate at the wheel? (2-6) |
| Whole clue (not very) cryptic. | ||
| 11 | SIGHTS | Spectacles used by marksmen (6) |
| Double definition. | ||
| 12 | SETTLERS | Immigrants bearing letters for translation (8) |
| Anagram (‘for translation’) of LETTERS. | ||
| 13 | BUD | Shoot an American friend (3) |
| Double def. | ||
| 14 | OUNCES | Cats in the pound (6) |
| And again. 16 ounces to the pound, of course. | ||
| 17 | NEEDLED | Want to be given guidance when provoked (7) |
| NEED (‘want’) + LED (‘given guidance’). | ||
| 21 | REVERE | Worship constantly during religious education (6) |
| EVER (‘constantly’) contained in RE. | ||
| 25 | RYE | Port or whisky (3) |
| Double definition. The port of Rye is in Sussex. | ||
| 26 | RELIEVES | Takes a job over and breaks the monotony (8) |
| Double definition. | ||
| 27 | BIG END | Being around before daybreak, supply engine part (3,3) |
| Anagram (‘around’) of BEING then D (start of ‘Day’). | ||
| 28 | BELIEVER | One convinced of evil involved in drink (8) |
| Anagram (‘involved’) of EVIL in BEER. | ||
| 29 | DEMOTE | Act in a degrading way (6) |
| Whole clue cryptic: one who demotes someone can be said to ‘downgrade’ them. | ||
| 30 | ENMESHED | Coming in last, after me, she gets caught (8) |
| ME + SHE in END. | ||
| 31 | ASIDES | A team’s verbal digressions (6) |
| “A SIDE’S” | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | SLIPSHOD | Careless mistakes by brick carrier (8) |
| SLIPS + HOD. | ||
| 2 | LITIGANT | One may put his suit in a case, or vice versa (8) |
| Cryptic: a litigant does both. | ||
| 3 | NINETEEN | One required to complete the score (8) |
| Whole clue cryptic: twenty (a ‘score’) minus one. | ||
| 5 | AVOWED | Maintained a five-nil lead over United (6) |
| A then V+O (‘five-nil’) over WED (‘united’). | ||
| 6 | GYRATE | Turn around floundering tragedy, lacking drama at first (6) |
| Anagram (‘floundering’) of TRAGEDY, minus it D (‘Drama at first’). | ||
| 7 | REVIEW | Periodical survey of the past (6) |
| Another DD. | ||
| 8 | OGRESS | Monstrous woman makes headway without public relations (6) |
| PROGRESS (‘headway’) without its PR. | ||
| 12 | SUNDAYS | Relaxing periods of warm and bright weather? (7) |
| DD/whole clue cryptic. | ||
| 15 | SEX | Male or female in various exchanges (3) |
| Inclusion in variouS EXchanges. | ||
| 16 | HER | In case she is possessive (3) |
| Whole clue cryp: HER is the possessive case of the 3rd person singular female pronoun. | ||
| 18 | DECIBELS | Sound measures (8) |
| Cryptic def. | ||
| 19 | HEREFORD | Present and former US president seen in this city (8) |
| HERE (‘present’) + (Gerald) FORD, ex-president of USA. | ||
| 20 | NEEDLESS | Instrument on ship becomes redundant (8) |
| NEEDLE on SS. | ||
| 22 | TREBLE | Multiple bet of boy soprano (6) |
| Another DD. | ||
| 23 | SLALOM | Look in to criticise a winter sport competition (6) |
| LO (‘look’) in SLAM (‘to criticise’) | ||
| 24 | SEVERS | Cuts taken from the prose version (6) |
| Inclusion in ‘proSE VERSion’. | ||
| 25 | RECEDE | Go back to make further concessions? (6) |
| Cryptically, to ‘cede’ (‘make concessions’) again. | ||
*anagram
Thanks Dante and Grant
Was able to stretch this one out by doing other things at the same time – but it was Dante at his most gentle. Did find the SW corner a little bit harder than the rest … but not overly so !
In 12a, the initial s comes from ‘bearing’.
This was pretty much a write-in for me, except for 29a, where the crossing letters _E_O_E are unhelpful for what is fairly obviously a cryptic definition. DEPOSE would almost work there, though DEMOTE is clearly the intended answer.
The near-repetition of NEEDLESS and NEEDLED was a bit odd, though at least there’s no overlap in the clues.
More haste…
Mike is right about SETTLERS. (Actually, it was worse: as I put it in, I thought the ‘bearing’ was SE & didn’t bother parsing properly either then or later. Tut-tut).
And upon reflection, I think in 31 (ASIDES), the wordplay is probably for a homophone, i.e., “a team’s verbal…”