My second appearance today due to Turbolegs going AWOL. This one came as a bit of light relief after Enigmatist but it was no less enjoyable for that.
My progress was steady throughout, though I was held up a little by 6dn because it took me a while to equate ‘live’ with ‘lead’.
Thanks for the entertainment Alberich.
Across
8 Solo perhaps by key composer (6)
HANDEL – HAN (Solo perhaps) DEL (key)
9 Drink and a saucy sandwich I provided (8)
APERITIF – A PERT (saucy) around (sandwich) I plus IF
10 Fathom what creates slick defeat (4)
FOIL – F (fathom) OIL (what creates slick)
11 Don’t initially spend time struggling with One Down (10)
DESPONDENT – D[on’t] (don’t initially) plus an anagram (struggling) of SPEND T ONE
12 Deep / sea fish (4)
BASS – double def.
13 Jack’s stockist picked up item of tableware (4,6)
SALT CELLAR – sounds like (picked up) ‘salt seller’ (Jack’s stockist)
17 Mark gets unbeatable service in tennis club (4)
MACE – M (Mark) ACE (unbeatable service in tennis)
18 Occupy the middle of Renault Clio? (5)
AMUSE – [ren]A[ult] (the middle of Renault) MUSE (Cleo)
19 One who does plan, mostly (4)
CHAR – CHAR[t] (plan, mostly)
21 Son takes lead perhaps, embracing extremely tight community (10)
SETTLEMENT – S (son) ELEMENT (lead perhaps) around (embracing) T[igh]T (extremely tight)
23 Failed in audition for film (4)
MIST – sounds like (in audition) ‘missed’ (failed)
24 Penny-pinching, he takes a first sign of cost badly? (10)
CHEAPSKATE – an anagram (badly) of HE TAKES A C[ost] around (pinching) P (penny) – &lit
28 Smack little pest about (4)
TANG – GNAT (little pest) reversed (about)
29 Cut off a right mischief-maker (8)
ALIENATE – A LIEN (right) ATE (mischief-maker)
30 Bird eggs brought back will get scrambled etc. (6)
AVOCET – OVA (eggs) reversed (brought back) plus an anagram (scrambled) of ETC
Down
1 Childless person is neither a ….? It’s a prospect (8)
PANORAMA – childless person is neither a PA NOR A MA
2 Advancement holds benefit for youngster (10)
ADOLESCENT – ASCENT (advancement) around (holds) DOLE (benefit)
3 Horse’s saddle disintegrated in cold alkaline solution (10)
CLYDESDALE – an anagram (disintegrated) of SADDLE in C (cold) LYE (alkaline solution)
4 After reflection go out to lunch (4)
BATS – STAB (go) reversed (after reflection)
5 Buff needs November off, and March? (4)
DEMO – DEMO[n] (buff needs November off)
6 Song is live on the radio (4)
LIED – a homophone (on the radio) of ‘lead’ (live)
7 Frank perhaps is turning a brownish colour (6)
SIENNA – ANNE (Frank perhaps) IS reversed (turning)
14 Look to employ contemptible sort (5)
LOUSE – LO (look) USE (to employ)
15 Converse with heartless criminal involved in fraud (4,3,3)
CHEW THE FAT – W (with) TH[i]EF (heartless criminal) in (involved in) CHEAT (fraud)
16 Playing con moto grabs one after endless slow movement (10)
LOCOMOTION – an anagram (playing) of CON MOTO around (grabs) I (one) after [s]LO[w] (endless slow)
20 One gathering envelopes posted one’s present? No (8)
ABSENTEE – A (one) BEE (gathering) around (envelopes) SENT (posted)
22 Blow out flame once fit (6)
EXHALE – EX (flame once) HALE (fit)
25 Old sausage dog needs trimming (4)
AGED – [saus]AGE D[og] (sausage dog needs trimming)
26 Capital city is area in decline (4)
SEAT – A (area) in SET (decline)
27 One runs a plant (4)
ACER – ACE (one) R (runs)
Another toughie I thought, not helped by a grid with so many 4 letter words. Also struggled with 6d then decided to lead a good life essentially means to live one. Didn’t get 26d and would never think of SET for decline. Thanks to Gaufrid for his sterling work today and to Alberich for the challenge.
I give it 7/10. 5, 6, & 29 were unacceptable.
Doris @2
In what way were those three clues unacceptable?
Thanks Alberich and Gaufrid
Will be glad not to be getting to that Enigmatist puzzle for quite a while (am very behind with Guardian puzzles) because I found this one pretty hard, particularly a number of those tricky little four-letter jobbies.
It took a number of sittings to get through, including the last 20 minutes to get the last couple in – BATS (hadn’t seen the ‘out to lunch’ definition of crazy before) and SEAT (struggled with SET for ‘decline’ for ages until getting the disappearing sun or moon).
Plenty of mind twisting word plays and clever misdirection along the way to provide good fun in what I found a challenging puzzle.
Doris@2 I think it is reasonable to object to n for November although it’s bound to be in some list of abbreviations. Lead for live was a stretch but I think Ok. Finally Ate, a goddess of mischief, regularly appears. For my sins, I was made to read Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar for my O level, which contains the line ‘with Ate by my side, come hot from hell’.
Hovis @5
November represents N in the NATO phonetic alphabet so not an abbreviation.
Ah thanks. Never thought of that.
My first puzzle of the day and one in which I made steady progress.
I would almost say ‘as usual’ because I can’t remember a time in the past I had any wavelength problem with Alberich.
So, I feel a bit embarrassed that to admit that I failed to find almost everything of the deep SW corner.
If only I had found ALIENATE …. [I clearly didn’t – nothing unfair though]
Enjoyable puzzle with a lot of very good clues (however, 6d, not my favourite but OK-ish).
Perhaps, I liked 18ac (AMUSE) most.
Thanks Gaufrid and Alberich.
Sorry to come late on this but I had to check with my German son-in-law.
6dn is unacceptable as if “Lied” is used in the German form it is pronounced “Leet”. The “d” is pronounced “d” in the plural form of “Lieder”. It might be pronounced “Lead” by some English people but they are wrong!
I had Ate as I played Mark Antony in a school production.
Someone please be so kind and explain to me why Buff = Demon.
KiwiWilli @ 10
From Chambers:
buff – an enthusiast, fan, expert
demon – a person of great energy or enthusiasm or skill (figurative)
Thanks Gaufrid
I should have picked that up from the Chambers definitions, but was too thick to see.