Nothing particularly difficult in today’s themed offering from Gozo. A few of the birds may not be familiar to some but they were easy enough to get from the wordplay.
I think there is an error in 6dn in that there is no insertion indicator for the ‘R’.
.
Across
1 PIGEON PI (letter) *(GONE)
4 HORNBILL HORN (instrument) BILL (account)
9 ROLLER dd – a kind of tumbler pigeon
10 STARLING STAR (leading) LING (heather)
11 ORIOLE O (nothing) *(LOIRE)
12 PARAKEET RAKE (gardening tool) in *(TAPE)
13 JAY J (jack) AY (always)
14 CONDOR CONDO (US apartment) R (right)
17 KESTREL hidden in ‘weaKEST RELative’
21 PETREL *(PETER) L (left)
25 HEN cd
26 ACCENTOR ACCENT (grave) OR (gold) – a bird of the hedge sparrow genus
27 TOUCAN homophone of ‘two can’
28 SCREAMER *(AS MERCER) – a large spur-winged South American bird
29 GANNET ANNE (girl) in GT (luxury sports car)
30 PHEASANT *(SHAPE) ANT (worker)
31 MERLIN hidden in ‘sumMER LINgerie’
Down
1 PERFORCE PERFOR[man]CE (fellow quitting dramatic production)
2 GALLIANO *(LOAN GAIL)
3 OVERLOOK dd
5 OUTLAY LAYOUT (model railway) with halves swapped
6 NORWAY R (rule or rule initially) in NO WAY (impossible) – there is no insertion indicator for the ‘R’, following the wordplay would give ‘nowayr’ or ‘rnoway’
7 IRISES I (one) RISES (is excited)
8 LIGHTS dd
12 PARTNER PAR (on a level) *(RENT) or RENT reversed depending on how you read ‘review’ (revise or look back)
15 RED dd
16 REP dd
18 LEMONADE *(ONE MEDAL)
19 CRACKNEL CRACK (form of cocaine) NEL[l] (young girl cut)
20 PLANKTON PLANK (timber) NOT reversed
22 PASS UP PASS (overtake) UP (on horseback)
23 ACCRUE homophone of ‘a crew’ (a group of rowers)
24 IN-LAWS W[ar] in *(SLAIN)
25 HOME IN HOME (base) IN (popular)
1ac: Is “missing” an anagram indicator for *(GONE)? That doesn’t seem particularly satisfactory.
8dn: Is “lights” a synonym for “innards”? That usage is new to me. Where could I find an example? I thought about the phrase “punch your lights out,” but that simply means “knock you unconscious,” doesn’t it?
Something to do with a bag of innards from the butcher’s I believe. (Collins confirms this.)
Hi Surajit
Yes, in 1a ‘missing’ is the anagram indicator, as in astray, failing or not in the expected place.
Regarding 8d, ‘lights’ are the lungs of an animal, so called because they are lighter than other internal organs, and ‘innards’ means entrails or internal organs of an animal so the two are connected.