Independent 10,303/Vigo

Vigo can always be relied upon to give us a well-constructed and enjoyable puzzle in the Monday slot, and this was exactly that.

My only comment is that it was a little bit charade-heavy. I realise that by its nature, this is a go-to construction, but 20 of the 30 clues today were of this type. Perhaps if you just solved it rather than had to analyse it for blogging purposes, you wouldn’t have noticed.

Across

9 Helpful first violinist?
INSTRUMENTALIST
A charade of INSTRUMENTAL and IST for a representation of ‘first’.

10 Hot bundle possibly dangerous
HARMFUL
A charade of H and ARMFUL.

12 Live through unpopular sport
OUTWEAR
A charade of OUT and WEAR. ‘He was sporting a new flat cap.’

13 Inveterate jailbird unshaken by journalist
CONFIRMED
A charade of CON, FIRM and ED.

14 Hole in branch by top of acacia produces scent
AROMA
A charade of O inserted into ARM and A for the first letter of ‘acacia’.

15 Male with skill at home gets one drink
MARTINI
A charade of M, ART, IN and I.

18 Policewomen competent to incapacitate
DISABLE
A charade of DIS for Detective Inspectors or ‘policewomen’ and ABLE.

21 Endlessly study court reply
REACT
A charade of REA[D] and CT.

23 During dodgy pedicure Juliet gets injury
PREJUDICE
An insertion of J for the phonetic alphabet ‘Juliet’ in (PEDICURE)*

25 Sadist or torturer hiding pervert
DISTORT
Hidden in saDIST OR Torturer.

26 Confront first person announced at party
EYEBALL
A charade of EYE for a homophone (‘announced’) of I and BALL.

29 With anguish tormented perfectionist initially left one pound for cleaner
WASHING-UP LIQUID
If you like multi-part clues, this beast is for you. A charade of W for ‘with’, (ANGUISH)*, P for the first letter of ‘perfectionist’, I and QUID.

Down

1 Distribute spiteful gossip in US vessel
DISH
A dd. The ‘in US’ is there because dictionaries mark this use as informal, North American. It’s not the same usage as ‘dish out’.

2 Ruler returning in anger as tyrant
TSAR
Hidden reversed in angeR AS Tyrant.

3 Good artist rejected argument current in street art
GRAFFITI
A charade of G, RA, TIFF reversed and I for the symbol for electrical ‘current’.

4 English doctor left space for symbol
EMBLEM
A charade of E, MB, L and EM for the printer’s ‘space’.

5 Revealed foul den destroyed by daughter
UNFOLDED
A charade of (FOUL DEN)* and D.

6 Bloke with skill turned to chant
MANTRA
A charade of MAN and ART reversed. That’s twice we’ve had ART for ‘skill’, which is clunky if nothing more.

7 Gang throw out overturned barrel that’s set to explode
TIME BOMB
A charade of MOB EMIT reversed and B for ‘barrel’, commonly used in the oil industry.

8 Dream of small sailor with fixed look
STARGAZE
A charade of S, TAR and GAZE.

11 Ambitious lord originally had all leaders providing greeting
ALOHA
The initial letters of the first five words of the clue give you the Hawaiian greeting.

15 Discount book pile
MARK DOWN
A charade of MARK for the biblical ‘book’ and DOWN.

16 Review concerning animal on European ship
REASSESS
A charade of RE, ASS, E and SS.

17 Time pig suffered with old disease
IMPETIGO
A charade of (TIME PIG)* and O.

19 Nervous about holding international trophy
SOUVENIR
An insertion of I in (NERVOUS)*

20 Pub diet?
LOCAL
A dd. The second part is relying on the fact that if you were on a diet, you might be ingesting LO-CAL food and drink.

22 Imaginary circle subject holds right
TROPIC
An insertion of R in TOPIC.

24 Old film about politician not included
EXEMPT
A charade of EX and MP inserted into ET for the ‘film’.

27 Row, shunning river, to get fit
AGUE
A[R]GUE

28 Idol swimming in pool
LIDO
(IDOL)*

Many thanks to Vigo for the start to our Indy crossword week.