Thank you to Mudd. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1. Magnificent items referring to type of melon (7)
REGALIA : RE(with reference to/referring to) GALIA(a hybrid melon that is sweet and aromatic and had rough ridgeson its skin).
5. Skilled worker in braggart is a narcissist (7)
ARTISAN : Hidden in(in) “braggart is a narcissist”.
9. Move round across a step (5)
STAIR : STIR(move slightly round) containing(across) A.
10. Party where nice toper gets sozzled (9)
RECEPTION : Anagram of(… gets sozzled/drunk) NICE TOPER.
11. A walkover for Oscar nominees? (3,6)
RED CARPET : Cryptic defn: That which is literally walked on at the Oscars/Academy Awards ceremony.
12. Eight nos. cut, lest odds cut (5)
OCTET : 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th and 9th letters deleted from(… odds cut) “nos. cut, lest”.
13. One swimmer from Dover? (4)
SOLE : Double defn: 2nd: … taking its name from the English port that landed the most of it in the 19th century.
15. Apathetic when register lost? (8)
LISTLESS : LIST(a register/a table of connected items) –LESS(suffix denoting “without”/has been lost).
18. Disgusted by seed in cherry (8)
REPULSED : PULSE(seed of a plant in the pea family) contained in(in) RED(a bright red colour).
19. Exercise on theological teachings is ready (4)
RIPE : PE(abbrev. for “physical education”/a school lesson consisting of physical activity, including exercise) placed after(on) RI(abbrev. for “religious instruction”/theological teachings).
Defn: … for the plucking or consumption.
22. Flowing locks are down idle teenager’s back, initially (5)
TIDAL : Reversal of(…’s back) 1st letters, respectively, of(…, initially) “locks are down idle teenager”.
Defn: … with the tides.
24. Vital thing in contract handed over (9)
DELIVERED : LIVER(a vital organ in vertebrates) contained in(in) DEED(a legal contract/signed document concerning legal rights).
26. Dying of cold? (9)
PERISHING : Double defn: 2nd: Informal term for “extremely cold”.
27. Masquerade chaps discussed? (5)
GUISE : Homophone of(… discussed) “guys”(chaps/blokes).
Defn: …/external appearance concealing one’s true nature)
28. Substitute hit tennis ball again? (7)
RESERVE : RE-(prefix denoting “repeat of an action”/again) SERVE(hit tennis ball to begin play).
29. Brown kissing bloke — that’s just touching (7)
TANGENT : TAN(a brownish colour) plus(kissing) GENT(short for “gentleman”/a bloke).
Defn: Describing a line or plane … but not cutting a curve or curved surface.
Down
1. Blackpool, say, put in order again? (6)
RESORT : RE-(prefix denoting “repeat of an action”/again) SORT(to put in order/to arrange systematically).
Defn: A recreational place, an example of which/say is Blackpool.
2. Noble ignored, as vulgar (9)
GRANDIOSE : Anagram of(… vulgar) IGNORED, AS.
3. Grub with last of pepper in very hot stuff (5)
LARVA : Last letter of(last of) “pepper” contained in(in) LAVA(very hot stuff spewed by a volcano erupting).
4. Athenian building a farm store up having gathered in harvest (9)
ACROPOLIS : [A + reversal of(… up, in a down clue) SILO(a storage facility in a farm) ] containing(having gathered in) CROP(a harvest/the amount of produce harvested at one time).
Answer: An ancient citadel in Athens consisting of several buildings.
5. Meeting place in coast’s 1 down? (5)
ASCOT : Anagram of(…’s 1 down/is solution to 1 down/re-sort) COAST.
Defn: Place in England where race meetings/horse racing events are held.
6. Very high price to model in standard measure (3,6)
TOP DOLLAR : TO + [ DOLL(a small model of a human figure used as a child’s toy) contained in(in) PAR(a standard measure/a level that is accepted as normal) ].
7. Cracking author (5)
SWIFT : Double defn: 1st: An informal term for “fast and exciting”; and 2nd: Jonathan, Anglo-Irish author.
8. Scratching head, one tiny bewildered figure (6)
NINETY : Anagram of(… bewildered) [ 1st letter deleted from(Scratching head) “one” + TINY ].
Defn: …/number.
14. Ultimately all square ie, producing — this? (9)
EQUALISER : Anagram of(…, producing) [ last letter of(Ultimately) “all” + SQUARE IE ].
Defn: … that makes, say, the teams in a sporting match to be all square/have equal scores.
16. Vicious, say, figure punched by left getting shiner (9)
SIDELIGHT : S ID(an example/say of one with that name is … Vicious of the Sex Pistols) + EIGHT(a figure/number) containing(punched by) L(abbrev. for “left”).
Formerly it was usually not next to or part of the headlight:
17. Watch over vipers, use snakes (9)
SUPERVISE : Anagram of(… snakes) VIPERS USE.
20. State of shock seeing leader of union in terrible strop (6)
STUPOR : 1st letter of(leader of) “union” contained in(in) anagram of(terrible) STROP.
21. Plug over hole is coming (6)
ADVENT : AD(short for “advertisement”/promotional material/plug) placed above(over, in a down clue) VENT(a hole allowing gas or liquid to flow out from an enclosed space).
Defn: The …/arrival of a notable person or thing.
23. Board game is 7 down (5)
DARTS : Double defn: 2nd: Is swift/solution to 7 down.
24. Spin right amid plummet (5)
DRIVE : R(abbrev. for “right”) contained in(amid) DIVE(plummet/drop straight down at high speed).
Defn: …/a short trip in a motor vehicle for pleasure.
25. One certainly won’t have animals for example transported in commercial vehicle (5)
VEGAN : EG(abbrev. for “exempli gratia”/for example) contained in(transported in) VAN(a commercial/goods vehicle).
Defn: One certainly won’t have/eat animal flesh and other parts.
Not one of Mudd’s more taxing efforts but an enjoyable way to start the day (after a rather contentious Wordle) and many thanks to scchua for explanations AND illustrations !
Liked RED CARPET, TOP DOLLAR and EQUALISER.
Thanks Mudd and scchua!
Consecutive clues 7a “Cracking” and 8a NINETY led me to deduce that the author was Jonathan (and not the ubiquitous Taylor) SWIFT, because of the Irish song
The Crack Was 90 On/In The Isle Of Man, written in the ’60s by Barney Rush(e), before the imported word had been Irishized and exported as Craic.
[The “90” possibly means mph, so quite SWIFT, and in a Rush(e)]
Thanks M&s
1A: I did not know the melon but the cross letters gave it away.
16D was not known to me but, again, obvious from the cross letters.
Thanks Mudd and scchua
I did not get TOP DOLLAR which left me with a sparsely lettered NE corner. Otherwise all went smoothly. Thanks Mudd and scchua.
Thanks for the blog, a good set of neat clues , many of them pleasingly concise.
I enjoyed that too. As Roz@6 wrote, many pleasingly concise clues. I also liked that there were many enjoyable surfaces with only a couple of words I did not know. I had a long list of favourites (I must be in a good mood).
Thanks Mudd and scchua
A decent solve all round, altho it took till pretty much the last before I came to terms with SWIFT for “cracking”, but at least that opened up the board game, which languished as LOI.. clear clues made this a pleasure, as did the blog, is the featured car an MG, I wonder or a Riley maybe? Minor thing.. fodder for 17d is “use” not “over” …
Thanks Mudd n scchua
We got SWIFT after solving DARTS. We needed a nudge from a wordfinder to get the DOLLAR in 6dn; otherwise all straightforward and enjoyable. Favourite was TIDAL for the totally misleading surface.
Thanks, Mudd and scchua/
Thanks Undrell. Carelessness remedied.
It is funny how our brains function differently. A couple of people mentioned that DOLLAR was elusive. I had a different experience – the answer presented itself to me the second I read the clue. On the other hand, I am sure I took unnecessary time to solve clues that others found simple……
Paul in the Guardian writes the occasional non-sensical clue, whereas Mudd’s surfaces are always meticulously meaningful. Paul enjoys ribald or scatalogical cluing, which Mudd tends to avoid. And Paul sends you all over the grid with his multi-numbered clues, while Mudd doesn’t combine or cross-reference clues as often. You’d think they were two different people. Does his brain lift and separate? (See Shanne’s blog of Matilda’s Guardian puzzle today. 😉 )
I prefer Mudd, but I like them both. And I always enjoy scchua’s colourful blogs, so thanks both for the entertainment.
Top right was hard for me for some reason though I had top dollar. Being a New Yorker, I’m not familiar with ascot as a place! Thanks everyone
Anil @13 we say TOP DOLLAR in the UK when something is expensive , for some reason we do not say – I had to pay top pound for this.
Ascot is a “meeting” place meaning race meetings for horses . The Ascot Gold Cup is fairly famous. We also have Royal Ascot unfortunately.