A rare online solve for me, not having been able to get hold of a paper last week. Good stuff once again from Hypnos, of course, and everything seemed to fit into place nicely, with only the wordplay at 1dn holding me up briefly while blogging.
| Across | ||
| 1 | ATTENTIVE | Put wine in case without top, being careful (9) |
| TENT in [d]ATIVE | ||
| 6 | POSSE | Model entertaining small legal team (5) |
| Small in POSE | ||
| 9 | THOUGHT | Fancy hotel found in unfortunate town principally (7) |
| (Hotel in TOUGH) + T[own] | ||
| 10 | LETDOWN | Eastern European called fluffy hair a disappointment (7) |
| homophone of “Lett” (person from Latvia) + DOWN | ||
| 11 | NATTY | Dapper attorney in US city (5) |
| ATTorney in New York | ||
| 13 | MAINSTAY | Chief support provided by mother during visit (8) |
| MA IN STAY | ||
| 15 | IMPOLITE | Rude young offender vandalised toilet largely (8) |
| IMP + TOILE[t]* | ||
| 16 | AMOEBA | A qualification needed when encapsulating heartless individual, parasitic type (6) |
| O[n]E in A MBA | ||
| 18 | LESSON | Guards in Spanish city getting corrective punishment (6) |
| SS in LEON | ||
| 20 | KHARTOUM | African capital reportedly a graveyard for drivers? (8) |
| homophone of “car tomb”. Capital of Sudan | ||
| 23 | CHIP SHOP | Constant music around school and fast food outlet (4,4) |
| C + (School in HIP HOP) | ||
| 24 | STAIR | One wearing disgusted expression returning for part of flight (5) |
| I in RATS< | ||
| 26 | ALLEGRO | Large loo after one round is sunk drunk quickly found in bars? (7) |
| (LARGE LO[o])* | ||
| 27 | OUTLINE | Published policy in preliminary plan (7) |
| OUT + LINE | ||
| 29 | SOROS | Arrangement not completed by very large investor (5) |
| SOR[t] + OutSize. George Soros | ||
| 30 | DASHBOARD | Part of estate, maybe, to frustrate group of executives (9) |
| DASH + BOARD | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | ASTON VILLA | Exhausted old dog nothing less reared to guard very traditional club (5,5) |
| Very in (ALL IN + Old + T[o]SA)< | ||
| 2 | TWO-STEP | Company it’s claimed with time in part of autumn for dance (3-4) |
| TWO + (Time in SEPtember) | ||
| 3 | NAG | Harry Truman agonised internally (3) |
| [truma]N AG[onised] | ||
| 4 | INTIMATE | Friend not delayed rounding up volunteers (8) |
| (Territorial Army)< in IN TIME | ||
| 5 | ECLAIR | Comedienne providing teatime treat? (6) |
| double definition: comedienne Jenny Eclair/teatime treat | ||
| 6 | PETE SAMPRAS | Extremely productive past master fantastically showing off what’s foremost in tennis? (4,7) |
| P[roductiv]E (PAST MAS[t]ER)* and &lit, I think. Somewhat timely, as all eyes turn to Centre Court today | ||
| 7 | STORAGE | Exotic gastronome lacking no bit of meat for safekeeping (7) |
| GASTRO[no][m]E* | ||
| 8 | ETNA | Greek character interrupted by new source of fumes? (4) |
| New in ETA | ||
| 12 | YELLOW PAGES | Directory left by humble attendant inside certainly (6,5) |
| (Left + LOW + PAGE) in YES | ||
| 14 | HAMMERHEAD | Fish and meat found by bird in sea (10) |
| HAM + (RHEA in MEDiterranean) | ||
| 17 | THE PROMS | Musical fixture excited short MEP (3,5) |
| (SHORT MEP)* | ||
| 19 | SCHOLAR | Student in predicament almost restricted by unwelcome mark (7) |
| HOL[e] in SCAR | ||
| 21 | OCARINA | How one might characterise pedestrian noise initially put out by a traditional music-maker (7) |
| [n]O CAR + IN + A | ||
| 22 | SHROUD | Covering shift in hours over day (6) |
| Day in HOURS* | ||
| 25 | BASS | Deep sea fish (4) |
| double definition: deep/sea fish | ||
| 28 | TUB | On reflection, what might be contained by cups, not singular container (3) |
| BU[s]T< | ||
* = anagram; < = reversed; [] = removed
Thanks for the blog, Simon. I needed help to parse 28d.
Re 7d I think you forgot the asterisk – GASTRO[no][m]E* – to indicate that it is an anagram, and 21a is [n]O CAR + IN + A. I realise that I wanted to ask if IN = “by” in 21a and if yes, how?
My favourites were 23a, 2d, 12d, 20a, 3d, 1d, 14d.
Thanks michelle, two typos corrected now.
Funnily enough, I nearly added a note at 21a across to the effect that IN = “by” was a bit of a leap of faith. It seems plausible, but I agree it doesn’t seem watertight. Maybe others can clarify for us.
I parsed OCARINA as O CAR (D)IN A where 0=zero, a device I have seen used plenty of times before, and the “noise initially put out” refers to “din” minus the d.
A pleasant solve, with PETE SAMPRAS and MAINSTAY my last two in.