A mixed bag, this, I thought. Some very smart stuff, but also a few clunkers that whiffed of short-cuttery.
My main gripe was the closeness in meaning of some of the cryptic components and associated definitions, as at 16ac. 17acm, and 19dn. At the other end of the difficulty scale, the one-remove-more leap required to complete 31ac. seemed to me to be not quite playing the game. But those moans shouldn’t overshadow what was on the whole an enjoyable solve. Thank-you, Hamilton.
| Across | ||
| 1 | CLASSY | Sophisticated girl extremely comely to be around (6) |
| Lass [girl] within c(omel)y | ||
| 4 | VOCATION | Calling for change to holiday (one goes from 1st to 15th) (8) |
| Vacation [holiday] with o [15th letter] replacing A [first] | ||
| 10 | BARRAGE | A flood, and how to contain it (7) |
| Double definition | ||
| 11 | INCENSE | Fragrance that may get up one’s nose (7) |
| Double definition | ||
| 12 | NAVE | Centre of main avenue is in church (4) |
| Hidden in maiN AVEnue | ||
| 13 | STREAMLINE | Road trips Elaine and Mary alternately take to become more efficient (10) |
| St [street, road] anagram of elaine alternate letters from MaRy | ||
| 16 | ODDITY | Character singing strange song (6) |
| Sounds like odd ditty [strange song] | ||
| 17 | DIPLOMA | Award for ambassador leaving Thailand (7) |
| Diplomat [ambassador] minus T [Thailand] | ||
| 20 | PROBLEM | For the British Legion to take me back is difficult (7) |
| Pro [for] BL [British Legion] reversal of me | ||
| 21 | SCARCE | Mark goes to church too little (6) |
| Scar [mark] CE [Church (of England)] | ||
| 24 | MAIDENHEAD | Man I headed off in Berkshire town (10) |
| Anagram of man i headed | ||
| 25 | TALL | Time everyone got high (4) |
| T [time] all [everyone] | ||
| 27 | OVERARM | Done with gun as preferred method of delivery (7) |
| Over [done with] arm [gun] | ||
| 29 | HIT LIST | The Mafia’s Hot 100? (3,4) |
| Crypticky double definition | ||
| 30 | HORSEFLY | Nothing freshly prepared for this bloodsucker! (8) |
| Anagram of freshly o [zero, nothing] | ||
| 31 | CREEPY | Scary Indian emptying larder (6) |
| Cree [(American) Indian] p(antr)y [larder] | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | CABIN BOY | Room for a young ‘un like Jim on the Hispaniola (5,3) |
| Cabin [room] boy [young ‘un] | ||
| 2 | ARRIVEDERCI | Pull in for cider cocktail, then bid a fond farewell (11) |
| Arrive [pull in] anagram of cider | ||
| 3 | SWAN | Bird within convalescent home (4) |
| W [with] in san [sanatorium, convalescent home] | ||
| 5 | OLIVE OIL | Fat girl said she loved Popeye! (5,3) |
| Double definition | ||
| 6 | ACCOMPLICE | Associate master involved without it at heart (10) |
| Complicit [involved] minus it within ace [master] | ||
| 7 | INN | Johnnie’s partial to going back in here! (3) |
| Hidden in reversal of johNNIe | ||
| 8 | NEEDED | Annoyed at losing the line required (6) |
| Needled [annoyed] minus l [line] | ||
| 9 | GET TO | Arrive at run-down area with no hospital (3,2) |
| Ghetto [run-down area] minus H [hospital] | ||
| 14 | IMMORTALISE | Perpetuate its memory by building its memorial (11) |
| Anagram of its memorial | ||
| 15 | STABLEMATE | Opera singer’s comeback in New York, say, having the same trainer (10) |
| Reversal of Melba [opera singer Nellie] within state [New York, say] | ||
| 18 | BECHAMEL | Sauce celeb is cooking with ham in (8) |
| Ham within anagram of celeb | ||
| 19 | ZEALOTRY | Fanaticism of one from old Jewish sect clearing out rally (8) |
| Zealot [one from old Jewish sect] r(all)y | ||
| 22 | SMOOTH | Iron uniform (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| 23 | PASHA | Sherpas have it in for former governor (5) |
| Hidden in sherPAS HAve | ||
| 26 | STIR | Commotion in prison (4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 28 | EAR | No. 1 extraordinary auditory receiver (3) |
| Initial letters of Extraordinary Auditory Receiver | ||
Thanks, Hamilton and Ringo.
Re 5dn: it is a double definition but the cartoon character is Olive Oyl, hence the ‘said’.
Thanks, Ringo, I agree with you as usual. Thanks also to Hamilton, who gave me a really lively breakfast.
Great stuff. I was going to say what Eileen said but she got there first.Thanks Ringo.