All perfectly satisfactory.
I don’t have very much to add to that. This was a decent puzzle, not outstandingly inventive (many of the synonyms weren’t stretched far beyond their primary meanings), but with nothing to really grumble about. Thank-you, Peto.
| Across | ||
| 1 | COP OUT |
Avoid responsibility for policeman getting exhausted (3,3)
Cop [policeman] out [exhausted]
|
| 4 | AGNOSTIC |
Questioning Bill over it before Carol returns (8)
Reversal of it song [carol] within ac [account, bill]
|
| 9 | PURIFY |
Free from guilt but extremely fidgety after Penny takes Irish unionist back (6)
P [penny] reversal of Ir [Irish] U [unionist] f(idget)y
|
| 10 | CAREWORN |
Haggard’s mind showing the effects of age (8)
Care [mind] worn [showing effects of age]
|
| 12 | BRISLING |
Bear circling island lake to find fish (8)
Is [island] l [lake] within bring [bear]
|
| 13 | FLEECE |
Left in charge at church do (6)
L [left] within fee [charge] CE [church]
|
| 15 | EMIR |
Helping to make sure Miranda gets a ruler (4)
Hidden in surE MIRanda
|
| 16 | GET A MOVE ON |
Tom gave one order to hurry up (3,1,4,2)
Anagram of tom gave one
|
| 19 | CONSISTENT |
Happy to admit son is in agreement (10)
S [son] is within content [happy]
|
| 20 | BOLT |
About to leave town with a writer (4)
Bolton [town] minus on [about]
|
| 23 | ASLEEP |
Inattentive in general since before taking power (6)
As [since] Lee [General (Robert E.)] p [power]
|
| 25 | FAIR PLAY |
Spooner’s mate to severely criticise equal teatment for all concerned (4,4)
Spoonersism of pair [mate] flay [severely criticise]
|
| 27 | BANDANNA |
Britain’s first man to wear woman’s clothing (8)
B(ritain) Dan [man] within Anna [woman]
|
| 28 | APTEST |
Most suitable to check after father comes back (6)
Reversal of pa [father] test [check]
|
| 29 | RESOLUTE |
Decided about well before money is mentioned (8)
Re [about] so [well] lute [sounds like ‘loot’, money]
|
| 30 | CARTON |
Swindle involving cunning fictional lawyer (6)
Art [cunning] within con [swindle]
|
| Down | ||
| 1 | CAPABLE |
Qualified secretary employed by government minister (7)
PA [Personal Assistant, secretary] within Cable [government minister Vince]
|
| 2 | PERDITION |
Everlasting punishment for a princess into rum (9)
Per [a] Di [Princess] anagram of into
|
| 3 | UNFOLD |
Tell of a Parisian near to collapse (6)
Un [French for ‘a’] fold [collapse]
|
| 5 | GOAL |
Metal almost covering one end (4)
A [one] within gol(d)
|
| 6 | OVERLOOK |
Exceeding King John’s earlier disregard (8)
Over [exceeding] loo [john] k [king]
|
| 7 | TROPE |
Against including Richards’ original exercises in irony for example (5)
R(ichards) within to [against] PE [exercises]
|
| 8 | CONCERN |
Business agreement curtailed by Norway (7)
Concer(t) [agreement] N [Norway]
|
| 11 | ENTENTE |
An understanding of space and time at present is incomplete (7)
En [space] t [time] ente(r) [present? – bit dubious]
|
| 14 | GAINSAY |
Speak after profit is made from dispute (7)
Gain [profit] say [speak]
|
| 17 | EMOLLIENT |
Conciliatory creature mostly found in English story books (9)
Mol(e) [creature] within E [English] lie [story] NT [New Testament, books]
|
| 18 | FIREWALL |
Enthusiasm shown by everyone after the introduction of Webroot’s security system (8)
Fire [enthusiasm] w(ebroot) all [everyone]
|
| 19 | CHAMBER |
It may be found in a gun room (7)
Double definition
|
| 21 | TRY IT ON |
Attempt to fool god about end of story (3,2,2)
(Stor)y withon Triton [god]
|
| 22 | GRAPPA |
Doctor collars Norm over a drink (6)
Reversal of par [norm] within GP [doctor] a
|
| 24 | LINES |
The French occupied by current form of school punishment (5)
In [current] within les [French for ‘the’]
|
| 26 | GNAT |
Flyer’s characteristic quality brought up (4)
Reversal of tang [characteristic quality]
|
Thanks, Ringo.
I wasn’t too sure about “present” = “enter” in 11 down either. I suppose in court you could enter or present a plea, but then the “at” sits awkwardly.
Yes, Ringo (thanks!), this was a perfectly all right crossword.
However, I couldn’t get 20ac (BOLT).
Didn’t know the writer Robert Bolt, although he’s apparently famous enough (A Man for All Seasons, screenplays for Dr Zhivago and Lawrence of Arabia).
So, it wasn’t easy to find the solution just from the construction.
By the way, I didn’t help myself by initially entering EBULLIENT at 17d which fits the construction perfectly well but not the definition, of course.
Many thanks to Peto for another piece of precise clueing.
Found this quite tough – not sure why, perhaps some of the constructing synonyms were a little too general. I also failed on BOLT and, ashamed to say, didn’t know CARTON but got it from wordplay.
Thanks to Peto and Ringo for clarity
I found this one hard and packed in at about 50%. Unusual words, or at least obscure meanings. Eg. Never thought of tang as a quality.
Thanks Peto and Ringo
I think that I’d done 4 or 5 puzzles by this setter previously and had found them all pretty challenging to complete. This one was no different!
It was hard to put the finger on why – maybe putting ‘perennial’ at 2d, ‘laces’ at 24d and ‘wrinkled’ at 10a would’ve slowed things up a bit. Eventually worked the way through it on and off across a couple of weeks and got it finished. Last few in were GNAT, LINES (corrected from ‘laces’) and finally BANDANNA.