A 22.35 solve for me, which puts it in the mildly tricky class, possibly stretched a bit by needing to be sure of understanding everything before submitting in case any of you had queries. The presence of early high value Scrabbleâ„¢ letters raised expectations of a pangram, not to be disappointed. Indeed, today’s setter only missed a double by 4 letters, one of which I found useful in filling in the questionmarks in 28ac – not, perhaps, one you would expect to be of that ilk. I do believe we have a previously unseen device being employed to excellent effect. There’s also some interesting fringe vocabulary and GK around, including several Bible references, but all fairly clued and gettable. I also found several places where I might query the numeration. No matter, here’s the result of all my explorations
Across
1 VOICE BOX Speechmaker
Raising hopes of another gentle stroll, a V(olume) followed by n0thing and an ICEBOX serving as a cooler. I thought it a single word, but the enumeration and all the usual sources have the temerity to disagree.
6 BELONG Â Fit
If you continue a marathon, you’re going to BE LONG. Or in my case, late. As in the late Z8b8d8k
9 ADIT Â Passage
Normally the entry way into a mine, here a poster or AD with IT, (sex) appeal as found in crosswords.
10 GAS GUZZLER Â Expensive car
I’m not aware of this device appearing before. “Talk” provides the GAS , and the rest is provided by the gottle og gear producer’s attempt at “puzzling”, which is, perhaps, doubly “perplexing” for the stomach speaker. Back in the day, we had a character called Archie Andrews, a ventriloquist’s dummy who appeared on the radio show “Educating Archie” in the 50s. You couldn’t see the lips move, which was just as well because the ventriloquist was one Peter Brough.
11 JOCKEY CLUB Â sports administrators
Must be the oldest extant sporting body, founded in 1750. C(arbon) is included in JOKEY, full of (wise) cracks, CLUB for “strike” follows. Anyone else try visualising the surface meaning of the clue? Just me, then.
13 RUDD Â Relative of carp
So a fish then, and I believe the only freshwater fish I have ever caught. RUDDy is our shortened cussword, perhaps as devised by our tame ventriloquist.
14 AMUNDSEN He visited pole
And German gives UND, add S(on) and enclose both as instructed in AMEN for “let it be”
16 ON SONG Â performing well
More German, this time Lied for SONG, with ON, about, leading the way.
18 SNUGLY closely
The team at (Bridge) table, are N(orth) and S(outh). If UGLY, they are presumed not to be attracting each other, but, hey, ugly people need soulmates too. It’s only a matter of time before such appearancism becomes a crime
20 MUD PUPPY Â N American native
A species of salamander, as it says native to the US and Canada. My internal image system produces children splashing in grubby places, along the lines of mudlarks, but apparently that’s only by extension. The last letter of celebritY and the letters UP DUP MP combine in restructured format. Not, perhaps, the most opaque anagram, especially when mostly in stand out capitals.
22 FAVE popularly preferred
For which read what the dictionaries sniffily call an (inf) version of favourite. F, the musical version of loud, then AVE, your greeting for Caesars and blessed virgins.
24 ANNE BOLEYN Â She….
A pretty good &lit, an anagram of SHE’S ONLY BEEN plus the end of queeN, wretched the anagram announcer.
26 QUICKTHORN Â May
Or indeed hawthorn. Not slow QUICK, however THO’, and sailors RN
26 AWAY out
My LOI, Now where’s the setter put his W? Ah, being resourceful, I find A WAY to answer my own question.
29 CAREER Â calling
A minder is a CARER, the transported E the setter’s drug of choice, so much easier to use in a clue than methylene-dioxymethamphetamine
30 IOLANTHE opera
G&S ouevre, not the most hummed. A plainly signalled anagram of HIS ALONE
Down
2 ODD JOBMAN Â casual worker.
An anagram of MOOD BAN with formal wear, the D(inner) J(acket) inserted.
3 CATSKIN hide from queen
Not, perhaps, the most common of hides, though I found this slightly disturbing one. A queen is a lady cat, the disapproving TSK is surrounded by the fratricidal CAIN
4 BUGGY Â Early form of transport
Not drawn from Georgette Heyer: early in the sense of for early years. There’s a second definition in “beset by defects”. Take your pick.
5 XIS Letters from abroad
If indeed Greece is abroad for you. SIX, definitely “a number”, reversed.
6 BLUE BLOOD Â classy descent
Supposedly because fair and noble skin showed blue veins more clearly. A BLUE is a distinguished Oxbridge sports person. To BLOOD is to initiate
7 LAZARUS Â miracle man
Cf John 11: 1-44. Most of LAZy for idle, AS for while, and R(ugby) U(nion) for the (inserted) game, much forgotten by the English.
8 NO END Â a lot
The Bible Land is NOD (cf Genesis 4: 16) to which Cain (cf 3dn) was exiled. The tips of EuropeaN provide the “visiting” letters
12 LINKMAN Â Anchor
L(eft) INK, black liquid at least sometimes, and the Isle of MAN
15 SPYMASTER Â Top agent
Take MY for (goodness) gracious and PS for something I might add, reverse them as instructed by “turning over”, and add ASTER a plant. Of some sort.
17 NAPPY RASH Â an affliction of the very young
Refusal, NAY, “keeps” PP, music for very quiet, and RASH for “not considered”
19 GLENCOE Â Depression Sxcottish hiker could enter
Though you can also get in by road. An “injured” anagram  of ONCE LEG
24 UNLEARN Â Forget
A remarkably long every other letter example  tUnNeL-rEpAiRiNg
23 ARUBA Â Island
Not the sound of an old fashioned motor horn, then. Off the coast of Venzuela, but then you knew that. The A(utomobile) A(ssociation) binds RUB for “cause friction”
25 BANAL Â far from original
The Idol (from the unbeliever’s point of view), is BA’AL (cf 1 Kings 18 et al). Chuck in a N(ame)
27 OBI charm
Not Wan Kenobi, then. “Passed on” gives  OBit, and one’s just I. In Roman, if you please.
However, just as yesterday, I fell at the final hurdle and after 10 minutes of staring at the last three blank squares (at 18ac) I gave up and cheated. Unlike yesterday though, I was sorry when I knew the answer as I should have got it. Yesterday with ABELE I didn’t have a chance.
Best clue was for ANNE BOLEYN: a great &lit — one that the setter must have been proud of. (If anyone here’s done much setting, they’d know that you get one this good once a year or so.) Closely followed by BELONG which I took to be a simple charade: BE (to continue), LONG (marathon, adj.).
Two quite disturbing reminders of ex Australian PMs at 7dn and 13ac. Both, to my mind, were 25dn.
The GUZZLER at 10ac I took to be that ventriloquist’s trick of talking while drinking a glass of something. Perhaps a gottle o’ geer?
Another parsing difference: at 15dn I took “turning” alone as the indicator and “over” to show that SP,YM goes above the rest.
And thanks to you Z8 for finding my old Dad’s ostler yesterday!
Edited at 2015-10-29 07:46 am (UTC)
Good puzzle though with some particularly smooth surfaces to my mind. CATSKIN perhaps the pick of the bunch.
Was due to blog the Quick today but after arriving at hospital for a check up am likely to be here until lunchtime!
If no-one can cover, I’ll be along later.
[now done]
Edited at 2015-10-29 09:57 am (UTC)
2dn proved difficult for a long time
and plenty of other road blocks – over an hour.
But is was well constructed except for 28ac
The Northern Venezuelan Islands are my speciality!FOI
horryd Shanghai
Can’t agree with your comment at 7dn Z. The good folk at Twickers haven’t forgotten about rugby, they’re just swapping nationalities on a weekly basis. They’ve had turns at being Welsh, Scottish and Argentinian (!!??), and this week I suspect will be tapping into their long lost NZ heritage!
Hope your ‘ool is uncracked!
Isn’t MUD PUPPY a cute term? And rather descriptive, too.
Thanks for the parsing of GUZZLER, Z8. I guess it works.
I enjoyed the struggle with this one. Tricky, but without too much that I didn’t know, and I never got completely stuck.
I won my school talent competition with a vent act when I was 12 so I think I’m well-placed to judge that 10 doesn’t quite work. Guzzled would equate to buzzled. Puzzled would come out as cuzzled. Regardless, I saw what was intended. It reminded me of the cartoon in the Sunday Times when Keith Harris (he who made a career of having his arm stuck up a green duck’s fundament) died this year. His gravestone read:
Keith Harris
Ventriloquist
Gorn 1947
Guried 2015
Thanks all round.
Edited at 2015-10-29 01:24 pm (UTC)
Yes indeed it would! I realised this at the time, but figured that a really bad ventriloquist would not even able to manage that 🙂
I was almost beaten by OBI (particularly before I got QUICKTHORN). I had a vague idea that it was the waistband on a kimono, and Wikipedia seems to agree. So how does it become a charm? I, like some others here, pondered “oki”, and even flirted briefly with “exi”.
BANAL also worried me (at least until I had all the checkers), as I’d NHO “ba’al”. “Banal” is one of those words I remember reading, as a child, before I’d heard it pronounced. I made a point of using it in conversation thereafter, but its withering effect was probably undermined by my pronouncing it to rhyme with “anal”. (I also remember receiving a Scalextric set called “Grand Prix”, resulting in another unfortunate mispronunciation.)
CODs for me were CATSKIN, and QUICKTHORN – the latter because the &lit was so modestly tucked away.
COD to 17dn (NAPPY RASH), the best of a very fine bunch, apart perhaps from 10ac, since I agree with penfold that it would only really work if the ventriloquist failed to say “buzzler”.