Once more the best crossword of the month delivers a potpourri of interesting words and inventive wordplay. About 1hr 20 minutes for me and there was one clue where I had to ask a friend how the parsing worked, which turned out to be exceedingly devious. WOM to GNATHONIC and COM to 3D. Bravo clever setter!
Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, {deletions}, ~ insertion point and [] other indicators.
| Across | |
| 1 | Party whip’s source pursuing a haughty type (6) |
| BASHAW – BASH (party) + A + first letter of Whip. | |
| 4 | Retreat, once having run separately after member of parliament in dark (8) |
| GROWLERY – OWL (member of parliament; collective noun for owls) and R (run) separately in GR~E~Y (dark). | |
| 10 | Deceitfully flattering act nigh on disreputable (9) |
| GNATHONIC – (act nigh on)* [disreputable]. Nice word. | |
| 11 | British setter recalled over Times put in container (5) |
| EMBOX – B (British) + ME (setter) [recalled] -> EMB, + O (over) + X (times; multiplied by). | |
| 12 | Ready to face peril, working with dangerous criminal (2,4,5) |
| ON ONES GUARD – ON (working) + (dangerous)* [criminal]. | |
| 14 | Great weight beginning to tell on unopened school (3) |
| TON – First letter of Tell + ON, {e}TON (school) [unopened]. A definition + 2 wordplays. | |
| 15 | Spinster one leaves with cut price boraginaceous plant (7) |
| MADWORT – MA{i}D (spinster) without the I (one) + WORT{h} (price) [cut]. | |
| 17 | Funny little wingless insect caught in clothing on line (6) |
| LEETLE – {b}EETL{e} (insect) [wingless] in outside letters of [clothing] of LinE. | |
| 19 | Mental picture aikido luminary inspires (6) |
| IDOLUM – Hidden in aikIDO LUMinary, [inspires]. | |
| 21 | Without stopping, drove north, travelling north of the border, over there (7) |
| THONDER – Anagram, [travelling] of (d{rov}e [without stopping] + north)*. | |
| 23 | Climber, injured, overused oxygen progressively (3) |
| IVY – First, then second, then third letters of, [progressively], Injured oVerused oxYgen. A neat wordplay device. | |
| 24 | Having only sons along with, for the most part understood, common sense (11) |
| ANDROGENOUS – AND (along with) + ROGE{r} (understood) [for the most part] + NOUS (common sense). | |
| 26 | Screen put back is hiding brief informal trick (5) |
| SHOJI – JOH{n} (trick; prostitute’s customer) in I~S, all reversed, [put back]. | |
| 27 | Well-supplied vessel allowed to enter icefield, missing opening (9) |
| LOCUPLETE – CUP (vessel) + LET (Allowed) in {f}LO~E (icefield) [missing opening]. | |
| 29 | Indifference towards painful red swelling (8) |
| PHLEGMON – PLEGM (indifference) + ON (towards). | |
| 30 | In waterproof cloth, wrap (usually stiff) American cactus (6) |
| CEREUS – CERE (waterproof cloth used to wrap a body; stiff) + US (American). | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Makes obscure request with menaces (8) |
| BEGLOOMS – BEGS (requests) + LOOMS (menaces). | |
| 2 | Impotent person stood a psychiatrist up to an extent (5) |
| SPADO – Reverse hidden [up to an extent] in stOD A PSychiatrist. | |
| 3 | What’s just left of the start of this remains (3) |
| ASH – I needed help from a friend to parse this. It’s so clever… it’s a cross-reference to the answer at 1A : the 3 letters to the left of the start of 3D are bASHaw. Chapeau! | |
| 5 | Forecast area of crack on uncapped barrier (7) |
| ROCKALL – ROCK (slang for crack cocaine) + {w}ALL (barrier) [uncapped]. I didn’t know the slang term but the forecast area was obvious from the checkers. | |
| 6 | Taking little notice nearly stops curt females coaxing (11) |
| WHEEDLESOME – HEEDLES{s} (taking little notice) [nearly] in [curt] W~OME{n} (females). | |
| 7 | Fortified European promoted in honour supported by ultimately changed post-war PM (9) |
| EMBATTLED – MBE (honour) with the E (European) promoted -> EMB + ATTLE{e} (post-war PM) with the last letter [ultimately] changed to a D. | |
| 8 | Local belching close to somebody annoying, but not very (6) |
| YEXING – Last letter [close to] of sombodY + {v}EXING (annoying) without the V (very). | |
| 9 | Bathing hollow gash, heal champion (6) |
| KNIGHT – KNI~T (heal a bone fracture) including [bathing] G{as}H [hollow], | |
| 13 | Softening up pithy saying involving girl periodically pinching buttocks (11) |
| EMOLLIATING – GN~OME (pithy saying) outside [involving] alternate letters [periodically] of gIr~L outside [pinching] TAIL (buttocks), all reversed [up]. A reversed double inclusion. Tricky! | |
| 16 | Old idiot duly gutted about random result of voting (9) |
| DODDYPOLL – D{ul}~Y [gutted] [about] ODD (random) + POLL (result of voting]. | |
| 18 | Press frames Fuentes on and off for introducing hazard (8) |
| FRISKETS – Fu~EnTeS [on and off] [introducing] RISK (hazard). | |
| 20 | Low wooded hollow opens preliminary sketch (7) |
| MODELLO – DELL (wooded hollow) inside, [opens], MO~O (low) | |
| 21 | Take Charlie, say, around cape’s rising pools? (6) |
| TRONCS – SNORT (take Charlie, say; take cocaine) [around] C (cape), all rising. | |
| 22 | Provides healthy drink (4,2) |
| FITS UP – FIT (healthy) + SUP (drink). An easy one! Where did that come from? | |
| 25 | Daisy steers very well, avoiding poles (5) |
| OXEYE – OXE{n} (steers) + YE{s} (very well) losing both the N and the S [avoiding poles]. | |
| 28 | Cycling rather causes confusion (3) |
| PYE – YEP (rather) [cycling] -> PYE. | |