I found the bottom half of this one went in very quickly, but had a bit more fiddling around to do in the top half. I am a little lost on one piece of wordplay, though I think I have a plausible solution, it may just be some misdirection in the clue hiding the intended wordplay.
Paul McKenna usually puts a pun in the top row, though this one is a head scratcher for me – I think it is means to be LES DAWSON who was a comedian?
Grid watch: 12×12, but this grid has 90-degree symmetry which is a nice touch.
The first definition is underlined in clues, all definitions can be confirmed by Chambers Dictionary.
Away we go…
| Across | |
| 1 | Incline to welcome unknown scorer? (5) |
| LISZT – LIST(incline) containing Z(unknown) – scorer as in creator of muscial scores | |
| 5 | Seed split and removed from kelp, say — not a little impressive (7) |
| AWESOME – I think the first part is leading to a homophone of ORE(stuff tangled in kelp) then SOME(not a little), but I’m open to suggestions on this one. And as usual, I’m way off base, the first part is to remove SEED from SEAWEED – see comments. | |
| 10 | Farmhand’s gadget mere lad manufactured with iron (11, two words) |
| MOLE DRAINER – anagram of MERE,LAD and IRON | |
| 12 | Barnacles are my business — pick here for French article (8) |
| OPTICIAN – OPT(pick), ICI(here for French), AN(articlle) – barnacles are spectacles here | |
| 13 | Dope’s sewn up (4) |
| NEWS – anagram of SEWN | |
| 14 | Act of Chancellor? Cashier due to slip on Twitter? (5) |
| DOOCE – DO(act), O(of), CE(Chancellor of the Exchequer). Cashier here means to fire | |
| 16 | Fruitcake desperately wants ____ (8, two words) |
| NUT PINES – NUT(fruitcake), PINES(desperately wants) | |
| 18 | Stable state is behind returning aptitude tests (6) |
| STASIS – IS after SATS(tests kids in the US take at the end of High School) | |
| 19 | Offspring carrying mark of iron? (6) |
| HEIFER – HEIR(offspring) containing FE(iron) – referencing a cow that would likely be branded | |
| 21 | Grouse mixed with this mineral could appear sacrilegious (6) |
| SILICA – add GROUSE and make an anagram and you would get SACRILEGIOUS | |
| 23 | Twist in narrative catching half-cut person no longer passed up (6) |
| NOULDE – NODE(twist in narrative) containing half of SOUL(person) | |
| 24 | Release new tune about fantastic fans (8) |
| UNFASTEN – anagram of FANS in an anagram of TUNE | |
| 26 | What’s integral to some tremendous work by Pope, perhaps (5) |
| METRE – hidden in soME TREmendous | |
| 28 | Something to eat Ionian character is eastern vernacular (4) |
| AINU – AI(edible fish), NU(Ionian letter) | |
| 29 | Measurements from tools in sets having new GUI installed (8) |
| GAUGINGS – GANGS(set) containing an anagram of GUI | |
| 30 | Easy setter, even for the masses (11) |
| STREETLEVEL – anagram of SETTER, then LEVEL(even) | |
| 31 | Panel split by American is open for cultivation (7) |
| TAMABLE – TABLE(panel) containing AM | |
| 32 | Placed close to younger Silenus, eg (5) |
| SATYR -SAT(placed), YR(younger) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | One applied to feeding minor? (7) |
| LIONESS – I(one), ON(appplied to) inside LESS(minor) – another one where the definition is the entire clue | |
| 2 | I am flourishing because of special branch of medicine being fresh (11) |
| IMPERTINENT – I’M(I am), PERT(flourishing), IN(because of), ENT(Ear, Nose and Throat medicine branch) | |
| 3 | Believer in a vital force left in second place of the hardly celebs? (5) |
| Z-LIST – ZOIST(brliever in life force), with L as the second letter | |
| 4 | Square chin in detective is strictly procedural detail? (8) |
| TECHNICS – anagram of CHIN in TEC(detective), ‘S(is) | |
| 5 | Process I had about flipping goodbyes (6) |
| ADIEUS – SUE(process), I’D, A(about) all reversed | |
| 6 | Spook woman, one in chariot (6) |
| WRAITH – W(woman) then I in RATH(chariot) | |
| 7 | Well split by independent Journal’s three-line verse (4) |
| SIJO – SO(well) containing I(independent), J(Journal) | |
| 8 | Rocket previously sharp pest (8, two words) |
| ONION FLY – ONION(WWI rocket), FLY(sharp) | |
| 9 | Peas from marshlands in the Borders male scythed (5) |
| ERSES – MERSES(marshlands) missing M(male) | |
| 11 | Exigency led to shift to an extreme extent (11) |
| EXCEEDINGLY – anagram of EXIGENCY,LED | |
| 15 | Break bust incorporating classic blokey bloke above Troy (8) |
| HALFTERM – HERM(bust of Hermes), containing ALF(blokey bloke) and T(troy) | |
| 17 | One thrashing about inside leaves states of bondage (8) |
| PEONAGES – anagram of ONE inside PAGES(leaves) | |
| 20 | She won’t give reference, a long established legal right (7) |
| REFUSER – REF(reference), USER(long-established right) | |
| 22 | Missile launcher (anti-tank) on latitude 50 (6) |
| ATLATL – AT(anti-tank) then LAT(latitude), L(50) | |
| 23 | Born to keep oil up and down and up? (6 |
| NEBULE – NE(born) containing LUBE(oil) reversed | |
| 24 | Upper-class dimness you didn’t get, we hear, in northern uni once (5) |
| UMIST – two wordplays – U(upper-class), MIST(dimness) and sounds like YOU MISSED. UMIST is now part of the University of Manchester. I used to collaborate with a chemistry faculty member at UMIST who was really disappointed by the merger, and managed to keep his UMIST email account alive through a proxy mail server. | |
| 25 | Capuchin against a sectarian (5) |
| SAIVA – SAI(capuchin), V(against), A | |
| 27 | Take remedy endlessly being a type of eastern nettle (4) |
|
RHEA – R(recipe, take), then HEA |
|
Also couldn’t spot the top row pun
Steady unspectacular solve
DOOCE was the one that puzzled me most: is it in later Chambers? From wiki I got “Heather B. Armstrong (née Hamilton, born July 19, 1975) is an American blogger who resides in Salt Lake City, Utah. She writes under the pseudonym of Dooce. Armstrong explains that “Dooce” came from her inability to quickly spell “dude” during IM chats with her former co-workers”. Perhaps makes sense of the Twitter slip, but is that it? Z-LIST was another which couldn’t be anything else, but that explanation looks more secure.
Just over an hour.
And I’ve won the Saturday again: 2 in 2 months after none ever before!