A bit of a Curate’s Egg for me, this one. Almost all of it went in and was understood in 15 minutes, but a few stubborn clues had to be biffed and deciphered (or possibly not, at 11a) at the end. I liked the double meanings of ‘sinks’ in the surface at 28a, and ‘back’ in 15d.
| Across | |
| 1 | One canon I’d recalled for festival (6) |
| DIWALI – All reversed: I LAW I’D. | |
| 4 | More genial Liberal let down by the Speaker (8) |
| MELLOWER – ME (the Speaker) L (liberal) LOWER (let down). | |
| 10 | Song and dance among endless Christmas turns (7) |
| LULLABY – All reversed: BALL (dance) inside YUL(E). | |
| 11 | Non-English issue about to be packed for delivery (7) |
| DICTION – DI(RE)CTION loses its RE, where RE means ‘issue about’, literally ‘the thing’, in Latin not English. At least, that’s my guess, I await a better solution from someone wiser. EDIT better solution, EDITION = issue loses E and has C inserted. Credit Guy de Sable, first to comment. | |
| 12 | Discover limits of executives’ pay (4) |
| ESPY – First and last letters of ExecutiveS PaY. | |
| 13 | Escape, pinching fanciful tree decoration? (5,5) |
| FAIRY LIGHT – FLIGHT (escape) insert AIRY (fanciful). | |
| 15 | Replace budgie food picked up after half-hearted late feed (9) |
| SUPERSEDE – SUPPER loses a P, then SEDE sounds like SEED that budgies eat. Go to the naughty step if you put in SUPERCEDE, which ought to be right, given that CEDE means yield, but isn’t. | |
| 16 | Go for higher denomination cash in recession (3,2) |
| SET ON – SET on as in beat up. NOTES reversed. | |
| 18 | A bible in US city for bookworm, perhaps (5) |
| LARVA – A Revised Version in Los Angeles. L A RV A. | |
| 19 | Stray owls seen heading for recreation ground (9) |
| OWNERLESS – (OWLS SEEN R)*, the R from recreation. | |
| 21 | Old Spanish silver, gallery’s property (4,6) |
| REAL ESTATE – REALES (old Spanish silver) TATE (gallery). | |
| 23 | Present society leading the way (4) |
| SHOW – S (society) HOW (the way). | |
| 26 | Discharge PM with large following in home counties (7) |
| SPITTLE – Pitt (ex PM or two) L (large) inside SE (home counties). | |
| 27 | Donor somehow keeps workers’ group booming (7) |
| OROTUND – TU (workers’ group) put into (DONOR)*. | |
| 28 | Rower hitting front of yacht sinks here, maybe (8) |
| SCULLERY – SCULLER + Y(acht). | |
| 29 | Recording equipment orbiting globe for space intruder (6) |
| METEOR – O (globe) in METER = recording equipment. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Luscious currants primarily filling bun with sweetness (5) |
| DOLCE – L C (initial letters of luscious currants) inside DOE = BUN. BUN originally meant a rabbit’s tail then broadened to BUN and BUNNY = DOE a female rabbit. | |
| 2 | Background of PC that’s prepared for hanging? (9) |
| WALLPAPER – double definition. | |
| 3 | Stuff youngster carries round (4) |
| LOAD – LAD has O (round) inserted. | |
| 5 | What’s found inside vendor sent back (7) |
| ENDORSE – hidden word in V(ENDOR SE)NT. | |
| 6 | Flat shortage with curious result (10) |
| LACKLUSTRE – LACK (shortage) (RESULT)*. | |
| 7 | Screw, prison’s second in annexe (5) |
| WRING – R (second letter of prison) in WING (annexe). | |
| 8 | Musical excerpts for which versatile singer not required? (9) |
| RINGTONES – (SINGER NOT)*. | |
| 9 | Line up in entry to perform pirouette (6) |
| GYRATE – RY (line, railway) reversed inside GATE (entry). | |
| 14 | Attractive Exmoor heroine heading off, crazed (10) |
| ORNAMENTAL – (L)ORNA (DOONE, eponymous heroine) MENTAL (crazed). | |
| 15 | Sister nursing case of cruel, painful back condition (9) |
| SCLEROSIS – SIS(ter) has CL (case of cruel) then SORE reversed (painful back) inserted. | |
| 17 | Injured bird leaves stormy Outer Hebrides for shelter in wood (4,5) |
| TREE HOUSE – (OUTER HE ES)* where HE(BRID)ES loses the letters of bird. | |
| 19 | Last longer than exhausted enemy leader in conflict (7) |
| OUTWEAR – OUT (exhausted) then E (enemy leader) in WAR. | |
| 20 | Fancy sex turning up in middle of day! (6) |
| NOTION – IT (sex) reversed inside NOON. | |
| 22 | Vale in Provence long swathed in gold (5) |
| ADIEU – Vale is Latin for goodbye, Adieu is French. DIE (die for = long for) inside AU (gold). | |
| 24 | Leggy bird, one proceeding with difficulty? (5) |
| WADER – double definition, someone wading through something may be proceeding with difficulty. | |
| 25 | Put up with drill (4) |
| BORE – double definition: put up with in past tense. We had this not long ago. | |
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