I found this quite hard in places and needed 59 minutes to complete the grid.
As usual definitions are underlined in bold italics, {deletions and substitutions are in curly brackets} and [anagrinds, containment, reversal and other indicators in square ones]
| Across | |
| 1 | Highlander born outside areas of settlement (8) |
| NEPALESE – NÉE (born) contains [outside] PALES (areas of settlement). ODO has ‘pale’ as ‘an area within determined bounds, or subject to a particular jurisdiction’, which could apply to a settlement as in the clue. From this we get the expression ‘beyond the pale’. | |
| 5 | Fail to penetrate record that’s restricted (6) |
| CLOSED – LOSE (fail) contained by [to penetrate] CD (record) | |
| 10 | Right time, curiously, to punch Lord’s boundary (9) |
| PERIMETER – R (right) + anagram [curiously] of TIME, contained by [to punch] PEER ( lord) | |
| 11 | Losing height, river gets less fierce (5) |
| TAMES – T{h}AMES (river) [losing height] | |
| 12 | Wow! New for old material (4) |
| CORN – COR (wow!), N (new) – as in ‘corny joke’ | |
| 13 | It could turn into some great outlet (9) |
| MEGASTORE – Anagram of [turn into] SOME GREAT | |
| 15 | A vehicle finally left US yard, almost boldly innovative (5-5) |
| AVANT-GARDE – A, VAN (vehicle), {lef}T (finally), GARDE{n} (US yard) [almost] | |
| 17 | Our team’s shortened clothing (4) |
| WEAR – WE AR{e} (our team’s) [shortened], as in ‘We are the champions!’ | |
| 19 | As far as university, carry on reading (2,2) |
| UP TO – U (university), PTO (carry on reading – Please Turn Over) | |
| 20 | Stuntman died – son swallowing this stiff drink (4,6) |
| BODY DOUBLE – BOY (son) containing [swallowing] D (died), then DOUBLE (stiff drink) | |
| 22 | Smother with praise meal cooked without fault (9) |
| BLAMELESS – Anagram [cooked] of MEAL contained by [smother with] BLESS (praise) | |
| 24 | Young bird’s heading into tree (4) |
| BABY – B{ird} [heading] contained by [into] BAY (tree) | |
| 26 | Fast? Old and slow (5) |
| LENTO – LENT (fast), O (old) | |
| 27 | Part of bridge nearly collapsed on Moriarty, for one (4-5) |
| ARCH-FELON – ARCH (part of bridge), FEL{l} (collapsed) [nearly], ON. I tried biffing ‘arch-enemy’ here and lost time later when I was forced to rethink it. | |
| 28 | One old king’s returning in state (6) |
| ISRAEL – I (one), LEAR’S (old king’s) reversed [returning] | |
| 29 | Regularly delaying a relative’s treatment (8) |
| DIALYSIS – ‘Daily’ (regularly) becomes DIALY [delaying a], SIS (relative) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Exercise cancelled? On the contrary (4) |
| NOPE – NO PE (exercise cancelled) | |
| 2 | Who makes one fit one’s own footwear? (8,7) |
| PERSONAL TRAINER – PERSONAL (one’s own), TRAINER (footwear) | |
| 3 | In protective coat, regularly beat beast up (8) |
| LAMINATE – {b}E{a}T [regularly] + ANIMAL (beast) all reversed [up] | |
| 4 | Dumb, forms words silently in turn, picking Oscar out (5) |
| SHTUM – M{o}UTHS (forms words silently) [picking Oscar out] reversed [turn] | |
| 6 | Extremely fashionable city, international (6) |
| LATEST – LA (city), TEST (international) | |
| 7 | Autobiography the Brontės ordered? (8,2,5) |
| SUMMONED BY BELLS – Only the vaguest definition here, but there is also a cryptic hint to point in the right direction provided one knows that the three Brontė sisters originally published their novels under the pseudonym surname BELL and one has also heard of the title of John Betjeman’s work in blank verse describing his early life. SUMMONED (ordered) might also help. I never tire of listening to JB reading from this but for some extraordinary reason the recording is no longer available so the experience is not readily available to many. It was originally put out by the BBC as a double cassette tape but was never reissued on CD so I have converted my own copy to MP3 format. The DVD of the TV programme based on the book is still on sale and is of some merit, but I find the visuals and particularly the addition of peripheral music distract from the poetry which was in any case drastically abridged to fit the original TV time-slot. | |
| 8 | Deprive of spirits, but find way to make better beer? (10) |
| DISHEARTEN – DISHEARTEN ‘be{tt}er’ to make ‘beer’ | |
| 9 | Without feeling stiff, race round (8) |
| FRIGIDLY – FLY (race) contains [round] RIGID (stiff) | |
| 14 | Averting maiden, miscue balls horribly: declaration follows this? (5,5) |
| CASUS BELLI – Anagram [horribly] of {m}ISCUE BALLS [averting maiden]. An act or situation justifying or precipitating war. | |
| 16 | All agreed a descendant has rejected title (2,3,3) |
| AS ONE MAN – A, SON (descendant), NAME (title) reversed [rejected] | |
| 18 | It’s unclear Thomas was like this (8) |
| DOUBTFUL – Double definition. Lifted from Wiki: a reference to the Apostle Thomas, who refused to believe that the resurrected Jesus had appeared to the ten other apostles, until he could see and feel the wounds received by Jesus on the cross. | |
| 21 | Prepare to be shot again? Relax (6) |
| REPOSE – RE-POSE (prepare to be shot again) | |
| 23 | Resort very fashionable, not cold (5) |
| SOCHI – SO (very), CHI{c} (fashionable) [not cold]. Never ‘eard of it, but it’s a Russian city on the Black Sea probably well-known to those who follow Winter Olympics and World Cup football. I got it entirely from wordplay. | |
| 25 | Announced 6, big game (4) |
| GNUS – Allegedly sounds like [announced] “news” (6 – 6dn ‘latest’), but not to this child of the 1950s for whom it will always be pronounced ‘ger-noo’. It’s not the first animal I’d have thought of as ‘big game’ so I was surprised to find that Wiki advises ‘the blue wildebeest (gnu) is the most abundant big-game species’. | |
Failed on 12a by entering ‘coon’ on the assumption that it might be a fabric made to look like coonskin. Not really impressed with the clue for reasons others have mentioned, but it’s better than the one for ‘wear’ at 17a. I also agree that a body double is a very different animal to a stuntman. Otherwise, lots of good clues to offset the ones I found dodgy.
13ac took me an unreasonably long time to disentangle (having but few checkers at the time), and not helped by being unable to get ‘gasometer’ out of my head. LOI was DISHEARTEN.
A gorgeous piece of work, this one, I thought.