57 minutes. I lost a lot of time here over two answers entered incorrectly that prevented me solving other clues until I realised my errors and put them right. One was carelessly entering the answer to 23dn at 25dn. The other was putting -ING at the end of 6dn instead of -ION. This works perfectly well in its own right – especially as its defined in the clue by a word ending -ING – but not in a grid where it had to fit with the answer at 20ac.
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]. “Aural wordplay” is in quotation marks. I now use a tilde sign ~ to indicate an insertion point in containment clues. I usually omit all reference to juxtaposition indicators unless there is a specific point that requires clarification.
 Across |
|
|---|---|
| 1 | Fish grabbing snail in the middle, cracking shell (8) |
| CARAPACE – CAR~P (fish) containing [grabbing] {sn}A{il} [in the middle], ACE (cracking) | |
| 6 | Revolutionary group involved in covering up minor attack (6) |
| IMPUGN – Reversed and hidden [revolutionary group involved] in {coveri}NG UP MI{nor} | |
| 9 | Slug ruined photograph (4) |
| SHOT – Triple definition | |
| 10 | New Ikea seat becoming centrepiece of trendy lounge (4,2,4) |
| TAKE IT EASY – Anagram [new] of IKEA SEAT contained by [becoming centrepiece of ] T{rend}Y | |
| 11 | Cold butter has torn bread (10) |
| BRUSCHETTA – Anagram [torn] of C (old) BUTTER HAS | |
| 13 | Scratching head, son repeatedly twisted plaything (2-2) |
| YO-YO – {b}OY (son) [scratching head] + {b}OY [repeatedly], all reversed [twisted] | |
| 14 | Female always starts to feel energised with medicinal herb (8) |
| FEVERFEW – F (female), EVER (always), F{eel} + E{nergised} + W{ith} [starts to…] | |
| 16 | Colour’s popular, regularly adding “wow” (6) |
| INDIGO – IN (popular), then {a}D{d}I{n}G{w}O{w} [regularly] | |
| 18 | Well-built enclosure receiving go-ahead to accommodate 100 (6) |
| STOCKY – ST~Y (enclosure) containing [receiving] O~K (go-ahead) itself containing [to accommodate] C (100) | |
| 20 | Worry about turning against Glasgow’s foremost criminal (8) |
| GANGSTER – G{lasgow’s} [foremost], ANGST (worry), RE (about} reversed [turning] | |
| 22 | Seabirds rejected one from another species? (4) |
| SKUA – AUKS (seabirds) reversed [rejected] | |
| 24 | Something added to bath soap smelt funny — sulphur? (5,5) |
| EPSOM SALTS – Anagram [funny] of SOAP SMELT, then S (sulphur) | |
| 26 | Rescuers firm as wind from the east loses strength, finally (10) |
| COASTGUARD – CO (firm), AS, then DRAUG{h}T (wind) [loses strength, finally] reversed [from the east] | |
| 28 | King Henry meets an Eastern ruler (4) |
| KHAN – K (king), H (henry), AN | |
| 29 | Garment’s stiff — pressure’s released by assistant at the back (6) |
| CORSET – COR{p}SE (stiff) [pressure’s released], {assistan}T [at the back] | |
| 30 | Fish before on best lake (8) |
| PICKEREL – PICK (best), ERE (before}, L (lake). A young pike. This has appeared only once before in the TfTT era and that was in 2009, so I wonder if it may cause some problems, especially as speed merchants may be tempted by ‘mackerel’ unless they already have the crucial P-checker in place. Fortunately I did, but I happened to know the word anyway as I had a pal at prep school back in the 1950s with this as his surname and its meaning came up. | |
| Down |
|
|---|---|
| 2 | Heinous violent assault — officer’s jacket torn apart (9) |
| ABHORRENT – ABH (violent assault – Actual Bodily Harm), O{ffice}R (’s jacket), RENT (torn apart) | |
| 3 | Bogart is terribly engaging performer (7) |
| ARTISTE – Hidden in [engaging] {Bog}ART IS TE{rribly} | |
| 4 | Character I will follow? (5) |
| AITCH – Cryptic I suppose, since ‘I’ follows ‘H’ in the alphabet | |
| 5 | Runner departs from place of work (3) |
| ESK – {d}ESK (place of work) [departs – d – from…]. Runner as in river. There are three River Esks in the UK to choose from. | |
| Copying Ipswich’s first change, one’s substituted for United (9) | |
| IMITATION – I{pswich’s} [first], then MUTATION (change) becomes MITATION when I (one) is substituted for U (United). As mentioned in my intro, the clue works just as well with -ING when taken in isolation, and having ‘copying’ as the definition in the clue might suggest IMITATING as the more logical answer. Anyway that’s my excuse for choosing it and wasting a lot of time on this one. | |
| 7 | Stewed dish I’d mentioned (3-4) |
| PIE-EYED – PIE (dish), then aural wordplay [mentioned] EYED (“I’d”). Two synonyms for ‘drunk’. | |
| 8 | Supporting line’s wrapped around stone in such conditions (5) |
| GUSTY – GU~Y (supporting line – e.g. of a tent) containing [wrapped around] ST (stone). I think the whole clue works as the definition here. | |
| 12 | Obsolete fuel might ultimately have decline reversed (4,3) |
| TOWN GAS – {migh}T [ultimately], OWN (have), then SAG (decline) reversed. Still used widely in some places in China, apparently. | |
| 15 | One’s extremely lucky with tiny cut during boxing match? (9) |
| FLYWEIGHT – L{uck}Y [extremely} + WE{e{ (tiny) [cut] contained by F-IGHT [boxing match?]. Another all-in-one definition I suppose, though not as neat as 8dn. | |
| 17 | Hound’s eager and playful, nipping cat’s tail (5,4) |
| GREAT DANE – Anagram [playful] of EAGER AND containing [nipping] {ca}T[’s tail] | |
| 19 | Church in its current condition retains steeple’s initial frame (7) |
| CHASSIS – CH (church), AS~IS (in its current condition) contains [retains] S{teeple’s} [initial] | |
| 21 | Iron shed left attached to rear of house (7) |
| SHACKLE – SHACK (shed), L (left), {hous}E [rear of…] | |
| 23 | Tokyo — busy city (5) |
| KYOTO – Anagram [busy] of TOKYO. I was so pleased to spot the answer immediately having been caught out by it in the prize puzzle on 28th February that in my enthusiasm today I entered it in the wrong place in the grid. This gave me a whole bunch of problems to resolve before reaching the finishing line. | |
| 25 | Originally misunderstanding etiquette, picked up wine (5) |
| MEDOC – M{isunderstanding} [originally) then CODE (etiquette) reversed [picked up] | |
| 27 | Program’s content lacking boundaries (3) |
| APP – {h}APP{y} (content) [lacking boundaries] | |
I nearly did the same thing with 6d but didn’t think ‘mutating’ would be ‘change’ so held off until GANGSTER came along. I thought this was going to be a difficult puzzle when I started but I found it to be quite doable as more answers went in. Sadly, I missed the reversed hidden at 6a which meant I also didn’t get GUSTY which is a pity because I think it’s a great clue. Liked COASTGUARD and FLYWEIGHT. COD to the triple SHOT. Two fun crosswords so far this week for me.
Thanks Jack and setter.
I, too, biffed mackerel and then erased it – wrong fish! I couldn’t parse Medoc, thinking picked up was a homophone indicator, but that was the evident answer. After yesterday’s discussion of awk versus auk, the skua was a write-in. I NHO town gas, and tried to make it coal gas, but to no avail – doesn’t parse. Yes, I was unimpressed by flyweight, but the cryptic is clear.
Time: 24:42