Solving time : 30 minutes.

In many ways a typical Phi puzzle, very fair. The clues that marred this puzzle for me were a couple of cryptic definitions that I didn’t feel worked that well, or perhaps didn’t understand.

Some nice touches and some tough clues here - 8ac and 18ac took some thought. This Guardian grid pattern’s not the easiest, with no first letters for more than half the words, and eight with more unchecked letters (unches) than checked, which I believe the Times and Indy don’t allow.

ACROSS

8. INDOCILE. Setter=I, + DOC in NILE). Neither solution  nor definition are common words, making this particularly hard.

10. SHADED. (AD in SHED). Compiler also means the setter of the puzzle, but this time gives the pseudonym.

12. PORN. R(oyal) N(avy) on (i.e. after) PO. One of three different rivers in the puzzle,  here called a waterway for variety.

13. WITHDRAWAL. WIT + H + AWARD reversed + L. That pesky student again.

16. VAN DYKE. Hidden. Names of real people will often mean an anagram or hidden clue - here the radio DJ Andy Kershaw stood out as unlikely to define anything - though you could call Rachmaninov world music I suppose!

18. HEARTSEASE. The last clue I got, not knowing it was another name for the pansy.  Anag of EAST in HEARSE - beutifully defined as the ultimate people-carrier. And I was looking for a word going E—-SPACE!

20. STREAMER. R in STEAMER. Ship usually gives SS. Showing is arguably a redundant link word to help the surface. 

22. SHIMMY. SHY around IMAM ‘wanting a’, i.e. not having the letter A. 

DOWN:

1. ANTHROPOCENTRIC. ANTIC around anag of H-CORE PORN + T. Hard to spot exactly what the anagram would be, with the misleading use of ‘hard-core’, from which the first half must be abbreviated. Bust nice cross-reference to 12 across.

2. GOLDEN RETRIEVER. REDOLENT anag in GRIEVER. Nice way of splitting the word.

3. WINDOWLESS. D (deceased) OWL in WINE + SS. Port can also mean left, or any number of seaports, so a good flexible indicator.

5, 7. WHAM BAM THANK YOU MAAM. anag of the last six words.

6. STAND AND DELIVER. Cryptic definition suggestive of giving birth standing up. Not sure what ‘facilitate’ is doing though.

17. SATRAPY. Gin gives TRAP - a classic crossword synonym, inside SAY, as in I have no say about something. A pretty hard word to put in with only the 2nd, 4th and 6th letters given.

Some tricky clues - solving time 22 mins.    Hope setters are not paid by clue, just 24 in the puzzle.

ACROSS
5  GRIN AND BEAR IT  anagram of “Britain - danger” with the indicator “making characters jumpy”.  Very good surface, relating to topical issues, I guess.
10  ARGENT  Hair regularly thinned out = take every second letter i.e. ar + gent = bloke
12  DISOWN   Sown = broadcast “Introduced by” Di = woman.    Might have been princess pre-August 1997
14  SNAKED  S = little son i.e. abbreviation for son + naked.   Amusing surface.
19  SINGLE  Definition is “One”.   sin + gle(e)  endless merriment
20  ZENITH  Definition is “high point”  Zen + it + h (abbrev for hard)
21  MEASURES  Elaborate wordplay here.   The join between wordplay and definition is between “certain \ amounts” So it’s Quixote = me (the setter) + certain = sure in “starts to act silly” i.e in a s, the first letters of those two words.

DOWN
1 FITCHEWS   This is a new word for me and slowed me up a lot.  Fit = suitable  chews = things to get one’s teeth into.   That’s good.
2 CAVORT   v = very + o = old in cart.   Nice use of two meanings of lark as it’s the bird I’d pictured first.
3 BEAR DOWN   Tip for new solvers (feathers = down is very common in clues for phrases containing down)
13 WORTHIES  My favourite clue and the last I solved.   Anagram of “Who tries” -indicator “to sort out”.  I was trying to make an anagram of “great” and “the” at one stage.
15 KENTUCKY  Kent replacing l in lucky.  happy = lucky “to let learner leave for English county”
17 TRIAGE  “Little good” = g in anagram of “irate”