Solving time 14:42

Not much to do here, so let’s have a go. This was pretty tough, and there are three clues I don’t understand or can’t quite swallow. For me, these slightly spoil an otherwise entertaining puzzle.

Got off to a slow start, then raced through most of the puzzle and ground to a halt with 5A and 2D. I also twigged one part of theme before even solving a single clue thanks “flier”, “duck” and “owl” in the first half of the across clues.

An enjoyable puzzle today from Araucaria, which either means that there wasn’t too much non-Ximenean shenanigans going on, or that I’m actually getting used to his style (however, the wordplay escaped me on a couple of clues). I’m pretty sure that the online version has a typo in 13ac though - if not, ignore the first sentence because that makes no sense at all! [Although I now take it back, having seen michod's comment]

Across
1 CARMART,HENS,HIRE - nice easy start, obviously going to be a county - didn’t take long to see which one.
9 SATISFIED - I don’t get the wordplay on this one. [SAT,IS,FIE(l)D, thanks loonapick, but I can't see how SAT is "much of day". Hmph!]
11 O,DON,A,TA - luckily I remembered this from another recent puzzle. It’s the dragonfly genus.
13,16,18 & 24 - DIS,CON,TEN,TED - opposite of 9ac, easy enough. But the clue in the online version reads “13, 16, 18, 24 26 6 10 and 8 are not 9 (3)”. What are the last four clue numbers about? INFERNO SWINDLE IN TOW and EDWARD THE FOURTH. Makes no sense to me - I think somebody did a cut-and-paste from another clue and forgot to edit it afterwards. [But see michod's comment below - actually that's brilliant, but I think the online version didn't do it justice - the way it was presented just looked like a mistake]
17 STEW,ART - I was sure the royal family name is spelt “Stuart”, but according to this it was changed from “Stewart” in 1548.
19 IKEBANA - hidden in lIKE BANAnas, the Japanese art of flower-arranging.
22 INST,YLE=Ely rev.
28 INDIA - I’d heard of the rubber and the ink, but not the paper. According to Chambers, India paper is a fine quality paper of Chinese or Japanese origin!
30 MAR(RIED=ride*,INCH,UR)CH - not keen on time=March, one of my few grumbles though.

Down
1 COSMOPOLITANISM (plot,a commission)* - had to write out the letters to get this one.
2 RAT,10 - wasted a bit of time trying to work out what it had to do with 10ac.
3 AB,STAIN - the first two letters, that is.
4 TRIB(AD)E - not a word I’d ever come across, but the wordplay was pretty simple.
6 S(outh)WIND,LE - liked the definition here, “a fast one”.
7 INTEST(AC)Y - i.e. (isn’t yet)* around AC, “out” is the anagrind.
20 A,LIZAR(d),I - the fact that it had its tail removed made me think of lizard. Alizari is one of those words that I knew existed but didn’t know what it meant. Now I do - it’s a type of madder (the plant).
22 IDI AMIN - another one that I don’t understand the wordplay of. Looks like DIAM must be “lot of stones”…? [Of course it is! DIAM(onds) - how did I miss that?]
27 RADA,R - Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, correctly=right=R

Solving time 10:00 + ??

Had most of this done in about 8 mins, but was stuck on 5 and 16 - I had an answer for 16 but as it seemed to be a cryptic def I was waiting for confirmation from 5 that there were no alternative solutions. Did reali-life stuff for a few hours, came back and got 5 immediately. How long it might have taken in one sitting is anyone’s guess. Quite a tough puzzle in vocab terms, though that wasn’t what held me up in the end.

It’s Monday, so it must be Rufus. His puzzles are generally very easy (8 minutes to solve today’s), and this is mainly because his clues are not always terribly cryptic, and his definitions not very well hidden most of the time.