Well, I’m glad I voluntarily rescheduled my blogging duties from Tues to Wed - as this puzzle was a real humdinger.  I think I only solved one clue on immediate inspection, but none were so impenetrable as to bring solving momentum to a complete standstill. Plenty of nice penny-dropping moments too. I’m a great advocate of the view that “setters should fight the battle of wits to the death but, ultimately, always expect to lose gracefully”.  This puzzle epitomised that for me - and could well be my fave so far this year from the FT.

Across
1 CO(MBA)T - “qualified entrepreneur”=MBA (business school qualification).
4 CLAR(IN)ET
10 ST IN GRAY- I liked “drably-attired American” as a way to work in the transatlantic spelling. ‘Paragon”=Saint=St.
12 SE(LF)SAME
13 K,IM,ONO - ONO=shorthand for “or nearest offer”, from the days when classified ads, rather than text messages, were the primary source of colloquial abbreviations.
16 S(K,I)ABLE
21 WAC,O - caw (rev). This may have stumped some. The “site of carnage” refers to the early 90’s incident in Texas, when David Koresh & Co came a distant second in their post-siege gunfight with Uncle Sam’s federal representatives.
25 HOOD,IE - ‘Hood is US slang for neigbo(u)rhood/territory, as in Boyz in Da…...
26 HO(MEW)ARD
28 RASTAMAN (’Nam a Tsar) rev
29 D(ER)AIL - “chamber”=Dail; the Irish parliament.
30 BAL(L,Y,H)OO - Baloo being the second coolest creature in Kipling’s Jungle Book. After Bagheera, of course.
31 S(EM,T)EX - A great surface, even before allowing bonus innuendo points for “Congress”=sex.

Down
1 COLD SORE - Spoonerism of sold (=”flogged”) core.
2 MORALIST (oils tram)* - For the second successive blog, I have to expose my superficial knowledge of the Bard’s works. I know that Polonius is one of his more haughty characters, but can’t help with the whys and wherefores.
3 AV,ERSE - “King James” is the Authorised Version (AV).
6 RU(N)CIBLE - Like the spoon in The Owl and the Pussy Cat. The “topless drama” is The (C)rucible.
8 TO(YB)O,Y
11 SMO(KIN)G - nice idea.
14 B(ASS)OON - Only as I write this blog have I realised quite how many variations on the content/container device were used today.
17 LU(M1)NAR,Y
18 CATARACT - double def
19 T(OADLF)AX - (Adolf)* in tax
22 CH(ER)UB - The one truly surreal surface reading of the day.  Although, Dogberry seems to acknowledge this with an apologetic question mark.
23 MORSE,L

Solving time: 4:27

Another cracking construction from Brendan, with the rotationally symmetric across clues forming pairs where the first is of the form AB and the second BA, e.g. SIDE ROAD/ROADSIDE and SAUNAS/NASSAU. This puzzle was worth solving for 5dn alone.

Music (20ac): The Hours by Philip Glass.

* = anagram, “X” = sounds like ‘X’.

An excellent offering from Dac.    Solving time: 18 mins.

< = reversed   * = anagram

ACROSS

1 PLAY BALL   “Cooperate to amalgamate drama and dance”   My favourite clue.

5 TI (ES U) P    (use in pit)<

9 F (RIGHT) ENS      blues = political right.

15 WATER SPANIELS    New to me.

17 CHASE ONES TAIL   (cases in a hotel)*     Well-concealed anagram.

23 HeAd D ON    odd letters of head + don = teacher

24 LO (Mae) WEST OFT

25 RE PAST

26 STOCK(I)ER     Great misdirection - also tempted by stacker for a while.  squat = stocky

DOWN

2 AMIS H

4 LE ER   Outskirts = first two and last two letters.

7 STAIRWELL  flight = stairs

10 SHE E PISH

16 SCOR(e) CHER  (Singer who first emerged with Sonny in the 60s)

18 RECT (”wrecked) OR   Other Ranks = soldiers = men

21 ENO KI(n)   (one)*   New word for me that I guessed from the wordplay, verifying after.

22 SWOT    First letters & lit.