Not for the first time a couple of clues for which I don’t understand the wordplay: e.g 26A, 4A, and a few others in which I can imagine what the answer must be. And an original clue for the familiar cryptic phrase MIDDLE OF THE ROAD in 24A.

Across

1. GAD,GET – GAD is one of the twelve tribes of Israel.
4. DIVES,T – must be right given the definition “strip”: are DIVES where you look for strippers? with T as our model?
9. DANCE OF THE HOURS – cryptic def, ref: opera of same name
10. NAP=rev(pan),OLI=oil* - must be a wreck called NAPOLI? OK, just saw in wikipedia that this is v. recent news (“deliberately broken up after she ran into difficulty in the Channel on 18 Jan 2007”)
12. TART,RATE – it’s a salt – but I don’t see how TART is baggage?
15. BEAUNE=”bone” - as in bone dry. It’s a kind of Burgundy.
21. BARN([dick]Y)ARD – ref. Dr. Christian BARNARD who performed the first heart transplant in 1967.
22. AU,STEN
24. MIDDLE OF THE ROAD – fresh clue for a familiar answer. To be honest though, not sure why C of E is controversial at the moment but I suspect there’s something Brit topical that’s relevant here?
26. BENETS=”Bennets” - ref. Austen’s family in “Pride and Prejudice” — not sure to what the exorcists refers though??

Down

2. DECK,O – another guess… is DECKO slang for “look”, say, down under??.
3. EROTICA – (creatio[n])*
6. ELOPEMENT – two meanings I think: the first “bolt” makes sense… is there an ELOPEMENT in metalwork?
8. S(TRIP)E – Kent is in SE England and you get another stripe in the army after promotion.
13. TOUR(NEDO)S – done* in TOURS. It’s a kind of steak I guess.
16. EVAS=rev(save),I’VE – first of several setter clues, this one self-referential. Rather cynical def of politicians I’d say.
17. ETAG=rev(gate),ERE – a crossword word meaning furniture” stand”.
18. M(ODIF=rev(fido))Y – another self-referential setter clue: maybe Gordius’s dog really is Fido. Since setter is also a kind of dog, a rather nice clue.
19. ARACHNE – (can hear)*. oh, another setter clue. This time referring to his colleague, ARACHNE, on the Guardian team.
20. MAENADS – (sane, mad)*. Mythical maids.
23. SERGE – it’s Koussevitzky’s, the conductor, first name.

An excellent puzzle from one the Indy’s occasional setters, with a background in the world of advanced puzzles. A mixture of very easy and very hard clues, I found. Excellently crafted with some cunning seamless divisions between definition and wordplay. As with some recent Mordred Indys there’s a theme (or, at least an element of dedication). In case readers want to look themselves first, I will give this info after the clue explanations.

Solving time: 27 mins

* = anagram < = reversed

ACROSS

11 CLEAR (net) AC (N - Henman’s ultimate ie last) E

12 DAIRYMAID R (right) for L (Liberal) in daily maid

13 Starsky and HUTCH cf Lord Sutch h = hard for s = is = ’s eg the clue’s understood

15 ETH(n)ICAL Yes, there is a word ‘ethnical’ meaning the same as ethnic

18 SHE BANG “Girl on girl affair?” Hmmm!

25 IR ISH STEW s and s in (white)* Very strange one, this - when I saw the enumeration I thought of Irish stew but said it could not be with ‘from Ireland’ in the clue, but it is! There’s a &lit element too of course.

26 IN CUR (RUC NI)< Replaced in recent times by the PSNI (Police Service of Northern Ireland)

27 LATENT cf talent.

DOWN

2 FORT ITUDE Maybe keep = fort (dutie)*

3 EVERY NOW AND THEN h (hard) in (even a down entry)*. Great clue, with excellent surface.

4 CO (CK AD) E Calvin Klein Seb Coe

6 EARTHSHATTERING (heart)*

7 IN N IT The last I solved. Tag = common expression it = the guy who chases others in children’s game. Think that’s it anyway.

9 MED (pad)DLE The best of the many seamless joins in/sea

16 CRUST ACEA retracted means, I think, take away the odd letters of hAd ChElAe

21 CYPRUS All based on first or last letters with three separate indications. Definition is island and it also has an &lit touch.

23 EXI (S) T Another one using an initial letter.

Dedication: Look at central row and column - two boy’s names of six letters.

Fairly straightforward, I found. Solving time: 16 mins.

As in recent weeks, will comment on a small number of what seemed the trickier or more interesting clues, but happy to explain any others if asked.

* = anagram

ACROSS

11 (c)AROUSER Misleading context suggesting possible anagram of ’spree’

13 CONS TRAIN i.e. studies train

18 SPAGHETTI (GP: Eat this)* Amusing with an overall &lit. touch

27 S POTTER Potters with s moved to the front

DOWN

3 Harold LLOYD  (Star of silent films in the 1920s)   (Dolly)*

17 W (with) AI (A1) TRESS

For the first time since I started blogging I had a clue that I could not solve! See 17 across. There are others that I do not completely understand and a couple that I think do not work well. Maybe I am missing something — I hope so — but on the whole I find this puzzle rather unsatisfactory. There are a few excellent clues though, notably 20A, 21D and 22D.

Across
1. SUBMIT - SUMMIT (top) with first M (master) changed to B (bachelor)
4. ABSTRACT - double definition
8, 10. ROCKET LAUNCHER - ROCKET (salad plant) + A (a) in LUNCHER (one having a meal)
12, 3. NEWS ITEM - NEW (fresh) + SITE (location) + M (mile)
13, 6. TOMBSTONE - TROMBONE (brass) with R removed and ST (saint) inserted
14, 18. KNOWLEDGE - K (king) + NOW (present) + LEDGE (shelf)
17. SILVER SCREEN - anagram of SILENCER+V+ERS (Queen’s). Someone gave me this answer (see Comments). I blocked myself on this clue because I had 1 down wrong.
20. BANQUOS GHOST - BANQ[uet] + OS (outstanding) + G (good) + HOST (person doing the honours)
25, 27. SHIPMATE - double definition of sorts
28. TENDENCY - TEND (look after) + ENCY[clopedia]
29. FAG END - GEN (information) in FAD (craze)
30. CUTPURSE - CURSE (utter oaths) with UTP or TPU inserted. But how does OUTPUT give us UTP or TPU?
31. MEDLEY - MED[iterranean] (sea) + LEY (field). LEY is a variant on the more common LEA.

Down
1. SERENEST - SERE (formerly dry) + NEST (home). I had a lot of trouble with this one because I wrote in the answer SERENITA — even though I could not see where NITA came from. Venice is known as La Serenita. But the English form makes more sense.
2. BACK WALL - BACK and WALL are elements of a desperate situation as in “back to the wall” and squash players play off a back wall. I found this quite difficult.
5. BLABBERMOUTH - LAB (party) in BB (Barbados) + [v]ERMOUTH (flavoured wine). BB is an ISO code for Barbados.
7. AT HAND - hidden word
8. THROWN - homophone (throne)
11. CONSEQUENCES - double definition
15, 23. PENALTIES - anagram of PALESTINE
18. BOTHWELL - double definition. Bothwell was Mary Queen of Scots’ second husband.
19. STUPIDLY - PUTS backwards (sets up) + IDLY (in vain)
21. STATIC - double definition. Good one.
22. RENNET - TENNER (money) backwards
26, 24. BEAU GESTE - anagram of A GUEST in BEE (busybody)

Apologies for the late posting; I ended up putting in a longer than anticipated shift at the salt mines today, so am blogging much later in the day than usual. Nothing too goofy or untoward here, although 29a is partial guesswork on my part.

Across
1 DE(TERM,IN)ED
11 C,HIL(D)L,IKE - a good, coherent surface that ties in several politicla strands. Ike, of course, being (Pres.) Eisenhower.
12 TELEVISE (expletives)*-XP. Possibly the first ever crossword reference to the Windows XP operating system!
19 EN,SLAV,E - “space race”wis a neatly disguised combo.
27 ORCHESTRA (choirmaster)*-i,m. Another “anagram minus elements” construction, as in 12a, but well packaged surface.
28 ROO(K)S
29 SLEW - not certain on this one. “A lot of Americans impressed”. I can justify the first half, and maybe “impressed” can equate to slew, as in the past tense of “to slay”?
30 I,RR,EVE,RENT - “temptress”=EVE is an Old Testament inference that may not enamour the feminists.

Down
1 DRAB - Bard (rev)
4 I,T(C)HING - Took me longer than it should have. Call me naive, but I’ve always tended to associated a romantic “thing” as being a crush on someone rather than actual affair.
7 E(XIS)T - (six) rev in ET
8 (-O)B(LEARY)EYED - a nice idea for the construction, but feels like a bit of a stretch.
18 THE(REF)ORE(-M) - stumbled upon this one surprisingly quickly; especially given the innocuous defintion (”so”).
25 GOR(S)E - “Bush: South blocks his opponent”. Very Cyclops/Private Eye style clue.
26 ISN’T - I(n)S(a)N(i)T(y). A good spot, but quite a transparent clue.