Solving time: 21 minutes.  I really enjoy Glow-worm’s puzzles, both the blocked  and his barred puzzles which appear in the Listener , Inquisitor and EV canon.  Today’s was no exception with a couple of nice linked clues.  A little word of thanks to Jen for help with MELBA TOAST

 ACROSS   (*) = ANAGRAM   (CD) = Cryptic definition  (R) = Reversal

1/3  MARCH HARE  Barnet (Fair) is cockney rhyming slang for Hair, which here is used as a homophone.

4  HALF MAST  (CD)  A flag flying at half-mast marks a death.

9  GONERIL   “& Lit” clue referring to King Lear’s daughter.   IGNORE* + L (Lear’s first)

10/29  COLONEL BOGEY   COLON (Gut)  +  ELBO(W) (’mostly’ joint) + G + E+ Y (Last three letters from outstanding, grouse, only).  Colonel Bogey was the March used in the film “The Bridge on the Rver Kwai”, composed by Kenneth Alford, with an adaptation by Malcolm Arnold used in the film.

11  BEER    A porter is a type of Stout

12  SEDATIVE  DAVE’S TIE*

15/14  THE DAM BUSTERS  EDAM + BUS + REST* after TH (Thursday).  Another famous war-time march from the film of the same name, composed by Eric Coates.

17  CLAIROYANT  VICTORY ALAN*

18  COME TO BLOWS  Scrap here means fight.  Clue overall refers to what trumpeters do  COME TO BLOW + S (sabbath)

19  EVA  Hidden answer   -  Immense variety.

21  FIRE HOSE  This was a nice clue.  The US equivalent of a fire station is Fire House, take out U (Universal) and you get something found in one!

22  PAST    A March Past usually involved reviewing troops, etc.

26  ALL TIME  Double definition

27  PEA SOUP  PE(N) + AS+ O U P  (Oxford University Press).   An old name for a fog.

28  RADETSKY      TRADE* + SKY   The Radetsky March was composed by Johann Strauss.  A particular favourite of mine, it is always featured on the New Years’ Day Concert from Vienna, it gives me great amusement seeing all the auditorium almost on the edge of their seats wondering if it will be played and then bursting into surprised applause when it is!

DOWN

1  MEGABIT  Meg(Ryan) + A BIT

2  RANGE   The end of ANGER shifts to the front.

4  HALO   HA(L)LO  -  Another nice clue.

5  LOCKER ROOM  Spooner’s chair making an appearance would be ROCKER LOOM

6  MELBA TOAST     TABLE reversed inside mast with O inside.

7  SYNDICATE    NICEST DAY*

8 FLUENT   FLU +  E N T (Ear, Nose and Throat) Dept. 

16  ESMERALDA  ADAM REELS*

18  CAFTAN   AFT inside CAN (slang name for bathroom) -  Usually spelt with a K, but not here.

20 AUTOPSY  SPOT inside AU + Y  PM = Post Mortem

23  ALONG    (H) ALO + NG

24  SPAY     SPA + Y

25  JAMB   Sounds like Jam (Bottleneck)

An easy puzzle that I finished in less than 30 minutes. The last three were 10ac., 22 ac. and 9dn. Many were solved immediately upon reading the clues, a couple half-way through them.

Across

10 LINEN - line, n - I was looking for a word in plural before I abandoned the idea.

12 FURLONG - fur, long - I am old enough to have lived in a period when this measure was used.

20 THEFT - the, FT

22 BASUTOS - about SS* - Answer was delayed because, first,  the word is new to me  and, second, it took me some time before I realised the clue was  anag., not container-contained.

29  EXPRESS REGRETS - express, Reg, rest*
 
Down

5 NIGHT - nigh (near, close, as in the expression ‘well-nigh impossible’), t

9 CLEFTS- c, left, s - ‘c’ for ‘cycle’  took some time; c/s is abbr. for ‘cycles per second’, so is the use of ‘c’ for ‘cycle’ quite legitimate?

17 FASCINATE - Incas fate* - Is the question mark at the end of the clue absolutely necessary?

24 SPUDS - s, puds - ‘pud’ for ‘pudding’ is indeed in Chambers but I have had no chance of using this.