This is a new setter to me, and I enjoyed the puzzle on the whole. It didn’t take long to do, and, if the week’s puzzles are to get harder as the week goes on, I would have this as a Tuesday rather than a Thursday.

Across

1 SCALES

2 WARP AIN’T

9 DOWNHILL

10 UP LINE, but I am not sure I have understood the clue. Americans call a queue a line, and I suppose the up line is the one gong to the city centre. is that it?

11 (M) USES

12 FLAMBOYANT, but I don’t know why, except that the worker is represented by ‘ant’. Anyone else know the old pulpit reference? Is it a flam, or a flamb?

14 E M BE DD ED ‘E’ is eastern, and ‘Med’ is the sea going around ‘be,’ to live, and ‘dd’, doctor of divinity.

16 SEA FARE R

20 S WORDS TICK

23 ARDOUR - party is do in rura(l) backwards.

24 W HIT E T IE - this was my favourite clue; wet around ‘hit’, and ‘ie’ for “that’s”.

25 A SSEM BLY

26 DA RING

Down

2 CHOOSE ONES WORDS , anagram.

3 LINKS - first letters of ‘learn in new kids’ school’.

4 STIFFENER - old boy slang for a drink.

5 WELFARE anagram of ‘few real’.

6 R HUM B

7 (W) ALLEYED

8 NONINTERVENTION anagram.

17 F ORB ORE - ‘fore’ being what golfers shout before whacking the ball to warn potential victims of the outgoing missile.

18 RAIL WAY

22 S N EER 

I’ll have to admit defeat on this one. The two main features were a line of an Elton John song covering 5 clues and many clues linked to one word from it. When I finally tracked down the word “FUNNY” I Googled for the lyrics and found it. After an hour in all, with about six answers to go and, very pressed for time, went to ‘reveal’ for the others.

< = reverse  * anagram

ACROSS

1 DR 1 FT TUBES

7 F BI Very good.

9 H (U MAN) ER

10 SA (DNES) S Send<

11 M (ONE) Y

12 BONE

13 GI R L Funny girl

15 SEE THE

17 ESCAR GOT (races)*

19 EARTHMEN Not understood

21 W EASEL

26 SQUAB Not understood

28 O (RIGA) M I

29 1 NEX (AC) T

30 E GG Very good

31 MARSEILLES (real aimless)* less a = area

DOWN

2 ROMANCE Hidden

4 THROBS (b short)*

5 BU (SINE) SS The first of the ‘funny’ ones I solved

6 Funny SIDE

8/3/24/7D/23 ITS A LITTLE BIT FUNNY THIS FEELING INSIDE

9 HOME SWEET HOME (thee me somehow)*

14 Funny F ACE

16 HA-HA Not understood

18 P (EC) U LIAR All <

20 R AILING

22 SA USAGE

26 SMELL Hidden

27 F (ire) ARM

I’m looking for someone to join the Independent bloggers team. If you’re interested, please email me at blogging@fifteensquared.net.

Neil

I found this harder than usual - solving time 39 minutes.

* = anagram

ACROSS

1 CAR ACT (A CU) S Chieftain who fought the Romans in Britain Cu = copper

10 CON CORD

11 PR A LINE

12 BEDROOM SLIPPERS (posed problem, sir)*

13 APERIENT (pie aren’t)* laxative

15 P (soft - music) ADDED

17 DEB ATE (Greek goddess of mischief) ‘Little’ girl refers to the abbreviation, I think.

19 S P (first letters) ANGLED

22 BACHELOR OF MUSIC ’score’ always suggests music

25 TOR (MEN) T

26 YOU WAIT U (upper class) “weight”

27 MISPRINTED (mind priest)*

DOWN

2 A GOG O

3 ABD OMEN (bad)*

4 TI (pp) LE

5 C HAM PLAIN De Champlain - explored Canada

6 STIPEND Cloth = clergy

7 SCAB BARD

8 ON EDGE Refers to the Wenlock Edge.

9 NESS Changing last letter of nest = home

14 IN THE NEWS (Ten is when)*

16 D (E) DICAT (E) (addict)* with e = drug (ecstacy) twice

18 BUCK RAM

20 PROC (laim) YON

21 LASCAR Hidden

22 Stephen POTTER who coined the term

23 BYTE “bite”

24 M (O) USE Computer mouse.

You know what it’s like when your mind wants an answer to be a particular word and won’t let go in the face of ridiculous amounts of evidence? Well, my mind so thought that 18D had to be PRIMATES. But that permitted no circus performer (25A) that I could think of — never mind that it did not fit the word play. Argh!

Across
1. TIMBRE - anagram of IM BERT
4. RUNAWAYS - RUN (ladder) + A[l]WAYS
10. PANEGYRIC - anagram of GAY PRINCE
11. LARGE - hidden word
12. FAIR - homophone (”fare”)
13. EISENHOWER - anagram of WHERE ONE IS
15. CANVASS - CANVAS (sails) + S[eek]
16. RESIST - IS (is) in REST (repose)
19. ADRIFT - AD (commercial) + RIFT (break). Nice combination.
21. HAMMIER - I (one) in HAMMER (thump)
23. PUNISHMENT - anagram of NINE THUMPS. Unusual punishment (4, 6)
25. SEAL - double definition
27. ROGER - double definition
28. IN EARNEST - anagram of TANNERIES
29. DISSEVER - anagram of SIDS + EVER (always)
30. GHOSTS - G (good) + HOSTS (landlords)

Down
1. TYPEFACE - TYPE (kind) + FACE (features)
2. MENTIONED - I (island) in MENTON (French resort) + ED (editor)
3. RIGA - RIG (equip) + A (a)
5. UNCLEAR - UNCLE (relative) + [p]AR[k]
6. ALL THE SAME - double/cryptic definition
7. ARROW - [h]ARROW
8. SHERRY - ERR (do wrong) in SHY (throw). Ah, yes, as in coconut shy.
9. TRAITS - anagram of ART ITS
14. PATISSERIE - anagram of IE PASTRIES
17. SPINELESS - SPIN (turn) + [blu]E + LESS (not so)
18. PRELATES - RELATE (say) in P[ew]S
20. TIM RICE - IM (I’m) in TRICE (instant)
21. HUNTER - double definition
22. SPARED - SPARE (remaining) + D (daughter)
24. NEGUS - EG (for example) in NUS (students’ union). I had not known but a negus is a drink made of wine, hot water, lemon juice, sugar, and nutmeg. (Hm, I’ll just have an 8D, please.) And a word once used as a title for emperors of Ethiopia. And, if memory serves, an antiques expert named Arthur.
26. ARCH - hidden word