Fifteensquared

I took 30-45 minutes for this crossword. I got 4ac to begin with, but botttom-right quadrant was the first to be completed. When I began  writing the draft for this blog, I had not solved three clues - 1, 25, 27, all acrosses. Of these, I got two as I returned to the grid. 25 ac remains elusive (anyone may reveal the answer).

Across

1 ASHORE - a,shore

4 PROPOUND - pro,pound

10 HEARTLESS - heart(les)s - Very neat clue.

11  EXERT - ex(-p)ert - I am not sure if ‘employ’ is an apt def. for the word.

12 LESS - (-b)less

13 FIRE WARDEN - f(i,reward)en

15 ERASURE - era (rev. of ‘are’),sure - Can we write such a sentence outside of the crossword? Subjects are sometimes understood, yet… While on the topic: The local newspaper often has the headline “Commits suicide” where the subject ‘one’ is taken as understood. But when I see the headline “Commit suicide” I am annoyed because, first, I could do without any such suggestion and, secondly, how am I to know whether it was two or more than two who killed themselves?

16 TRIFLE - t,rifle

19 STUPID - stu(pi)d

21 BOUNCER - b(ounce)r

23 CONVERSION - con,version  Again, it seems to me that ‘metamorphosis’ does not seem to be quite a fitting definition/synonym for the required word. Are we to accepts this kind of latitude in crossword clues?

25 Not solved - ?R?D - The clue is: You put lights somewhere in here (4) (On edit) GRID See comment below for explanation.

27 RIDGE - rid(g)e

28 BADMINTON - b, adminton (anag. of ‘dominant’)

29 BREATHER - b(RE)ather

Down

1 ACHILLES -  ac(hill)es

2 HEAD-START - (A hard test)*
 
3 RUTH - rut,h

5 RESPECT - two def. I didn’t get this too quickly. 

6 PRECARIOUS - prec(a r)ious ‘Favourite’ is a way-out synonym for ‘precious’.

8 DOTING - dot,in,g

14 SUPPLEMENT - supple,men,t

17 LACERATED - (Act leader)* Nice clue.
 
18 PRUDENCE - (endure PC)*

20 DISABLE - b in ‘disale’ (Ladies)* Shouldn’t we have ‘the Ladies’? Should definite articles be dispensed with for the sake of conciseness in clue-writing? 

21 BROODY - b,rood,y

22 SCARAB - scar,a b

28 BADMINTON - b, adminton (anag. of ‘dominant’)

29 BREATHER - b(RE)ather