This is another easily solved prize puzzle (from Monday 19 May 2008) with many anagram clues and cryptic definitions ala Dante. I suppose it is a less stressful way to begin a week and should encourage a large entry. By the way, I never time myself for any puzzle as I approach it primarily for its entertainment value. When I solve, say a clever cryptic definition clue, I savour the aha effect. I also try and rationalise the whole clue to unravel the word-play so craftily devised by the compiler….just like I would slowly enjoy a well-cooked meal prepared so painstakingly by a master chef .

Across
1 STIFLE *(is left)
4 STREAKER Another cd of this genre. ..Barely running (9) for streaking. Streaking appears to be quite a popular British sport, judging from what has transpired at Wimbledon, Twickenham and various test cricket and football grounds in recent years. Someone sent me a collection of ten best streaking incidents. If you are interested to have a peep-in, email me privately <yfyap@streamyx.com>
9 FIGHTS deletion of L (Roman numeral for 50) from flights (squadrons)
10 DATE LINE cd
12 BONA FIDE cd and a good one, too
13 SCREWS Insertion of CREW (seamen) in SS (aboard)
15 DART dd - “a tapering fold sewn on the reverse of material in order to shape it” (Chambers) is the less known definition
18 PROFESSION dd
19 WELL-WISHER alluding to the practice of making a wish when throwing a coin into a fountain or well
20 ACES *(case)
23 STRAYS Charade of ST (street) RAYS (lights)
25 ICY WASTE *(cite ways)
27 EMIRATES *(times are)
28 ATTACK dd
29 NONSENSE Charade of NO (negative) NS (north south or poles) + ENSE *(seen)
30 WHITES *(his wet)

Down
1 SOFA BED cf
2 IN GENERAL Charade of IN (popular) GENERAL (army officer)
3 LET OFF dd
5 TRAP reversal of PART (some)
6 EXERCISE Insertion of ER (Elizabeth Regina or monarch) in EXCISE (duty) … this is a real smoothie, but then most of Dante’s clues are, albeit not that difficult to solve.
7 KNIFE This is one clue that foxed me. With a configuration K?I?E, something sharp must be a knife but I searched in vain for a homophone as indicated by say. It wasn’t until later that I discovered there is an idiomatic expression for something that happens very quickly; “before you can say knife”. Another variation is Jack Robinson.
8 REELS IN Charade of REEL (part of a film) SIN (crime)
11 ADDRESS A well-crafted dd which could very well have been about Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg speech, “universally recognised not only as a classical model of the noblest kind of oratory but also as one of the most moving expressions of the democratic spirit ever uttered” but which was reportedly drafted on an envelope during a train journey
14 OFFENCE Simple charade OF FENCE (receiver of stolen goods)
17 INCESSANT *(instances)
18 AWAY GAME A delightful cd
19 WESTERN Insertion of ST (way) in WEE (short) + RN (Royal Navy)
21 SHEIKHS “”shakes
22 SWITCH dd
24 REIGN Insertion of G (George initially) in REIN (check)
26 MEWS dd

A mostly easy but excellent puzzle from Falcon with one clue (3D), the wordplay of which I failed to fully fathom. 21A was tricky because while I am familiar with expressions “as easy as pie” and “as sweet as pie”, I do not recall ever hearing “as nice as pie”.

Across

9. INANIMATE - anagram of MAINTAIN + E (English)
10. AROMA - O (drop of ouzo) in ARM (member) + A (a)
11. ATTEMPT - TA (reserves) reversed + TEMPT (draw)
12. LOOKS AT - anagram of OAK LOST
13. EAT - [h]EAT (hot weather, forgoing starter)
14. REED WARBLER - anagram of WE BRED RARE around L (lake)
17. COMET - CO (company) + MET (encountered)
18. DOH - double definition
19. WAGON - AG (silver) in NOW (at present) backwards
21. AS NICE AS PIE - NICE (a French city) in anagram of PASS + IE (that is)
23. ASP - AS (arsenic) + P (phosphorus)
25. INTERIM - IN (home) + I (one) in TERM (semester)
27. CORONER - cryptic definition
28. EPICS - E (eastern) + PICS (films)
29. NARCISSUS - anagram of RUSSIANS + C (cold)

Down
1. FINALE - FIN[e] (mostly excellent) + ALE (beer)
2. FACTOTUM - anagram of AT MUFC about TO
3. FILM CRITIC - IT (it) in FILM (covering) + CRIC[hton]. (See comments below.)
4. FAST - double definition
5. FELLOWSHIP - FELLOWS (chap’s) + HIP (joint)
6. FARO - FAR (distant) + O (nothing)
7. FOSSIL - SS (vessel) in FOIL (silver paper)
8. FACTOR IN - F (female) + ACTOR (film star) + IN (elected)
15. ENDEARMENT - E (European) + anagram of TENDER MAN
16. RAW RECRUIT - RU (game — rugby union) in anagram of AIRCREW + T (tense)
17. CLARINET - IN (popular) in CLARET (Bordeaux)
20. GLASNOST - anagram of SLOGANS + [sovie]T. Clever!
22. NITWIT - N (name) + I (one) + TWIT (foolish person)
24. PURIST - UR (ancient city) + IS (is) in PT (past)
26. REST - double definition
27. CART - C[raftsman] + ART (skill)

I didn’t detect any over-arching theme in this puzzle, although the appearance of the word NINA in the sixth column could well mean that I’m missing something.

Across
1 HUM,MIN(GB,IR)D
9 W,OR,SE - “facing” as in the compass opposites of those in the clue itself.
10 LI(MESCAL)E
11 MUESLI BAR - (a sublimer)*.  Not being a health-food freak myself, I’m glad that Araucaria saw fit to qualify the &lit-ness of this with a question mark.
13 TEE,MING - “tea”; again the question mark seems appropriate, to flag the mental leap of China=Ming
15 E(YE)D - solvers =”ye” is atypical piece of Araucarian jiggery-pokery.
18 PE(THAT)E - one for all the schoolboy humorists out there.
24 PAU,LJ, ONES - a (presumably flirtatious) dance of yesteryear.
27 M,OVER - ….as in  movers and shakers.
29 THEM,A,NO,FLAW - fortunately I’m better at bluffing my way in Chaucer than Shakespeare, so this one came quicker than it might have otherwise.

Down
1 HAW(KM)O[-r]TH - again I lucked out on the literary reference.  The only reason I know that the Bronte Parsonage is in Haworth is because my grandmother used to have table mats featuring “The Historic sites of Yorkshire”!
2 MURDER,ER - (Re Red Rum)<  A similar device helped to form the denouement in a Listener Crossword a couple of years back.
3 I,DEAL - ref. the card-playing convention; “You cut, I’ll deal”.
4 GOLF, BAG - “upbeat” = flog<
5 I,M,MERSE[-y]
8 GEE-GEE - the central letters of “dogged”.
16 CAR,NIVAL - not quite sure what purpose the is served by the phrase “coming up” .
17 BED,STRAW
19 DE(PLET)E - where “some droplets” is ther contents indicator.
20 PRUSSIA - I’m guessing that the colour Prussian Blue can be obtained via some sort of acidic reaction.
21 SPUR,GE
25 JUMBO - the second half of mumbo-j.

An excellent themed puzzle by Radian, timed, I expect, to coincide with Sebastian Faulks’ new James Bond book on the centenary of Ian Fleming’s birth, I think.    I got the theme almost instantly with the Czech town, BRNO, 24 across, making me look at 19 down and seeing DR NO.     Solving time, 21 mins, most completed in about 11 mins, with the last three or four taking a while to track down.

* = anagram

1 FLANDERS    The muddy battlefield of World War I and the Flanders and Swann duo (had to verify the latter).

5/10   12 is BOND   CA SIN O\R O YALE

9 AR M (b)AND S    Marks and Spencer

12 BOND(I) Beach   In Australia

13 WATER-SKIE R   (wake tires)* R  &lit

15 SEC RET S ER (VIC) E

18 LIV (Ullmann) E AND LET DIE   (delineated)*

22 G (OLD F) INGER

24 BRNO  B for D in DR NO

27 BI (R) DER    Good -  bide = wait

28 BAZOOKAS   “Centurions knocked out by them in Jordan’s front line?”   Understand they could knock out the the Centurion tanks, but don’t get the reference in the rest.

29 EDWARD Bond, playwright

30 ETON CRO P   (coronet)*

DOWN

1 F LAM (B) E

2 A M MAN   Capital of Jordan and M is Bond’s boss

3 DRAX   A X for NO in DR NO    Character in 26/25

4 RED TAPE  “Paperwork’s reduced with part-exchange”   I don’t understand this, though the letters of ‘part’ are in there.

6 AT (O) MS    Nothing in the cash machines

7 IT ALIC (IS) E   Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland

8 ONE-ARMED   Got this straightaway from ‘bandit’ and enumeration i.e. slot machines.  Guess the rest refers to an event in one of the books/films but did not check it out.

11 Rudolf HESS   Nazi leader who flew to Scotland in World War II

14 UCLA   Hidden

15 SAVILE ROW  (Oliver was)*

16 REDS   Does not refer to clue 15 but to the number of red balls in snooker (frame).   Also to ‘reds under the bed’ from the Cold War era in which Bond operated.

17 ELIGIBLE   Hidden - she’s a character in the books, I think

19 DR NO   R = ringleader in (b)OND (reversed)

20 ELEGANT   Ga (Georgia) for me in element

21 G (OS SI) P   ‘is so’  uppity i.e. reversed in a down clue contributing to a good surface

23 FREYR  (ferry)*    Norse god

26/25 MOONRAKER   (Rank Moore)*    Appropriate fodder as Roger Moore played Bond.

Common abbreviations used
dd = double definition
cd = cryptic definition
ha = hidden answer
rev = reversed or reversal
cha = charade
ins = insertion

After my baptism of fire with The Master, I am equally blessed this week with my assignment, blogging Pasquale aka Don Manley, whose Crossword Guide (Chambers) was a trusted companion during my early crossword days. Quite an entertaining puzzle with some new words for me.

Across
8 CAMOMILE Cha of CAM (river/flower) O (old) MILE (lots of yards, 1760 to be exact)
9 TO A MAN Ins of A MA (a mother) in TON (fashion)
10 NARDOO Cha of NARD (aromatic plant) OO (ducks) I quite like the imagery of aquatic birds being drawn to an aromatic plant
11 RIGADOON Cha of RIGA (capital of Latvia) DO ON (party taking place)
12 EDGE dd
13 EPISTOLARY *(Italy prose)
15 FEBRILE Cha of FEB (month when it should be cold for the Northern Hemisphere) RILE (bother)
16 COLOGNE Ins of LOG (record) in CONE (something locking road) Could there possibly be a misprint and locking should be blocking?
18 OSTEOPATHS *(as the stoop)
19 CLEG Cha of C (circa/on) LEG (to dash away) Somehow I am uneasy with “at maximum speed” to indicate LEG
20 BANNERET Ins of ANN (girl) in BERET (hat)
22 REFUSE - referee use
23 CLOSET Ins of L (large) in CO (firm) + SET (group)
24 CONSERVE Cha of CON (Tory) SERVE (minister)

Down
1 SAN ANDREAS FAULT cd This earthquate-related geographic feature lies in the vicinity of Los Angeles where Hollywood is
2 COLDHEARTEDNESS What a clever and cheeky way to graphically show that C (cold) is in the middle of ICE
3 BIT ONES LIP Ins of I-TONES (one sounds) in BLIP (minor deviation) Devilishly clever clue that escaped me the first time …. this parsing due to collective wisdom of the community. Thank you.
4 GEORGIA This state anthem Georgia On My Mind was by Stuart Gorrell and Hoagy Carmichael. It was a huge hit for Ray Charles
5 STAG ha
6 DANDELION COFFEE *(no offence laddie) Is there really such a drink?
7 LABOUR-INTENSIVE Charade of LABOUR (party) IN (at home) ins of IV (4) in TENSE (nerve-racking)
14 TROUSERING How does one categorise this kind of clue? Punny definition? But I learned another meaning for ‘trouser’
17 STATICE Cha of STATIC (not going anywhere) E (energy)
21 ROTH Philip *(authors minus a us)