This was the best prize puzzle I’ve done in some time. That’s not to say the others weren’t any good, just that this one was really good. Lots of great clues and invention, and a few laughs here and there.

I had a feeling this might turn out to be pangrammatic when answers like 14,17a and 4 went in. I found this a bit tougher than usual for Phi and had to “reveal” one answer.

Sorry for delay - it finally reached me!  Nothing of great note here, but nothing to cause complaint either.
ACROSS

1.   MALADY  - (mala-d-y)
4.   BIOPIC- (b-i-o-pic -film based on a person’s life, usually an actor,a royal, or a politician)
8.   ELEANOR - (<hidden clue in ve-RONA ELE-vated)
9.   BOLOGNA - (< a nob, to include log )
11. ON THE SHELF - (*honest with he-l-f - more often females who are said to be on the shelf!)
12. IRIS -(the  even letters from ‘big ruins’)
13. TORSO -( t- or so )
14. CUPBOARD - c-upb-o-ard ( card often used to indicate an eccentric character ,*pub. first letter of order)
16. ODYSSEUS- (o-dy-sse-us - ‘Osse’ presumably from Tolkien’s works,the character who guards the  waters of Middle earth, first and last of dinghy, US to indicate country of Florida)
18. omitted
20. PYRE - (half of Pyrenees)
21. CHEAPSKATE -( * hates pack, with e)
23. SETBACK -(established defender in the game)
24. REDOUBT- (re-doubt - earthwork built within a permanent fortification)
25. ROTTER - r-otter
26. CYBELE - (Mother goddess of Phrygia and Asia Minor - cy-bel(L)le

DOWN

1  MELON. -(m-el-on - el in abbr.Monday)
2  LEATHER - (lea-the-r - Edward Lear, 19th century poet, famous for his nonsense poems)
3. DROP SCONE (*scorned  with op, as usual, for work)
5. IN-OFF -(hidden clue)
6. PROVISO - (prov-is-o - provo short for Provisional Irish Repulbican Army
7. CONCIERGE - (co *cringe around e)
10.LEICESTER- (l-e-ice-ester - ice for reserve, ester is a chemical compound)
13.TEDDY BEAR - (t-eddy-b-ear - tb is the illness, ear for attention)
15. PERIPHERY - (per-i-p-he-ry - one quiet male within perry, a drink made from pears.)
17. omitted
19. IRKSOME -( [K] -irk-some [ sound like sum])
21. CACHE- ( cache{T})
22. TABLE - dd (table as in ‘table an amendment’ as well as the furniture)

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

As Bradman is one of my favourite compilers and nobody has been assigned this, I thought I would blog this before he has his breakfast. (see the Malaysian advantage of the 7-8 hours over GMT)

I hope the folks at FT would do two things:
1. Please be more regular with the daily on-line publication of the puzzles which should be at the same time each day, preferably at GMT 0001 hour
2. Please give us the clues in bigger fonts or make them available in text so that we, old codgers with feeble eyes, can copy them to, say, a Word document and blow them up to say 12 point

Yes, we are mindful that the puzzles are provided free of charge and on behalf of solvers who benefit from this, a big big terima kasih.

Across
1 SPLASH DOWN APLA (rev alps) SH (quiet) DOWN (county)
6 AMMO (g)AMMO(n) cured meat from the hindquarters and leg of a pig
9 MELBA TOAST *(table mat so)
10 PROF pro (favouring) F
12 QUILLER-COUCH Quill (old pen) ER (Elizabeth Regina) Couch (something to sit on) Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch (1863-1944) a Cornish writer, under the pen name of Q is primarily remembered for the monumental “Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1900″
15 REMISSION RE (Royal Engineers) Mission (assignment)
17 THRUM TH (2/3 of THE) RUM drink)
18 EPSOM EP’s (extended play) OM (Order of Merit)
19 FIRE-EATER A fire-eater looks for quarrels but the wordplay here escapes me. Thanks to Geoff, a most observant solver, the letters making up f-i-r-e is contained or eaten in “Alf I recall” Bravo Bradman for fooling me. Bravo, Geoff for showing me the light.
20 TEMPORAL LOBE *(a lot problem e)
24 OWNS O plus three points of the compass
25 VIETNAMESE *(mate evvies)
26 EAST (f)east, a bridge or mahjong player
27 INFERNALLY Infer (work out) N (name) ALLY (friend)

Down
1 SIMP S (son) IMP, US abbreviation for a simpleton
2 LULU LU (st) LU (st)
3 STATUS SYMBOL *(boys must last)
4 DROLL Ins of R in doll
5 WESTERNER WE (you and I) sterner (more severe)
7 MARGUERITE M (maiden) Argue (squabble) rite (procedure); the ox-eye daisy or other single chrysanthemum.
8 OFF THE MARK The Germans have been this since the introduction of the Euro
11 SCATTERBRAIN This is one of those reversed anagram clues where “Scatterbrain” as a clue may have indicated “bar in”
13 PRIEST-HOLE *(this eloper)
14 AMUSEMENTS *(man meets us)
16 INFLATION *(inn to fail)
21 LATHE lathe (r)
22 DEAL (i) deal
23 LEVY Ins of V (very) in LEY (or lea, piece of farmland)

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

What a stroke of luck that my assignment today landed Brendan whose puzzles usually have a theme or gimmick (revealed at the foot of this blog). I found the gimmick after a few clues, including the centre parts and after that, it was quite easy-going.

Bravo ! Brendan, you created quite a awesome grid.

Across
1 OLD SCHOOL dd
9 LETTER dd
10 BLOODROOT Blood (dashing youth) Root (search out all the rebels)
I am no botanist but according to Wikipedia, bloodroot is a plant with white flower and scarlet roots.
11 ESSENE Essen (German city) E (east)
12 LOCOMOTOR Ins of T (temperature) in *(cool room)
13 STEELE homophone for steal (plagiarise)
17 POP dd
19 ALABAMA A + ins of AB (a bishop) in LAMA (priest)
20 EYELESS sounds like aye-less
21 PIP dd
23 TRAJAN &lit cha of T (leader of totally) RAJ (imperial rule in India) A N (a name) Marcus Ulpius Nerva Traianus, commonly known as Trajan (53 – 117), was a Roman Emperor who reigned from 98 until his death in 117.
27 INSISTING In (popular) ins of IS in Sting (rock musician)
28 TARTAN Cha of TAR (sailer) TAN (beat) with eastward as harmless extraneous word. A Mediterranean vessel with a lateen sail
29 DIVI-DIVIS Divi (share) Divis (shares) are the curved pods of a small tropical American tree
30 ALPACA Alp (mountain) ins of C (caught) in AA (areas)
31 KNIGHTING Ins of NIGHT*(thing) in KING (monarch)

Down
2 LOLLOP Loll (take it easy) OP (work)
3 SPOT ON Rev of No tops (a biniki without the top bit is called a monokini)
4 HORROR Ho (house) ins of O in RRR (reading, ‘riting, ‘rithmetic)
5 OLOROSO Removal of D from doloroso (in a soft and sorrowful manner)
6 JET-SETTER Jet (semi-precious stone) setter (person mounting)
7 STEEPENED Ins of E PEN (European writer) in STEED (mount)
8 FREE VERSE Excellent cd alluding to Ezra Pound who was a proponent of free verse. ‘Pound’ at the start of the clue is disguised as money, leading to the ironic ending, oddly enough.
14 LAST STRAW *(stalwarts)
15 PARAGRAPH P (pressure) A RAG (newspaper) RAP (hit) H (hard)
16 SALAMANCA S (south point) A La Mancha (remember Don Quixote?) minus H for a city in Western Spain
17 PAP Ins of A in PP
18 PEP
22 INN SIGN I wonder whether you consider this *(sinning) an &lit:-)
24 VIKING V (versus or opposed) I KING (one man on chess board)
25 STRICT Ins of TRIC(k) in ST (saint or revered person)
26 INDIGN ha

The gimmick (if you haven’t spotted it yet)

The pivotal core of the grid are four three-lettered words, pop, pap, pep and pip. Each provided the only vowel in its sector. Thus, all the words in the north-east sector has the letter, O as vowels; north-east, E and so on.