A topical tennis theme from Crucible, who also covered the Snooker World championships in two out of six previous Guardian puzzles. Plenty of clever cluing, especially 29,12.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 9 | OPERA-GOER | =”Met fan”, referring to the Metropolitan Opera. O[ld] + P.E.=gym + (a[mateur] Roger)* |
| 10 | SQUAD | =”group of players”. I think this is QUADS=”two doubles” with the back, S, put into the lead. |
| 11 | MINSK | Capital of Belarus. M[aria] + IN + SK=Slovakia (internet domain?) |
| 13 | GO SPARE | G[ood] + O[ld] + SPAR + E[dberg] |
| 17 | MIXED DOUBLES | …would indicate “Used lob” as an anagram of DOUBLES. |
| 20 | ANVIL | (Ivan [Lend]l)* |
| 21 | SCANDAL | (NADAL)* around C[ocaine] |
| 22 | AVERAGE | =”mean”. Hidden in [L]AVER A GE[ntleman] |
| 24 | ONSLAUGHT | (No laughs)* + [Ever]T |
| 26 | IDYLL | Hidden in “ylmID YLLar”=rev(Rally dimly) |
| 28 | SMASH | (Smith has)* minus HIT |
| 29,12 | YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS | [McEnro](e noisy abuse on court)* |
| Down | ||
| 1 | ZOOM | rev(MO[ment] + OZ) |
| 3 | BACKHANDED | B[all] + (hacked and)* |
| 4 | WOMBLE | Resident of Wimbledon Common. M[illons] in rev(ELBOW)=”joint set-up” |
| 5 | CRUSADER | (caused R[oge]r)* |
| 6 | TSAR | Taken from, i.e. “confiscated”, rackeTS ARe |
| 7 | JUGOSLAV | JUG=jail + OS=oversize=huge (can refer to tennis rackets) + LAV=loo |
| 8 | ODDS | O[f] + DD’S |
| 13 | GAMES | G[ritty] A[ndy] M[urry] E[xpects] S[uccess] |
| 15 | UN-AMERICAN | ( [l]A[w]N MANICURE )* |
| 16 | SALVE | anagram of LAVER minus R=”Rosewall initially” and S[unburnt] |
| 18 | X-RAY STAR | |
| 19 | FALL GUYS ? | I think the wordplay is FALL=drop + guise=”pretence” sounds like=”on air” GUYS, but I’m not sure of the definition. |
| 22,25 | ARTHUR ASHE | won Wimbledon in 1975. (has heart)* around [co]UR[ts] |
| 23,19a,2 | ANYONE FOR TENNIS | (AFTERNOONS IN [K]ENY[a])* |
| 24 | OUST | JOUST minus J[udge] |
| 27 | LETS | =”Replayed points”. [fina]L + (set)* |
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