A nice puzzle that started comfortably but posed some difficulty at the end, with 6A taking up the max. time and I’m still not sure if it’s right. I enjoyed solving on the whole, but with a few nitpicks mentioned against the answers.
Styx is a newish setter on FT I think, so I extend my welcome.
Across
1 PASTA SALAD PAST (is finished) AS (for instance) A LAD (young boy)
6 PASS ‘S (is) SAP (hit hard) reversed. PASS is a type of play in football, so “round-ball game”. I had entered GOLF here at first, which also seemed to fit.
9 RONEO R[epair] ONE O (old). A duplicator that shows up often in crosswords.
10 THEOCRATS THE (ACTORS)*. ‘opening of’ is just to help the surface, perhaps, or is it to indicate the first word of “The Divine Rulers”? If the first case, then it’s distracting; if the second, then the definition can’t be part of the quoted text.
12 STAYED ON STAY (guy = cable or rope used to steady something) + NODE (swelling), reversed. A new meaning of ‘guy’ for me. Not so good, I think, to clue STAY as a charade-part when it is the root of STAYED ON, but the clue has a nice smooth surface.
13 BEADLE BE (live) (DEAL)*
15 REEL REVEL (riotous feast) – V
16 PENSIONS PENS (stationery) IS around ON (working). ‘considered’ seems superfluous.
19 BADINAGE BAD (wrong) IN (during) AGE (senility)
21 LOGS dd
25 NARROW [moder]N ARROW
26 ATTENDEE AT TEN (a late hour) DEE[d] (unfinished document)
28 APPORTION A P (phosphorus) + R (right) in POTION (powerful concoction). ‘quantity of’ is only to help the surface, or maybe it indicates taking the first letter of ‘phosphorus’ (which is unnecessary, as P is the symbol of phosphorus anyway).
29 SCARS CAR[go] in SS (ship)
30 RISK IS in R[acetrac]K
31 POLLINATOR (ALL TIN)* in POOR (low-grade)
Down
1 PERUSERS (PRESSURE)*
2 SUNBAKE (BUN)* in SAKE (rice wine). Neat blending of definition with SI.
3 AVOCET (TO CAVE)*
4 ACTION PLAN (TO CAIN)* L in PAN (hole in the ground?)
5 APES [t]APES
7 ABANDON BAN (censorship) in A DON (college fellow)
8 SYSTEM S[a]Y STEM (check). Tricky wordplay, good one.
11 CHEWIE C (castle) HEW (cut) IE (that is)
14 INTESTINAL IN TEST (trial) (NAIL)*, ‘crook’ is the anagrind.
17 RIGOUR RIG (set up) OUR
18 ASSESSOR ASS (fool) (ROSES)*
20 APROPOS A PRO (footballer) POS (overseas?)
22 OLD SALT (LOST LAD)*
23 UNFAIR [f]UNFAIR
24 PERSON PER S[e] (as such, shortened) ON (in operation)
27 SILO (IS)< LO[t]
Hi shuchi
I have TAWS for 6a (reversal of ‘swat’). According to Chambers it should only be singular TAW = ‘a game of marbles’ so really the clue should have read ‘ Round-ball games …..’
In 20d the wordplay is A PROP (a position in Rugby Union football) OS (overseas, abbreviation in COED but not Chambers or Collins)
Good stuff from Styx! 48 mins.
Great surface reading of clues – All of them!
Would have been 10mins less but fell for this three-card-trick:
Round-ball game is hit hard in recession (4)
I put in GOLF (FLOG<).
After working out all round, still could not get in in: _A_S
PASS or TAWS?
Best:
Procedure, say, without a check (6)