Peto’s puzzles are never easy, but I really got bogged down about three-quarters of the way through this one.
I cannot fault the clues, which are excellent, although CARABINERO and TALMA are perhaps a bit obscure for a daily crossword. I thought that the level of difficulty might have been in the service of some theme, but I do not see one.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | PATENT |
Obvious when persevering without hint of inconvenience (6)
|
| PAT[I]ENT (persevering) minus (without) first letter of (hint of) I[NCONVENIENCE] | ||
| 4 | EDUCATED |
Learned of the French whip found in river on the way back (8)
|
| {DU (of the [in] French) + CAT (whip)} inside (found in) DEE (river) reversed (on the way back) | ||
| 10 | TRANSFORM |
Convert managed to fill extremely tedious document (9)
|
| {RAN (managed) inside (to fill) outside letters of (extremely) T[EDIOU]S} + FORM (document) | ||
| 11 | RELIC |
Roman Catholic priest breaking souvenir (5)
|
| ELI (priest) inside (breaking) RC (Roman Catholic) | ||
| 12 | AVER |
Allege as a fact when edging away from partygoers (4)
|
| [R]AVER[S] (partygoers) minus outside letters (when edging away from) | ||
| 13 | SKATEBOARD |
Means of transport with broad seat designed to carry king (10)
|
| Anagram of (designed) {BROAD SEAT} around (to carry) K (king) | ||
| 15 | COSIEST |
What is suffered to obtain seating at the front that’s most comfortable (7)
|
| COST (what is suffered) around (to obtain) {first letter of (at the front) S[EATING] + I.E. (that’s)} | ||
| 16 | CONCUR |
Run together with Italian scoundrel (6)
|
| CON (with [in] Italian) + CUR (scoundrel) | ||
| 19 | SLAP-UP |
Excellent debut of singer to delight in (4-2)
|
| First letter of (debut of) S[INGER] + LAP UP (delight in) | ||
| 21 | HARISSA |
Expression of disapproval over soldiers returning with Afghan’s original hot sauce (7)
|
| {HISS (expression of disapproval) around (over) RA (soldiers) reversed (returning)} + first letter of (original [of]) A[FGHAN] | ||
| 23 | OPERATIONS |
Companies providing musical dramas forced into cuts (10)
|
| Anagram of (forced) INTO inside (cuts) OPERAS (musical dramas) | ||
| 25 | LACK |
Want chop left for husband (4)
|
| [H]ACK (chop) [exchanging] L (left) for H (husband) | ||
| 27 | WORKS |
Goes for frying pans stocked by Rackhams primarily (5)
|
| WOKS (frying pans) around (stocked by) first letter of (primarily) R[ACKHAMS] | ||
| 28 | BALLERINA |
Elegance at the outset possessed by L Blair amazing North American dancer (9)
|
| First letter of (at the outset) E[LEGANCE] inside (possessed by) anagram of (amazing) {L BLAIR} + NA (North American) | ||
| 29 | BALANCED |
Weapon hidden in disagreeable stable (8)
|
| LANCE (weapon) inside (hidden in) BAD (disagreeable) | ||
| 30 | FORGED |
Devised in order to acquire endless diamonds (6)
|
| FOR (in order to) + GE[T] (acquire) minus last letter (endless) + D (diamonds) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | PITTANCE |
Nathaniel briefly turns to the church after depression caused by poor wage (8)
|
| PIT (depression) + NAT (Nathaniel “briefly”) inverted (turns) + CE (the church) | ||
| 2 | TRAVERSAL |
Right about a woman going over, seconds before closure of level crossing (9)
|
| RT (right) inverted (about) + A + {VERA (woman) around (going over) S (seconds)} + last letter of (closure of) [LEVE]L | ||
| 3 | NOSE |
Announcer’s familiar with narrow margin of victory (4)
|
| Homophone of (announcer) KNOWS ([is] familiar with) | ||
| 5 | DEMOTIC |
Popular book about head of ICE in Washington (7)
|
| {TOME (book) inverted (about) + first letter of (head of) I[CE]} all inside (in) DC (Washington) | ||
| 6 | CARABINERO |
Chilean cop’s vehicle seen by graduate around one in front of coffee shop (10)
|
| I think this parses as: CAR (vehicle) + BA (graduate) inverted (around) + I (one) + [Caffè] NERO (coffee shop) | ||
| 7 | TALMA |
Cape Town’s top dancing girl (5)
|
| First letter of (top [of]) T[OWN] + ALMA (dancing girl) | ||
| 8 | DECIDE |
Settle for some homemade cider (6)
|
| Hidden in (some) [HOMEMA]DE CIDE[R] | ||
| 9 |
Appropriate for Yeats perhaps to embrace luck? Not half (6)
|
|
| POET (Yeats perhaps) around (to embrace) second half of (not half [of]) [LU]CK | ||
| 14 | KEEP TABS ON |
Monitor the activities of son after quick look over bill (4,4,2)
|
| PEEK (quick look) inverted (over) + TAB (bill) + SON | ||
| 17 | UNSPARING |
Merciless international organisation hits back in Gabon (9)
|
| UN (international organisation) + RAPS (hits) inverted (back) + IN + G (Gabon) | ||
| 18 | BACKHAND |
Endorse article after Henry died from a stroke (8)
|
| BACK (endorse) + H (Henry) + AN (article) + D (died), as in tennis | ||
| 20 | PLIABLE |
Penny likely to be easily influenced (7)
|
| P (penny) + LIABLE (likely) | ||
| 21 | HANDLE |
Deal with bad weather reportedly around North Dakota (6)
|
| Homophone of (reportedly) HAIL (bad weather, i.e., HALE) around ND (North Dakota) | ||
| 22 | COBWEB |
Horse we bought at the start from fairy queen’s retainer (6)
|
| COB (horse) + WE + first letter of (at the start) B[OUGHT], referring to one of Queen Titania’s attendants in A Midsummer Night’s Dream | ||
| 24 | ENROL |
Record producer’s last to be gripped by reflective single (5)
|
| Last [letter of] [PRODUCE]R inside (to be gripped by) LONE (single) inverted (reflective) | ||
| 26 | VETO |
Withhold assent to examine duck (4)
|
| VET (to examine) + O (duck) |