A nice variety of clues from Jason today
I am not entirely certain about the parsing for 17D.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | THRUST |
Force husband into faith (6)
|
| H (husband) inside (into) TRUST (faith) | ||
| 4 | FEARLESS |
Brave force before noble mix-up ousting master (8)
|
| F (force) + EARL (noble) + [M]ESS (mix-up) minus (ousting) M (master) | ||
| 9 | ENCAMP |
Make base answer with commoner behind enclosure (6)
|
| ENC. (enclosure) + A (answer) + MP (commoner), with “behind” indicating the order of the wordplay | ||
| 10 | PASTORAL |
Bygone test is evocative of the country (8)
|
| PAST (bygone) + ORAL (test) | ||
| 12 | SINISTER |
Unlucky nun pocketing nickel (8)
|
| SISTER (nun) around (pocketing) NI (nickel) | ||
| 13 | PIERCE |
Go through support in front of church (6)
|
| PIER (support) + CE (church) | ||
| 15 | NEED |
Require energy in spinning dive (4)
|
| E (energy) inside (in) DEN (dive) reversed (spinning) | ||
| 16 | IRREVERENT |
Cheeky retriever running around lawn finally (10)
|
| Anagram of (running) RETRIEVER around last letter of (finally) [LAW]N | ||
| 19 | STREET CRED |
Way Conservative, being embarrassed, gets trust (6,4)
|
| STREET (way) + C (Conservative) + RED (being embarrassed) | ||
| 20 | EPIC |
Odyssey perhaps is some impressive picture (4)
|
| Hidden in (some) [IMPRESSIV]E PIC[TURE] | ||
| 23 | INSURE |
Cover at home? Certainly (6)
|
| IN (at home) + SURE (certainly) | ||
| 25 | TAP DANCE |
Get money from Fred finally twirling cane? It’s a performance (3,5)
|
| TAP (get money from) + last letter of (finally) [FRE]D + anagram of (twirling) CANE | ||
| 27 | PRESERVE |
Maybe kipper is punter’s first order (8)
|
| First [letter of] P[UNTER] + RESERVE (order) | ||
| 28 | MEDICI |
Old Italian family? One objectively died here in France (6)
|
| ME (one objectively, i.e., objective case of “I”) + D (died) + ICI (here in France, i.e., in French) | ||
| 29 | TAPESTRY |
Head of Theology takes off to judge wall hanging? (8)
|
| First letter of (head of) T[HEOLOGY] + APES (takes off) + TRY (to judge) | ||
| 30 | ATTEST |
Declare a ton before international (6)
|
| A + T (ton) + TEST (international, referring to cricket) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | TREASON |
Traitor’s prime motive? (7)
|
| &lit and first letter of (prime [of]) T[RAITOR] + REASON (motive) | ||
| 2 | RACONTEUR |
Storyteller near court in full flow (9)
|
| Anagram of (in full flow) NEAR COURT | ||
| 3 | SAMOSA |
Succeeded tucking into Pacific state’s fried pastry (6)
|
| S (succeeded) inside (tucking into) SAMOA (Pacific state) | ||
| 5 | ÉLAN |
Uncomfortably lean style (4)
|
| Anagram of (uncomfortably) LEAN | ||
| 6 | RETAILER |
Shopkeeper retired, one to lament losing cover (8)
|
| RET. (retired) + [W]AILER (one to lament) minus first letter (losing cover) | ||
| 7 | ERROR |
Starting off panic is a mistake (5)
|
| [T]ERROR (panic) minus first letter (starting off) | ||
| 8 | SALIENT |
Prominent foreigner needling saint (7)
|
| ALIEN (foreigner) inside (needling) ST (saint) | ||
| 11 | DERRICK |
Chap that lifts (7)
|
| Double definition, the first being a man’s name | ||
| 14 | VETERAN |
One who served review – critique ultimately managed (7)
|
| VET (review) + last letter of (ultimately) [CRITIQU]E + RAN (managed) | ||
| 17 | EXPENSIVE |
Lavish one left pondering (9)
|
| I think this parses as: EX (one [who] left) + PENSIVE (pondering) | ||
| 18 | HEARTENS |
Cheers from females taking in English painting, perhaps (8)
|
| HENS (females) around (taking in) {E (English) + ART (painting, perhaps)} | ||
| 19 | SNIPPET |
Bit of news, say, fixes up attack of the sulks (7)
|
| PINS (fixes) inverted (up) + PET (attack of the sulks) | ||
| 21 | CHEMIST |
I am up in box being a seller of drugs (7)
|
| I’M (I am) inverted (up) and inside (in) CHEST (box) | ||
| 22 | ADVERT |
Commercial diamonds head off outside (6)
|
| AVERT (head off) around (outside) D (diamonds) | ||
| 24 | STEEP |
Exorbitant starting price gathering support (5)
|
| SP (starting price) around (gathering) TEE (support) | ||
| 26 | OVER |
Surplus old cleric turned up (4)
|
| O (old) + REV. (cleric) inverted (turned up) |
Lovely puzzle from Jason. My favourites were DERRICK and TAP DANCE for the neat surface.
I had the same parsing for 17d.
Thanks to him and Cineraria.
Good fun. I was unaware that a pet is an attack of the sulks. I didn’t like SP for special price.
Geoff,
SP is used is racing circles (not that I frequent the bookies).