A fun solve as ever, with a good challenge but nothing too scary.
As usual my first pass at through the clues yielded little; after a bit more staring I got a good few in. It took a couple of sittings for me to complete, with PLUTO and COPYCAT being the last to fall, I think.
Thanks as alway to Cyclops for the puzzle.
Across
| 9 | AUTHORITY | Connoisseur writer on sex: “Yes!” (9) A charade of AUTHOR (writer) + IT (sex) + Y[es]. |
| 10 | PLUTO | Mickey’s pet small place – moving out (5) PL (short for/small ‘place’)+ OUT*.It took me far too long to remember the cartoon mouse’s cartoon pet dog. |
| 11 | LAMBETH | Bounder at the wrong South London district (7) LAMB (bounder) + THE*. |
| 12 | LOTTERY | Swimmer suffocated by heartless sex partner becomes a national draw? (7) OTTER (swimmer) inside L_Y (lay, sexual partner without their heart). |
| 13ac/28dn | WITCH HUNT | Chain put on hound after joker Farage claims to be victim of one (5,4) WIT (joker), plus CH[ain], with HUNT (hound, verb), after. |
| 15 | PENINSULA | Dick welcomes new Ukrainian “less awkward” leaders – it sticks out a mile, maybe (9) N[ew] inside PENI_S (dick) + U[kranian] + L[ess] + A[wkward]. |
| 17 | ARGUE | Fit to go round King’s Row (5) AGUE (fit, fever) round R[ex] (king) |
| 19 | ROTOR | Turner, right after Tory leader punches Joey (5) T[ory] punching ROO (joey) after R[ight]. |
| 22 | XI JINPING | President’s ‘Team Jack’ elected to send a message alert (2,7) XI (eleven, team) + J[ack] + IN (elected) + PING (send a message alert).I had no idea about this one until the initial X appeared, which made it easy to solve. |
| 24 | OUTDO | In the open air, having no alternative, come first (5) OUTDOOR (in the open air) minus/having no OR (alternative). |
| 25 | MIRACLE | Wonder if account left in bog (7) AC[count) + L[eft] in MIRE (bog). |
| 27 | BROTHEL | Disreputable place that’s changed monk’s political allegiance? (7) BROTHER (monk) with L changed for R. |
| 29 | LIE-IN | Rest gets elected after ‘fake news!’ (3-2) IN (elected, again) after LIE (fake news). |
| 30 | CLEARANCE | Plain Trump colleague not against the evicting of people? (9) CLEAR +[V]ANCE (Trump’s VP JD Vance,, minus V[ersus], against). |
Down
| 1 | GALLOWS | Head of government admits they used to support suspensions (7) G[overnment] + ALLOWS (admits). |
| 2 | ITEM | White magic ingredient for a couple of lovers? (4) Hidden in (ingredient) WhITE Magic. |
| 3 | COPENHAGEN | Pence on about seizing unpleasant person’s capital (10) HAG (unpleasant person) inside (PENCE ON)*. |
| 4 | MISHAP | Amis’s novel about heroin and power: Blow (6) Anagram of AMIS, H[eroin], P[ower]. |
| 5 | EYELINER | Our mag, crafty thing that emphasizes optics (8) EYE (our mag) + LINER (sea liner, so ‘craft-y’ thing). |
| 6 | SPOT | Murders on the rise, mark (4) Reverse of TOPS (murders, as a verb). |
| 7 | BUREAUCRAT | Cocaine and grass under desk – official! (10) BUREAU (desk) + C[ocaine] + RAT (grass). |
| 8 | COPYCAT | Echo’s newsworthy material – “Pussy!” (7) COPY (newsworthy material) + CAT (pussy). |
| 14 | TEAR-JERKER | One who’s quick to cherish prat – it makes you weep! (4-6) JERK (prat) inside TEARER (one who tears, so is quick). |
| 16 | NOT TO WORRY | Tory row not resolved? Never mind (3,2,5) TORY ROW NOT*.Bit of a shame to have ‘not’ in fodder and solution but never mind. |
| 18 | EVIDENCE | Don’t expect Trump to produce this show about sources of dire economy (8) EVINCE (show) around D[ire] E[conomy]. |
| 20 | EXAMPLE | One-time lover, rather large, giving a specimen (7) EX (one time lover) + AMPLE (rather large). |
| 21 | BOULDER | Rock’s more brassy sound (7) Sounds like ‘bolder’ i.e. ‘more brassy’. |
| 23 | GOBLET | Wine holder (spit allowed) (6) GOB (spit) + LET (allowed). |
| 26 | CONS | Politicians? Cheats (4) Double definition. (or just one, personal opinions and allegiances dependent). |
| 28 | See 13ac. |
My last one in was 24A OUTDO which I finally put in after getting 21D BOULDER/”Bolder” to confirm the final O – homophones are always my bugbear.
But I did not understand the wordplay thinking ‘In the open air’ just delivered OUT and not seeing how ‘no alternative’ could deliver DO.
I never thought of OUTDOOR.
I would say ‘In the open air’ could be OUTDOORS (I would not say OUTDOOR myself) and ‘no alternative’ instructs removal of any number of ORs.
Thanks for the blog , good set of clues and all the usual suspects .
I have seen XI used quite often but never the full name in a puzzle .
I do say OUTDOor for in the open air , especially outdoor swimming .
I think 18a is EVINCE around DE. The blog is missing an N.
OUTDO and BOULDER were my last two, too – and I initially parsed the former in the same way as beermagnet. Took an eternity before I saw “outdoor”, even though, like Roz, I would use the word for “open air”. I suppose once one has a sort of semi-parse, it’s tricky to drag one’s brain out of that rut…
An enjoyable crossword, from my favourite setter. The rosette goes equally to XI JINPING and PLUTO.
Many thanks simonbyc and Cyclops
Thanks IC@3, I’ve corrected that now.