Thank you to Jason. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1. Very quick sauce absorbing last of powder (6)
PRESTO : PESTO(uncooked Italian sauce made of ingredients ground to a paste) containing(absorbing) last letter of(last of) “powder”.
Defn: …, from the Italian word.
5. Soft fool left travel document (8)
PASSPORT : P(abbrev. for “piano”, a musical direction to play softly) + ASS(a fool/dope) + PORT(the left side of a ship or aircraft, facing forward).
9. Being filmed beside judge’s off ice (2,6)
ON CAMERA : ON(situated by the side of/beside, as in “Brighton in on the English coast”) + CAMERA(a private office of a judge for holding closed-door meetings).
10. An isle settling foreigners (6)
ALIENS : Anagram of(… settling) AN ISLE.
11. Start to speak about British fish (6)
BROACH : B(abbrev. for “British”) + ROACH(a small European freshwater fish).
Defn: … a particular subject.
12. Upper-class sorts wither as leader moves away from set (8)
OFFSTAGE : [TOFFS(upper-class/posh sorts) AGE(to wither/go weak over time)] with the 1st letter changing positions(as leader moves).
Defn: …/away from the stage scenery in a play, so as to be unseen by the theatre audience.
14. Smooth progress intends to take in one in poor health (5,7)
PLAIN SAILING : [ PLANS(intends/has in mind) containing(to take in) I(Roman numeral for “one”) ] + AILING(in poor health/suffering from sickness).
18. Possibly this tennis match is suggested by bold Sue (5,7)
MIXED DOUBLES : Reverse clue (is suggested by): Anagram of(MIXED) DOUBLES = BOLD SUE.
22. Flag policy on a road (8)
STANDARD : STAND(a position on a particular issue/a policy) plus(on) A + RD(abbrev. for “road”).
25. Bobby is surrounded by passion for old jazz fan (6)
HEPCAT : PC(abbrev. for “police constable”, nicknamed a bobby) contained in(is surrounded by) HEAT(passion/a strong emotion).
This (it’s not Webster’s) explains it :
26. Cheesy dish windin’ you up (6)
GRATIN : “grating”(annoying, which is possible when someone is winding you up/teasing you) minus its last letter a la “windin’”.
27. Fixed two rides being most noisy (8)
ROWDIEST : Anagram of(Fixed) TWO RIDES.
28. Sense of male pride in measure of speed is second (8)
MACHISMO : MACH(a measure of speed relative to the speed of sound) + IS + MO(short for “moment”/a short period of time/a second).
29. Gives up investment returns (6)
YIELDS : Double defn.
Down
2. Exhausted, Romeo and some others head off (3,3)
RUN DRY : R(letter represented by “Romeo” in the phonetic alphabet) plus(and) “sundry”(miscellaneous/some others) minus its 1st letter(… head off).
3. Pan surrounded by principal Caribbean fruit (4,5)
STAR APPLE : RAP(to criticise/pan someone) contained in(surrounded by) STAPLE(principal/main, as in “the staple food in China is rice”).
4. Bugged too much by the rabble, as they say (9)
OVERHEARD : OVER(exceeding/too much) plus(by) homophone of(…, as they say) “herd”(a crowd/rabble).
Defn: …/eavesdropped using a hidden listening device.
5. Old philosopher concerned with a group of soldiers (7)
PLATOON : PLATO(ancient/old Greek philosopher) + ON(refering to/concerned with).
6. Stick with supply (5)
STAFF : Double defn: 1st: A strong …/pole; and 2nd: To …, in this case, with workers.
7. Glass of beer encapsulating old location (5)
POINT : PINT(a glass of beer, measuring a pint) containing(encapsulating) O(abbrev. for “old”).
Defn: …/a specific place.
8. Going back greening with motivation (8)
RENEGING : Anagram of(… with motivation/with a reason or drive to do something … I’m not sure if this is how it works) GREENING.
D0 … on one’s word/not biding by what was agreed.
13. Runner is bound to let off pressure (3)
SKI : “skip”(to move forward/bound with hops) minus(to let off) “p”(symbol for “pressure” in physics).
15. Perversely ‘lethal’ means entirely (3,3,3)
ALL THE WAY : Anagram of(Perversely) LETHAL + WAY(a method of achieving a result/a means).
16. Lean on press release with cool manufacturer’s suggestion (4,5)
LIST PRICE : LIST(to tilt/lean over to one side) plus(on) PR(abbrev. for “press release”) plus(with) ICE(to cool/chill, using ice).
17. Amazingly I swear it could be a climber (8)
WISTERIA : Anagram of(Amazingly) I SWEAR IT.
19. Cheated Queen of Carthage out of nothing (3)
DID : “Dido”(the legendary founder, and first Queen, of Carthage) minus(out of) “o”(letter shaped like an 0/nothing).
20. Among Germans and therefore stand (7)
UNDERGO : UND(among Germans, the word for “and”) + ERGO(the Latin word for “therefore”).
Defn: To …/bear with a difficulty.
21. Dad, having been put upon, let up (6)
PAUSED : PA(an informal term, like “dad”, for one’s father) + USED(having been put on/taken advantage of).
Defn: …/took a break from hard work.
23. Belt up then check, obviously (5)
NATCH : Reversal of(… up, in a down clue) TAN(to beat hard/belt) + CH(abbrev. for “check”, in chess notation).
Answer: A slang short form for “naturally”/obviously.
24. Relatives making visits when husband is out (5)
AUNTS : “haunts”(making repeated and regular visits to a place) minus(when … is out) “h”(abbrev. for “husband”).
HEPCAT was new to me; all else was fine. Thanks for the illustrated blog, scchua.
A very satisfying solve from Jason.
Favourites were WISTERIA, HEPCAT and MIXED DOUBLES for its surface. PASSPORT read well too – likely not the first time such phrasing has occurred but it amused me.
Thanks to Jason and Scchua for the colourful blog, especially the star apple.
Yes, I wasn’t sure of 8d’s parsing, either, ie how ‘with motivation’ indicated the anagram. I wondered if ‘with promotion’ was what was meant to indicate letters moving to the front of the word but that doesnt really work. For me, to renege is to go back on.
Thanks for the blog , good set of neat and tidy clues .
RENEGING – with motivation = with a motivating force ( which causes movement ) . I am guessing that all the words to with motive etc were originally to do with motion .
Forgot to praise MIXED DOUBLES , I like a reverse anagram . Could miss out the word tennis and have multiple meanings .
That makes sense, Roz @4, and I agree with your comment @5.
Thanks Jason and scchua
25ac: hepcat is marked as obsolete, slang in Collins 2023 (p 914) and as informal, dated in ODE 2010 (p 818), hence “old” in the clue. Chambers 2016 p 712 has no indication of datedness but has the term hyphenated as hep-cat.
8dn: I read this essentially the same way as Roz@4. All the dictionaries confirm the origins of the words to do with motive. Chambers 2016 p 1002 gives us motive adj causing motion, and there are similar definitions in Collins and ODE. However, I cannot see a way of getting there from “with motivation” that does not involve a shift of meaning at some point in the journey.
Pelham Barton @7 I think it is there with original meanings .
Motivation = motivating force ( a force causing motion )
greening with a force causing motion = reneging .
Enjoyed this – didn’t get HEPCAT.
Liked: DID, MIXED DOUBLES (always pleased when I solve a reverse clue) UNDERGO, OVERHEARD
Thanks Jason and scchua
Roz@8: I should really have said that I cannot see dictionary support for a way of getting from “with motivation” to the necessary meaning of “motive” as an adjective, and I still cannot find such support, although I will be delighted if someone can point me to a respectable dictionary that gives such support. We may have to agree to differ on how much we are prepared to rely on an appeal to “original meanings” in the absence of dictionary support.
Pelham Barton @10 it is a bit of a chain and a matter of opinion but Chambers93 does directly have – motivation= motivating force .
motivating force is still used in dynamics to mean a force causing motion .
Roz@5: I was immediately reminded of a winner in one of the Azed clue-writing competitions. “You might see this used in mixed doubles (3)”. Not written by me, unfortunately.
Thanks for the reminder Hector@12 . An &Lit using a compound anagram is my favourite type of clue but obviously very rare .
I always think “this” somewhat gives the game away .
Roz@11: You have convinced me that the use of “with motivation” is at worst an acceptable stretch of language, but that can be said of a lot of time-honoured anagram leads.
Hector@12: Interesting, and apparently only the second time that Azed set a three-letter word for a clue-writing competition.