Enjoyed the surface reading of most clues, specially 11A.
ACROSS
1 City of Dubai, a hub, extremely developed (3,5) ABU DHABI {DUBAI+A+HuB}*
5 Issue is, a couple of pages are torn (6) APPEAR {A}{PP}{ARE*}
10 Associate with a female friend, fundamentally independent, recent one to join in (9) AFFILIATE {A}{F}{Fr...d}{In...t}{L{1}ATE}
11 Earthworm's head emerging out of fruit, one in shock (5) APPAL {APP{A}Le}
12 Federal agency's retired men getting into films (6) CINEMA {CI{NEM<=}A}
13 Return from break about one, not working – try to kill time (7) REENTRY{RE{Eno <=}NT}{tRY} (Addendum - {RE{onE}NT}{tRY} - See comments)
14 Careless errors by head office corrected finally (8) SLIPSHOD {SLIPS}{HO}{c...eD}
15 Plain and somewhat bit undramatic (6) TUNDRA [T]
18 Exit the computer and leave for the day (3,3) LOG OFF [DD]
20 Sounds like sense prevailed. Hence goes without capital punishment (8) SENTENCE(~ ?){SENT}{hENCE} First part of Anno not clear (Addendum - (~ scent){SENT}{hENCE} - See comments)
22 Depressing stuff? (4,3) TEAR GAS [CD]
25 First off, wrote about a group of 9 (6) ENNEAD {pENNE{A}D}
27 Opening clue not hard to start with, right, it's nothing (5) INTRO {hINT}{R}{O}
28 Union's firm. 9 backing the leader of guild (9) FASTENING {FAST}{NINE<=}{Gu..d}
29 Offending queen with rhetoric (6) ERRANT {ER}{RANT}
30 A player gave up, not basically determined (8) ADJUDGED {A}{DJ}{bUDGED}
DOWN
1 A serum is said to be absent (4) AWAY {A}{WAY}(~whey)
2 Design a lungi, fine, for the most part reliable (9) UNFAILING {A+LUNGI+FINe}*
3 Lady's hosting former proprietors (7) HOLDERS {H{OLD}ERS}
4 Boasts coming from hired killers closing a deal at first (8) BRAVADOS {A}{Deal} in {BRAVOS}
6 Level of philosopher, say (7) PLATEAU (~plato)
7 Previous head finally gone, banished (5) EXPAT {EX}{PATe}
8 Event rarely troubled the champion (5,4) RELAY RACE {RARELY}*{ACE}
9 Mockery of justice, starting to get weird, that's unacceptable (4) JEER {Ju...e}{EERie}
14 Nothing in it is real, tricky game (9) SOLITAIRE {O} in {IT+IS+REAL}* My father's favourite pastime in the days of no computers
16 Clash with a girl during midnight, eccentric person (4-1-4) DING-A-LING {DIN}{G-A-L}{IN}{niGht} One of my favourite songs. Listen to Chuck Berry singing it.
17 Dead indeed, case is bizarre (8) DECEASED {DE{CASE*}ED}
19 Warning signal starts to have neighbours go for broke (7) FOGHORN {Have+Ne...s+GO+FOR}*
21 Rear seating compartment/unit with awesome upholstery primarily (7) TONNEAU {TONNE}{Aw...e}{Up...y}
23 Flower expert, not male (5) ASTER mASTER
24 Vault say, not entirely iron (4) SAFE {SAy}{FE}
26 Old one's often greedy (4) AGED {A}{GrEeDy}
GRID
ACROSS
1 City of Dubai, a hub, extremely developed (3,5) ABU DHABI {DUBAI+A+H
5 Issue is, a couple of pages are torn (6) APPEAR {A}{PP}{ARE*}
10 Associate with a female friend, fundamentally independent, recent one to join in (9) AFFILIATE {A}{F}{F
11 Earthworm's head emerging out of fruit, one in shock (5) APPAL {APP{A}L
13 Return from break about one, not working – try to kill time (7) REENTRY
14 Careless errors by head office corrected finally (8) SLIPSHOD {SLIPS}{HO}{
15 Plain and somewhat bit undramatic (6) TUNDRA [T]
18 Exit the computer and leave for the day (3,3) LOG OFF [DD]
20 Sounds like sense prevailed. Hence goes without capital punishment (8) SENTENCE
22 Depressing stuff? (4,3) TEAR GAS [CD]
25 First off, wrote about a group of 9 (6) ENNEAD {
27 Opening clue not hard to start with, right, it's nothing (5) INTRO {
28 Union's firm. 9 backing the leader of guild (9) FASTENING {FAST}{NINE<=}{G
29 Offending queen with rhetoric (6) ERRANT {ER}{RANT}
30 A player gave up, not basically determined (8) ADJUDGED {A}{DJ}{
DOWN
1 A serum is said to be absent (4) AWAY {A}{WAY}(~whey)
2 Design a lungi, fine, for the most part reliable (9) UNFAILING {A+LUNGI+FIN
3 Lady's hosting former proprietors (7) HOLDERS {H{OLD}ERS}
4 Boasts coming from hired killers closing a deal at first (8) BRAVADOS {A}{D
6 Level of philosopher, say (7) PLATEAU (~plato)
7 Previous head finally gone, banished (5) EXPAT {EX}{PAT
8 Event rarely troubled the champion (5,4) RELAY RACE {RARELY}*{ACE}
9 Mockery of justice, starting to get weird, that's unacceptable (4) JEER {J
14 Nothing in it is real, tricky game (9) SOLITAIRE {O} in {IT+IS+REAL}* My father's favourite pastime in the days of no computers
17 Dead indeed, case is bizarre (8) DECEASED {DE{CASE*}ED}
19 Warning signal starts to have neighbours go for broke (7) FOGHORN {H
21 Rear seating compartment/unit with awesome upholstery primarily (7) TONNEAU {TONNE}{A
26 Old one's often greedy (4) AGED {A}{G
GRID
13 Return from break about one, not working – try to kill time (7) REENTRY {RE{Eno <=}NT}{tRY}
ReplyDeleteI took ABOUT to be the container indicator and reversal indicator {RE{(-on)E}NT}{(-t)RY}
+1
DeleteSorry I meant NOT reversal indicator
DeleteEasy again. Fire is missing from the Roman God!!!
ReplyDeleteNice xword overall .. though a bit staid/boring for VUlcan?? Thanks for the earthworm /apple pic.. made me laugh.. Yep cannot account for the "sent" - sounds like sense prevailed = sounds like scent?? Bit weak that.. are expats banished?? hee hee.. in Adjudged still have an old Q...is basically the starting or the middle letter indicator?
ReplyDeleteBasically - Start, Essentially - Middle
DeleteLovely one..loved the wordplay
ReplyDeleteI took sense prevailed=scent
ReplyDeleteSame here. Prevailed was a bit misleading I felt. Wonderful clues.
DeleteDeepak saab,
ReplyDeleteMy fav pastime is Freecell. I have been playing for the last decade
Freecell is a version of Solitaire
DeleteCol.,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the link to 'tonneau' and the nice picture. Delighted to read the article.
As there is no CW in today's paper I will publish a Holiday special by Pluralist. It will be scheduled for 8 AM
ReplyDelete