Ringo has work commitments today so you will have to put up with me instead. I found this to be a steady solve, with no particular hold-ups or parsing problems once I had a decent number of entries during my first pass through the clues.
I seemed to be typing ‘around’ and ‘in’ rather a lot when writing this post so my subjective opinion (I’ve not counted them) is that there were more containment clues than is the norm (but fewer anagrams and only one double def.).
Across
9 Wrongdoer’s pile covers acres, after crooked activity (9)
MISCREANT – MINT (pile) around (covers) an anagram (after crooked activity) of ACRES
10 Perhaps a boxer, when retired, eats top-class cheese (5)
GOUDA – A DOG (perhaps a boxer) reversed (when retired) around (eats) U (top-class)
11 Decline a piece of silverware? (7)
ATROPHY – A TROPHY (a piece of silverware)
12 Country song for example popular on the flip-side? (7)
NIGERIA – AIR (song) EG (for example) IN (popular) reversed (on the flip-side)
13 Turkey / transporter (3)
ASS – double def.
14 Relative, heading away from Daryl and Charlie, gets bakery item (7,4)
GRANARY LOAF – GRAN (relative) [d]ARYL (heading away from Daryl) OAF (Charlie)
17 United high-flyer nets nothing as sub (1-4)
U-BOAT – U (united) BAT (high-flier) around (nets) O (nothing)
18 Rising rubbish needs tip (3)
TOR – ROT (rubbish) reversed (needs tip)
19 Child, having eaten when empty, becomes full (5)
LADEN – LAD (child) E[ate]N (eaten when empty)
21 Worker progressed poorly, given old Spanish wine (11)
TEMPRANILLO – TEMP (worker) RAN (progressed) ILL (poorly) O (old)
23 “Long time no see” (finally returning) (3)
EON – NO [se]E (see finally) reversed (returning)
25 Dog’s keen to remove confines of rein (4-3)
SHAR-PEI – SHARP (keen) [r]EI[n] (to remove confines of rein)
27 Tend to kid and tease outside near son (7)
BABYSIT – BAIT (tease) around (outside) BY (near) S (son)
28 Felon’s inside, primarily planning early escape with mate (5)
ELOPE – [f]ELO[n] (felon’s inside) P[lanning] E[arly) (primarily planning early)
29 Ray perhaps hit hard by difficult situation (9)
LAMPLIGHT – LAM (hit hard) PLIGHT (difficult situation)
Down
1 Film fan regularly entertains friend, an African resident (6)
IMPALA – [f]I[l]M [f]A[n] (film fan regularly) around (entertains) PAL (friend)
2 European journalists sustained by very good beverage (8)
ESPRESSO – E (European) plus PRESS (journalists) in (sustained by) SO (very good)
3 Right snappy creature discussed gardening device (10)
PROPAGATOR – a homophone (discussed) of ‘proper’ (right) GATOR (snappy creature)
4 Article kept in writer’s stacks (4)
MANY – An (article) in (kept in) MY (writer’s)
5 Old comedian has to flog award after ending in arrears (4,6)
STAN LAUREL – [arrear]S (ending in arrears) TAN (flog) LAUREL (award)
6 Excited with silver, admitting gold lost in second half (4)
AGOG – AG (silver) around (admitting) GO[ld] (gold lost in second half)
7 Sort of book one’s beginning after a couple of beers? (6)
QUARTO – QUART (a couple of beers) O[ne] (one’s beginning)
8 Father’s seen fliers, with a section on fish oil (8)
PARAFFIN – PA (father) RAF (fliers) FIN (a section on fish)
15 Football team playing on Sat, home perhaps (5,5)
ASTON VILLA – an anagram (playing) of ON SAT plus VILLA (home perhaps)
16 Fearful blow which martial artist might bear (6,4)
YELLOW BELT – YELLOW (fearful) BELT (blow)
17 New dune formed flanking English river (8)
UNTESTED – an anagram (formed) of DUNE around (flanking) TEST (English river)
20 When annually off, chaplain’s learned equestrian event (8)
DRESSAGE – [pa]DRE’S (when annually off, chaplain’s) SAGE (learned)
22 Cat’s cry circulates commotion in grassland area (6)
MEADOW – MEW (cat’s cry) around (circulates) ADO (commotion)
24 There’s appreciation in college about what composer does? (6)
NOTATE – TA (appreciation) in ETON (college) reversed (about)
26 Swimmer with soft skin (4)
PEEL – P (soft) EEL (swimmer)
27 Junk-mail Mike put in short beige container (4)
BUMF – M (Mike) in (put in … container) BUF[f] (short beige)
Pretty steady- enjoyed the homophone in 3d – and the dog delayed me till Wikipedia “list of dogs” came to the rescue.
Thanks Gaufrid and Aardvark
Thanks for the blog, Gaufrid.
I found this hard going – perhaps I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind. At first, I put ‘ark’ for 13ac as Noah’s Ark’s resting place is said to be in what is now Turkey…
I felt there were overstretched synonyms: ass = turkey, tip = tor, by = near, so = very good. At first sight new = untested sounds OK, but actually I’d question it. A ‘new’ product would almost never be ‘untested’ whereas a law can be on the statute book for years before being ‘tested’ in court for the first time…
In 8 down, ‘seen’ appears as an unwarranted distraction in the clue.
Finally, I note with frustration that in Tuesday’s FT ‘U’ was clued as ‘acceptable’ whereas here it is clued as ‘top-class’! Can/does it mean both?
Am I the only one to see boxer in 10 and think of briefs and brie – cheese. Messed me up for a good while.