Times for the Times

This took me a bit longer than Oink's 2.2 on jackkt's hardenss scale might suggest, but not a lot. We have this setter's trademark porcine clue making an appearance at the top of the bill, and quite a lot of the funnies we've come to expect too (my COD to 14dn). I spent at least a minute with only 11dn left, and its either a bit of a clunky clue, or I'm missing something.


Definitions underlined.

Across
1	Laughing about Romeo’s crisp browned skin (9)
	CRACKLING - CACKLING (laughing) surrounding (about) R (romeo, phonetic alphabet).
6	Fighting back? It might be bloody (3)
	RAW - WAR (fighting) reversed (back).
8	Suggests one MP is telling tales (7)
	IMPLIES - I (one, roman numerals), MP, and LIES (is telling tales).
9	Celebrate in bar after retirement (5)
	REVEL - LEVER (bar) reversed (after retirement).
10	Do apple trees supply these shopkeepers? (12)
	TRADESPEOPLE - anagram of (supply, as in flexibly) DO APPLE TREES.
12	Very good fruit (4)
	PLUM - double definition.
13	Meet one’s maker when in outskirts of Paris (4)
	PASS - AS (when) inside (in) first and last letters from (outskirts of) PariS.
17	It’s clear nuptial bed is disarranged (12)
	INDISPUTABLE - anagram of (disarranged) NUPTIAL BED IS.
20	Pancakes left in bin by yours truly (5)
	BLINI - L (left) in BIN, then I (yours truly).
21	Deceive on more than one occasion (3-4)
	TWO-TIME - double definition.
23	Food soldiers may dig into? (3)
	EGG - cryptic definition, soldiers being the strips of bread or toast dipped into a runny egg.
24	Overextend Her Majesty? She might be carried off on this (9)
	STRETCHER - STRETCH (overextend) and E.R. (her majesty).

Down
1	Murderer I put in prison (4)
	CAIN - I in CAN (prison).
2	Clothes appear to be tangled on line (7)
	APPAREL - anagram of (tangled) APPEAR, then L (line).
3	Japanese swimmer’s a little flirtatious they say (3)
	KOI - sounds like (they say) "coy" (a little flirtatious).
4	Demand heroin sister’s hiding (6)
	INSIST - hidden in (...'s hiding) heroIN SISTer.
5	Danger ape represented for occupant of pod? (6,3)
	GARDEN PEA - anagram of (represented, as in re-presented) DANGER APE.
6	Vicar out of bed. Prepare to move off? (3,2)
	REV UP - REV (vicar) and UP (out of bed).
7	Where to put money when everything’s getting wet outside? (6)
	WALLET - ALL (everything) surrounded by (with ... outside) WET.
11	The arguments for maids? (9)
	DOMESTICS - double definition. My LOI by a long way. What is 'the' doing there?
14	Inconsiderate son, a bit like a pixie (7)
	SELFISH - S (son) and ELFISH (a bit like a pixie).
15	Two bishops in river, getting bite from fish? (6)
	NIBBLE - BB (two Bs, bishops) inside NILE (river).
16	Stuffy executive or potential husband? (6)
	SUITOR - SUIT (stuffy executive) then OR.
18	They say colouring’s on the way out (5)
	DYING - sounds like (they say) "dyeing" (colouring).
19	Support beggar who’s lost heart (4)
	BEAR - BEggAR with the middle letters removed (lost heart).
22	Yogurt occasionally available (3)
	OUT - every other letter from (occasionally) yOgUrT.

I'll be interested to learn how others got on with this puzzle. I found it a game of two halves, as the cliché goes. I stared for a while at the early clues before finding a way in with 21a, 21d, 24a and in ten minutes had the entire bottom half completed, even to the point of having the Y checker ready for 12a, from 13d. Then I struggled. Suitable insects to solve 12a refused to fly by. STALEMATE wouldn't fit 1d. A word for horse riding skill for 5d escaped me. I stalled, much like the middle of the England cricket team did, batting on Sunday last. Then some pennies dropped and I crawled to the end, the top half taking me perhaps twice as long as the lower part. 2d and 11a took a while to parse even though the definitions were clear.
Anyway, it's a fine puzzle and we'll probably find it was just me, everybody else did it in a normal fashion, top down, and had no goal-less period in the middle.

Next week, oliviarhinebeck will be your Wednesday correspondent, I'm off the grid. Toodle Pip!

Across
1	Go when penultimate lap ends in race (6)
	DEPART - DART = race, has the 'ends' of penultimate, lap, i.e. E and P, inserted.
4	General tidying up (8)
	SWEEPING - Double definition, sweeping as in 'sweeping changes'.
10	Art house I gathered, OK (9)
	AUTHORISE - (ART HOUSE I)*.
11	Bug I removed, originally in browser (5)
	TAPIR - TAP = bug (as in phone), I R = I removed originally.
12	Bugs British ship, leading to fury (5-6)
	BUNNY-BOILER - I'm not a movie buff, but I have seen Fatal Attraction. Nevertheless it took me an age to see what was going on here, and stop thinking about insects. BUGS gives us BUNNY, then B(ritish), OILER is a ship. Devious, or what.
14	Old music paper (3)
	RAG - Double definition.
15	Man batting beyond fifty, bowler went over this player's head? (7)
	CHAPLIN - Once I'd thought, who wore a bowler hat, the clue untangled itself. a CHAP IN is a man batting, insert an L for fifty.
17	In middle of facelift, call for the hard stuff (6)
	ENAMEL - (fac) EL (ift) has NAME inserted.
19	Nothing blocking vision through certain tubes (6)
	VENOUS - I presume here VENUS is a heavenly vision, as in "Venus in blue jeans" perhaps. Then insert O for nothing.
21	I must leave notaries milling around politician (7)
	SENATOR - (NOTAR ES)*.
23	Put away in suitcase, a tuxedo (3)
	EAT - Hidden in SUITCAS(E A T)UXEDO.
24	Classic fare detected by sleuth (7,4)
	SPOTTED DICK - SPOTTED = detected, DICK = sleuth. A traditional steamed sponge pud with currants making the spots. Why it's dick, I don't know.
26	Heavenly body starts off pretty luscious, until tragically old (5)
	PLUTO - Initial letters of the 5 words after 'starts off'.
27	Complain about nonsense to redhead (6-3)
	CARROT-TOP - CARP = complain, has ROT and TO inside.
29	Where Somerset cathedral is filled with a thousand black holes, perhaps? (8)
	INKWELLS - WELLS Cathedral is in Somerset, of course; so IN WELLS has K for a thousand inserted. I was going off piste thinking about how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall...
30	A wine after party enjoyed very much (6)
	ADORED - A DO = a party, RED wine.

Down
1	No-win situation — second problem (8)
	DRAWBACK - I was slow here, thinking no-win situation was the definition. But no, it's not. DRAW is the no win situation, and to BACK is to second.
2	Attach nails to spike (5)
	PITON - PIN = attach, 'nails' (i.e. goes around) TO.
3	Criminal losing case, the bounder (3)
	ROO - CROOK loses its 'case' i.e. C and K.
5	Little rest astride horse, displaying riding skill (7)
	WHEELIE - WEE = little, LIE = rest, insert H for horse, think bikes not horses.
6	Trash read in tenet, considered (11)
	ENTERTAINED - (READ IN TENET)*. Considered, as in, entertained the idea of a drink before lunch.
7	Tense? There's nothing wrong with me! (9)
	IMPERFECT - I'M PERFECT !
8	Attachment to the house music genre (6)
	GARAGE - Double definition, neat because HOUSE is also a music genre I believe.
9	Reject row about producer of litter (6)
	DISOWN - SOW which produces a litter has DIN = row around it.
13	US river where chicken put to death (11)
	YELLOWSTONE - YELLOW = chicken, scared; STONE = put to death. I'd heard of Yellowstone Park and Yellowstone Lake, probably from Yogi Bear, so a river seemed a reasonable bet. Apparently it's a major tributary of the Missouri and 700 miles long.
16	Lost for words, as we customised vehicle (9)
	AWESTRUCK - (AS WE)*, then TRUCK.
18	Holiday talked of, getting home slower? (5,3)
	BRAKE PAD - BRAKE sounds like BREAK = holiday, then PAD = home.
20	Social Democrat in the end, unfortunately, resigned (7)
	STOICAL - anagram of SOCIAL with T, the T from end of Democrat.
21	Mockery, flag supporting it (6)
	SATIRE - SA, sex appeal, IT, then TIRE = flag.
22	Ancient sanctuary, peaceful initially in new capital city (6)
	DELPHI - P = peaceful initially, inserted into DELHI. I went to Delphi in the 60s, it was magical then, I hope it's not been over-touristified.
25	Scraping surface off when it's icy, put underground (5)
	INTER - WINTER has its W scraped off.
28	Occasional outswinging deliveries discombobulating openers (3)
	ODD - openers of O utswinging D eliveries D iscombobulating.