If you were on song, you might have got through this quickly. For me, it was more like ‘slow but steady’. I finished confident of the answers but with lots of questions to look up. Why is a 25ac sensitive? What is a 23ac? Who is 17dn? And more.
I had no obvious clue of the day, but 15ac set the mood of the moment. Thanks to the setter for a very enjoyable puzzle.
Clues are blue, with definitions underlined. (ABC*) means ‘anagram of ABC’. Deletions are in [square brackets]. The blog is in Times New Roman font, as part of an ongoing, gentle campaign to urge the club site to use a font in which it is easier to tell one’s stem from one’s stern.
Across
1 Arrived shortly, turning up with son for college (6)
CAMPUS – CAM[e]. PU=UP ‘turning’, S[on].
5 Brilliance of girl shown endlessly in competition (8)
RADIANCE – DIAN[a] in RACE.
9 Partial metaphor is misplaced in a maxim (8)
APHORISM – hidden answer.
10 Casually play with pasta (6)
NOODLE – double definition. ‘Noodling’ is apparently casual improvisation in jazz.
11 Trendy food shop has to supply food, mostly tasteless (10)
INDELICATE – IN, DELI, CATE[r].
13 Top cover for American district gangster (4)
HOOD – triple definition. Actually, a triple abbreviation: HOOD short for hoodie, HOOD short for neighbourhood, HOOD short for hoodlum!
14 Obese, eating seconds, and not running (4)
FAST – S in FAT. The answer is one of those cute words with exactly opposite meanings: moving fast, or tied fast.
15 What rail services need accompanying words and music? (10)
SOUNDTRACK – a light-hearted double definition. You wouldn't want your train running on an unsound track!
18 Broken arrester in device holding something back (10)
RESTRAINER – (ARRESTER IN*), ‘broken’.
20 Cat and comb ultimately makes catacomb? (4)
TOMB – TOM, [com]B.
21 Deep sea fish, black when small (4)
BASS – B[lack], AS, S[mall].
23 Surveyor’s instrument — they cart me about (10)
TACHYMETER – (THEY CART ME*), ‘around’. Apparently, it’s a surveying device that uses rangefinder technology.
25 Am keeping notes about sensitive plant (6)
MIMOSA – AM ‘keeping’ SO and MI, all backwards (‘about’). Apparently mimosa leaves may respond to touch.
26 Very poor walkway state getting turned round (8)
PATHETIC – PATH, CITE ‘turned around’.
28 Briefly immerse pot for small plant (8)
DUCKWEED – DUCK, WEED. Tempting to think WEE=small, but no, I think WEED=pot, and duckweed is just a small plant!
29 Good, I am allowed a cocktail (6)
GIMLET – G[ood], I’M, LET.
Down
2 Await developments in a leaf attachment (9)
APPENDAGE – PEND in A PAGE.
3 School research task needs to stand out (7)
PROJECT – double definition.
4 Mountain runner regularly visited Sikkim (3)
SKI – odd letters of SiKkIm.
5 Dance of millions in Cuba — right for clubs (5)
RUMBA – M for millions in CUBA with C for clubs replaced by R for right.
6 Race to put on vital headgear (6,5)
DONKEY DERBY – DON, KEY, DERBY.
7 One further person yet to be named (7)
ANOTHER – um, *another* double definition.
8 Transparent sheet left over instrument (5)
CELLO – CEL (short for celluloid, I discover), L[eft], O[ver].
12 Show a case for taking fast before one took food (11)
INSTANTIATE – INSTANT, I, ATE.
16 Uniform used on Royal Navy vessel (3)
URN – U[niform], R.N.
17 Caught rewritten line by me in play (9)
CYMBELINE – C[aught], (LINE BY ME*), ‘rewritten’. Cymbeline was a king of early Britain, in a Shakespeare play. Lucky I looked that up! Did anyone else guess French, female?
19 What stands up like this out of hot footwear? (7)
TUSSOCK – T[h]US (like this), SOCK.
20 Member in the House that is born in Chelsea, perhaps (3,4)
TIE BEAM – I.E. (that is), B (born) in TEAM.
22 Parting device for stamping coins in gold (5)
ADIEU – DIE in AU.
24 Young archer finished in police department (5)
CUPID – UP in C.I.D.
27 Wicket perhaps overturned endlessly in game (3)
TAG – GAT[e], ‘overturned’.