| Across | |
| 1 | Some discontent on gallant island nation (5) |
| TONGA - Hidden in "some" of the letters of discontenT ON GAllant | |
| 4 | Surrender vilified after retreat (7) |
| DELIVER - REVILED = vilified, reversed = after retreat. Surrender/deliver/hand over/etc. | |
| 8 | Heavy trampolinist? (7) |
| BOUNCER - double definition, a heavy = a guard, etc. Nice! | |
| 9 | Average is capital! (5) |
| PARIS - PAR (average) IS. I had MEANS (mean's = average's) entered, and forgot on returning to the NE that I wasn't quite 100% happy with it. | |
| 10 | Expensive clasps are, almost entirely, delicate (10) |
| PRECARIOUS - PRECIOUS (expensive) clasps/holds AR ("AR |
|
| 14 | An American girl far from home? (6) |
| ABROAD - A broad = an American girl | |
| 15 | Nebuchadnezzar, for example, daring (6) |
| BOTTLE - double definition. I thought a Nebuchadnezzar was the largest bottle size, coming in at 20 normal bottles of champagne/claret, but I see the largest is 40 bottles and called either Melchizedek or Midas. Good luck giving that thing a shake. Normally a stupid custom, but I'd have it as the opening round of a decadent strong man competition: a minute to shake it, points for highest fountain, and whatever's left in the bottle must be consumed before continuing. | |
| 17 | US president plying heroes with wine (10) |
| EISENHOWER - anagram (plying) of HEROES with WINE | |
| 20 | Artist mid-morning, maybe, returning (5) |
| MANET - TEN AM is plausibly mid-morning, reverse/return | |
| 22 | Hearing of our nation, this English composer (7) |
| BRITTEN - is heard the same as BRITAIN (our nation) | |
| 23 | Give account of art near complex (7) |
| NARRATE - anagram (complex) of ART NEAR | |
| 24 | Arctic fleet (5) |
| NIPPY - double definition. Fleet/quick/nippy. In my book, the lovely surface more than makes up for any temperature differential there might be between "arctic" and "nippy". | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Instrument neighbour put up (4) |
| TUBA - to ABUT = to neighbour, put up/reversed | |
| 2 | Absence of American intelligence (4) |
| NOUS - NO (absence of) US (American) | |
| 3 | Discover fluff in car seat (9) |
| ASCERTAIN - anagram (fluff) of IN CAR SEAT | |
| 4 | Frank having credit renewed (6) |
| DIRECT - anagram (renewed) of CREDIT | |
| 5 | Drink: a complete round (3) |
| LAP - double definition | |
| 6 | So bottomless, opening for drink (8) |
| VERMOUTH - VERY = So, bottomless = remove the bottom letter ; MOUTH (opening) | |
| 7 | Incredible dessert I held back (8) |
| RESISTED - anagram (incredible) of DESSERT I. I was just blindly convinced that the parsing was an anagram of "dessert" within which the "I" was held, giving "back" for "resisted". I know, doesn't make any sense. | |
| 11 | Old African horse and I, struggling (9) |
| RHODESIAN - anagram (struggling) of HORSE AND I | |
| 12 | Out of order, nameless traders (8) |
| SALESMEN - anagram (out of order) of NAMELESS | |
| 13 | Voting system about right, is one captive? (8) |
| PRISONER - PR (Proportional Representation = voting system) going about/around R(ight) IS ONE. | |
| 16 | Fix strange blue drink (6) |
| DOUBLE - DO (fix) ; anagram (strange) of BLUE. Do = fix as in "the person came to do the boiler. Also works as a noun: in a do / a fix / a tight spot. | |
| 18 | Cease work below street (4) |
| STOP - OP (work) below ST(reet) | |
| 19 | Sole aplenty, reel in two, all tails up (4) |
| ONLY - all tails up = all last letters, reversed of aplentY, reeL iN twO | |
| 21 | Food and drink (3) |
| TEA - double definition. | |
