Clues
Across
- 1 Bug in hotel circumvented by paid criminal (5)
- 4 Vehicle reversing on electronic track (5)
- 7 Fiend reportedly drug-free? Prove it! (11)
- 10 Rags and bones! (4)
- 12 Adapt to setter’s dog coming back inside (6)
- 15 Conservative failure’s more familiar (6)
- 17 Basic greed occasionally evinced by one such as 19A or 4D? (4)
- 19 Result of sleeping through a storm in Florence? (11)
- 23 Group playing offline? (5)
- 24 Penny retreating behind part of floral display (5)
Down
- 1 Summer days in swinging era (5)
- 2 See 22D.
- 3 Chime ending abruptly - “horrible noise!” (3)
- 4, 14D, 20D Boob in favour of crap form of retribution (3, 3, 3)
- 5 Smart tech pitch included games console (5)
- 6 Lament English member’s solitary conclusion (5)
- 8 Watering-hole left unchanged by overnight opening (5)
- 9 Blended Asian rum shunned by northern warriors (7)
- 11 Dicky’s exposed willy (3)
- 13 No time for complicated budget to fix programs (5)
- 14 See 4D.
- 15 Big gun sounded in musical work… (5)
- 16 …Large instrument with gold string and accordion case (5)
- 18 Stay in battered wellies (5)
- 20 See 4D.
- 21 Close one’s eyes when vessel capsized (3)
- 22, 2D Hamnet’s unconventional song of praise (6)
Setter’s notes
I hope this one’s fun even if you don’t manage to fill in every square. 15 Down was nearly “Big gun fired off in musical work”, but I wasn’t convinced “fired off” works as a homophone indicator, so I settled for something slightly less apposite.
Across
- 1 “Hotel” = H, surrounded by an anagram (“criminal”) of PAID — APHID.
- 4 “Vehicle” = CART, reversed, + “electronic” = E — TRACE.
- 7 “Fiend” = DEMON + a homophone (“reportedly”) of “drug-free” = STRAIGHT — DEMONSTRATE.
- 10 Double definition: “rags” in the sense of “teases”, and bones — RIBS.
- 12 “Dog” = FIDO, reversed (“coming back”), inside “setter’s” = MY — MODIFY.
- 15 “Conservative” = C + “failure” = LOSER — CLOSER.
- 17 Every third letter (“occasionally”) of “BasIc gReeD” — BIRD. A nightingale and a tit are both birds.
- 19 The result of sleeping through a storm: NIGHT IN GALE — NIGHTINGALE, which is also Florence’s surname.
- 23 “Offline” = NO NET — NONET, a group of nine musicians.
- 24 “Penny” = P, then “behind” = LATE, reversed (“retreating”) — PETAL.
Down
- 1 “Days” = DD inside an anagram (“swinging”) of ERA — ADDER, a summer (one who adds).
- 3 “Chime” = DING, cut short (“ending abruptly”) — DIN.
- 4, 14 & 20 “Boob” = TIT + “in favour of” = FOR + “crap” = TAT — TIT FOR TAT.
- 5 “Smart tech” = AI, containing “pitch” = TAR — ATARI.
- 6 “English” = E + “member” = LEG + the last letter of “solitary” = Y — ELEGY.
- 8 “Left unchanged” = AS IS, next to the first letter of “overnight” = O — OASIS.
- 9 An anagram (“blended”) of ASIAN RUM, minus “northern” = N — SAMURAI.
- 11 “Willy” with its outer letters removed (“exposed”) — ILL, i.e. “dicky”.
- 13 An anagram (“complicated”) of BUDGET, minus “time” = T — DEBUG.
- 15 Sounds like (“sounded”) “big gun” = CANNON — CANON.
- 16 “Gold” = OR + “string” = G + the outside (“case”) of “A(ccordio)N” — ORGAN.
- 18 Hidden word: “battereD WELLies” — DWELL.
- 21 “Vessel” = PAN, capsized (reversed) — NAP.
- 22 & 2 An anagram (“unconventional”) of HAMNET — ANTHEM.