Across
Quiet pioneer cooked Italian food (8)
Work to reinforce regular army policy (4)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
I think this is a quadruple definition, though I’m not sure of all of them. (1) as in one’s “line of work”, or the old TV programme What’s My Line? ; (2) to add a layer of fabric inside a garment to strengthen it; (3) the fighting forces of armies and navies, though this is a long way down the list of definitions in Collins; (4) as in “taking a hard line” on a particular issue.
In retrospect Indian food produces flatulence (3)
Player's bearing oddly overlooked (8)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
NORTH (one of the four players in a game of bridge) + [b] E [a] R [i] N [g] with the odd-numbered letters dropped (overlooked). Reference to 8a LINE: the Northern Line of the London Underground.
Clever like Pharaoh leader of Egypt (6)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
AS (like) + TUT (another name for the Pharaoh Tutankhamun) + leading letter of E [gypt].
State (8)
Nasal inhaler (drug free) is manufactured (6)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
Anagram (manufactured) of INHAL [e] R , without the letter E (abbreviation for the drug ecstasy).
Criticises university hospital in part of (11)
Heading for Piccadilly Nimrod leaves Henry with client (6)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
First letter (heading) of P [iccadilly], then [h] UNTER (Nimrod in the Old Testament is described as a “mighty hunter”) without the H (abbreviation for Henry = unit of electrical inductance). Punter = slang for a client or customer.
Cycling down the road into court for part of (8)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
LATER (down the road = yet to come), with the letters “cycling” so that the L moves to the end, inside WOO (court, as a verb = make amorous advances to). Reference to 8a LINE: part of the name of a (very short) London Underground line, in full “Waterloo & City”.
Enchantress welcomes student (6)
Firm against access for 28D (8)
Reportedly draw fish (3)
Garden forms part of protected environment (4)
Hurry after naughty child returns boat maker's tool (8)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
RUSH (hurry), after BRAT (naughty child) reversed (. . . returns).
Down
Leave to play top side (7)
Group prepared to defend record time (6)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
SET (prepared, as in “take your marks, get set, go”), containing (defending) EP (abbreviation for extended-play record) + T (abbreviation for time). A group of seven musicians.
Serious regrets over show-off (6)
Notice function on the radio (4)
Hell merges with authoritarian (8)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
DIS (hell = the underworld: from a Roman god of the underworld, and it’s also the name of a region of Hell in Dante’s Divine Comedy ) + STRICT (authoritarian), “merging” so that the two letters S overlap in the middle. Reference to 8a LINE: the District line of the London Underground.
European money artist left for (7)
Struggle to eat a bone (6)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
SCRUM (struggle), containing (to eat . . .) A . Bone at the base of the spine where it joins the pelvis.
Unit's heavy machinery initially located below Bakerloo's terminus (3)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
Initial letters of H [eavy] M [achinery], below (after, in a down clue) the last letter (terminus) of [bakerl] O . The SI unit of electrical resistance, named after a German physicist.
Indicator of Arabian (5)
Joins junior diplomats (8)
Chest collected by metropolitan outlet (6)
Anger of armchair expert (3)
8's celebration (7)
Visitor's petition to keep danger curtailed (7)
Local barman banning second old queen (6)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
TAVERN [er] (barman: I’ll comment on that in a minute) without the second ER (abbreviation for the late Queen Elizabeth Regina ). The “barman” might be literally the manager of a drinking establishment, but that would be a bit weak because it uses the same meaning as the definition. Or it might be the Renaissance composer (writer of musical bars) John Taverner, though he’s perhaps not well-known enough to count as general knowledge; in any case I’ll be pedantic and point out that music in his day was generally written without bar-lines. Not to be confused with the 20th-century composer John Tavener, who used a different spelling. Local = slang for a pub = tavern.
Finished rehearsal getting words mixed up (6)
Bore dropping bible in part of 8 twice (4)
I haven't cracked this one yet — but Fifteensquared have:
This had to be CITY from the crossers and definition, and to make sense of the reference in 28a, but it took me a very long time to parse it. I think it’s C [av] ITY (bore = hollowed-out interior), dropping out AV (abbreviation for the Authorised Version of the Bible). Reference to 8a LINE: part of the names of two London Underground lines, as noted in 17a (Hammersmith & City) and 24a (Waterloo & City).
Type letters or click words in the clue