Well, this turned out to be quite the challenge from Aardvark, with some difficult parsing on a few items, and about halfway through, I was not sure that I was going to be able to complete the puzzle. Some fortuitous crossers got me across the finish line.
This is a pangram, with the four hard-to-fit letters (J, Q, X, Z) clustered around the center square. Please amplify or correct any nuances that I have missed.
Kudos to FrankieG@7 for noticing “Hay-on-Wye” at the bottom of the puzzle, which I am sure was an intentional wink from Aardvark, although I do not see any extension of that as a theme.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | TOM HANKS | Actor fails to win hearts pursuing award (3,5) |
| TANKS (fails) around (to win) {OM (award, i.e., Order of Merit) + H (hearts)} | ||
| 5 | OBTAIN | Secure communicators perfect during broadcasting (6) |
| {BT (communicators, i.e., British Telecommunications) + AI (perfect, i.e., “A1”)} inside (during) ON (broadcasting) | ||
| 9 | SALCOMBE | Finally unravel teaser, put in envelope somewhere in Devon (8) |
| {Last letter of (finally) [UNRAVE]L + COMB (teaser)} inside (put in) SAE (envelope, i.e., stamped addressed envelope) | ||
| 10 | CLARET | College head in tavern gets booze (6) |
| CLARE (college, i.e., in Cambridge) + first letter of (head in) T[AVERN] | ||
| 12 | NOTED | Newbie’s first series of books media chief celebrated (5) |
| First [letter of] N[EWBIE] + OT (series of books) + ED (media chief) | ||
| 13 | ERADICATE | Uproot original cutting during summer for Pierre? (9) |
| RADICA[L] (original) minus last letter (cutting) inside (during) ÉTÉ (summer for Pierre, i.e., in French) | ||
| 14 | ERSATZ | Phoney old royal that’s followed by Sun character finally (6) |
| ER (old royal) + SAT[URDAY] (that’s followed by Sun[day]) + Z (character finally, i.e., the last letter of the alphabet) | ||
| 16 | JUSTICE | The only extra wanted in drink? Bar tries to administer this (7) |
| JUST ICE (the only extra wanted in drink, perhaps), referring to the legal bar | ||
| 19 | SPANDEX | Heavy rockers may wear this cross, linked with special chain mostly (7) |
| SP. (special) + ANDE[S] ([mountain] chain) minus last letter (mostly) + X (cross), “heavy” being a bit of a double entendre | ||
| 21 | QUAKER | Friend’s duck perhaps Charlie sidestepped (6) |
| QUA[C]KER (duck, perhaps) minus (sidestepped) C (Charlie) | ||
| 23 | BANDOLERO | Outlaw dance that features American outwardly naked (9) |
| BOLERO (dance) around (that features) {A (American) + outside letters of (outwardly) N[AKE]D} | ||
| 25 | GROWL | Good right/left hooks that hurt bravado of boxer? (5) |
| G (good) + R/L (right/left) around (hooks) OW (that hurt), referring to a dog | ||
| 26 | OKAYED | Authorised dictionary includes definition of a god (variable) (6) |
| OED (dictionary) around (includes) {KA ([definition of] a god) + Y (variable)}. I understood “ka” to be the ancient Egyptian equivalent of “soul,” or “the breath of life.” One definition in Chambers is “a god,” however. | ||
| 27 | HAYMAKER | One reaching Welsh festival bop? (8) |
| HAY MAKER (cryptically, one reaching Welsh festival), referring to a type of pugilistic punch | ||
| 28 | DOLLAR | Staff receiving endless calls about money (6) |
| ROD (staff) around (receiving) [C]ALL[S] minus outside letters (“endless”) all reversed (about) | ||
| 29 | DEWY-EYED | Naive river authority ultimately stifled by Act (4-4) |
| {WYE (river) + last letter of (ultimately) [AUTHORIT]Y} inside (stifled by) DEED (act) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | TISANE | Part of regimen: a sitcom over tea (6) |
| Hidden in (part of) [REGIM]EN A SIT[COM] inverted (over) | ||
| 2 | MILITARIA | Arms, uniforms, etc one works into police vehicle’s rear half (9) |
| {I (one) + LIT (works, i.e., literature)} inside (into) [BLACK] MARIA (police vehicle’s rear half) | ||
| 3 | AVOID | Escape with good book, disc and papers (5) |
| AV ([the] Good Book, i.e., Authorized Version) + O (disc) + ID (papers) | ||
| 4 | KOBLENZ | Car pioneer hugs new driver after defeat somewhere in Europe (7) |
| KO (defeat, e.g., in boxing) + BENZ (car pioneer, i.e., Carl Benz) around (hugs) L (new driver), somewhere in Germany, to be more specific | ||
| 6 | BALTIC SEA | Much water primarily cooled the drink following curry (6,3) |
| BALTI (curry) + first letter of (primarily) C[OOLED] + SEA (the drink) | ||
| 7 | AORTA | Personal carrier Labour’s team regularly used (5) |
| Every other letter of (regularly used) [L]A[B]O[U]R[‘S] T[E]A[M]. “Personal carrier” is very cryptic definition for “aorta.” | ||
| 8 | NATTERER | Gossip column’s latest subject: topless English Romeo (8) |
| Last letter of (latest) [COLUM]N + [M]ATTER (subject) minus first letter (topless) + E (English) + R (Romeo) | ||
| 11 | HADJ | Journey to Middle East fleeced Jack (4) |
| HAD (fleeced) + J (jack) | ||
| 15 | ANDROMEDA | Group of stars also wandered, with American hindmost (9) |
| AND (also) + RO[A]MED (wandered) with the A (American) moved to the end (hindmost) | ||
| 17 | ICE HOCKEY | Chill wine, having case for every game (3,6) |
| ICE (chill) + HOCK (wine) + outside letters of (case for) E[VER]Y | ||
| 18 | ASH-BLOND | Portraying Barnet wood, spy captivating lake (3-5) |
| ASH (wood) + BOND (spy, i.e., James Bond) around (captivating) L (lake). I am not entirely sure I get the sense of this one. “Barnet” is co*ckney rhyming slang for “hair,” so I guess “portraying Barnet” means “resembling [a color of] hair.” | ||
| 20 | X-MEN | Declared retired soldiers as superheroes (1-3) |
| hom*ophone of (declared) EX (retired) + MEN (soldiers) | ||
| 21 | QUORATE | Ready for meeting, vegan food briefly consumed (7) |
| QUOR[N] (vegan food) minus last letter (briefly) + ATE (consumed) | ||
| 22 | FLARED | Astaire accepts Hollywood location’s style of trousers (6) |
| FRED (Astaire) around (accepts) LA (Hollywood’s location, i.e., Los Angeles) | ||
| 24 | NIALL | Irishman sweeping up in the works (5) |
| IN inverted (sweeping up) + ALL (the works) | ||
| 25 | GAMMY | Mike repeatedly restricted by pink sore (5) |
| {M + M} (Mike “repeatedly”) inside (restricted by) GAY (pink) |
