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Another Everyman in a run of fairly straightforward one's, but, in general, I think it's a good thing that there's at least one weekly crossword that solvers of all levels can enjoy.

You maight remember last week, I suggested that this setter seemed to have a distinct sense of humour.

So, when I solved the first clue it peeked my "1d" and I thought "4a" and wondered if there might be a "1a". I looked and looked and, to be honest, began to "8d" and this "16a" caused my mind to "20a". I have to admit, by this time it had started to get under my "25a". Alas, I could not not find anything so was forced to "29a"ish! - this did make me wonder, however, if this wild goose chase I went on might not cause the setter a sense of "5d" :-)

As always, please feel free to leave your thoughts and don't be shy to ask for hints if need be. Newcomers always welcome.

Great wordplay, Brendan. 🙂

I found this to be the toughest one in ages. Started well enough then got totally bogged down. I parsed 24ac but had never heard of the word.

13ac is a cracker.

Rather a lot of wine last night, so maybe I'm off my game, but I thought this one was impossible. I was getting nowhere top right and had to cheat with ALL of them. Even with the answers in place, I just can't see half of them. 4A 'charge' indicates anagram? 6D Australian = A? 8D the solution is meant to be a synonym of 'dominate'; and 'about' indicates anagram? Seems to me the setter has just coined a whole new load of conventions. As for 10A, I've just managed to parse it after two hours of head scratching. OK, the essential definition of auditor is in the dictionary, but does anyone ever use it in that way (including crossword setters)?

Thanks for those hints Brendan - I found this quite a tricky one this week.

PS "peeked" = "piqued" :-)

This puzzle took a little longer to solve and parse today.
@Phil I think 'charge' may be a misprint for 'change' ?
I checked Chambers for 'A' which shows abbrev. for Australia.
I have seen 'auditor' also 'in audition' used in Times cryptics so it seems acceptable.
Even though I can see the 'river' from my upstairs window, it took me ages to parse :(

PS @Phil

'about' ' is in the list of anagram indicators in Chambers 12th

I agree competely with Phil1000.
Although the answer is clear from the definition just how do you parse 10a ?
The same for 7d, and 22d
All in all, a pretty frustrating puzzle.

Thanks, Jazz. Blimey, I had enough trouble without the Observer throwing in typos ... but I think you're probably right. And this setter has used 'about' for anagrams previously, so I should have cottoned on to that one. Still think they throw in too many red herrings, though, especially this week. E.g. Austrian would have been much fairer than Australian, given the respective IVR codes, particularly as the overall definition was so vague. I spent a good half hour trying to squeeze Bruce or Sheila into the answer!

@ coffindodger 10a def. Unconventional bunch(of people)
homophone ( to auditor/hearer ) of cheques/Czechs

7d def. river
T's with Scots word for 'home' inside