Another very enjoyable, standard puzzle of average difficulty. No particular talking points. I have a minor query at 17A EGRET whilst at 21A I discovered yet another way to mishit a golf ball – not what I need!
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | EQUIPAGE – E(QUIP)AGE(r); keen, right away=EAGE(r); crack=joke=QUIP; old equipment (and an old carriage); |
| 7 | SARK – (AS reversed)-R(ucksac)K; a Shetland shirt (and one of the Channel Isles); |
| 10 | TETRASTYLE – TETRA-STYLE; fish=TETRA; designed like=STYLE; type of portico as seen in the White House; |
| 11 | TAEL – (EAT reversed)-L(ose); worry=EAT; currency in Chongqing; |
| 12 | TORIFY – TO(FIR reversed)Y; fiddle (with)=TOY; right=rightwing=Conservative Party=Tory (UK politics); |
| 14 | STREPENT – S(PERT reversed)ENT; jaunty=PERT; ecstatic=SENT (slang); noisy; |
| 15 | PRUDENT – P(RUD)ENT; shut up=PENT; (dialect=local) complexion=RUD; |
| 17 | EGRET – EG-RET; say=EG; soak=RET; wader=heron=EGRET of which there are many types so “one of a pair” not understood; |
| 19 | ARRIERO – (rake or)* surrounds I=one; Juan Valdez perhaps, who transports coffee on mules; |
| 21 | AFFABLE – A(BAFF reversed)LE; golfer’s mishit=BAFF (new one on me!); |
| 23 | YOUSE – YO-USE; greeting=YO (Blair); employment=USE; dialect for “you” being more than one; I put “house” in at first; |
| 24 | FAIENCE – F(AI)ENCE; one receiving=FENCE; first-class=AI; glazed pottery from for example Quimper in Brittany; |
| 27 | LADYBIRD – LADY-BIRD; posh woman=LADY; common lady=BIRD (slang); first lady=Claudia Lady Bird Johnson; |
| 29 | ALGOID – (goali)*-D(efenders); tangle=seaweed=Alga for ALGOID; |
| 30 | STOA – STO(m)A; Mike=M(phonetic alphabet); aperture=STOMA; another portico; |
| 31 | FOURSQUARE – FOURS-QUARE; FOURS sounds like “force”=influence; odd (dialect)=QUARE; frank, honest; |
| 32 | EPEE – hidden (lif)E PEE(rs); fencing sword along with foil and sabre; |
| 33 | EXTRORSE – EX-(resort)*; without=EX; furious is anagrind; turned outwards; |
| Down | |
| 1 | EFTS – EFTS(oons); immediately=eftsoons; curse=oons; newts and lizards (but for me Electronic Funds Transfer System); |
| 2 | QUATREFOIL – QUA-(for tile)*; seen as=QUA; design involving four leaves (like a four leaf clover); |
| 3 | UTERUS – (true)*-US; the womb; |
| 4 | P-TYPE – PT(Y)PE; yard=Y; a type of semiconductor with an excess of holes (see under “P” in Chambers); |
| 5 | ARSENAL – AR(SEN)AL; senator=SEN; sea=ARAL (shrinking Russian lake); |
| 6 | ESOTERY – E(SOT)ERY; strangely frightening=EERY; old fool=SOT; rare word for a secret doctrine; |
| 7 | STRIGINE – S-T(RIG)INE; second=S; point=TINE; general appearance=RIG; owls are Strigiformes; |
| 8 | AYIN – (s)AYIN(g); saw=saying; 16th letter of Hebrew alphabet; |
| 9 | KEYSTONE – KEYS-TONE; lower house=KEYS (Isle of Man); architectural feature (or scientific symposium); |
| 13 | FIERY,CROSS – (chiefs sorry without “h”=Henry)*; The Crann Tara used as a declaration of war by clan chieftans as in the 1745 Jacobite rising for example. Later adopted by the KKK, they gave it a racial connotation not shared by the original Scots; |
| 15 | PLAY,SAFE – PLAYS-A-FE(w); small number=few; |
| 16 | DIASPORE – (paid ores)*; hydroxide of aluminium oxide; |
| 18 | OBELISE – OBE-(lies)*; see “obelus” in Chambers, a sign used in old manuscripts; |
| 20 | READOUT – (authorised minus his)*; |
| 22 | UNITER – RETINU(e) reversed; |
| 25 | IYYAR – (famil)I(YY)AR; the month of flowers in the Jewish year; |
| 26 | AGUE – AG(U)E; uniform=U; |
| 28 | DAZE – sounds like “days”=certain occassions; |
There’s another of Mike’s Ninas in this puzzle – not something I noticed until after test-solving.
Peter Biddlecombe, Sunday Times Puzzles Editor