As the puzzle appeared late on the Club Website I had to solve it in two sittings. My first 30 minute effort solved everything to the NW of the NE-SW diagonal and my second of much the same time the rest of the puzzle (which at the time I felt was a little harder, but can’t really justify that now). It’s a good average standard Mephisto with no difficulty over and above the norm.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | SQUATTOCRACY – (quotas)* surrounds T=time – CR(AC)Y; powerful Australian landowners; |
| 11 | POUR – two meanings 1=French for “for” 2=discharge; |
| 12 | ABYE – A-BYE; side event at cock-fight=BYE; old word for “endure”; |
| 13 | COLPORTEUR – COL-PORT-(RUE reversed); depression=COL; left=PORT(ships); a Bible pedlar – a missionary presumably?; |
| 14 | CLART – CLAR(e)T; the “e” is “a bit of E(munging)”; dirty in Doncaster; |
| 15 | AEFALD – (deal)* surrounds FA=nothing at all; honest (see ae in C); |
| 16 | ALNAGES – AL(NAG)ES; harry=NAG; brown (ale) and IPA=ALES; inspection of cloth which dates back to Richard I and is mentioned in no less an authority than Magna Carta; |
| 19 | DENIAL – D(E-N)IAL; clock=DIAL; electronic=E; note=N; “no” is the definition; |
| 21 | HARPY – all roses=happy then change p=pressure to r=right; |
| 22 | EGEST – (Legionnaire)E-GEST; old word for bearing=GEST; to discharge; |
| 24 | ZYRIAN – (janizary without j-a)*; joint=J; before=ante=A; people from NE Russia and their language; |
| 26 | HOLY,SEE – HO(LYSE)E; break down=LYSE; Pope Benedict XVI is the current incumbent; |
| 28 | CAUSEY – C-AUS-EY(e); caught=C; eye=attention; cobbled street in Cathcart; |
| 29 | D-AND-D – DAND(y)-D; drunk and disorderly (most city centres on a Saturday night by all accounts); |
| 30 | SCALE,STAIR – (castles)*-AIR; camsheugh=crooked; a straight up flight of stairs; |
| 31 | MELL – MEL-L(ovage); honey=MEL; old word for to mix; don’t understand the “mace” bit; |
| 32 | SLAG – two meanings 1=vitrified cinders 2=footballer’s folly; |
| 33 | ARISTOLOCHIA – (historical + O=nothing)*-A; about=A; a birthwort or Dutchman’s Pipe, a large family including some vines; |
| Down | |
| 1 | SACCADES – SAC(k)-CADES; in Boston (USA) can=sack then “cut” gives SAC; barrels=CADES; a little tug on a horse’s reins; |
| 2 | UHLAN – hidden reversed (proffessio)NAL-HU(ssar); a Prussian lancer; |
| 3 | APPRAISE – APP-RAISE; apprentice=APP; |
| 4 | TORSEL – TORSE-L; wreath=TORSE; a plate supporting a beam; |
| 5 | OUTASK – OU-TASK; Oxford=OU; don’s job=TASK; the final calling of the banns; |
| 6 | CREESHY – CREE-SHY; Indian=CREE; fling=SHY; like grease in Glasgow; |
| 7 | ABRAM – A(B)RAM(e); black=B; seaweed=arame; Waggledagger for auburn, which originally meant yellow; |
| 8 | CYCLOPAEDIA – (OAP + delicacy)*; |
| 9 | YERD – DREY reversed; cage=dialect (some people’s) for DREY; to bury=yird=YERD; |
| 10 | COLLEGIANER – (angelic role)*; a student; |
| 17 | CARYATIC – C-ARY-A(t)TIC; see=C; any=ARY; a supporting column shaped like a woman as seen on the Acropolis and, thanks to Lord Elgin in The British Museum; |
| 18 | SYNEDRIA – SYNE-DR-I-A; later in Ayre=SYNE; debtor=DR; in=I; anonymous=A; judicial courts; |
| 20 | AT,LEAST – ATL-EAST; teaching group=association of Teachers and Lecturers; turn to Orient=EAST; |
| 23 | PHYLLO – PH(Y’LL)O; hostel=YMCA=Y; will=’LL; (noodle) soup=PHO; filo=PHYLLO=very thin pastry; |
| 24 | ZOOEAL – Z(O-O)EAL; old=O; oscar=O (phonetic alphabet); stage in larval development; |
| 25 | GUSLI – hidden reversed (pup)IL SUG(gests); a stringed, plucked Russian musical instrument; |
| 27 | SNASH – SNA(p-pi)ISH; soft=p; sanctimonious=pi; insolence in Inverness; |
| 28 | CAMA – (idea + CAMA)* gives academia; in Hinduism, kama=cama=earthly desire; |
Rgds
Paul
Disappointing but still this is progress. I’ll keep trying although I’m definitely not going to have time this week.
There were a number I couldn’t quite explain even with the use of Chambers, so thanks for the blog.