Apologies for this appearing late – I wrote it early and scheduled it for the 11th, but forgot to change the time, so it was set to appear at 6:30pm my time (which would be close to midnight GMT).
I had most of the bottom half of this puzzle solved before making great inroads on the top half (I think the first clue I solved was 27 across). I think that I have figured out all the wordplays, but I am not 100% sure.
Paul McKenna typically treats us to a pun across the top row and it took me a few readings to get that this one is for CLOSE AT HAND.
All definitions can be confirmed in Chambers so I’m going to focus on wordplay here.
Away we go…
| Across | |
| 1 | College failure becomes a pitcher (6) |
| CLOSER – C(college), LOSER(failure) – pitcher in baseball who specialized in coming in for the last couple of outs | |
| 6 | Brown would be excluded if opening with book (6) |
| TANNED – if the first letter was a B it would be BANNED(excluded) | |
| 11 | Gardeners near their peak delight in these trees on a lake (7) |
| ALPINES – PINES(trees) next to A, L(lake) | |
| 13 | Whoops! I tend to flounder round boaters, or similar (11, three words) |
| THAT’S DONE IT – anagram of I,TEND,TO surrounding HATS(boaters) | |
| 14 | Eg, Bravo Charlie … Romeo by instant messaging (4) |
| CRIM – C(Charlie), R(Romeo) and IM(instant messaging) | |
| 15 | Charge one’s own claim to being a doozy (7) |
| IMPEACH – if you are a doozy you might say I’M a PEACH | |
| 16 | Rhubarb and honey — mean to be ordinary (5) |
| HOOEY – N is the mathematical symbol for average(mean). Replace the N with O(ordinary) in HONEY. Edit: although I have seen n and x used as mathemarical terms for mean, neither are in Chambers so it is mostly likely mean meaning middle to replace the N with O | |
| 18 | Cake for broadcaster from Dublin (5) |
| TORTE – TO(for), RTE(broadcaster from Dublin) | |
| 20 | Question for right solver who enjoys trifles (8) |
| QUIDDLER – QU(question) instead of R(right) in RIDDLER(solver) | |
| 22 | Soppiness about old English black plant (8) |
| SLOEBUSH – SLUSH(sloppiness) surrounding O(old), E(English), B(black) | |
| 24 | Anything or, for a few, nothing is accepted without opening (5) |
| OUGHT – NOUGHT(nohing) missing the first letter | |
| 26 | Parent on dog’s well-defined bit of body (5) |
| TAGMA – MA(parent) with TAG(dog, trail) | |
| 27 | Odd form of compulsion finds this minatory PLC fazed (7) |
| OMINOUS – I read this as the whole clue being the definition and wordplay – anagram of COMPULSION minus PLC | |
| 29 | I’m no pro — in short, against avoiding brief (4) |
| LAIC – remove CON(against) from LACONIC(brief) | |
| 30 | Who was famously refused gets it in? It’s occasionally unearthed (11) |
| JOSEPHINITE – I think this is referring to JOSPEHINE Baker, who once sued the Stork club in Manhattan for refusing her entry (and lost!). Insert IT. Fortunately after the case of Josephine Baker the US as a whole decided to reject racism and accept people as equals. Edit: There is a suggestion in the comments that it comes from the phrase “Not tonight, Josephine” which I admit I had not heard of | |
| 31 | Canned in Queensland adopting not forgotten way to stand (7) |
| IN-KNEED – INKED(drunk, canned) containing NE(not). I’ve never heard INKED used for drunk, but I was in Queensland in July and I think any past verb can be used… “we were out last night, we got totally blogged” | |
| 32 | Republic succeeded drawing in obsequious sorts (6) |
| YES-MEN – the republic of YEMEN containing S(succeeded) | |
| 33 | The herpetologist Fink-Nottle in differing guises? (6) |
| GUSSIE – anagram of GUISES – Augustus from the P.G. Wodehouse stories | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Memorable girl wanted at home about to board (6) |
| CATCHY – This is a deep dive… CATHY Come Home is a 1966 film, insert C(about) | |
| 2 | Job of no consequence in Ireland! Little work and, gosh, I toil hard (11) |
| OPHIOLOGIST – OP(work) and an anagram of GOSH,I,TOIL – referencing that there are no snakes in Ireland | |
| 3 | Answer is to go up with string to join pipes the old way (7) |
| SIAMESE – A(answer), IS all reversed then MESE(string on a lyre) | |
| 4 | Guard clearing right of access for that reason (5) |
| ENTRY – SENTRY(guard) missing the right hand letter of accesS | |
| 5 | What’s left I used freely in base of daquiri (8) |
| RESIDUUM – anagram of I,USED inside RUM(the liqour in a daiquiri) | |
| 7 | Take up difficulty over point (5) |
| ADOPT – ADO(difficulty), on PT(point) | |
| 8 | Rare goose caught by inhumane neighbour (4) |
| NENE – hidden in inhumaNE NEighbour | |
| 9 | Put out by online fault? Time to enter “delete” (7) |
| EVICTED – the online fault could be an E-VICE, insert T(time) then D(delete) | |
| 10 | Faff about Rimbaud’s named successor (in short in Latin) (6) |
| DITHER – DIT(named, in French, the language of Rimbaud), then HER (abbreviation of Heres, heir) | |
| 12 | Yes, great pal is excited to make the final entrance? (11, two words) |
| PEARLY GATES – anagram of YES,GREAT,PAL | |
| 17 | Contemplation about one’s wasting (8) |
| MISUSING – MUSING(contemplation) surrounding I’S | |
| 19 | Downy, in the manner of Wodehouse you might say (7) |
| PLUMOSE – P.G. Wodehouse, making his second appearance, was nicknamed PLUM, so it sounds like PLUM-OUS | |
| 21 | Uni lads developing explosive mixtures (7) |
| DUALINS – anagram of UNI,LADS | |
| 22 | In due course joey will be stoked to get diluted soda etc (6) |
| SOOJEY – SO(in due course) then an anagram of JOEY – soda is the mineral in this case | |
| 23 | Clock wherein you see trailer (6) |
| FACADE – the wordplay appears to be AD(trailer) inside FACE(clock) so that is the whole clue. I think the whole is referring to the public aspect, but I could be wrong | |
| 25 | Hat to leak (5) |
| TOPEE – TO, PEE(leak) | |
| 26 | Raja in a state of drought starts to kick up (5) |
| TUNKU – TUN(a biological state) then the first letters of Kick Up | |
| 28 | Supplier of aromatic remedies is born with millions (4) |
| NEEM – NEE(born), M(millions) | |
I was a little surprised to find ‘closer’ as a pitcher in a British puzzle, although the answer is immediately obvious to anyone who follows baseball.
Jeremy
That apart, it did seem a relatively straightforward puzzle, with not too many words of the sort which live only in Chambers and are never sighted in the wild.