Another monthly treat of an entertaining collection of curious word and adventurous clueing to tickle the braincells. It took me well over the hour this month and I discovered on doing the blog that I had one wrong (23A). No wonder I couldn’t parse it at the time, but my answer fit the definition perfectly. Grr. Thank-you clever setter.
Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, {deletions} and [] other indicators.
| Across | |
| 1 | Circling Lima, glower in the direction of American flyer (7) |
| BULLBAT – L (Lima in the phonetic alphabet) in BULB (glower) + AT (in the direction of). | |
| 5 | Set price of one last letter after divvy (7) |
| ASSIZED – ASS (divvy; stupid person) + I (one) + ZED (last letter). | |
| 9 | It’s like hurling a crew into hidden eastern deserts (9) |
| CAMANACHD – A + MAN (crew) in CACH{e}D (hidden) without the E (eastern). | |
| 10 | Brand of comedy struck from logbook of large vessels (5) |
| URNAL – {jo}URNAL (logbook) without the Jo, from the comedian Jo Brand (Brand of comedy). | |
| 11 | After cycling, perhaps prepare for massage in private at Picardy (5) |
| POILU – OIL UP (perhaps prepare for massage), [after cycling] -> POILU. | |
| 12 | Starchy vegetable base for pavlova with 25 per cent less rhubarb we hear? (9) |
| YAMMERING – YAM (starchy vegetable) + MERING{ue} (base for pavlova) without the last 25% of letters. | |
| 14 | Warning: hot piece of firewood is clamped by worker possibly in charge, counteracting heat (14) |
| ANTIPHLOGISTIC – TIP (warning) + H (hot) + LOG (piece of firewood) all in ANT (worker, possibly) + I/C (in charge). A 3-part charade inside a 2-part charade. Nice one. | |
| 17 | Material wrapping small bouquet, one of remembrance (14) |
| REMINISCENTIAL – MINI (small) + SCENT (bouquet) + I (one), all in REAL (material). | |
| 21 | Flash opera provided returning boats for Venetians (9) |
| MOTOSCAFI – MO (flash; short period of time) + TOSCA (opera) + IF (provided) [returning] -> FI. | |
| 23 | Wrap up one’s bung (5) |
| SHIVE – This is the one I got wrong failing to see past SPILE as an answer to the definition. No wonder I couldn’t parse it! Grr. It’s SH (be quiet; wrap up) + I’VE (one’s). | |
| 24 | Merriment’s more than half related to organ pipe openings? (5) |
| HILAR – More than half of HILAR{ity} (merriment). | |
| 25 | Article used for cooking squashes growing from a stem (9) |
| CAULINARY – CULINARY (used for cooking) [squashing] A (article). | |
| 26 | Team in Europe leaves for Cup, maybe being easily made to run (7) |
| EUTEXIA – XI (eleven; team) in EU (Europe) + TEA (leaves for cup). I liked “leaves for Cup”. | |
| 27 | Award celebrity a point behind the crown (7) |
| OBELION – OBE (award) + LION (celebrity). | |
| Down | |
| 1 | One flexes lighter company earnings per share (6) |
| BICEPS – BIC (French company that makes lighters as well as pens) + EPS (earnings per share). Curiously, BICEPS is a singular noun, even though it ends in an S. | |
| 2 | Producer of light satire flips a bit? (7) |
| LAMPION – LAMPOON (satire) with one of the Os turning to an I [flipping a bit] -> LAMPION. That’s a clever piece of wordplay. | |
| 3 | Automatic exclusion of European country dismissing core constituents (9) |
| BANAUSIAN – BAN (exclusion) + AUS{tr}IAN (of European country) without the middle letters, [dismissing core]. | |
| 4 | Persistently sore during lifting exercises, suffers from rising sloth and babbling (11) |
| TACHYPHASIA – ACHY (persistently sore) in PT (exercises) [lifting] -> TP, + HAS (suffers from) + AI (a sloth) [rising] -> IA. | |
| 5 | Laurel’s partner undressed, which was a slightly harrowing thing (3) |
| ARD – {h}ARD{y} (Laurel’s partner) [undressed]. | |
| 6 | Sentimental drivel — abridged edition’s opening Miltonic floodgate (5) |
| SLUSE – SLUS{h} (sentimental drivel) [abridged] + opening of Edition. | |
| 7 | Zulu against turning to Greek islander (7) |
| ZANTIOT – Z (Zuku in the phonetic alphabet) + ANTI (against) + TO [turning] -> OT. | |
| 8 | Recall years experimental composer headed university department (8) |
| DELEGACY – Y (years) + CAGE (John Cage; experimental composer) + LED (headed) all [recalled] -> DEL EGAC Y. | |
| 13 | Reading up on verse (I somehow almost could) at my own risk (3,8) |
| MEO PERICULO – RE (on) + POEM (verse) [up] -> MEOP ER + I + [somehow] (coul{d})* [almost]. | |
| 15 | Using the language of English limits endlessly checking place of colon (9) |
| INTESTINE – TESTIN{g} (checking) [endlessly] in IN (using the languade of) + E (English). | |
| 16 | Good hindquarters go quickly for the old Scottish pig (8) |
| GRUMPHIE – G (good) + RUMP (hindquarters) + HIE (go quickly). | |
| 18 | Crew member got up, available for hire before noon (7) |
| MATELOT – TO LET (available for hire) + AM (before noon) all reversed, [go up] -> MATELOT. | |
| 19 | American musical female leads first person who’s indigenous to India (7) |
| ADIVASI – A (American) + DIVAS (musical female leads) + I (first person) | |
| 20 | Giant with conjoined bodies admitted to surgery once (6) |
| GERYON -Hidden in, [admitted to], suGERY ONce. | |
| 22 | Shrew is cross in two ways (5) |
| SOREX – SORE (cross) + X (cross). | |
| 25 | Notes from Scarlatti provide MacMillan’s drive (3) |
| CAA – Notes (from ABCDEFG) in sCArlAtti. Another entertaining piece of wordplay. MacMillan here is just the name of a scotsman. | |