Club Monthly 20165 June 2014 – a biology lesson

Because it’s about a month since the crossword was published, it seems helpful to provide the clues as well as the answers. That may perhaps also interest some who would not otherwise attempt the Club Monthly. Comments on this format are welcomed..

cd = cryptic definition, dd = double definition, rev = reversed, homophones are written in quotes, anagrams as *(–)
I don’t usually give or comment on word definitions, a good copy of Chambers or similar is almost indispensible, here..

ODO = Oxford Dictionaries Online, OED = Oxford Dictionary, etc.

Across

1. Heidelberg’s agreement to split talent makes St Andrews fresher (6)
        bejant –  JA in BENT.

4. Gin went quickly once collected by dishonest scheme (8)
        Schiedam –  HIED (went quickly, once) in SCAM. One of the original distillers of gin

10. Briefly, I messed up witch cutting wacky tailless carnivore (9)
        zoophagan –  OOP(S) + HAG, in ZAN(Y). It’s a carniverous plant

11. Perhaps rumpy pumpy gutted girl (5)
        pygal –  P(UMP)Y + GAL

12. Live over Hollywood location by radius of circular area (7)
        areolar –  live = ARE + O(ver) + LA + R(adius). Commonly used to refer to the area around nipples

13. Cardinal and whichever saint backs early church meeting (7)
        synaxis –  cardinal (number) = SIX + ANY S(aint), all rev.

14. Show cyclist oddly lacking stirring feelings (5)
        hwyls –  even letters of sHoW cYcLiSt.

15. Japan’s wheel-less transports edge through midday sun at first (8)
        norimons –  edge = RIM, in NOON + S(un). A sort of sedan chair

18. Kiss/slay reels: they’re inferior to Moonraker (8)
        skysails –  *(KISS + SLAY). Familiar to all us Hornblower fans, as would be the moonraker sails above them

20. Note official prohibition for inventor of dance notation (5)
        Laban –  note = LA as in doh re mi etc, + BAN.

23. To Paris, from yours truly, a late breakfast (7)
        dejeune –  DE JE UNE, French for “from, I, a.” I’d heard of dejeuner, lunch, and petit dejeuner, breakfast, but not this intermediate step

25. Four turned past American hospital to see branch at old pub door (3-4)
        ivy bush –  four = IV + past = BY rev., + US H(ospital). An old pub sign, remembered in names like the “Old Bull & Bush”

26. Northern wildflower is to turn pale (5)
        gowan –  turn pale = GO WAN. Scottish daisies

27. Many-sided figures embrace old queen, regressive about English (9)
        enneagons –  embrace = SNOG + E(nglish) in ANNE, all rev. From the Greek word for nine, the (more common) Roman version being a nonagon

28. Clay pigment polished off with a sleeve? (8)
        ochreate – OCHRE + polished off = ATE. A botanical term mainly

29. Small child having little traction (6)
        skiddy –  S(mall) + KIDDY

Down
1. South American digger’s business about tea (8)
        bizcacha –  BIZ + CA (circa) + CHA. More often viscacha. A large South American rabbit, essentially

2. Scottish subterfuge’s success, keeping fair referendum’s core to the North (7)
      jookery –  success = JOY, containing fair = OK, + (refe)RE(ndum) rev.

3. Up in Hawaii, registers unbelievers (9)
        nihilists –  IN, rev., + HI (= Hawaii), + registers = LISTS

5. Journalists on current story after cornets played with feeling (3,11)
        con espressione –  cornets = CONES + PRESS + I (current, i)+ ONE. Presumably one = story , as in “Have you heard the one about…” or similar

6. Ice-skater initially very quiet about winning point for technique (5)
        ippon –  I(ce-skater) + PP (very quiet) + about = ON. It’s what you get awarded at judo when you throw your opponent. P is a musical term, short for piano (= softly)

7. Eat heartily, swallowing beef: it stimulates the heart (7)
        digoxin –  eat heartily = DIG IN, containing beef = OX. Derived from foxgloves, digoxin is either a medicine or a poison, depending on dosage..

8. West African country’s mass belief in evil (6)
        malism –  MALI’S M(ass). OED Says: “The doctrine that this world, although not the worst of all possible worlds, is a bad one.” A Daily Mail reader.

9. Distortion of meagre standing? (14)
        aggrandisement – *(MEAGRE STANDING).

16. In NZ one flies crook’s girlfriend and brother over a week (9)
        mollymawk –  MOLL + MY rev., (as in “Oh my/brother”) + A W(ee)K. New Zealand seems to have the most remarkable names for its flora and fauna

17. Truly upping time while dropping hours in secret (2,3,3)
        on the sly –  it’s HONESTLY, with the H going one way and the T going the other..

19. Jungle python clamping part of mouth on horse or camel’s saddle (7)
        kajawah –  mouth = JAW in KAA, + H(orse). Kaa is another character from The Jungle Book, a rock python. A tricky clue, if you didn’t know that..

21. Previously spotted white gold shillings in monetary arrangement (7)
        bausond –  gold = AU + S(hillings) in BOND, a monetary arrangement.

22. What could make Aida go slowly? (6)
        adagio –  *(AIDA GO)

24. “Bones”, the reverse of Captain Picard, say, ignoring boundaries (5)
        ulnae –  JEAN-LUC (Picard), ignoring the J and C and rev. Someone on the club website complained about this clue but it is surely quite hard not to have seen at least clips of Patrick Stewart in this role. Even if you don’t know his christian name, the crossers very leave little room for manoeuvre.