Solving time: 50 mins without Chambers, followed by one look-up (7D).
Maybe I wasn’t in quite the right mood, but this seemed like one of those times when the setter’s odyssey through the further reaches of Chambers threw up a fair number of words I can’t get that excited about – drugs, compounds, bits of protozoa. You can show me up by spotting the right wordplay for a couple of the clues mentioned below. Thanks to Andy for a copy of the puzzle while the Mephistos on the Times xwd club site are unavailable, but I can’t claim that’s the only reason for a late report. I’ve tried to comment on the words I woudn’t expect a fairly competent daily paper solver to find unaided.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | (n)OB(STAC = cats rev.)LE – cats are bits of wood used in the game of tipcat (corrected post-comment) |
| 10 | YELL,OW,CAKE = gateau = 30 – it’s uranium ore. “compound” is a bit of a loose def if you think too hard about it, but non-giveaway accurate defs can be tough to find for some of these words |
| 13 | HERS – don’t get the wordplay here – any offers? |
| 14 | N(g)IGGLE,R – possibly an example of something “dyste” mentioned the other day – “titter that’s no good” meaning just one G removed from giggle, by xwd convention. Removing all the G’s would still make more sense to me. |
| 15 | A,BRI(CO)CK – archaic ‘apricot’ |
| 18 | B(RAV(e)U(p)RA – EP = extreme pressure – a nice change from the usual ‘record’. |
| 24 | HEAT,HER,Y – not totally convinced by she’s = her, as “she’s” is AFAIK never a possessive |
| 25 | E(SER.)INE – it’s a drug – finding out exactly what drug needs more than one look-up in C, and frankly my dear, … |
| 28 | IN,RO=or rev. – a small Japanese box, for use when you’ve lost your etui. |
| 33 | SHE,CHIT,A – slaughter according to rabbinical law (one of several spellings) (corrected post-comment) |
| Down | |
| 2 | B(LUEBR=brule*)EAST – if you can have a redbreast, why not? – Didn’t bother to look this up to check. |
| 3 | TE(N.S.,IV)E – I remember N.S. from some economics journal I looked at in college days. Liked the accuracy of “the fourth” = IV as in “Henry IV Part 1” |
| 4 | ALE,W (21 being BREWER) – Spenser’s creative spelling of “halloo” |
| 5 | LOR(I.C.A.)E – the cases of very tiny creatures – C has more if you care – one of the dull words for me |
| 6 | E,WIG,K(E)IT – much more like it – anyone who’s heard the end of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde will know “ewig”, and a little bit of lingo-nous does the rest. |
| 7 | S(C)OG – well it means shelter, but I can’t see SOG = attempt to sell. Any ideas (possibly using different wordplay)? See comments |
| 8 | EA(GLE(d))T – the gled is the “common kite” – if this means the “red kite”, “common” is pretty accurate round here – if you stand in our high street for fifteen minutes in daylight, you’re pretty much guaranteed to see one. |
| 9 | NECROPSY – crops in rev. of yen. |
| 15 | ABSTERGE – (best gear)* – to clean, in medical lingo |
| 16 | CUS(H(I)ON)S – cuss = fellow, esp. an awkward one |
| 19 | R(HEN)ISH(i) – a rishi is an Indian sage or poet |
| 26 | (mu)RIEL – the monetary unt of Cambodia |
| 27 | L,AIC = Cia. rev. Instant language lesson: English – Co. = company; Italian and Spanish – Cia. = Compagnia / Compañia; French – Cie. = Compagnie |
| 29 | O.U.P.,A – an oupa is a grandfather in Afrikaans – nearly as good a source of wacky words as Scotland or Edmund Spenser. |
13a – I’m sure I figured this out at the time, but I’m blowed if I can remember it now!