Solving time 27:25 with no books, then a few minutes with Chambers to clear up mistakes at 6 and 15.
A fairly easy puzzle this, with not too much diffucult vocabulary in the answers.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | S=”almost last just”,HEATH=Ex-PM. Not too keen on “almost last” for “almost the last character of” but it didn’t stop me solving the clue. |
| 7 | PE(‘S)O(n) |
| 12 | YES,H.I.V.,OTH=tho* – pl of yeshiva – a Jewish school of various kinds |
| 15 | E.D.I.,F(rida)Y – I should hang my head in shame at not seeing EDI considering that I’ve been working for about 7 years on computer systems including a component for sending EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) messages . After my wrong guess at 6D, I went for ‘UNIFY’ |
| 17 | EPHA – H = a bit heated in APE, all rev. Same kind of reservation as in 1A about “a bit heated”, but same follow-up too. |
| 22 | HA(R)D – N British version of ‘heard’ |
| 23 | E,(U)CAINE |
| 25 | EME,E.R. – eme is an old word for uncle |
| 28 | GIVE,CHASE – chase3 turns out to be a groove inter alia |
| 29 | PARA,C.,ENTESIS = (it’s seen)* – a fluid-removing process |
| 30 | S,TYE=an inclined trough for washing ore, or to wash ore in one. |
| Down | |
| 2 | HIEROGRAMMAT = (I’m Harrogate M)* – a sacred scribe |
| 3 | A,THOS. – Mt. A is the men-only place with all the monasteries. |
| 4 | THI(n)G |
| 5 | ISOGAM=(imagos)*,O.,U.S. |
| 6 | ICT(ER)US – guessed wrong at ITCUMUS |
| 8 | ELL,IPSOID=(is iPod)* |
| 9 | ‘S,ELF,HYP,NO,SIS. elf = mischeivous creature = rogue, hyp = hip2 = to offend, sis2 = an Afrikaans expr. of contempt. |
| 10 | OST,YAK |
| 13 | DUN,DREARY = like Lord Dundreary in Tom Taylor’s Our American Cousin – who was a lisping brainless dandy, apparently. |
| 19 | R.U.,BRICS=”bricks”=good chaps |
| 20 | CH(E)OPS – the pharaoh for whom the Great Pyramid was built (a.k.a. Khufu) |
| 24 | ASHE,N – Arthur Ashe beat Jimmy Connors in a famous upset in the 1975 Wimbledon final, and in the quarter-finals, was the last person to beat Bjorn Borg at Wimbledon until McEnroe in the 1981 final. |
| 26 | OCT,A = opposite of “a., Oct.” = a month |
| 27 | K,ESH=(he’s)* – the uncut hair and beard traditional in Sikhism. |
I needed Chambers for 13d, wasn’t familiar with the literature. Obscure scientific terms are my forte, so most of this wasn’t too bad.