This one was a fast start and a very very slow finish. One of the words was well-hidden, not only in the clue, but in the wordplay as well. This puzzle did include a clue that stunned me in its condstuction, if I was a hat-wearing man I’d doff it to you, Tim Moorey for the brilliance that was 9d.
The rest of the puzzle was a tricky mix of Jewish, Scot and scat.
(Edit – thanks linxit for pointing out my errors and wordplay slip below)
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | CRAP,PITHEAD – A haddock’s head stuffed with a mixture of oatmeal, suet, onions and pepper, definition hidden in the second definition of “crap” in Chambers. |
| 11 | ANTI,QUE – QUE being the postal abbreviation for Quebec province. |
| 13 | OP,T(unnel)S |
| 16 | T,TART,ASS – Worried about this until I could get to a reliable computer, used to seeing this as just TASS, however the full name for the Russian News Agency is ITAR-TASS |
| 17 | (t)ERRORIST – why did I think of the current U.S. President while solving this? |
| 19 | STENT – SPENT with T instead of P. |
| 20 | TENONER – (TEN,POUNDER – PUD)*. A device for making chips off wood, I’d say this qualifies as an &lit |
| 21 | SABELLA – ALAS backwards around BEL. A tube-building seaworm |
| 25 | P(L)AST – Spenserian form of PLACE |
| 27 | CORBETTS – thanks, linxit, I had originally put CORSETTS here, fitting an anagram of SCOT+SET with R inside. But I was undone, it is CORBETTS |
| 30 | S(w)EEP |
| 33 | NAPLE(S)S – meaning without a hat. This came fairly easily, there was some controversy over a radio host using the similar “nappy-headed” as an insult |
| 32 | (s)HELL,(d)O – nicely put-together clue |
| 35 | SHITTAH TREE – Hebrew term for acacia, found in Chambers under the definition for “shittim”. |
| Down | |
| 1 | DIATESSARONS – anagram of SENT ROSA in SAID<=. This took a long time, it means a medicine containing four ingredients. |
| 2 | CAVORT – V in (ACTOR)* |
| 4 | PI,PI – these pods are apparently used in tanning |
| 5 | PAS,TIT – cute |
| 6 | INCASE – AS in (NICE)*, an alternative spelling of ENCASE |
| 8 | A,US(SI)E – I have the inside run on Antipodean clues |
| 9 | DESSERTSPOON – (NO,OP,STRESSED)=> that’s a terrific reverse construction. Junket as a dessert is a second unpleasant foodstuff for the crossword, but I’ll overlook it with the great wordplay. |
| 12 | FOREBEAR – not sure of the wordplay here. Edit – linxit again, anagram of BEFORE,A,R |
| 14 | TAN,NATES(=Latin for buttocks) – organic salts based on tannic acid deprotonates |
| 18 | MOLES,TER(n) – maybe a touch more than annoying |
| 22 | AKEDAH – had to google this for the definition, wordplay was pretty straightforward |
| 23 | L(OUIS)A |
| 24 | ARRIS,H – a stubble field |
| 28 | (f)ECHT – FECHT being a Scots form of fight or fighter. |
Wordplay is R,BET inside SCOT*, with fit as the anagram indicator.