I usually find that Tim Moorey pulls out obscure biological terminology, but this one just has a random assortment of obscure words. The right half was considerably easier than the left half, and there are a few words that remain tricky even with one unchecked letter.
| Across |
| 1 |
A,CROSS: “this venue” meaning one across |
| 5 |
FLY,SCH: easy enough to guess from wordplay – “A great Alpine mass of Cretaceous and Lower Tertiary sandstone with shales” according to Chambers |
| 9 |
ROMNEYAS: Plants named after Thomas Romney Robinson, double meaning with the Romney Marshes |
| 11 |
JERK,IN,HEAD: In the head being Navy talk for a W.C. |
| 18 |
FORD,O: my last entry |
| 19 |
ABELES: (BEAGLES – G)* |
| 20 |
GISMOS: SM(small) in GIOS (Northern creeks – found in Chambers under GEO) |
| 21 |
SALOOP: (POOL,AS)<=. Hot sassafras drink? I’ll pass. |
| 23 |
OU,RAR(e),I: If it’s ?URAR? it’s poison |
| 25 |
THIRL: THIRD with L replacing D. Another word learned from wordplay – it means to subject or to enslave |
| 27 |
EDDA: (ADDE(r))<= |
| 30 |
MATE(=fit),LASSES: MATE as in to form a union from here |
| 32 |
UN(d)ER,RING: I liked this clue a lot |
| 33 |
NIRLIE: I think the wordplay is LIE after (RIN= Scots form of RUN)<=. |
| 34 |
SABINE: I in (BEANS)* |
| |
| Down |
| 1 |
(m)ARCO: one of the bow strokes of a stringed instrument in music |
| 2 |
CO(pin)G: Took me longer than it should have, clever subtraction |
| 3 |
ONE,ILL: A U.S. Dramatist featured in both Mephisto and Listener in recent weeks |
| 4 |
SERAC: (CARES)<= |
| 6 |
YAHOOS: H,OO(balls) in (SAY)<= |
| 7 |
SHE,ARM,A,N: nifty construction |
| 8 |
HID,R(ome)O,SIS: RO is inside the HID and SIS |
| 10 |
PAN,DO,RES: Not too sure about the PAN/DIAL connection. Got this from the definition |
| 13 |
SUB,AHD,A.R.: AHD being (HAD)*. Defined helpfully in Chambers as “the governor of a subah” |
| 16 |
RASTAMAN: (NAM(e),A,TSAR)<= – nice long reversal |
| 17 |
SELICTAR: (ARTICLES)* – a Turkish sword-bearer |
| 22 |
OR,WELL |
| 24 |
REVERB: EVER in R,B. I liked this clue |
| 26 |
B,A,SRA: Ooooh, topical |
| 29 |
(w)EDGE |
| 31 |
AN(o)N: a starter clue to finish |
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