A puzzle of average difficulty with the top half made easier by the clues for the first three across lights. I thought immediately of MARCHESA and verified that with MACS at 1D. My drugs training meant sugar and SCAG for heroin were both known to me and 10A is rather weak for a Mephisto. With the first two letters filled in the down clues 2 to 9 were that much easier. There were some nice clues and misleading devices that made it a pleasurable solve.
For new solvers (C) = Chambers used to verify part of a clue (S) = starter clue (see tips and tricks on this site). Care was needed at 9D where there are two possible answers gree-gree and gris-gris and only the checking letters to determine which is correct. 22A suggests a plural so run with gris-gris but remember there is an alternative. Also at 22A where the wordplay dictates thin-GAMY-jigs rather than thin-GUMA-jigs – so no solving just from the definition.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | MARCHESA – MARCHES-A(broad); Isabella D’Este of Mantua perhaps; (C); |
| 7 | SCAG – SC(r)AG; “scrag-1″=attack; SCAG=heroin=sugar (slang along with junk, snow, horse and smack etc); regular readers will know I love clues with more than one solution. How about BE(S)ET for this one?; |
| 10 | WHOLESALER – sounds like “whole sailor”; reference death of Captain Ahab; weak clue; (S); |
| 11 | CAROLYN – CAR-(only)*; a Golf is a type of Volkswagen; right=correct=anagrind; (S); |
| 13 | SPIK – kips reversed; kip=slang for sleep; a somewhat derogatory term I’ve only heard used in the US; |
| 14 | FUEROS – (“of course” with “co” removed)*; co=company=firm; out of hand=anagrind; the Constitution or Charter of Bizkaia and other Basque areas used to mean regional autonomy; nice clue; (C); |
| 15 | SAFECRACKING – SAFE-CRACKING; good=SAFE; CRACKING=very good; the trade of the peterman; |
| 18 | AGISTER – (m)AGISTER; magister=medieval don; an AGISTER was originally a collector of grazing fees (see “agist” in (C))but is now an administrator of The New Forset; |
| 20 | STASIMA – ST-ASI(M)A; hush=ST; M=mass; a Greek choral poem (see “stasis” in (C)); |
| 22 | THINGAMYJIGS – THIN(k)-GAMY-JIGS; GAMY=spirited; a symptom of a senior moment; |
| 23 | RULING – RU(ff)LING; |
| 26 | EAUS – sounds like several “o”=zero=nothing; streams, see EA in (C); |
| 28 | TITANIC – (intact + i)*; i=one; Harland and Wolff’s 46,000 ton “unsinkable” ship; easy but nice clue (S); |
| 29 | GREENSTONE – GREENS-TONE; reference to that “regular guy” Tony Blair (I can’t imagine how toffee-nosed Eden would have reacted to Tone); a vague term for nephrite; |
| 30 | IONA – hidden word (unfash)IONA(ble); small island by Mull where Scots kings such as Malcolm, Duncan and Gruoch Macbeth’s husband are buried; |
| 31 | SCANTIER – SCAN-TIER; (S) |
| Down | |
| 1 | MACS – scam reversed; more from old British Prime Ministers – the Harold Wilson legacy; |
| 2 | AGAPANTHUS – A-GAP-AN-THUS; one=AN; South African lily; |
| 3 | CHOKEYS – CHO(KEY)S(e); chose-2=legal term for a thing; college=slang for prison=CHOKEY; (C); |
| 4 | HOLS – HOLS(t); Gustav Holst 1874-1934; (S); |
| 5 | ELYTRA – ELY-TRA(t); TRAT=trattoria; dorsal plates in worms; nice clue; (C); |
| 6 | ASTUCITY – A-STU(d)-CITY; boss=STUD; |
| 7 | SAXE – (gras)S-AXE; not a truncated type of grass, as I thought at first; nicely misleading; |
| 8 | CLARITY – CLA(RIT)Y; well know poet Cassius CLAY who also boxed a bit; RIT=score on Iona; |
| 9 | GRISGRIS – GRIS-GRIS; GRIS=gree-2=old word for a step; an African charm; (C); |
| 12 | HONEY,GUIDE – H-ONE-(guy)*-IDE; a=ONE; HIDE=twitcher’s shelter; a bird that makes strange noises (not Amy Winehouse); |
| 15 | SASTRUGI – I-G-(h)URTS-AS all reversed; talk=GAS; H=hospital; flipping=reversal; ice ridges mentioned by Shackleton in The Heart of the Antarctic and our local greenkeeper; (C); |
| 16 | CHIGNONS – CHI-G-NO-N-S; CHIN=Chinese; S=Society; Athenian bun-style hairdo popular with factory girls in WW2; |
| 17 | MAILMEN – hidden word (e)MAIL ME N(o); nice definition; (S); |
| 19 | SEJEANT – SE(J)E-ANT; J=Judge; ANT=worker; heraldic term for an animal such as a lion sitting upright; (C) |
| 21 | ARMITA – AM-RITA; Hindu equivalent of Guinness from the Liffey; |
| 24 | IDEA – “aide” with “a” moved from front to back; (S); |
| 25 | ETON – (g)ET-ON; (S); |
| 27 | SCUR – RUC’S reversed; RUC=Royal Ulster Constabulary; SCUR=skirr=Scots (=Leith) for search; |
But I enjoyed the rest!