Following on from two consecutive difficult puzzles this one was quite easy. Apart from being three words rather that two, the key clue 1A was simple as were 9D,10D and 31A both in terms of wordplay and being everyday phrases. Neither 3D nor 14D were difficult and whilst newer solvers may have had to look up rather more in Chambers I hardly needed it to complete the puzzle. To some extent, the Teutonic flavour from last week spilled over into this one too.
For new solvers (C) = Chambers used to verify part of a clue. I have not marked the starter clues, there being too many of them.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | OVER,THE,MOON – OVERT-HEM-OON; three words not two; OON=oven in Inverness=Scottish baker; antonym of “sick as a parrot”; |
| 10 | OISE – (p)OISE; a department of France 60km north of Paris in Picardie next to Somme; |
| 11 | XYSTOI – (sixty+o)*; love=o; tree planted walks (see xystus in (C)); difficult anagram, wonderful word; |
| 12 | MINNESANG – MI-(annes)*-NG; Liebeslieder – “sie liebt dich” vielleicht (see Minnesinger in (C)); |
| 13 | TERRAIN – RET reversed-RAIN; RET=soak; recurrent is the reversal indicator; |
| 15 | SLANT – two meanings; 1=SLANT-1=chance; 2=SLANT-2=a breeze; (C); |
| 16 | ALECOST – ALEC-OST; reference “smart alec”; OST=East in German; the costmary plant used to flavour Fassbier; |
| 18 | REBLOOM – R(E-BL)OOM; scope=ROOM; BL=LB reversed=pound (weight); |
| 21 | DIGICAM – DIG-I-CAM; DIG=understand; I=symbol for electric current as in Ohm’s Law I=V/R; CAM=punters river with wonderful views of Kings College Chapel, Cambridge; |
| 23 | EVERAGE – (l)EVERAGE; reference Dame Edna EVERAGE which, according to Wiki, is the stage name of a drag artist called Barry Humphries, Sydney’s Danny La Rue; |
| 25 | RIPON – RIP-ON; RIP-5=a handful of Motherwell grass; ON=getting drunk; a North Yorkshire city that boasts a cathedral and a racecourse to satisfy both God and Mammon; (C); |
| 27 | ARCTOID – AR-C(TO)ID; TO=before; AR=Arab; CID=a chief; bear-like (wife in a mood rather than falling stock markets); (C); |
| 28 | EPICLESES – EPIC-LES(E)S; minor=LESS; E=ecstasy (drug); Eastern Church invocation;(C); |
| 29 | FALCON – FA(L-CO)N; large family of hunting birds, the Peregrine being the fastest creature on earth; |
| 30 | SNED – reverse DENS; to prune; (C); |
| 31 | SNOWED,UNDER – S(NOW-ED)UNDER: part=SUNDER; ED=editor; |
| Down | |
| 2 | VILELY – VI(m)-LELY; reference Pieter van der Faes aka Sir Peter LELY 1618-1680, naturalised in 1662 he painted portraits of all the best people including the famous “warts and all” one of Cromwell; |
| 3 | ESTRANGED – E(grants)*ED; DEE=river either in Scotland or Wales/England to suit your taste; |
| 4 | TRIATIC – sounds like “try Attic”; Attic=refined; a stay rope on a ship; (C); |
| 5 | HONIARA – HO(NIA)RA(l); horal=hourly; NIA=AIN reversed=own in Fort William; capital of the Solomon Islands; |
| 6 | MY,EYE – M-YE-YE; M=mark (you guessed it, old German currency); |
| 7 | OSSICLE – OSSI(C-L)E; L=50 (Roman); OSSICLE=a small bone such as the malleus aka the hammer; (C); |
| 8 | NO-NO – NO(w)-NO(w); |
| 9 | RIGHTMINDED – power=MIGHT; RINDED=old word for barking (ignore the capital); then swap the leading letters; (C); |
| 10 | OUTSIDE,LEFT – OUT-SIDE-LEFT; dismissed=OUT (cricket); team=SIDE; went=LEFT; an outmoded position in a football team graced by Cliff Bastin in the famous 1930s Arsenal side that my father raved about; |
| 14 | FOOTPOUND – FOOT-POUND; pay=FOOT (the bill); a quid=a POUND (sterling); old fashioned unit of work and torque equal to approximately 1.4 joules; |
| 17 | SIROCCO – SIR-OC-CO; wind (breeze as distinct from bend or burp) is the definition; |
| 19 | EMERSED – E-MER-SED; E=European; MER=French sea; SED=Milton’s said; rising above the surface; (C); |
| 20 | BERCEAU – B-(w)ERC-EAU; CREW=gang; BEAU=lover; a cradle; (C); |
| 22 | VOIDEE – (video+e)*; E=Spain; a supper of wine and light food; (C); |
| 24 | ALLOW – (c)ALLOW; |
| 26 | UPAS – UP-AS; success=UP; AS=when; a poison in the latex of the upas tree; |
At 8dn my first thought was T(her)E T(her)E but TETE didn’t quite work!
At 12ac I could see the anagram (MING and ANNES) but need most of the checking letters to get it – spent too much time looking for an ING ending.
Despite living in Australia it took me a while to cotton on to Barry Humphries at 23 even with the checking letters. Although Humphries is now best known for his Edna Everage character it’s a bit unfair to dismiss him as an antipodean Danny la Rue. I remember his association with Jonathan Cook et al and “The Adventures of Barry McKenzie” in Private Eye in the 60’s which introduced supposed Australian slang to the British public.
I though this was a fun and quite manageable puzzle.