I found this relatively easy. For the second week running I wrote 1A straight in and followed it immediately with 6A and 1D. With both 3D and 16A easy to solve the top half was soon done. I opened up the bottom half with 21A, the obvious 24A, 27A and 32A. The rest followed in good order.
I have a slight query against “boats” as an anagrind at 21A and I’m not sure at 18D that “pass the bottle of smoke” means “eat dirt”. They both have connotations of acquiescence but in rather different usages.
For new solvers (C) = Chambers used to verify part of a clue. Too many starter clues to justify annotating them.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | DEJA,VU – (jude)* surrounds A and V; you have to experience this to comprehend it. Best summed up for me in the lyrics of Where or When by Rogers and Hart from the 1937 show Babes in Arms; |
| 6 | RECENT – REC-EN-T(ate); REC=recipe=take; EN=half an em=a short dash; modern is definition; |
| 11 | JAGHIRDAR – (grid rajah)*; Indian administrator of Government revenues arising from a tract of land; C; |
| 12 | OPUS – (oct)OPUS; octopus=influential person; oct=October; work is definition; |
| 13 | STORGE – STOR(a)GE; a=hint of “any”; how fathers feel about daughters but not their boyfriends; C; |
| 14 | DUDHEEN – DUD-HE(E)N; useless=DUD; faint-heart=HEN; E=ecstasy; a clay pipe, the pleasure of 17th and 18th Century well bred women, more usually known as a dudeen; C; |
| 16 | HEDGE-BORN – H-EDGE-BORN(e); H=husband; advantage=EDGE; borne-2=narrow minded; Andrew Carnegie perhaps; |
| 17 | NAMELY – (MAN reversed)-ELY; MAN=soldier=Tommy (Atkins); ELY=see-2=a cathedral city (a wrong definition according to some – and a bit of a give-away once you’ve seen that definition in C for the first time); an old word for especially; C; |
| 19 | TRAVIS – TR-A-VIS; TR=trustee; A=absolute; VIS=power; TRAVIS=treviss=a stall; C; |
| 21 | ABOARD – (bad)* surrounds OAR; boats=anagrind?; alongside is definition; |
| 24 | LARIAT – hidden word (burg)LAR I AT(tacked); Will Rogers prop; |
| 27 | KITTENISH – K-IT-TEN(t)-ISH; KISH=solid floating on molten iron; IT=Italian; tent=red wine; Bardot in “And God Created Women”; C; |
| 29 | ANLAGEN – AN-LAGEN(a); AN=one; lagena=old bottle; primordium; C; |
| 30 | OECIST – OE-CIST; OE=oy=grandchild in Thurso; CIST=tomb; the founder of a colony, say William Penn; C; |
| 31 | TONG – both two meanings 1=to manipulate in Seattle; 2=secret society; and TON-G where TON-2=fashion; |
| 32 | SMART,ALEC – S-MART-ALE-C(onfuse); MART=market; S=Sabbath; ALE=festival; Peter Mandelson?; |
| 33 | PENTYL – (plenty)*; about=anagrind; known as Amyl I think when I was at school; |
| 34 | EPARCH – E-PARCH; E=area’s third (letter); important Byzantine official in Constantinople; C; |
| Down | |
| 1 | DUODENA – (“undiagnosed” with “sign” removed)*; potentially ulcerous part of the small intestine; |
| 2 | EMPUSA – A-SUP-ME all reversed; a parasitic fungus; C; |
| 3 | JEU,DE,MOTS – définition cryptic je crois; un calembour; I learned my French in easy liaisons; |
| 4 | VAKEEL – V-A-KEEL; V=versus; KEEL=a longitudinal member; an Indian agent; C; |
| 5 | UGGED – U-(D-EGG reversed); U=film classification; D=deserted; EGG=mine; hated; C; |
| 7 | EITHER – (three)* contains “I”; |
| 8 | CROWBAR – C-ROW-BAR; See=C; bank=BAR; a jimmy riddle clue?; |
| 9 | NAGARI – NAG-ARI(d); the script used in Sanskrit; C; |
| 10 | TREEN – T-REEN; T=the; REEN=rhine=a ditch near Wells; Gordon Brown, perhaps; C; |
| 15 | MOVIEGOER – (moore)* surrounds VIE-G; being a sleepy one got Little Susie into trouble; |
| 18 | EAT,DIRT – (I ratted)*; “pass the bottle of smoke” is from Dickens Little Dorrit and meant to acquiesce in a lie (see bottle in C); EAT DIRT means to acquiesce in humiliation (see dirt in C); synonyms? |
| 20 | STENGAH – STEN-(HAG reversed); STEN=stend=bound in Ayr; HAG-3=to cut also in Ayr; a whisky and soda as served in the urbane surroundings of The Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club; C; |
| 22 | BIREME – time (in prison)=bird; replace “d”=daughter by “eme”=uncle to give BIREME, an old ship; |
| 23 | REASTY – REA(l)-STY; the bacon you forgot you had; |
| 25 | ASLEEP – AS-LEE-P; |
| 26 | AXENIC – AXE-NIC(e); nice=careless (ironic usage); not contaminated; |
| 27 | KNOSP – P(S)ONK reversed; PONK=smell; S=square; an unopened flower as an ornament; C; |
| 28 | INKLE – IN-K(ids)-L(ight)-E(ntertainment); a type of linen tape; C; |
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