Like today’s 2570 I felt this was a better puzzle than some of late with a normal sprinkling of starter clues and a number of reasonably difficult ones. Interesting to see PALFRENIER appear so soon after being the subject of AZED’s clue setting competition. The definition “groom” gave me the answer straight away! I thought it a pity that Mike Laws passed over the opportunity to acknowledge Ada Lovelace (the inventor of computer programming) at 12A. I have not been able to quite sort out the wordplay at 15A so all help cheerfully accepted.
For new solvers (C) = Chambers used to verify part of a clue (S) = starter clue (see memories/solving tips at the top of the page)
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | FALSE,START – (faster last)*; the most famous must be the 1993 Grand National ; |
| 11 | ODEA – OD(E)A; ODA=room in harem; E=European; plural of “odeon”. The saturday morning pictures for we the rougher element were held in the utility Regal cinema rather than the posher Odeon; C; |
| 12 | CHILLADA – CHILL-ADA: Mexican food or a comment upon Ms Lovelace’s demeanour; C; |
| 13 | BURWEED – BUR(WEE)D; little=WEE; BURD=old word for lady; a family of plants that includes burdock; C; |
| 14 | LAPEL – L(APE)L; notched, peaked or shawl design; S; |
| 15 | BABY,BEEF – BA(BY-BEE)F I think; gathering=BEE; marvellous=FAB; calves fattened for slaughter; I can’t quite get the hang of the wordplay; |
| 16 | ITALY – I=Italy; and see 20D; |
| 19 | DETACH – DE(b)T-A-CH; obligation=debt; b=bishop; chaplain=CH; S; |
| 21 | TROUPE – TRO(U)PE; uniform=U; TROPE=irony; the Wallendas perhaps; |
| 22 | ERODED – (h)E(ROD)ED; notice=heed; along the coast from me West Sussex has major problems with sea erosion; |
| 24 | MORMON – MOR(M)ON; Mike=M (phoenetic alphabet); the Utah clan of Brigham Young out of Joseph Smith much admired by Ronald Reagan that boasts Butch Cassidy as a previous member; S; |
| 26 | GARNI – (IN-RAG) all reversed; posh name for limp lettuce and dried up cucumber; S; |
| 28 | MACHISMO – hidden (sto)MACH IS MO(stly); reference to King Henry VIII presumably; S; |
| 30 | ALAAP – A-LA-AP; A LA French for “in the style of”; AP=apparently; curry house music; C; |
| 31 | SEMINAR – SE(MIN)AR; dry up=SEAR; minister=MIN; unwarranted day off for bored managers; |
| 32 | IGNORANT – I-G(NO)RANT; NO=Japanese drama; those living in bliss we hear; |
| 33 | NOIL – (LION=celebrity reversed); combed wool; C; |
| 34 | A,L’OUTRANCE – ALOU(d)-TRANCE; audibly=aloud; fight to the death as in David and Goliath but not the younger William Pitt and his political contemporary George Tierney; |
| Down | |
| 2 | ADULTERY – A(DU-LT)ERY; of the French=DU; Lieutenant=LT; AERY=visionary; Anna (Meryl Streep) and Mike (Jeremy Irons) in The French Lieutenant’s Woman; |
| 3 | LERNA – be informed=LEARN then move the A to give LERNA; mythological swamp chez Hydra; C; |
| 4 | SAWBLADE – (was able +d=daughter)*; S; |
| 5 | SHEATH – S(HEAT)H; keep quiet=SH; trouble=HEAT a la Jimmy Cagney; S; |
| 6 | TIDBIT – (DIT reversed)-BIT; lyrics=DIT; C; |
| 7 | ALLYL – ALLY-L; an alkene hydrocarbon such as allyl alcohol; S; C; |
| 8 | TAPETUM – TAPE-TUM; record=TAPE; corporation=TUM; the layer of eye tissue in animals that makes their eyes appear to shine at David Attenborough at night; C; |
| 9 | IDEE – I(n)-DEE(d); n=name; d=date; |
| 10 | PALFRENIER – (FLAP reversed)-REN(t=time)IER; a horse groom and no other type of groom according to AZED; C; |
| 13 | BRIDESMAID – BR(IDES-M)AID; BRAID=old word for start; special date=IDES; month=M; C; |
| 17 | FORAMINA – FORA-(A-NIM reversed); meetings=FORA (plural forum); amateur=A; game=NIM; small holes; C; |
| 18 | SPONDAIC – S(POND)AIC; sailing vessel=SAIC; Atlantic=pond; feet as in English poetry, favoured by Tennyson for example; C; |
| 20 | TOSCANA – (SOT reversed)-CANA (a place of uncertain location where according to Christian belief the allegorical transformation of water into wine occurred); TOSCANA is Tuskany, the Florentine area of Italy; this clue supports the solution to 16A; S; |
| 23 | DESSAU – (U(AS)SED all reversed); heavily bombed town of East Germany situated where the Mulde joins the Elbe; |
| 24 | MOMENT – two meanings 1=second 2=importance; S; |
| 25 | CIPRO – CI-PRO; CI=Ivory Coast; far better known as the station on the Rome Metro for the Vatican Museum; S; |
| 27 | RUN,ON – RU(NO)N; number=NO; series=RUN; |
| 29 | ALGA – hidden word (am)ALGA(m); ore=seaweed=ALGA; S; |
I didn’t get time to solve the puzzle myself last week, but I can’t resist the challenge of trying to figure out some tough wordplay. 🙂