Whilst not in the too easy category this is not particularly difficult and is in my opinion ideal for new solvers of grid puzzles. There are a number of well placed clues to get one started and these then help enormously with the more obscure words and harder clues. Having had a dig at Mike Laws the other week in 2569 about Ada Lovelace I was very pleased to see Maria Agnesi feature but annoyed with myself for not being able to untangle the wordplay. All suggestions gratefully received.
For new solvers (C) = Chambers used to verify part of a clue
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | QUARTERSTAFF – QUARTERS-TAFF; billet=QUARTERS; river=TAFF (famous Welsh river); an old weapon; |
| 10 | INOSITOL – (oil is not)*; a lipid; C; |
| 12 | ETHICS – ET(HI)C-S; moral philosophy; |
| 13 | QUETTA – QU(i)ET-TA; TA=Territorial Army; the Fruit Garden of Pakistan; |
| 14 | EILAT – TAL(I)E all reversed; Red sea Israeli port on the Gulf of Eilat; |
| 15 | BURAN – (A RUB reversed)-N; Hamlet’s difficulty=A RUB; Siberian blizzard or Russian space shuttle; C; |
| 16 | LANATE – L(AN)ATE – woolly; |
| 18 | CAREME – CAR-EME; old uncle=EME; the Christian fast of Lent as observed by La Loire; C; |
| 20 | TIPTOE – TI(PTO)E; through the tulips, perhaps; |
| 21 | OGAMIC – O-GAM-I-C; Old=O; school (of whales)=GAM; college=C; of the 20 characters of the Celtic Tree Alphabet; C; |
| 24 | GLYCOL – hidden (strag)GLY COL(lege); an intermediate compound between GLY-cerine and alco-HOL; |
| 27 | HELLAS – H-(SALLE reversed); Henry=H (physics); hall=SALLE; |
| 29 | SYNOD – S(a)Y-(DON reversed); religious talking shop; |
| 30 | RICER – RIC(h)ER; hotel=h (phonetic alphabet);a type of kitchen sieve; |
| 31 | OPENER – O(PE)NE-R; joke=ONE; my grandfather used to rave about The Master ; |
| 32 | ALTHEA – ALT-HEA(d); high tone=alto=ALT; wholesome (see names section at the back of C) of whom the best known was probably this ground breaker ; C; |
| 33 | RESOLUTE – (LOSER reversed)-UTE; |
| 34 | THIRDBOROUGH – (broth I’d)*-ROUGH; an under-constable of a tithing; C; |
| Down | |
| 1 | QUEEN,CONSORT – QUEEN-CON-SORT; piece=QUEEN (chess); CON-4=direct; manner=SORT; Anne=Princess Anne, the Queen’s daughter,whose grandmother was Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (1900-2002), Queen Consort to King George VI (also the last Empress Consort of India and Queen Consort of Ireland); |
| 2 | USTILAGO – US-(LIT reversed)-AGO; fungi used in research and eaten in Mexico; C; |
| 3 | ASHLAR – ASH-LAR; the god of a house=LAR; dressed stone; |
| 4 | RHIAN – (hair)*-N(aturally); a welsh maiden (another trip to the names section at the back of C); |
| 5 | ENSATE – EN(S)ATE; growing out=ENATE; square=S; sword shaped leaves as on the Yucca for example; C; |
| 6 | ROQUET – ROQUE(for)T; croquet shot; |
| 7 | TIE,UP – T(IE)UP; ram=TUP; |
| 8 | ATTRIT – (tart)*-IT; |
| 9 | FLANNELGRAPH – FLANNEL-GRAPH sounds like “Graf”=count (vielleicht Graf Max von Spee aber nicht Steffi); one of those boards they put monthly sales figures on to motivate the top performers and show up the slackers; |
| 11 | SUBTIL – SUB-TIL(l); sub-editor=SUB; old version of subtle; C; |
| 17 | GOOSE-EGG – GOO-(GEES reversed)-G(ling); a score of zero in the Yankee Stadium which equates to a duck in cricket; |
| 19 | MINDEL – MIND-EL; the second stage of Alpine glaciation; C; |
| 22 | AGNESI – when I read this clue I thought of Maria Agnesi but couldn’t see the wordplay. I was looking for an anagram of (w)ANTING but that doesn’t work. Checking letters confirm this genius but I still can’t see the wordplay! Is it AGNES-I in some way? |
| 23 | CHERUB – CHER-UB(40); CHER=American singer from Sonny and Cher; UB40=UK reggae band; |
| 24 | GELATO – (EG reversed)-(a lot)*; incomprable Italian icecream; |
| 25 | CACHOU – CA-CHOU; call in Aberdeen=CA’; pet=CHOU; chewing fennel seeds beats a pill; C; |
| 26 | DONOR – DO-NOR; party=DO; |
| 28 | LITHO – LIT-HO; short for lithograph, a print; |
Maria Agnesi was an interesting discovery. I had never heard of her. I can’t help with the wordplay though.
JamesM
Tom B.
Tom B.