A pleasant puzzle of about average difficulty. The clue to 28 Down was unfortunately missing both from the paper and on line. I contacted Mike Laws who promptly supplied me and others with the clue, which appeared on the blog for M2577, in the daily blogs and is reproduced here. Mike has contacted the Times and suggested that competition entries should be accepted with either (a) a blank square at 28D or (b) any proper word that fits the checkers.
I want to comment on 25A where I felt a golden opportunity was missed to refer to those two scientific pioneers Marie and Pierre Curie. The clue as presented is both easy and perhaps a little dull. Something along the lines of “Perhaps Madam Curie has Pierre next to her at last” would I suggest have been both more interesting and introduced a little science to balance the at times overworked Greek references.
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 | CHAMPERS – CHAM-PERS(on); old autocrat=CHAM; individual=person and remove “on”=working; Hooray Henry’s hooch; C; |
| 7 | TAHR – alternate letters: T(e)A(c)H(e)R; a beardless goat – Hariden Harpieperson perhaps; S; C; |
| 10 | GRASS,WIDOW – GR(ASS-WID(e))OW; astute=wide as in “wide boy”; a corruption of “grace widow” meaning a woman divorced by grace and favour of the Pope and thus not a widow by death; easy definition; S; |
| 11 | T-SHIRT – TSHI-RT; African dialect=Twi=TSHI; top is the definition; C; |
| 12 | REDOWA – R(hapsody)-E(DO)WA; wonder=awe then reverse; ditto=DO; a Czech waltz involving leaping and turning made easier by consumption of 1A; C; |
| 14 | THAW – two meanings 1=become warmer; 2=reference fine actor John Thaw CBE (1942-2002) aka DI Regan, Inspector Morse, Kavanagh QC etc.; S; |
| 16 | ABSIT – A(BS)IT; island=AIT; The Bahamas=BS; leave of absence for one night; |
| 17 | EMPTIED – E-MP-TIED; drawn=scores finished level=TIED; |
| 18 | MOTORCADE – MO(TORC-A)DE; way=MODE; band=torque=TORC; much used by French farmers and US Presidents; |
| 20 | TORTRICES – TORT-RICES; wrong=TORT; types of grass=RICES; the leaf roller moth; C; |
| 23 | EWE-NECK – EWE sounds like “you”; audacity=NECK; Arab=horse; a horse’s neck that curves up rather than down; S; |
| 25 | MARIE – MARI-E; Marie et Pierre Curie sans doute; S; |
| 27 | AMLA – ALMA=in essence, reversed; an Indian tree; C; |
| 29 | OSIRIS – O(SIR)IS; gentleman=SIR; cry for attention=OI; Egyptian god of the dead; |
| 30 | INFALL – IN(F)ALL; to sum up=IN ALL: “traffic” essentially=F; an inlet or junction; C; |
| 31 | POTBELLIED – POT-BE(L)IED; large stake=POT; contradicted=BELIED; left=L; George Clooney’s Max the Star, no doubt; |
| 32 | ELEA – EL(E)A; high note=ELA; Italian home of pre-Socratic philosophers such as Parmenides; C; |
| 33 | SALEYARD – S(ALE)YARD; carts=DRAYS then reverse; saleyard operators are the hub of the Oz livestock industry; S; |
| Down | |
| 1 | COTT – C-OTT; caught=C; S; |
| 2 | HASH,BROWNS – H(ASH-BROW)NS; remains=ASH; edge=BROW; NHS having cooked=HNS; poor man’s bubble and squeak or metathesis of the description of the sale of some gold; |
| 3 | AGHAST – AGHA-ST; “keep quiet”=ST; |
| 4 | PARITOR – PA(riot)*R; norm=PAR (golf); Shakespearean word for apparitor, an officer of court. Not sure about “role” unless there’s a character called Paritor?; C; |
| 5 | ESTHETICS – (itches + set)*; used to appreciate Andy Warhol no doubt; S; |
| 6 | SWEEP – PE(E)WS all reversed; to row with sweeps; C; |
| 7 | TIDY – two meanings 1=dialect (local) for plump 2=orderly; C; |
| 8 | ADONIA – A-DON-(AI reversed); amateur=A; fellow=DON; sloth=ai; Greek women’s festival of Aphrodite; C; |
| 9 | RWANDESE – (swan + deer)*; endangered=anagrind; S; |
| 13 | WEEDKILLER – (Kew relied)* containing L(awn); on spraying=anagrind; |
| 15 | SMOCKMILL – S(MOCK-M(ine))ILL; deride=MOCK; bed of rock=SILL; distinctively shaped windmill. There’s one still working at Cranbrook in Kent; C; |
| 16 | ANTELOPE – ANT-ELOPE; S; |
| 19 | REMANIE – (marine)*-E(xpedition); a fossil; C; |
| 21 | REBITE – RE(BIT)E; wading bird=REE; a new application of acid to an engraving plate; C; |
| 22 | ARMADA – ARM-ADA; S; |
| 24 | EXIES – (sex)* surrounds IE=that’s; what will happen in a certain Kirkcaldy constituency after the next election? ; C; |
| 26 | ARBA – hidden b(ARBA)rians; C; |
| 28 | ALOD – A(LO)D; the clue that was missing from the paper was “Look into publicity for old estate”; see “allodium” in C; |
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