I thought this reasonably difficult with quite a small number of starter clues and even then some needed Chambers to verify a word derived from an easy wordplay. As it appeared on the same day as an AZED playfair the time devoted to crosswords last Sunday gave rise to wifely comments some of you may be familiar with. Today’s is thankfully rather easier!
Two clues in particular held me up in this puzzle.
With EDDOES I had E?DOE? and reasoned it was “does” at the end (provides and roots). I quickly got EDDOES from C but then puzzled for quite a while over how “ed” meant “short rich guard”. After I’d exhausted everything else I suddenly realised “Ed” is short for Edward!
With REAL ALE looking at R?AL?LE I saw “sup” as the definition and royal=REAL so it had to be “ale” but how did that equate to “still scratching marks with pen”. So I listed the words vertically in a column, which separated out “still” and “scratching” from “marks”. Realising “scratching” meant “withdrawing” I derived the word “ale-m-bic” to mean “still” looked it up and there it was!
For new solvers (C) = Chambers needed to verify part of a clue (S) = starter clue (see memories/solving tips at the top of the page)
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 2 | WHITECHAPEL – WHITE-CHAPE-L; upright=WHITE; spike=CHAPE; the area of central London where William Booth started the Salvation Army to help mitigate Dickensian poverty and where Jack The Ripper vented his spleen; C; |
| 10 | MENORAH – M(ENOR-mous)AH; bad (rather than mad?) actor=HAM; the Jewish ceremonial candelabrum; C; |
| 12 | BARDY – the man in the black hat shooting at Roy Rogers was a “baddy” then change “r” to “d”; impudent in Inverness; C; |
| 13 | RED,TIDE – RED-TIDE; clear up=RED; happen=TIDE; easy definition – explosive growth in plankton as seen off Florida for example; S; |
| 15 | PERAEON – PER-AEON; an=a=PER; eternity=AEON; member=a body part=PERAEON; C; |
| 16 | SALSA – SAL-S-A; part of crust=sial=SAL; S(often); a Mexican spicy sauce; C; |
| 18 | OWSEN – WO reversed-SEN; with out=W/O; coin=SEN; easy definition for me – neat=oxen=OWSEN in Oban; C; |
| 19 | STAMNOI – ST-(Omani)*; quiet!=ST!; Greek jars; C; |
| 22 | PLEURAL – (“all purpose” without “ops”)*; membrane associated with the lungs; S; |
| 23 | EPHAS – EP-HAS; good snogging record=extended play=EP; keeps=HAS; Hebrew measure; C; |
| 24 | DAIKO – DAI-OK reversed; little Dafydd=DAI; certainly=OK; drum=taiko=DAIKO; C; |
| 25 | NARDOOS – N(A-RD)OOS; before long=SOON reversed; clover-like ferns that grow in swamps; S; C; |
| 28 | TRAUMAS – SAM-U-ART all reversed; together poetically=SAM; united=U; article=ART; C; |
| 29 | SKELF – S(K)ELF; potassium=K; very (adjective)=SELF; anorexic from Tyne Side; C; |
| 30 | REAL,ALE – REAL-ALE(m-bic); royal=REAL; still=alembic then remove (scratch) m=marks and bic=pen; I well recall the introduction of the truly awful Watney’s Red Barrel followed by the creation of CAMRA that saved real bitter. What a shame that the youngsters all drink lager!; C; |
| 31 | THE,OLD,ENEMY – (hey let demon)*; slang term for the Devil or the Prime Minister’s name for Peter Mandelson; S; |
| Down | |
| 1 | EMBOSSMENTS – EM-BOSS-MENT-S; small unit=EM; implied=meant, which sounds like MENT; special=S; mushroom management? C; |
| 2 | WEAN – two meanings WEAN-1=go without; WEAN-2=a child in Cowdenbeath; |
| 3 | IODISMS – IO-DIS-M-S; cries of grief=IOS; Hell=DIS; iodine poisoning; S; |
| 4 | TRYPANOSOMAL – (army platoons)*; full=slang for drunk=anagrind; parasites; C; |
| 5 | CHEERILY – CH-EER(I-L)Y; check=CH (chess); weird=EERY; S; |
| 6 | HYDROMEDUSAN – (shuddery moan)*; a hydrozoan; C; |
| 7 | ACTA – A-CT-A; court=CT; about=A; last in Halacha=A; official minutes; C; |
| 8 | PRIESTRID – (dire trips)*; see lack-1 in C where Sir John Lack-Latin is defined as an ignorant priest; |
| 9 | EDDOES – ED-DOES; ED is short for Edward=rich guard (see names section of C); provides=DOES; tubers; |
| 11 | PENNY,LOAFER – PENN(Y-LOAF)E-R; plates (of meat)=feet; pasta=PENNE; unknown=Y; lump=LOAF; casual slip on shoe; |
| 14 | CLATHRATE – C(LATH)RATE; a lattice; C; S; |
| 17 | MOPBOARD – MO(PB-OAR)D; lead (metal)=PB; one of crew=OAR; fashionable=MOD; skirting-board in Seattle; C; S; |
| 20 | QUACKLE – QUA(CK)LE; a property=a quality=QUALE; to behave like a duck (or software that plays Scrabble); C; |
| 21 | SPARTH – SPAR-TH(e); argue=SPAR; old battle-axe (weapon rather than La Thatcher); C; S; |
| 26 | DURO – O-RUD all reversed; greens=money=peso=DURO; ordinary=O; complexion=RUD; C; |
| 27 | ALLY – ALL-(bu)Y(in); S; |
Just one thing – at 13ac how is clear up=red? I can’t see any connection in C.
Also my iPod Chambers doesn’t have a names section so I has a QM against the Ed part of eddoes.
Other queries were at 15a where I missed the per/a/an connection and 7d (didn’t know that about could be A).
Still, the run of completed puzzles since I started doing these in anger continues.
I wasn’t happy about ‘drapery’ in the clue to EPHAS: admittedly C leads there via the entry for ‘dry goods’, it didn’t seem to be the sort of thing sold by volume. However, Paul has reassured me by pointing to the OED entry showing that ‘drapery’ has been used in wider terms than the Chambers definition.