A very enjoyable puzzle, considerably harder than the AZED published on the same day. It would hopefully appear that this puzzle has now returned to an appropriate level of difficulty. I made steady but quite hard fought progress through a number of good clues finishing in the NW corner which I thought was testing.
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 | SITFAST – (ITS reversed)-FAST; rash=FAST; nice use of “recurrent” and “rash”; a lump caused by saddle rub; C; |
| 7 | YOGA – AGO-Y all reversed; S; |
| 11 | KNOUT – sounds like “nowt”; horrific Russian whip. The phrase “under the knout” developed into “under the whip” which in turn produced The Whip’s Office; C; |
| 12 | UTTERER – (m)UTTERER; |
| 13 | EPOCH-MARKING – T=time; (“tenor might pack” without the two “t”)*; up=anagrind; definition=famously weighty (event)=publication of Origin of The Species, perhaps; nice clue; |
| 16 | ECRU – (so)URCE reversed; head=source; greyish white; |
| 17 | PERFORANS – PER-FOR-ANS(wer); a=PER; “quick” answer=ANS; digital=of fingers and toes; the muscles of the fingers and toes; I liked “digital component”; C; |
| 20 | POSIGRADE – POS-I-GRADE; chambers=POS; stage=GRADE; rocket used to control attitude (of spacecraft rather than husband); C; |
| 23 | HOMESTALL – HOME-STALL: in=HOME; old farmyard from Homestall Farm, Peckham, SE London; C; |
| 25 | WEASEL,CAT – WEASEL(CA)T; (east + wel(l)=well almost)* surrounds ca=about; the Jaguarondi; |
| 27 | IN,SE – INSE(ct); cricket say=insect; caught=ct; Latin for “in itself”; C; |
| 31 | MICKEY-TAKING – one=I; top of stocking=S; (“I may get knicks” without “s”)*; pulling leg is definition; Catch-22, Dr Strangelove, etc.; excellent clue; |
| 32 | SPORRAN – SPOR(t)-R(A)N; showing off = sport, then timeless=SPOR; one=A; centre of Perth=R and of Banff=N; where a Scot keeps money. The Dress Sporran is the most ornate whilst the Piper’s Sporran has long horsehairs attached to it; |
| 33 | JELLO – J-(h)ELLO; Jack=J (cards); American version of jelly (originally a trademark Jell-O); S; |
| 34 | AS,TO – ASTO(r); referency Nancy Astor 1879-1964 the first woman MP who famously said to Winnie “If you were my husband I’d poison your tea” to which the riposte was “If you were my wife, I’d drink it”; “about” is the definition; |
| 35 | DARRAYN – D-ARRAY-N; had=’D; arrangement=ARRAY; knight=N (chess); old word for claim; C; |
| Down | |
| 1 | SKELP – SKE(L)P; wicker basket=SKEP; to slap in Durham; C; |
| 2 | IN,PLENO – IN-PL-(ONE reversed); place=PL; drink=ONE; Latin for in full; C; |
| 3 | TOOM – TOO-M; very=TOO; M=little money; a refuse tip; C; |
| 4 | FUCI – (finest+FUCI)* gives “sufficient”; Cleopatra’s war paint; C; |
| 5 | SUMY – SUM-Y; see sum-2 in C; S; |
| 6 | STRANGLER – STRANG(L)ER; after Jack the Ripper two weeks ago today we have Albert DeSalvo; S; |
| 8 | ORICHALC – (carol)* surrounds ICH=I as in “Ich bin ein Berliner” (I am a jelly doughnut); brass (metal); C; |
| 9 | GENRO – GEN-R-O; information=GEN; Japanese Elder Statesmen from 1890 to 1940; S; |
| 10 | ARGUSES – A-RG-USES; RG=Republic of Guinea; vigilant guards from the mythical Argus who had 100 eyes that survive in the peacock’s tail; C; |
| 14 | GOOSEHERD – GOOSE-sounds like “heard”; fool=GOOSE; caught=heard; one who herds geese – back to The Whips Office?; C; |
| 15 | NAIA – N-AIA; noon=N; nursemaid=AIA; the cobra genus; |
| 18 | ROME-SCOT – R-(comes)*-OT(e); Peter’s Pence, a fee of one penny per household paid to The Pope. It was stopped during The Reformation but still continues in the Roman Catholic Church; C; |
| 19 | THRIMSA – TH(e)-RIMS-A; are=A; Anglo-Saxon gold coin; C; |
| 21 | STAW – S(T)AW; T=tiger’s head; a surfeit in Glasgow; S; |
| 22 | DEARNLY – DEAR(N)LY; see dern-2 in C; |
| 24 | SNIPS – two meanings 1=slang for vasectomy; 2=slang for tailors; S; |
| 26 | TIGON – T(h)I(n)G (b)O(r)N; a tiger-lion cross; S; |
| 28 | ETNA – ANTE reversed; S; |
| 29 | SKER – (we)SKER; reference Arnold Wesker of kitchen sink fame; search the Cairngorms; |
| 30 | ZILA – love=zero=zilch then replace ch-child by a=adult; an Indian administrative district in what is now Pakistan; C; |
I found 15dn frustrating – I knew naga for the cobra and amah (or nana) for the nursemaid – unfortunately what was required was different forms of the words!
(Just one typo in the blog by the way – 13ac is EPOCH-MARKING)
Indian administrative district, I understand, but not ‘in what is now Pakistan’. Unless you mean it is an Urdu term.
There are variant spellings: zillah, zilla and jilla (as the people in southern India might say). In fact, the se spellings (with double ‘l’) are more popular.
In my memory I have used the word ‘jilla’ and have seen it in print, but now it is no longer fashionable. Dravidian political parties in south India trying to preserve their vote banks tend to change Hindustani/Urdu terms to ‘pure Tamil’ terms and thus jilla is now ‘mavattam’ (literally ‘big circle’) – a word which we won’t have in C or crosswords.