Another interesting puzzle of average level of difficulty. It pays to spend a little time solving 1A because that opens up the whole grid. As it happens I saw the anagram immediately and quickly had the answer to a nice clue. I suspect a little padding at 14A. About 45 minutes to solve.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | WATERMANSHIP – (“what men as pair” lacking “a”=are briefly)*; nice clue; |
| 9 | RISPETTI – RIS(PET)TI – (IT SIR all reversed) around PET=favourite; folk songs or billets-doux; |
| 11 | OMASA – (samoa)*; a cow’s stomach; |
| 13 | RUMPER – RUMP-ER; a member of The Rump (Parliament) that succeeded the purged Long Parliament in 1648. They were deeply involved in the execution of Charles I and also managed to displease Oliver Cromwell; |
| 14 | ANDORRA – A-ND-ORRA; ND=North Dakota (large?); not matched=ORRA; at 71,000 square miles ND is the 19th largest state by area with South Dakota at 77,000, California 164,000, Texas 269,000 and Alaska 663,000 – is “large” just padding?; |
| 15 | ZOEAS – ZOE-A-S; second=S; nipper=crab; a crab larva; |
| 17 | MONTE – MO(N)TE; capital of Nottingham=N; a forest and in particular De Monte Forest in California; |
| 18 | HAILY – HA(st=street)ILY; |
| 20 | NEFS – NE(F)S(t); fine=F; lodge=nest; a napkin holder; |
| 23 | EVAN – EVA-N; name=N; one of those frustrating clues where you can see more than one answer and need to wait for checkers before entering one of them in the grid; |
| 24 | MEINT – ME(IN)T; ran into=MET; at home=IN; old word for unite, see ming-1 in C; |
| 26 | ACT,AS – AC(T)AS; short time=T; ACAS=Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service which amazingly dates back to 1896. Back in 1974 it was set up to be independent of Government – a quango we could well do without in my opinion; ; |
| 30 | RHODY – sounds like “roadie”; the rhododendron – a shrub originally from India that is not liked by bodies such as Natural England; |
| 31 | RAIMENT – R(AIM)ENT; |
| 32 | TIFOSI – (IS OF IT all reversed); Italian football fans or followers of Ferrari in F1; |
| 33 | HALSE – two meanings 1=greet as in old days 2=embrace; |
| 34 | CALAMINE – CA-LA-MI-NE; California – Louisiana – Michigan – Nebraska; zinc oxide. I remember being covered in the lotion when I had chickenpox as a child; |
| 35 | PROFANATIONS – PROF(A-NATION)S; |
| Down | |
| 1 | WROATH – WR(O)ATH; ardour (Shakespeare)=WRATH; misfortune (Shakespeare)=WROATH; |
| 2 | TSADDIQ – (S=second, T=time reversed)-A-DD-IQ; DD=Doctor of Divinity; Jewish religious leader; |
| 3 | EPSOM – EPS-O(utstandin)-M(are); EP=Extended Play; racecourse near Epsom in Surrey that has hosted The Derby since 1780; |
| 4 | RE-ARM – REAR-M; |
| 5 | ATRAMENTAL – A-(ART reversed)-MENTAL; black; |
| 6 | SHMOOSE – SH-MOOSE; |
| 7 | IDEATING – ID-EATING; ID=Eid and in particular Eid-Al-Adha the festival devoted to Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son; |
| 8 | PARSEE – P(ARSE)E; PE=Physical Education; |
| 10 | J-PEN – JP-EN; JP=Justice of the Peace; space (printing)=EN; see “J” in C for this type of pen; |
| 12 | TRINACRIAN – TRIN(e)-A-CRIAN(t); trine-2=go; criant=garish; Sicilian (refers to the 3 promontories); |
| 16 | PATCHIER – PAT(CHI)ER; pop=father=PATER; Romany female=CHI; |
| 19 | LEADOFF – LEAD-OFF; |
| 21 | FIDELIO – (OILED-IF all reversed); Beethoven’s only opera in which Leonore rescues husband Florestan; |
| 22 | TART,UP – (s)TART-UP; |
| 25 | TUTEES – TU(b)-TEES; |
| 27 | TOFT – TO-FT; an old homestead; |
| 28 | HI-HAT – HIH-A-T; HIH=His (Her) Imperial Highness; cymbals (see high-hat in C); |
| 29 | UMAMI – (IMAM-U all reversed); savoury tasting like bacon for example; |
A more egregious example to my mind is to describe Britain as a small island, as is often heard. All islands may tend to be small yet Britain is by far the largest in Europe and the eighth largest (ref: Times Atlas) in a world that contains hundreds of thousands of them. There again, perhaps the small does not refer to area.