I don’t know if this one was as hard as I made it out to be, but I wasn’t helped by confidently writing the utterly wrong HORSED as an answer for 6 down and then wondering why I had a completely full bottom half of the grid, but the top half conspicuously empty. You would think that someone who claims to know how to do these occasionally would realise that if I couldn’t rationalize any answers for five checking letters, then you’ve probably got a wrong answer, but I confidently kept going, filling up the grid with more wrong answers. At the point of realizing my mistake, I wondered if I should just go ahead and fill the grid with completely wrong answers and then justify them in the blog. Some day I might. Away we go….
| Across |
| 2 |
MISCLASSIFY: Love this clue – wordplay is C(college),LASS,IF for T in MISTY(dim) |
| 11 |
BRA,INCH,LD |
| 12 |
ARMPIT: RMP(Royal Military Police) in AIT |
| 13 |
A,MOK</strike>(e)</strike> |
| 14 |
DABS: double definition, might be able to get some DNA out of that dab, so don’t dabble while you diddle |
| 16 |
PRONOTA: PRONTO with the TO reversed, A(amateur). The backs of prothoraxes |
| 18 |
A,ESC: a rune |
| 20 |
TASTER: hidden |
| 21 |
EGERIA: IRE in AGE, all reversed |
| 22 |
K,VETCH: Yiddish term, very common over here |
| 24 |
AR,RANT |
| 27 |
JOKE: K(numbering system for Mozart’s compositions) in JOE – definition is ONE, as in “Did you hear the one about the corduroy pillow? It’s making headlines.” |
| 28 |
CYANATE: ANA in CYTE, both elements that pop up in barred grid puzzles regularly |
| 29 |
RIVO: V in RIO |
| 30 |
CASH: Double def, one being the man in black
|
| 31 |
ZEA,LO,T: didn’t know ZEA as a cereal plant, but the definition left little doubt as to that unchecked letter |
| 33 |
HOMILETICS: (CHOSE,LIMIT)* |
| 34 |
ADJOURNMENT: ADJOURNMENT: J and U separately in ADORNMENT |
| |
| Down |
| 1 |
1,BAD,AT(in) |
| 3 |
IAMBUSES: MAI reveresed then BUSES |
| 4 |
SIP(e)
|
| 5 |
CNIDAE: (DANCE,I)* |
| 6 |
AHORSE: A(American), then R in HOSE |
| 7 |
SIROC: CO reversed after SIR |
| 8 |
SLANDERER: LANDER in SER |
| 9 |
FOOT,LING |
| 10 |
YUKATA: YOU without the O in the middle, then KATA(sequence of movements) |
| 15 |
SUTTON HOO: (SHOT OUT ON) – my last in the bottom half because I hadn’t heard of it and it isn’t in Chambers. Someone was buried there in a ship, really?
|
| 17 |
SAVOYARD: O in (VARY)* in SAD(staid – 8th definition in Chambers). A G&S fan |
| 19 |
BRAZILIN: LIZ reversed in BRAIN |
| 22 |
K,AC,CH,A |
| 23 |
HOT AIR: OT in HAIR |
| 25 |
REDEEM: DEE in R.E.M.
|
| 26 |
TOOTS(snorts),Y |
| 27 |
JAMMU: hidden reversed |
| 32 |
ATE: worried, and the Greek goddess of mischief |
I hadn’t worked out the definition for 27ac, so thanks for that, and for the gag, which is my kind of gag. It reminds me of the one about the historian and the philosopher:
H: Have you read Marx?
P: Yes, I think it’s these wicker chairs
George, I think you’re too young but did you ever do the famous Ximenes puzzle in which every clue bar one in the NW corner had two answers? You found your mistake (if like most you entered the wrong answers) when a down clue was unsolvable and you had to start again.
Sounds intriguing though.