A medium difficulty puzzle that was a pleasant, if slightly frenetic, solve and blog as I was unable to look at the puzzle until yesterday! Last weekend produced some interesting puzzles and amongst stiff competition I thought 31A an excellent Mephisto clue. It’s difficult to unravel, uses Kindle in a misleading way, and has a really good, topical, surface reading.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 4 | UNCLESHIP – UNCLIP surrounds (hes)*; the art of pawnbroking?; |
| 10 | CARRY-ONS – two meanings, the second being a reference to the Carry On films – animated seaside postcards; |
| 11 | PAND – PAN-(be)D; the valence of a bed; |
| 12 | RYE,GRASS – (feede)R-YE(GRAS)S; GRAS=Generally Recognised As Safe; |
| 13 | INFO – IN-FO(al); |
| 14 | ASKER – (m)ASKER; reference the Venice Carnival held before Easter; |
| 15 | DANGLE – D(ifficulty)-ANGLE; frame=ANGLE; |
| 17 | PAUNCHY – P(UNCH)AY; why “leader”?; |
| 21 | EMERITI – EM(TIRE reversed)I; |
| 23 | ADIPOSE – A-DI(POS)E; a fulham=a loaded die; |
| 26 | GABFEST – G(A-BF)EST; romance=GEST; US Congress; |
| 27 | DROUTH – D(rink)-ROUTH; plentiful in Perth=ROUTH; thirsty is definition; |
| 28 | PRIMA – P(RIM)A; chime=RIM; pop=father=PA; |
| 31 | TIND – T(I for RE)ND; fashion=trend; indeed=yes=aye=I which replaces R(eading) and E(verywhere); kindle is definition; difficult but excellent clue; |
| 32 | HIDROSIS – HID-R-O-SIS; R=Roger (and out); excessive sweating; |
| 33 | STAG – GATS reversed; |
| 34 | OVERNICE – OVER-NICE; |
| 35 | BEL,ESPRIT – B(peles + r)*IT; run=r; literally “fine mind” in Fecamp; |
| Down | |
| 1 | SCRAPYARD – DRAYS reversed surrounds CRAP; stuff=CRAP-2; home to totters; |
| 2 | FAYS – sounds like “phase”; |
| 3 | DREK – D(RE)K; dock=DK; are=RE; schlock feh!; |
| 4 | URGENT – (s)URGENT; heaving=surgent; |
| 5 | COACHES – CO-ACHES; cabins at the stern; |
| 6 | ESSAYER – (sage + r + yes – g)*; recipe=r; Charles Lamb; |
| 7 | SPINK – S-PINK; blue=slightly porno=PINK-1; the cuckoo flower; |
| 8 | HANGFIRE – (fathering – t)*; |
| 9 | INFLATUS – IN-FLAT-US; Oaklahoma, where the wind comes whistling down the plain; |
| 16 | EPISTASES – (see tips as)*; wee=urine; |
| 18 | ABDERITE – (bride + tea)*; spoon=simpleton; the butt of perhaps the original Belgian/Irish/Polish jokes; |
| 19 | UNISONAL – UNI-SON-A-L; accepted=A; |
| 20 | PORTHOS – PORT-HOS; prostitute=tart=HO; Three Muskateers; |
| 22 | MEANDER – MEAN-(o)DER; |
| 24 | AFRONT – A-F(R)ONT; first-class=A; old word for advanced; |
| 25 | NUDGE – dodge=fudge then change f=fine to n=name; |
| 29 | ISIS – (cr)ISIS; cr from C(o-sta)R; |
| 30 | MICA – M(ake) I(nhibited) C(omrade) A(morous); muscovite=silicate mineral that cleaves parallel to the crystal structure; |
Excellent stuff, onto this weeks…
Anything you don’t understand don’t hesitate to ask
Thanks for explaining 3dn, which I couldn’t parse. Are = RE: so obvious… now!
Looking at my (not so) completed puzzle now I see I never even solved 31ac TIND (I have a blank where the T should be) so this is an accidental DNF for me. Oops.
If you get to the stage of submitting bar crosswords for competitions it’s as well to run your finger along the rows looking for blank squares. It’s very easy to do what you did at 31A – I sometimes find I’ve missed one when I come to write the blog!