Interesting puzzle this one – when solving I put a number of answers in from the definition alone, and had to work out the wordplays later on, knowing it was my week to blog. There is some tricky wordplay here, though overall I didn’t find it as tough as last weeks (I didn’t comment last week as I was out of town on the weekend).
This didn’t quite print on one page of US Letter paper, so it must be a few clues longer than usual.
Away we go…
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | MAGLEV: LE in MAG(glossy),V(volume) |
| 7 | MUSANG: SAN(African hunter) in MUG(puss) |
| 13 | INSULSE: (SILENUS)* |
| 14 | MORWONG: R,W,O |
| 15 | A,FAR,A |
| 16 | BLISTER: or B-LISTER – slate here in the sense of degrading someone |
| 18 | A,ULOS |
| 19 | YEOMAN: Y(yankee) then E(a person on benefit in advertising terms – this has appeared once or twice before) then OMAN |
| 21 | LEGALISE: IS in GALE(mining licence) following LE |
| 24 | THANADAR: NADA in THAR |
| 25 | EIRACK: EIK(supplement) containing R,AC(ante cibum – before food). With Paul McKenna puzzles look for obscure one- and two- letter abbreviations |
| 28 | SPLOG: reversal of GOLPS(purple roundels) |
| 30 | CAPUERA: anagram of APERCU then A – I was in Brazil two years ago and this was crazy popular |
| 32 | A,L,BUM |
| 33 | WHANGAM: WM(William) containing HANG(stick),A(before) |
| 34 | ZEBRINA: IN(with it) in ZEBRA(referee, particularly a gridiron referee) |
| 36 | ORIENT: ORIE |
| Down | |
| 2 | ACOLUTHIC: U in (CATHOLIC)* |
| 3 | GORILLA: RILL in GOA |
| 4 | LAWS OF NATURE: anagram of A,FLEAWORT and SUN |
| 5 | EYOT: TOYE |
| 6 | VINEWED: EWE in VINDALOO minus ALOO – reading ALOO takes me back to 1997 when I was at the infamous match in Toronto when Inzamam Ul-Haq took offense to being called “Aloo” by a fan and came into the stands to have a go at him with a bat |
| 8 | USAGE: Sounds like YOU, then SAGE |
| 9 | SUFFOLK,PUNCH |
| 10 | ALAR,M |
| 11 | G,EAR(till) |
| 12 | EMBASTE: anagram of (B,TEAM’S) then (leagu) |
| 17 | PAST(done),ORAL(by word of mouth),I |
| 20 | NET,GAME: play in tennis |
| 22 | GALAHAD: AHA in (GLAD)* |
| 23 | ILLEGAL: LEG,A(absent) in ILL |
| 26 | RABBI |
| 27 | CUMIN: CUMBENT without BENT ten IN(by way of) – CUMIN can be used to combat flatulence |
| 29 | LA(ah),ZO(cross) |
| 31 | PACA: A CAP all reveresed |
While I’m here, clarifying mohn2’s point: ORIENT is 35A, and 36 is indeed DAHLIA = (AIL, HAD) reversed.