Fun breezy offering this week, I thought. Contains one of my favorite words to misspell at 1 down (always forget the second A), and every barred-grid solver’s favorite rock at 10 across.
My only real hold up was confidently writing in DOTANIST at 12 across, presumably a cult that worships “Dot and the Kangaroo”. That made the top right hand corner difficult to pull together until I checked the Big Red Book (big red electronic version at least).
Away we go…
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | SACHERTORTE: anagram of CATERER,HOST |
| 9 |
ANOUGH: A then NOUGH |
| 10 | AGOUTA: the disease GOUT inside AA(volcanic rock) |
| 12 | DONATIST: DOT containing (SAINT)* – followers of the setter, perhaps? |
| 14 | SORBONNE: O(old),N,N(knights – chess) in an anagram of ROBES |
| 15 | A,V,ALE: since it means to lower it is the opposite of get up |
| 18 | ADAR: RADA reversed |
| 19 |
PEWEES: P,E,WEE(water), S |
| 20 | HANAPS: HAS containing NAP(cloth lining) – drinking vessels |
| 21 | ARRACK: remove the exterior of BARRACKS |
| 24 | W,HAM,MO |
| 26 | RAGU: RAG week at the U |
| 27 | SEWEL: LEWES reversed |
| 29 |
UNNERVED: anagram of NUD |
| 31 | LENTANDO: AND,0 after LENT – clear wordplay, but I can’t ever recall seeing this on a score |
| 32 |
LA TENE: LATE(deceased), |
| 33 | OBTUSE: remove A and IN from OBTAIN(get), then USE |
| 34 | KERATOMETER: anagram of ME,RETREAT,OK. The little machine at the optometrists where you rest your chin against a bar and look into a lens |
| Down | |
| 1 | SARSAPARILLA: SARS(remember the world went crazy over this about 8 years ago), then A PAR, RILL, A |
| 2 | COIR: COHEIR without HE |
| 3 | HUMBLE: double definition |
| 4 |
RHONES: the RHONE river, then |
| 5 | TANNAH: sounds like TANNER(sixpence) |
| 6 | ROTTAN: ROT with TAN underneath |
| 7 | TUIS: TUNIS missing the N |
| 8 | WATER SOLDIER: anagram of LOW,TIDES,RARE |
| 11 | COVERAGE: a maiden OVER from cricket in a CAGE |
| 13 | SWAP MEET: anagram of WE,MATES containing P |
| 16 | EECH: hidden in fEE CHaps |
| 17 | PAHS: double definition, one being a Maori settlement |
| 22 |
AUSTER: |
| 23 | KENNET: a small hunting dog – KENNEL with the L gone and a T underneath |
| 24 | WAND,0,0: an Australian tree |
| 25 | AERATE: the goddess ATE surrounding ERA |
| 28 | ANTE: A NOTE(fiver, perhaps) missing the O |
| 30 | VAUT: VAT outside of U |
In the main, even I found this pretty easy. I was dearly hoping it was because I was a natural… I knew checking here would put me straight. Oh well, let’s see what the BH brings..