I did this in one fairly long sitting, thanks to having a rare day off in a rainstorm. I found this one tricky, and had a few incorrect answers confidently written (I seem to have scribbled over them enough to not see what the originals were).
Paul McKenna has treated us to a number of puns in the top row over the last several months and this puzzle did not let me down. Next one I’m scheduled to blog is 2921 – maybe there will be a pun hidden somewhere else.
Away we go…
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | CELL: CULL (select, in a kind of a morbid fashion), with the U replaced by E |
| 4 | PHRASING: PHASING (electronic musical distortion) surrounding R |
| 10 | AS YOU WERE: AS is the Roman unit (third definition in Chambers), YOU and WE are second and first person, then RE(on) |
| 11 |
LAIRS: RIAL reversed, then S |
| 12 | AMATION: AM then an anagram of INTO,A |
| 14 |
FOLK: FOL |
| 15 | RIGHTO: RIG(dress) then an anagram of HOT |
| 16 | NEST,O,R |
| 18 | EDITORIALS: anagram of DAILIES containing ROT reversed |
| 20 | NOVA SCOTIA: anagram of VACATIONS surrounding O – I lived there from 1996-1997, highly recommend a visit |
| 23 | ECOMAP: anagram of CAPO,ME |
| 25 |
CORRAL: COAL(char) containing R |
| 26 | LUMP: SLUMP missing S(symbol for Siemens the unit) |
| 28 | ALLGOOD: a definition and two wordplays, for for ALL GOOD, and one for L and GO in ALOD(estate) |
| 29 | POGGE: EGG(mine or bomb) reversed after PO(gazunder) |
| 30 | SUBMARINE: BUS reversed then an anagram of I’M,NEAR – you rarely hear them called that here these days, sub, grinder, and hoagie are more common |
| 31 | ADHERENT: anagram of HE,DAREN’T |
| 32 |
BLUR: BLUR |
| Down | |
| 1 | C,A,L,CRETE |
| 2 | LYING-IN: hidden in epecialLY IN GINormous |
| 3 |
LORD: since it is DROL |
| 4 | PUSH,TO |
| 5 | REMINISCED: E, MINIS(motor cars), C inside RED |
| 6 |
ARANEA: E inside A |
| 7 |
IDIOT: I’D then IOT |
| 8 | NEOLOGIAN: anagram (mortal) of NO,GENIAL containing O |
| 9 | GONK: GO(attempt), NK(Natural Killer) – strange some of the abbreviations in Chambers, this is justified as a cell biology term |
| 12 | AGORAPHOBE: long charade here – AGO(since),RAP(chat),HOB(lout),E(one on benefits) |
| 13 | RIDICULED: RID(clear),I, then an anagram of CLUED. Not the usual definition of “queered” |
| 17 |
REAL BEER: anagram of BARREL, |
| 19 |
STRIGIL: STIL |
| 21 | V,A,LOUR |
| 22 | COWPAT: this is tricky wordplay, especaially since TAP can mean cock, and COCK can mean dung – in this case the definition is COCK, and the wordplay is COWP(upset), AT(1/1000 of a Laotian Kip). Hopefully you spotted AT when you were looking up AS |
| 24 |
OMLAH: an official’s staff – L |
| 26 | LAV,A: can being toilet in this case |
| 28 | SORB: BRO’S reversed |
Beware 1A in today’s Mephisto 2916 where the anagram fodder doesn’t produce the required answer