Greetings all, running way behind. Here’s a placeholder for the Mephisto, feel free to ask questions of the hive mind, but I don’t think I’ll be able to get to this until Monday morning.
Or maybe Tuesday afternoon. Sorry about that, things have been a little crazy in Trumpydoodleland, with end of semester and end of year deadlines knocking me over.
Fortunately I don’t think there was anything too unconventional in this puzzle, particularly in the wordplay, which helped me get a lot of the answers before resorting to a dictionary.
Away we go…
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | CRUSTACEAN: CRUST(a little bread), ACE(excellent), with A, N |
| 11 |
COTTON ON: COTT(hospital bed, alternative of COT), ON(concerning), O(old), N |
| 12 | PAAN: reverse of AP(apothecary) then AN |
| 13 | OVERRUN: OVER(again), RUN(drive) – to slow down via reverse torque |
| 14 | BURG: BUR(Myanmar, formerly Burma), G(Government) |
| 16 | OTTAR: TO reversed then TAR(salt) |
| 17 |
JAMPOT: a clergyman’s collar, found under JAM in Chambers – A, MP(politician) in JOT(a bit) |
| 19 |
URTICA: reversal of A, CITRU |
| 20 | UNBOSOMER: anagram of ENORMOUS,B |
| 22 | DECEMVIRI: anagram of VERMICIDE |
| 25 | AMTRAK: KARMA(fate) reversed surrounding T |
| 26 | LARIAT: LT(lieutenant) containing ARIA(strain) |
| 28 |
TATAR: TA-TA(cheers), R |
| 31 | ILEX: IL(Israel), EX(examined) |
| 32 | OLD MAID: double definition |
| 33 | OLLA: bacon could come from the COLLAR, remove the outside |
| 34 | ORSEILLE: LIES(is situated) reversed in ORLE(a border made of small charges) |
| 35 | SENTENTIAL: anagram of TABLE,TENNIS missing B(breadth) |
| Down | |
| 2 | ROVE: OVER(across) with R at the top |
| 3 | UTES: remove M(money) from MUTES(silencers of musical instruments) – good clue for me here, as small trucks are called UTES in Australia where I grew up and PICK-UPS in the US where I currently reside |
| 4 | STROP: PORTS(drinks) reversed |
| 5 | TORSOS: anagram of SORT, then OS(very large). Wasn’t familiar with this use of the term for anything unfinished |
| 6 | CONTUMELY: COMELY(pretty) containing an anagram of NUT |
| 7 | ENCORE: EN(ON in French) with CORE(shift of workers) |
| 8 |
NAUTILI: UTIL |
| 9 |
CARACARA: CARACA |
| 10 | INGRATITUDE: anagram of URGENT,AID containing IT |
| 11 | CONJUGATION: JUG(prison) in CO(Colombia, IVR code), NATION(a large number) |
| 15 | STOCKPORT: or STOCK PORT |
| 18 | ANIMALLY: ALLY(partner) under A(American), NIM(game) |
| 21 | BATTELS: sounds like BATTLES |
| 23 | EARCON: anagram of ON,RACE – audio signal from a computer |
| 24 | MADDEN: MEN(soldiers) containing A, DD(Doctor of Divinity) |
| 27 | REMIT: R(republican), EMIT(issue) |
| 29 |
MALI: a little cricket – currently playing in the Ashes are A(listair) Cook and M(oeen) ALI |
| 30 | ZILA: A, LIZ(Elizabeth) reversed |
I don’t think I’ll have a third, this week’s is a little challenging.