I didn’t have too much difficulty with this one, and I thought the design of the grid was very solver friendly, with a lot of thre letter strings in checked letters.
It was an interesting choice of wor at 9 down and 26 down – with DEA? leading to six possibilities in Chambers I wonder why the least familiar (at least to me) was chosen, similarly for the 13 possibilities for ?ING
First definitions in clues are underlined.
Away we go…
| Across | |
| 1 | Hush punctures endlessly rude acting colleagues (7) |
|
COSTARS – ST(hush) inside COARS |
|
| 6 | Mostly, large fly did swarm in the Highlands (5) |
|
BIKED – BI |
|
| 10 | Treat with quinine? Something easy is occupying one (10) |
| CINCHONISE – CINCH(something easy) then IS in ONE | |
| 11 | In Edinburgh that skimpy swimwear’s no good (4) |
| THON – THONG swimwear missing G | |
| 13 | Drop of alcohol and seaman’s on about bloomers (6) |
|
ERRATA – A |
|
| 14 | Malaysian lord keeping time oddly for piece worker (6) |
| TUTMAN – TUAN(lord) containing alternating letters in TiMe | |
| 16 | Flautist periodically allowed in Scotland (4) |
| LUIT – alternating letters in fLaUtIsT | |
| 18 | Write in English for George Town (6) |
| PENANG – PEN(wrtie) ANG(Anglice, in English) | |
| 20 | Taking advantage, furious Head canes on occasion, as before (9) |
| ENCHEASON – remove A(advantage) from an anagram of HEAD,CANES | |
| 21 | Television screening one old ruler and bishop on a fasting day (9, two words) |
| TISHAH B’AV – TV(television) containing I, SHAH(old ruler), B(bishop). A Listed under about 75 different spellings in Chambers | |
| 24 | Agree rise on the radio (6) |
| ASSENT – sounds like ASCENT | |
| 25 | Old enemies are fine with joke (4) |
| FONE – F(fine), ONE(joke) | |
| 28 | Henry in battered Panama hat getting evidence of complaint (6) |
| APHTHA – H in an anagram of PA,HAT | |
| 30 | Strain to develop form of insect (6) |
| INSTAR – anagram of STRAIN | |
| 31 | Sight that is seen in Polo? (4) |
| VIEW – IE(that is) in VW(the Polo is a Volkswagen car) | |
| 32 | Cuckoos in the country for artificial reduction (10) |
| NANISATION – ANIS(cuckoos) in the NATION | |
| 33 | Term for excessive luminance involved with 60% of argon (5) |
|
GLARE – an all-in-one anagram of |
|
| 34 | Criminal activity surprisingly clear and near once (7) |
| LARCENY – anagram of CLEAR, then NY(alternative spelling of NIGH) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Costa Rican orchid that’s neat? Yes, when from the south (8) |
| CATTLEYA – CATTLE(neat), then AY(yes) reversed | |
| 2 | Part of Samoa, hugely popular Pacific location (4) |
| OAHU – hidden in samOA HUgely | |
| 3 | Feeling in Glasgow is cosmetic, sadly English unwanted (9) |
| SCOTICISM – anagram of IS,COSMETIC minus E | |
| 4 | Short dagger first-class? It’s not permitted to have one (6) |
| ANLACE – A(first class), NL(non licet, not permitted), ACE(one) | |
| 5 | Leicester’s boss is a mug (10) |
| SHEEPSHEAD – or SHEEP’S HEAD | |
| 6 | Narrow-minded leader of opposition in the island (6) |
|
BORNEO – BORNE(narrow-minded), O |
|
| 7 | Prize picker not fully set up? That’s concerning (4, two words) |
|
IN RE – ERNI |
|
| 8 | High tension surrounding one European language (8) |
| ESTONIAN – anagram of TENSION containing A | |
| 9 | Leaving Centre, walked in water northwards with early freshness forgotten (4) |
|
DEAW – reversal of WA |
|
| 12 | One old test not depicting rural life (10) |
| UNPASTORAL – UN(one), PAST(old), ORAL(test) | |
| 15 | Pottery teacher potting nothing paltry (9) |
| BARBOTINE – BARBE(teacher) containing O(nothing), TIN(paltry, like tin-hat or tin-god) | |
| 17 | University boy with a first from LSE sounding together (8) |
|
UNISONAL – UNI, SON, A, L |
|
| 19 | Present Queen holds a view that’s disguised (8) |
| GIVEAWAY – GAY(queen, homosexual) containing an anagram of A,VIEW | |
| 22 | Indians echo line (6) |
| INCASE – INCAS(Indians) E(echo) | |
| 23 | Apprentice publicity causing damage no longer (6) |
| APPAIR – APP(apprentice), AIR(publicity) | |
| 26 | Foul-smelling resin in fact not opened (4) |
| HING – THING(fact) missing the beginning | |
| 27 | Nick’s to start to move (4) |
| STIR – double definition | |
| 29 | Turned up once topless? That’s cut! (4) |
| HEWN – SHEWN(turned up) missing the top | |
Midas
Midas