I didn’t have a lot of question marks next to entries in this one, but I did have to look up a lot of references. Tim Moorey tends to scatter places, people and things from a wide range of times and spaces, and this time the only one I knew right off was the author at 9 down, so I’ll try to include the references as I go along.
Grid-watch! I liked the 90-degree symmetry, but it really does divide this up into a puzzle of four quadrands, which is how i solved it – top right fell first, then the bottom right, top left and finally the bottom left.
First definitions are underlined in clues,
Away we go….
| Across | |
| 1 | Falsely claimed to include nothing on type of evidence (11) |
| MEDICO-LEGAL – anagram of CLAIMED,TO with O(nothing),LEG(on side in cricket) inside | |
| 11 | Flat design expert overlooking central heating (6) |
| PLANAR – PLAN(design) then ARCH(expert) missing CH(central heating) | |
| 12 | Girl put out back on falling over inside (6) |
| ELINOR – RILE(put out) reversed with ON reversed inside | |
| 13 | Modern instrument unknown in South and North (5) |
| SYNTH – Y(unknown) in S, NTH | |
| 14 | Paddy breaks walking-stick, one from Egypt (7) |
| CAIRENE – IRE(paddy, rage), inside CANE(walking-stick) | |
| 15 | Profits coming from furniture in dorm, first 500 dispatched (8) |
| BESTEADS – BEDSTEADS(dorm furniture) missing the first D(500) | |
| 16 | Antiquated operation not available in foreign plant (5) |
| URENA – URE(use, operation), NA | |
| 18 | Father’s embraced by exceedingly old Trojan (6) |
| DARDAN – DA(father) inside DARN(exceedingy) | |
| 19 | Which kind of headgear’s new in West Africa? (6) |
| WHATNA – HAT(headgear), N in WA(West Africa) | |
| 21 | Love Elizabeth taking in second old hound (6) |
| OBSESS – O, then BESS containing S | |
| 24 | Pole’s behind force joining genuine Glaswegian conflicts (6) |
| FECHTS – S(south pole) after F(force), ECHT(genuine) | |
| 28 | Disloyalty not on for one looking after money briefly (5) |
| TREAS – TREASON(disloyalty) missing ON | |
| 29 | End by chance won by a tiny margin? (8) |
| CLOSE-RUN – CLOSE(end), RUN(chance) | |
| 30 | Old actor is one to bore Roland’s chum (7) |
| OLIVIER – I inside OLIVER. The actor is Laurence Olivier and Roland and Oliver comes from the Song of Roland. This one had me scratching my head for a bit. | |
| 31 | Crop profit about right (5) |
| GRAIN – GAIN(profit) surrounding R | |
| 32 | Pound steeply up? Not unknown (6) |
| PESTLE – anagram of STEEPLY missing Y | |
| 33 | Great run lost, having an afternoon drink (6) |
| TEAING – TEARING(great) missing R | |
| 34 | Type of poker abandoned within state border (11, three words) |
| TEXAS HOLD ‘EM – OLD(abandoned) inside TEXAS(state), HEM(border). Here you see very little other poker being played, sometimes you can catch it on the telly (it’s not riveting) | |
| Down | |
| 2 | See Italian restaurant snubbed, offering plates of worms! (6) |
|
ELYTRA – ELY, then TRA |
|
| 3 | Risks day overlooking western French town (7) |
| DANGERS – D then ANGERS(town in Western France) | |
| 4 | Fiancé’s lovemaking finished around noon (8) |
| INTENDED – IT(lovemaking), ENDED(finished) surrounding N | |
| 5 | Dyestuff that’s purple and gold, nice for painting (6) |
| ORCEIN – OR(gold) then an anagram of NICE | |
| 6 | Local rivers flowing into depressed area for grazing (6) |
| LEASOW – EAS(rivers) inside LOW | |
| 7 | Shingle tiles to be taken up partly? Pick needed (5) |
| ELITE – hidden reversed in shinglE TILEs | |
| 8 | Spike supporting one outmoded approach (5) |
| ANEAR – EAR(spike) under AN | |
| 9 | Jack perhaps left close to river (6) |
| LONDON – L, ON, DON(river), for the author of Call of The Wild | |
| 10 | Very, very out of date sin (11) |
| TRESPASSING – TRES(very), PASSING(very out of date) | |
| 11 | Suppose coed wrong for image-maker (11) |
| PSEUDOSCOPE – anagram of SUPPOSE,COED | |
| 17 | Long-tailed male, a canine in the country (8) |
| MACRURAL – M(male), A, C(canine, in dental charts), RURAL(in the country) | |
| 20 | Opposite of the good inspiring one Greek district (7) |
| THEBAID – THE BAD containing I | |
| 22 | Point in report granted after size reduced (6) |
|
BULLET – LET(granted) after BUL |
|
| 23 | Cloth garments, for instance put up by Welshman? (6) |
| SAREES – AS(for instance) reversed with REES(Welshman) | |
| 24 | Hut for changing in quarter (6) |
| FOURTH – anagram of HUT,FOR | |
| 25 | Thin worsted fabric once taken around Michigan (6) |
| TAMINE – TANE(taken) surrounding MI(Michigan) | |
| 26 | Old-fashioned lift is seen in part of Plymouth (5) |
| HOISE – IS inside HOE – there is a large park in Plymouth called Plymouth Hoe – originally I thought it meant promontory and was referring the Plymouth in Massachusetts | |
| 27 | Girl from press over in Los Angeles (5) |
| LEILA – LIE(press) reversed in LA | |
Legend has it that on Plymouth Hoe, on 20th July 1588, Drake was playing bowls when first news of sightings of the invading Spanish Armada was brought to him.
Drake ostensibly signified his wish merely to continue his game of bowls undisturbed, a cool reaction fabled as an act of English heroism.
In reality Drake knew that the wind and tide conditions at that particular moment precluded the English Fleet from putting to sea