Apologies for the late post, I thought that I put up a placeholder yesterday. I got stuck at a party last night and had plans to play golf early this morning so didn’t get a good sober chunk of time to put this out.
This was an interesting puzzle – got off to a very quick start, but the last few required a bit of poring through the dictionary and relying on the wordplay. That can sometimes get you into trouble, for quite a while I had P,O,SHE penciled in at 11 across thinking it might have been some sort of soup.
The first definition in each clue is underlined.
Away we go…
| Across | |
| 2 | Winds up on river, thus beginning of nice time with nothing to do (11, two words) |
| CLOSE SEASON – CLOSES(winds up), on EA(watercourse), SO(thus) and the first letter of Nice | |
| 10 | Row at university about mineral found on borders of lake (4) |
| URAO – reversal of OAR(row) and U(university) | |
| 11 | Quiet old female in the soup! (5) |
| SHCHI – SH(quiet!), CHI(old female, from CHIA) | |
| 13 | Maître seen in director’s compound (5) |
| DIMER – ME(abbreviation for maitre) inside DIR(director) | |
| 14 | Talk at length about a drawer with decorative edging (7) |
| GADROON – GO ON(talk at length) surrounding A, DR(abbreviation for drawer) | |
| 15 | French reputed to be holding back army unit in desert as before (7) |
| DEMERIT – DIT(said, reputed in French) surrounding REME(army unit) reversed | |
| 17 | Feature stuff on catkin (9) |
| LINEAMENT – LINE(stuff, goods for sale), AMENT(catnip, found in Chambers under AMENTUM) | |
| 18 | Hydrocarbon by no means including a bit of nitrogen (6) |
| NONANE – NONE(by no means) containing A, N(Nitrogen) | |
| 20 | Part of poem and German dance in S Africa (6) |
| STANZA – TANZ or TANZEN is German for dance, put it in SA(South Africa) | |
| 22 | Soldier Pike arresting German made a performance (6) |
| GIGGED – GI(soldier), GED(pike) surrounding G(German) | |
| 24 | A number caught in Geneva with hard substance (6) |
| GANOIN – A, NO(number) inside GIN(abbreviation for Geneva) | |
| 25 | Oireachtas not right to upset leader of republic (9) |
| TAOISEACH – anagram of OIREACHTAS minus R | |
| 29 | Temple vestibules for Iona conceivably (7) |
| PRONAOI – PRO(for) then an anagram of IONA | |
| 30 | Novelist, male American hit endlessly with abuse (7) |
|
MALAMUD – M(male), A(American), LA |
|
| 31 | Ray is worker keeping mum? The opposite (5) |
| MANTA – instead of MA in ANT it is ANT in MA | |
| 32 | Pick little after end of hurricane (5) |
|
ELITE – LITE(little) after |
|
| 33 | Opening a block in Edinburgh (4) |
| ADIT – A, DIT(stop, block) | |
| 34 | BP not in order supply one tiny shop (11) |
| HYPOTENSION – anagram of ONE,TINY,SHOP – BP meaning blood pressure here | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Fancy dumping diet? It’s the right moment! (11) |
| PUDDINGTIME – anagram of DUMPING,DIET | |
| 2 | Herald: animal time and again escaping (5) |
| CRIER – CRITTER(animal) missing both T’s | |
| 3 | Spymaster enters into crippling punishment (7) |
| LAMMING – M(spymaster) inside LAMING(crippling) | |
| 4 | Regret very good bishop overlooking one Head (9) |
| SORRINESS – SO(very good), RR(bishop), I(one), NESS(head) | |
| 5 | Source of power needing to work out of centre (6) |
| ENGINE – anagram of NEEDING without the middle letter | |
| 6 | Reports from parts of Germany (6) |
| STATES – double definition | |
| 7 | One hour at home got across mum’s spirit (7) |
| AHRIMAN – A, HR(hour), IN(at home) surrounding MA | |
| 8 | Ancient settlement found once after heading for Scotland? (5) |
|
SCONE – anagram of ONCE after S |
|
| 9 | Exclamations of surprise after salmon beheaded (4) |
| OHOS – remove the top letter of COHOS(salmon) | |
| 12 | Provide example of present upset involving Italy (11) |
| INSTANTIATE – INSTANT(present time) ATE(upset) containing I(Italy) | |
| 16 | Chaps going about a search for excavated burial-places (9) |
| CATACOMBS – CATS(chaps) surrounding A,COMB(search) | |
| 19 | Charlie in rock against getting excited in one of his pieces? (7) |
| AGITATO – GIT(Charlie) in AA(volcanic rock), TO(against) | |
| 21 | Lacking a drink before party? Impossible! (7, three words) |
| NO CAN DO – if you are lacking a drink there is NO CAN, then DO(party) | |
| 23 | Delegate’s place accepted by comic Jack (6) |
| DEPUTE – PUT(place) inside the comedian Jack DEE who I seem to have avoided | |
| 24 | Pleasant spot close to Epping Forest (6) |
|
GARDEN – |
|
| 26 | Flower with neat edge (5) |
| OXLIP – OX(neat), LIP(edge) | |
| 27 | Heads dropping, notice trap in alloy (5) |
| POTIN – remove the first letters of SPOT(notice) and GIN(trap) | |
| 28 | Course around lake is excellent in Scotland (4) |
| WALY – WAY(course) surrounding L(lake) | |
Jeremy
I also couldn’t finish Mephisto this week, either. Off to try again….