This puzzle had an extended closing date because of the festive season, and since Jim was quicker on the draw than me, it is going to end up slightly out of order on the site. I was planning on getting this written up yesterday and got caught in my travel back from Australia.
The first defnition in clues is underlined. Definitions can be confirmed in Chambers, so I will focus on the wordplay in clues.
Away we go…
| Across | |
| 1 | Leggings in fashion, shortened and special (5) |
| SHAPS – SHAPE(fashion) missing the last letter, then S(special) | |
| 5 | Vigorous university lecturer rebuffed criticism (7) |
| LUSTICK – U(university) and L(lecturer) reversed, then STICK(criticism) | |
| 11 | Old year tuck that’s unhooked a freak (10, two words) |
| COLD TURKEY – anagram of OLD,YEAR,TUCK minus A. An all-in-one clue where the entire clue is the definition. | |
| 13 | Tower in second home by water in France (7) |
| MOINEAU – MO(second), IN(home), then EAU(water in French) | |
| 14 | Italian provides accommodation for horse in travellers’ inn (6) |
| IMARET – IT(Italian) containing MARE | |
| 15 | Street dog heading off for a while (6) |
| STOUND – ST(street) then HOUND missing the first letter | |
| 16 | What makes emperor well finally, one sort of oil (6) |
|
NEROLI – the emperor NERO, then |
|
| 18 | Music from the Monkees (3) |
| EMO – hidden in thE MOnkees | |
| 19 | Put out of home, get vessel on river (8) |
| DISHOUSE – DISH(vessel) then the river OUSE | |
| 20 | Dangerous material’s found in demolished cab sites (8) |
| ASBESTIC – anagram of CAB,SITES | |
| 24 | Tribe wandering about (3) |
| GAD – double definition, one of the twelve Tribes of Israel | |
| 27 | Hospital procedure taking long time after short journey (6) |
| TRIAGE – AGE(long time) after TRIP cut short | |
| 29 | Very drunk graduate got rid of (6) |
| MASHED – MA(Master of Arts), SHED(got rid of) | |
| 30 | Fantastic Spice Girls finally becoming stars (6) |
|
PISCES – anagram of SPICE then |
|
| 31 | Description of acid that’s used to kill man (fine!) (7) |
| PIPERIC – PIP(kill), ERIC. ERIC is both a man’s name and a blood-fine. | |
| 32 | Old ruler and baronet getting drunk in skin tent (10) |
| GUBERNATOR – anagram of BARONET in GUT(skin tent). Surprised to see this listed in Chambers as “rare”. It is a pretty common term in the US. | |
| 33 | Password as reset works (7) |
| TESSERA – anagram of AS,RESET | |
| 34 | The enemy heard something fragrant? (5) |
| THYME – sounds like TIME (the enemy) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Old box in teachers’ room with unopened brandy (6) |
| SCRINE – SCR (Senior Common Room), then WINE missing the start – brandy being distilled wine. As pointed out in the comments, it was most likely FINE for French brandy missing the beginning. | |
| 2 | Male in very old age shows goal-directed behaviour (5) |
| HORME – M(male) in HORE (Spenserian version of HOAR, old age) | |
| 3 | A boy tucked into seaweed and fruit (8) |
| ALGAROBA – A, ROB(boy) inside ALGA(seaweed) | |
| 4 | Horse gets left inside, fixed north of the border (6) |
| STEELD – STEED(horse) containing L | |
| 6 | Problem with the waterworks troubled our little girl (6) |
| UROSIS – anagram of OUR, then SIS(little girl) | |
| 7 | Boaster renders funny performance with energy (5) |
| SKITE – a comedy SKIT then E | |
| 8 | Operator in temporary accommodation — no man is allowed in (10) |
| TENOTOMIST – TENT(tempoary accommodation) containing O(no), TOM(man), IS | |
| 9 | Drugs making people irascible in America (6) |
| CRANKS – double definition | |
| 10 | Bad patch in last bit of work glued carelessly (6) |
|
KLUDGE – |
|
| 12 | One out to be the supremo? (10) |
| PROMETHEUS – anagram of THE,SURPEMO and another all-in-one. | |
| 17 | Inclination to escape pollution hanging over a big town (8) |
| FUGACITY – FUG(pollution), A, CITY | |
| 20 | A politician in ceremony taken short — a hairy situation? (6) |
| ARMPIT – A then MP(politician) in RITE shortened | |
| 21 | Deep problem? I cease to be troubled (6) |
| SEA-ICE – anagram of I,CEASE. This is two words in Chambers, but it would make sense for it to be hyphenated | |
| 22 | More presentable girl involved in row (6) |
| TIDIER – DI(girl) in TIER(row) | |
| 23 | Not entirely nice, art ridiculously garish (6) |
|
CRIANT – anagram of NIC |
|
| 25 | Queen once said to be upset by this request (6) |
| DESIRE – the Queen is ER I, then SED(Miltonic form of SAID), all reversed | |
| 26 | Diving bird a bit confused inside fountain once (5) |
| GERBE – mess up the middle letters of GREBE(diving bird) | |
| 28 | Set in biology, number probing something precious (5) |
| GENOM – NO(number) inside GEM(something precious), former term for GENOME | |
I was pleased to solve this without any aids apart from my copy of Chambers. The thing I enjoy about Don’s Mephistos is that there is only ever one obscurity in each clue – either the answer or in the wordplay, but never both. Only 25d unparsed… thanks for explaining the SED.