A fine Mephisto for wordplay, which is to be expected from Don Manley, where my usual approach is wordplay first, and then check the definition. It also helped in this one that two of the more unusual words are very familiar to me.
Definitions, which are underlined can all be confirmed in Chambers, so I will focus on the worplay in the blog.
Away we go…
| Across | |
| 1 | Destroy Scottish island (no small island) (4) |
| SLAY – the island is ISLAY, remove the I(island) | |
| 4 | Harmony around home associated with a fireplace (8) |
| CHIMINEA – CHIME(harmony) surrounding IN(home), then A | |
| 9 | Bacon that I get cooked for flatmate? (10) |
| COHABITANT – anagram of BACON,THAT,I | |
| 10 | Vehicle reversing by French river stopping short — something scraping (7) |
| RACLOIR – CAR reversed, then the river LOIRE missing the last letter | |
| 13 | Little old dam like this bursting? Caution! (6) |
| ANICUT – don’t often see a clue where the definition is hidden in the middle of the clue – “little old” means O, now take the O out of CAUTION and form the anagram to get the dam | |
| 14 | My lord always backing soldiers (6) |
| MENEER – EER(always) after MEN(soldiers) | |
| 16 | Papal licence in the name of God ultimately (6) |
| INDULT – IN, then D(Deus, God), ULT(ultimately) | |
| 17 | Quiet repose making one ready, as before (5) |
| PREST – P(quiet), REST(repose) | |
| 18 | No longer chase after prize money, having got weak (6) |
| PURSEW – PURSE(prize money), W(weak) | |
| 19 | Difficult summer month to bear at one time (6) |
| AUGEAN – AUG(August, summer month), EAN(bear) | |
| 22 | Old-fashioned counsel taken on board by daredevil (5) |
| AREDE – hidden in dAREDEvil | |
| 25 | Vassal set to provide cattle food (6) |
| MANGEL – MAN(vassal), GEL(set) | |
| 28 | Come face to face with old bishop and one new to the faith (6) |
| OBVERT – O(old), B(bishop), VERT(short for CONVERT, one new to the faith) | |
| 29 | Learned man to mistreat half a dozen (6) |
| MAULVI – MAUL(mistreat), VI(six, half a dozen) | |
| 30 | Afterwards girl comes to meaningful agreement (7) |
| SYNESIS – SYNE(afterwards), SIS(sister, girl) | |
| 31 | Dearies apt to get excited get breathless (10) |
| DEASPIRATE – anagram of DEARIES,APT | |
| 32 | Homeless creature? Everyone needs to have food, Young Conservative admitted (8) |
| ALLEYCAT – ALL(everyone), EAT(have food) containing YC(Young Conservative) | |
| 33 | Letters from fourth man circulating (4) |
| ETHS – the fourth man in the Bible is SETH – cycle it to start at the E | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Tortures pastors conjured up, having caught highway thief (10) |
| STRAPPADOS – anagram of PASTORS containing PAD(short for FOOTPAD, highway thief). Had to laugh at this one, since I am currently playing Falstaff in a production of Henry IV (part the first) and one of the lines in the tavern scenes is “Zounds, an I were at the strappado or all the racks in the world…” | |
| 2 | Solitary person outside a public library, say? (6) |
| LOANER – LONER(solitry person) surrounding A | |
| 3 | Summon old expert to squash common fellow (6) |
| ACCITE – ACE(expert) surrounding CIT(common fellow) | |
| 4 | Blackmail coming from China not acceptable (5) |
| CHOUT – CH(China), OUT(not acceptable) | |
| 5 | Islander, one wearing headgear — a Scotsman? (7) |
| HAITIAN – I(one) inside HAT(headgear) then IAN(Scotsman) | |
| 6 | Opinion being heard, proceeded secretly (5) |
| MINED – sounds like MIND(opinion) | |
| 7 | Centres in which one sees any number slave, cruelly exploited (6) |
| NAVELS – N(any number), then an anagram of SLAVE | |
| 8 | Friendly agreement? Not with one of two knights opinionated (6) |
| ENTETE – the agreement is an ENTENTE, remove one of the N’s(knight) | |
| 11 | Bishop is coming in ruined, upset, in knots (6) |
| KNURRS – RR(bishop) inside SUNK(ruined) reversed | |
| 12 | Embroiderers in Cheshire town registers (10) |
| CREWELISTS – the town of CREWE, then LISTS(registers) | |
| 15 | Internet facility providing e-tunes possibly? (6) |
| USENET – anagram of E-TUNES. An internet service of bulletin boards. Anyone still around from the days of rec.puzzles.crosswords? | |
| 18 | Tree in China at foot of which is girl (7) |
| PALMYRA – PAL(China, mate), and MYRA(girl) | |
| 20 | Cart heading off to deliver piece of armour (6) |
| UMBREL – the cart is a TUMBREL, remove the first letter | |
| 21 | Crocodile gets through biting into girl (6) |
| GAVIAL – VIA(through) inside GAL(girl) | |
| 23 | Net for fish gets some quite sleepy going upstream (6) |
| EELSET – hidden reversed in quiTE SLEEpy | |
| 24 | I’m stupid, restricting power and seeking peace (6) |
| DOVISH – Homer Simpson’s favorite expression D’OH(I’m stupid) containing VIS(power) | |
| 26 | Like wine that’s dull from US but with hidden power (5) |
| GRAPY – GRAY(dull) containing P(power) | |
| 27 | Prohibition slapped on revolutionary army in part of Hungary (5) |
| BANAT – BAN(prohibition) then a reversal of TA(army) | |
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