Although some of the cryptics are a bit strange, the answers were mostly evident, and the vocabulary was pretty simple for Mephisto. If you biffed Festschrift, as I did, you should be right on the wavelength. I solved this one in just one session, staying up a wee bit late on a Saturday night, perhaps. I ended up doing a few dictionary searches and needing a lucky guess or two, but it all worked out in the end.
And you?
| Across | |
| 1 | Innocent overturned this necessary stuff (3) |
| TIN – NIT backwards, with tin in the sense of money, the necessary. | |
| 4 | I limit short flap on departing (9) |
| CURTAILER – CURT + AILER[on]. | |
| 11 | One wanting steady job never moved to weaken as before (6) |
| ENERVE – [on]E + anagram of NEVER. | |
| 12 | Being a buddy of légionnaire’s new name, yes (5, two words) |
| EN AMI – Anagram of NAME + I – yes, I is really given as an alternate spelling of aye. | |
| 13 | Take to grumbling and grab opening on stage (8, two words) |
| STAR TRAP – STAR[t] + TRAP, most likely, although other interpretations are possible. | |
| 14 | Blighter’s coming with Perrier, perhaps, Macron’s present (6) |
| CADEAU – CAD + EAU – simple and elegant. | |
| 15 | Bullish device finally free to contain a heading in Umbrian (6) |
| TAURIC – T(A, U[mbrian])RIC[k]. | |
| 17 | Who’s becoming one that’s done with saltpeter [sic] (6) |
| UNITER – U + NITER. U = that’s done, and niter is the valid spelling over here. | |
| 19 | Wage slave may show this display, I seem disturbed (12) |
| PRESENTEEISM – PRESENT + anagram of I SEEM. | |
| 20 | Fantastic, first fetch will include special section’s celebrations? (12) |
| FESTSCHRIFTS – Anagram of FIRST FETCH + S + S. S can abbreviate nearly anything! | |
| 25 | English music mag’s hot for Net (6) |
| ENMESH – E NME’S H, the New Musical Express. | |
| 27 | Pike taking in mostly catty publican for Private Frazer? (6) |
| LUCKIE – L(UCK[y])IE. Ucky is not in my Chambers, but pops up in a quick search. | |
| 28 | I mark mixture, as we say, to stain (6) |
| IMBRUE – I + M plus sounds like BREW. | |
| 29 | Bit of puff going into adjunct’s love song? (8) |
| SERENADE – SEREN(AD)E, as in His Serene Highness. | |
| 30 | Free the Beeb before leaving (5) |
| UNTIE – [a]UNTIE, a chestnut. | |
| 31 | The process of advancing without using Latin’s desinence (6) |
| ENDING – [l]ENDING. | |
| 32 | Suffer simple RSM’s shriek? (9, two words) |
| STAND EASY – STAND + EASY, in entirely different senses from what the NCO is saying. | |
| 33 | English note found going back through autograph album (3) |
| LAH – backwards hidden in [autograp]H AL[bum]. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | All but show frightful foul up (no zippo) as a measure of Rosy (9) |
| TEACUPFUL – TEAC[h] + anagram of F[o]UL UP. | |
| 2 | Old Peruvian’s banged up? (5) |
| INCAN – IN CAN, which along with banged up is a slang expression for being in gaol. | |
| 3 | Resident could be most knowledgeable (8) |
| NERDIEST – Anagram of RESIDENT. | |
| 4 | Parliamentarian devoured pancakes as part of service (6) |
| CRUETS – CRU[mp]ETS. | |
| 5 | Line of limitation in report on credit facility (12, two words) |
| RETURN CREASE – RETURN + CR EASE. | |
| 6 | He had tatties mashed — yes, you’ve got it (12, three words) |
| THATS THE IDEA – Anagram of HE HAD TATTIES. | |
| 7 | Excite aged class (6) |
| AERATE – AE + RATE. | |
| 8 | Like-minded, say, by temper (6, two words) |
| IN TUNE – | |
| 9 | Messages to them informally covering troubles (6) |
| EMAILS – ‘EM + AILS. | |
| 10 | Rent is mostly excessive (3) |
| RIP – RIP[e]. | |
| 16 | Huge scam developing about hospital — it’s crooked per Rab C (9) |
| CAMSHEUGH – Anagrm of HUGE SCAM + H – and no, this is not the Scots word for camshaft. | |
| 18 | Uncertainty beginning to emerge in flimsy addition to mast (8, two words) |
| FIFE RAIL – F(IF, E[merge])RAIL. | |
| 21 | Solvent which would be flowing if female opened it (6) |
| ELUENT – (-f,+E)LUENT, a reverse letter substitution clue. | |
| 22 | Son expressed concern over popular fraud (6) |
| TAKE IN – [s]TAKE + IN. | |
| 23 | Piano features in Blondie song about having a backbone (6) |
| SPINED – DENI(P)S backwards….not in Chambers. | |
| 24 | I am lad picking up tip in Daily Express, as it was (6) |
| IMBODY – I’M BOD + [dail]Y. | |
| 26 | Splendid person holding up article forming body of law (5) |
| SUNNA – SUN + AN upside-down. | |
| 29 | Some, as usual, loitering with intent, eg, in county lacking greens? (3) |
| SUS – Hidden in [a]S US[ual]. I’ll leave the rest to the comments, if anyone cares to have a go. | |
13ac – could this be START and RAP where rap means grumbling? In which case “grab” is just a link word?
27ac – I took this as KI(T) for catty (a term for kitten) inside LUCE for pike, the fish.
4d – How does “devoured” mean that MP should be removed from crumpets? That’s me being dumb no doubt; I’d have preferred “Parliamentarian left pancakes……”
8d – I took this to be a double definition? To be in agreement and to be true in pitch where to temper can mean to tune a piano.
23d – Denis is the title of a song by Blondie.
24d – I took this as I’M BOY with D(aily) inserted.
29d – I never knew that “sus” also meant suspicious behaviour, e.g. loitering with intent. The rest of the clue is “Sussex” where “greens” being slang for sexual intercourse has been removed.
Sincere thanks to both setter and blogger for the entertainment, time and effort.
27ac: same here but ‘catty’ isn’t in Chambers so I’m still a bit puzzled by it. Edit: got it, one of the definitions of KIN in Chambers is ‘a Japanese and Chinese weight, the catty’!
4dn: I found this a bit odd too but I assume the idea is that MP has disappeared because it’s been eaten.
8dn: I think it’s IN=by, TUNE=temper, but I can’t account for the word ‘say’.
24dn: me too.
29dn: ‘Loitering with intent’ is specifically mentioned in the Chambers definition of SUS.
Tricky one!
Edited at 2022-04-24 10:33 am (UTC)