Fun puzzle, this one – you can trust the wordplay to get the large number of unusual terms in the grid.
Another grid with 90-degree symmetry, it seems we are getting more of these lately.
With the Mephisto, definitions (the first of which is underlined) can be verified in Chambers, so I will focus on the wordplay in this report.
And remember to never smile at a top row pun.
Away we go!
| Across | |
| 1 | In Denver drunk staggered about on the left (7) |
| CROCKED – Not a term I remember hearing in 20 years in the USA. ROCKED(staggered) with C(about) on the left hand side | |
| 6 | Passage is in Porter (5) |
| AISLE – IS in ALE(porter) | |
| 10 | Again gather a little preliminary work just with its start delayed (9) |
| RECONVENE – RECON(preliminary work) then EVEN(just) with the first letter moved to the end | |
| 11 | One at war is hot with sickness at Mons, Earl admitted (7) |
| ISHMAEL – IS, H(hot) and MAL(sickness in France) containing E(earl). | |
| 12 | Tedious daily grind preceding husband’s sorrow (4) |
| RUTH -RUT(tedious daily grind), H(husband) | |
| 14 | Char’s mate with bit stashed (8, two words) |
| CHINA TEA – CHINA(mate) containing ATE(bit) | |
| 15 | Eg, who penned Tamerlane and its opening? (4) |
| POET – Tamerlane was written by Edgar Allan POE, then the first letter of Tamerlane | |
| 17 | Ornament’s numbers held in check by kitchen police (5) |
| KNOSP – NOS(numbers) inside KP(Kitchen Police) | |
| 19 | Who’d surprise someone holding a pistol around line (8) |
| STARTLER – a STARTER holds a pistol, surrouding L(line) | |
| 21 | Victim’s close concealing old injury (8) |
| MURDEREE – MURE(to close) containing DERE(injury) | |
| 22 | Sheath is round acer that’s abloom (5) |
| OCREA – O(round), then an anagram of ACER | |
| 24 | Refuse in New York behind dispute — new US tip must go (4) |
| DENY – took a while to work through the worplay – it is NY after DISPUTE minus the mixed letters of US,TIP | |
| 26 | Most recent ceremony is what makes some tropical landscapes (8) |
| LATERITE – LATE(most recent), RITE(ceremony) | |
| 29 | Milton’s grievous and no longer sweet (4) |
| DEAR – double definition, though for the second one you need to look up SWEET in Chambers | |
| 30 | Messiah quietly replacing special sort who works with flags (7) |
| PAVIOUR – SAVIOUR(messiah) with P(quietly) replacing S(special) | |
| 31 | Shift in derived declaration of shock (9, three words) |
| I NEVER DID – anagram of IN,DERIVED and a phrase I associate with Kennrth Williams and Charles Hawtrey in Carry On movies | |
| 32 | Have it large or it’s to go wild (5) |
| ROIST – anagram of OR,IT’S | |
| 33 | Obedient duke as once ex officio, one of the royalty (7) |
| DUTEOUS – D(duke), UT(as), EO(ex officio), US(one of the royalty) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Wave from urchin holding up crown (5) |
| CRIMP – IMP(urchin) under CR(crown) | |
| 2 | Scots tut over English line which must be toed? (4) |
| OCHE – OCH(tut) over E(English). This term for a line in darts always reminds me of the first time I had to blog a daily crossword I could not complete, as it was clued as a cryptic definition and I had never heard of it. | |
| 3 | Turn out Chiron, say, onto Gallic street (8, two words) |
| COME TRUE – Chiron is a COMET, then RUE(Gallic street) | |
| 4 | Worn-out charger, eg, HRH unplugged in unconscious act (5) |
| KNACK – the worn out horse is a KNACKER, remove ER(HRH) | |
| 5 | Engineer lied with a special light manner of speaking (8) |
| DELIVERY – anagram of LIED then A and a VERY light (a flare) | |
| 6 | In German, one’s coming (4) |
| ANON – hidden inside germAN ONe’s | |
| 7 | Excited suitor toting a pendant (7) |
| SAUTOIR – anagram of SUITOR containing A | |
| 8 | Yellowish covering which protects trail (9) |
| LUTESCENT – LUTE(cement covering), SCENT(trail) | |
| 9 | Eccentricity mostly cut short Nijinsky’s movement? (7) |
| ECHAPPE – E(eccentricity) then CHAPPED(cut short) missing the last letter | |
| 13 | Move to locate Cicero finally diametrically opposed to Caesar (9, two words) |
| TOTO CAELO – anagram of TO,LOCATE and the last letter of cicerO | |
| 16 | Blurted out about one having crested plates? (8) |
| PLUMIPED – PLUMPED(blurted out) containing I(one) | |
| 18 | Elucidating signal is sent by this dashed refined taste at last (8) |
| NEEDFIRE – anagram of REFINED and the last letter of tastE | |
| 19 | Sermon about Trump’s form to linger stateside (7) |
| SMOLDER – SER(sermon) surrounding MOLD(form) | |
| 20 | Once Victor’s taken off aviatrix could be flying this (7, two words) |
| AIR TAXI – remove V(victor) from AVIATRIX and anagram | |
| 23 | Mason’s face is retrospective, possibly tense (5) |
| REVET – reverse EVER(possibly), then T(tense) | |
| 25 | Glance over and, God, son beams (5) |
| YARDS – RAY(glance) reversed, then D(deus, God), S(son) | |
| 27 | Pa leaves ma for one split (4) |
| RENT – remove PA from PARENT(ma, for one) | |
| 28 | Repeatedly rip off Charlie (4) |
| DODO – DO(rip off) repeated | |
Midas