This one wasn’t too difficult for a Tim Moorey. There were at least a few fairly straightforward clues to get the solver started and provide crossing letters. I opened operations in the SE quadrant, where utopiast, verdit, and estaminet where immediately evident, giving me a nice selection of crossing letters. This enabled me to work my way around counterclockwie, ending u in the NE, which was not as difficult as I made it.
Some of the parsing were a bit difficult, but I think I managed to figure out everything to the blog. Corrections and additions welcome!
| Across | |
| 4 | One into cold Fosters for refreshment? He’s plastered! (9) |
| FRESCOIST – Anagram of I + C + FOSTERS. | |
| 10 | Rod hurried through Colombia for a deep gorge (8) |
| BARRANCO – BAR + RAN + CO. | |
| 11 | Greek currency regularly used on first day of the week (4) |
| MNAS – M[o]N[d]A[y]S, often called minas. | |
| 12 | Appraisals of brass in Joplin pieces (7) |
| RATINGS – RA(TIN)GS, where brass and tin are treated metaphorically, as slang for money. | |
| 13 | Two parents shopping months for a sacred flower (5) |
| PADMA – PA + D(M)A…two male parents, that is! | |
| 14 | British actor returned for old computer (5) |
| ENIAC – CAINE backwards, one that many solvers will biff. | |
| 15 | Old Turkish minister with change of direction: more knitting together! (6) |
| VINIER – VI(-s,+N)IER, where the minister is often spelt vizier. | |
| 17 | Clean up one side of field in French town (7) |
| ALENCON – Anagram of CLEAN + ON. | |
| 21 | Indian brother mostly scoffs no end of rather mild curries (7) |
| BHAJEES – BHA[i] + JEE[r]S, where the missing R is the end of rather. | |
| 23 | Afternoon out dancing, Ena and Tracy like electroclash? (7) |
| TRANCEY – Anagram of EN[a] + TRACY. | |
| 26 | Forecasters of spring correct mostly (7) |
| SPAEMEN – SPA + EMEN[d], for our Scots wizards. | |
| 28 | Fellow adopting high tone for English chemist (6) |
| DALTON – D(ALT)ON, the three-letter abbreviation for alto. | |
| 29 | A mouth organ with backing in capital (5) |
| PRAHA – A HARP backwards, the Czech rendering of the city we know as Prague. | |
| 31 | Take cracking game bird from the Highlands (5) |
| SKART – SKA(R)T. Skat is an old card game. | |
| 32 | Brother catty about daughter gets the boot (7) |
| BRODKIN – BRO (D) KIN, where kin is an Eastern weight, also known as the catty. | |
| 33 | Return of swine flu revealing the spirit of Goans (4) |
| FENI – Backwards hidden in [sw]INE F[lu]. | |
| 34 | More work on society getting to top of the tree? Could be me (8) |
| UTOPIAST – UTOPIA + S + T[ree]. | |
| 35 | Your setter’s eaten out in small cafe (9) |
| ESTAMINET – anagram of TIM’S + EATEN. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Create bad upset having released tension (9) |
| ABREACTED – Anagram of CREATE BAD. | |
| 2 | Addiction recovery group quiet after turning over new leaf (4) |
| PAAN – A[lcholics]A[nonymous] backwards + N, the betel leaf. | |
| 3 | Boy had a good time out of bounds (5) |
| ARTIE – [p]ARTIE[d]. | |
| 4 | Must find a recipe for an epicure (6) |
| FRIAND – Anagram of FIND A R. | |
| 5 | Form into sphere given by lecturer sharing English award (7) |
| ENGLOBE – ENG + L + OBE. | |
| 6 | Glasses very good during Ascot jumping (7) |
| COPITAS – Anagram of ASCOT around PI. | |
| 7 | Middle-Easterner briefly laid up (5) |
| OMANI – IN A MO upside down. | |
| 8 | Was a dictator and charged by the sound of it (7) |
| INDITED – Sounds like indicted. | |
| 9 | Like this present? Me too (8, two words) |
| SAME HERE – SAME = like this, HERE = present. | |
| 16 | Novice put down 50 per cent? Wrong stake for this horse! (9) |
| ROSINANTE – [ty]RO + SIN + ANTE. | |
| 18 | Class learns a term for Greek coffins? Could be these (8) |
| LARNAKES – Anagram of LEARNS A + [gree]K. | |
| 19 | Worker on demand is a Scottish fellow (7) |
| CALLANT – CALL + ANT. | |
| 20 | Wrinkled retainer close to a corporation? (7) |
| SCROTUM – I believe this is a cryptic definition, despite the presence of TUM in the answer. If you see a cryptic, let us know! | |
| 22 | Heavy particle one’s not seen on satellite (7) |
| HYPERON – HYPER[i]ON, a moon of Saturn. | |
| 24 | Composer tense for jury decision (6) |
| VERDIT – VERDI + T, giving an alternate spelling. | |
| 25 | Scottish quarter’s put up a fine line (5) |
| STRIA – AIRT’S upside-down. | |
| 7 | Old Glaswegian poet with little money for day in the capital (5) |
| MAKAR – (-d,+M)AKAR. Never heard of him, but the cryptic is very clear. | |
| 30 | It can be confused with “sh” (4) |
| HIST – Anagram of IT + SH, an &lit. | |
MAKAR is a common noun; ‘poet’.
Skat as a card game is alive and well, and taken very seriously in Germany. There’s an official version for tournaments, and umpteen variations in the rules used in informal games.
Got through this one pretty readily, though I didn’t confirm the wordplay for BHAJEES so thanks for that.
Nice one and I parsed everything. But I’m still puzzled by UTOPIAST. I got the answer via the wordplay, but how is “Could be me” the definition? The dictionary says “someone who seeks perfection in society”… I’m baffled. Please enlighten me.
I think the whole is that someone who refers to the More work in that way would be a utopiast. Other interpretations welcome.
Thanks, George, that’s what I considered but I remain unconvinced.
I had two errors on this one: BHAGEES and MAKAH. I should have persevered with the wordplay. MAKAR takes a bit of ferreting around in Chambers!
I’m not entirely convinced by UTOPIAST either.
MAKAR was Day One of Scottish Literature at Aberdeen Uni, so straight in for me.