Greetings, barred-grid fans.
After the past few weeks, it felt like I flew through this one, with the usual witty Tim Moorey clues and some fun references along the way. Not as many unusual words in the grid this week, or maybe I got lucky with the knowledge.
In Mephisto puzzles, definitions can be verified in Chambers, so I will focus on wordplay here.
Away we go…
| Across | |
| 4 | Certainly boring church conference? It reduces one to silence (9) |
| CHOKE-PEAR – OKE(OK, certainly) inside CH(church) and a conference PEAR. Pear for conference has appeared so often, |
|
| 10 | Foreign currency no good ultimately on Scottish island (8) |
| NGULTRUM -NG(no good), ULT(ultimately), and the island of RÙM | |
| 11 | Pick chop for Scottish snack without a starter (4) |
| HACK – CHACK(Scots snack) minus the first letter, and two definitions | |
| 12 | Method of ringing changes clearly on tap (8, two words) |
| PLAIN BOB – PLAIN(clearly) BOB(to tap) | |
| 13 | A good head of hair on one foreign chief officer (4) |
| AGHA – A, G(good) first letter of Hair, A | |
| 14 | Affectation of superiority surrounding name for Edinburgh clubs (5) |
| AIRNS – AIRS(affectation of superiority) surrounding N(name) | |
| 15 | A girl caught spanking is something for the press (6) |
| GARLIC – anagram of A,GIRL,C(caught) | |
| 17 | With instructions on passing, match associated with upset (7) |
| TESTATE – a TEST match with ATE(upset) | |
| 21 | Urge Dutch to give up on odd Chinese food (7, two words) |
| EGG ROLL – EGG(urge on), then remove D(Dutch) from DROLL(odd) | |
| 23 | Jack in distress and it doesn’t look good (7) |
| EYESORE – EYE(a detective, Jack), SORE(in distress) | |
| 26 | Drunk reported by Latin sailor leads to rising in Pakistan (7) |
| INQILAB – sounds like INKY(drunk), then L(Latin), AB(sailor) | |
| 27 | Voice which is inspiring the heart of Europe (6) |
| THROAT – THAT(which) containing the middle letters of EuROpe | |
| 28 | Love horse seen on the left in gallery (5) |
| PRADO – O(love) with PRAD(a horse) on the left | |
| 31 | VAT all right? Nothing escapes the UK taxmen as before (4) |
| KEIR – OKE(all right, making its second appearance) minus O(nothing) then IR(Inland Revenue) | |
| 32 | Womaniser, hair in order after time in loo (8) |
| LOTHARIO – anagram of HAIR after T(time) inside LOO | |
| 33 | Sign in Ladies omitting Welsh (4) |
| OMEN – WOMEN(ladies) minus W(Welsh) | |
| 34 | Numbers of irregular regiments disheartened (8) |
| INTEGERS – anagram of REGImENTS minus the central letter | |
| 35 | A PC averse to change providing time for preparation (9) |
| PARASCEVE – anagram of A,PC,AVERSE | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Home long-suffering? One’s hospitalised actually (9) |
| IN-PATIENT – IN(home), PATIENT(long-suffering) | |
| 2 | Fruit found in trug? Likely (4) |
| UGLI -hidden inside trUG LIkely. A trug is a fruit basket | |
| 3 | Arab tent village in deserted Middle East union once (4) |
| DUAR – D(deserted) UAR(United Arabic Republic) | |
| 4 | See shreds of fibre in rocky outcrops (6) |
| CLINTS – C(see), LINTS(shreds of fibre) | |
| 5 | Spacecraft in passing about right (7) |
| ORBITER – OBITER(in passing) surrounding R(right) | |
| 6 | Ban boomerang flying? Not on (7) |
| EMBARGO – anagram of BOOMERANG minus ON | |
| 7 | Beacon hospital in reserve not special (5) |
| PHARE – H(hospital) inside SPARE(reserve) minus S(special) | |
| 8 | Big predator decapitated both dog and chicken (8) |
| EAGLE-OWL – remove the first letters of BEAGLE(dog) and FOWL(chicken) | |
| 9 | Yarrow seen in a cold drainage channel (8) |
| ACHILLEA – A, CHILL(cold), EA(drainage channel) | |
| 16 | Nick is departing from French port on a drinking bout (9) |
| CALABOOSE – remove IS from CALAIS(French port) then BOOSE(drinking bout) | |
| 18 | Those engaged in New Year showing redness in the face? (8) |
| ERYTHEMA – THEM(those) inside an anagram of YEAR | |
| 19 | Rather greasy emirs are out of order (8) |
| SMEARIER – anagram of EMIRS ARE | |
| 20 | People from African country in endless mess (7) |
| SOMALIS – MALI(African country) inside SOSS(mess) minus the last letter | |
| 22 | Fur suit including rare trim (7) |
| GENETTE – GEE(suit) containing NETT(rare trim) | |
| 24 | Rent increase? Tabloid’s replaced Kelvin (6) |
| HIRAGE – HIKE(increase) with RAG(tabloid) instead of K(Kelvin) | |
| 25 | Girl from Orlando wanting fare for party (5) |
| LORNA – anagram of ORLANDO minus DO(party) | |
| 29 | Turned up sermon about Greek god (4) |
| ARES – reversal of SER(sermon), A(about) | |
| 30 | Daughter forgetting money for obscure Highland weapon (4) |
| DIRK – D(daughter), then remove M(money) from MIRK(obscure) | |
Not too bad – I can’t remember if I finished in one sitting or not, but it wasn’t much more than that. Only inqilab and parasceve were totally unheard-of, which allows one to proceed with some confidence. I was a bit surprised to find that ngultrum was not an African currency, since that is usually where the ng- words come from.
Parsing of 11, 21, and 23 puzzled me. Now understood, thanks. Didn’t realise or had forgotten JACK = EYE. I can’t find EGG ROLL in Chambers. SPRING ROLL is there, which I assume is synonymous. Overall a pleasing puzzle and completed in my usual slow pace of a couple of sessions on Sunday evening and Monday morning.
vietnamese has plenty of ng diphthongs as well
Conference is listed in Chambers as a pear, though it specifies with a capital. I assumed so when solving, so lower-case in the clue is a bit of a MER? For various reasons, only got round to this at eight thirty last evening, so was pleased it was relatively gentle. 24d is a reference to Kelvin McKenzie?