This one was not too difficult for me, although I didn’t finish in one sitting. There are a couple of words in here that would be more appropriate for Larousse than Chambers, but they are in fact in Chambers – why, I couldn’t say. Most of the answers are words I’ve heard of, and I had even heard of matadore, which was helpful. There was some bits from Shakespeare and Spenser, only one of which required serious research. All in all, a very accessible puzzle.
| Across | |
| 1 | Eg, fifties child’s great success: colonist in receipt of top award (6) |
| BOOMER – BO(OM)ER, where OM = Order of Merit. Supplied with two literals for your solving pleasure….or not. | |
| 5 | Enterprise, say, in plot assisted those who wait (6) |
| BUSSED – B(USS)ED, the Enterprise from Star Trek. | |
| 10 | Nostalgic nipper trashed fey guy and goon (10, two words) |
| YOUNG FOGEY – Anagram of FEY GUY + GOON. | |
| 12 | Achieve look after line in advert (7, two words) |
| PULL OFF – PU(L,LO)FF. | |
| 13 | Touching moniker going about for solo operator (6) |
| ONE MAN – ON + NAME backwards. | |
| 14 | Unknown female before being dated in company (5) |
| YFERE – Y + F + ERE, a bit of Spenser for you. | |
| 15 | Of a case being on form (7) |
| OCREATE – O’ CREATE. | |
| 17 | I start to recover assigned to stern (4) |
| IRON – I + R[ecover] + ON. | |
| 18 | Dull dote on dominoes (8) |
| MATADORE -MAT + ADORE, where the trick is to recognize the alternate meaning of the literal. | |
| 23 | You must reconsider a trade-in as plan B (8) |
| RAINDATE – Anagram of A TRADE-IN. | |
| 25 | Fish about for a plan (4) |
| IDEA – IDE + A. | |
| 26 | Marker mysteriously left big house (7, two words) |
| FELT PEN – Anagram of LEFT + PEN, as in a gaol. | |
| 28 | Belief in God is within Democrat (5) |
| DEISM – DE(IS)M. | |
| 29 | Magistrates from Rome with former convictions (6) |
| PRIORS – Double definition. | |
| 31 | Neck seen in this outrageously reversed result (7) |
| ISTHMUS – Anagram of THIS + SUM backwards. | |
| 32 | Skilfully handle kayak, say, with it? (10) |
| FIELDCRAFT – FIELD + CRAFT, not very cryptic. | |
| 33 | Waste leave and you’ll get what’s due (6) |
| DESERT – Triple definition. | |
| 34 | Mostly intend whopper to be somewhat white (6) |
| MEALIE – MEA[n] + LIE. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Bar outside your private space used once by Prince of Wales (6) |
| BYROOM – B(YR)OOM, a bar from a sailing ship. | |
| 2 | For French female Open University is in public eye at last (7) |
| OUVERTE – O(U)VERT + [ey]E. | |
| 3 | Much seen image about narcissist’s prime capacity for recall (5) |
| MNEME – M(N[arcissit])EME. | |
| 4 | Costard’s blunder, for example, over parent (4) |
| EGMA – E.G. + MA, with a very esoteric definition. | |
| 5 | Macron’s sulking — heartlessly erratic one close to strife (8) |
| BOUDERIE – BOU[n]DER + I + [strif]E. I’m not sure about bounder, but it’s definitely not boulder. Oh, rats, it is boulder! I should have looked up erratic in Chambers instead of boulder. | |
| 6 | Stranglers neatly avoiding first two pieces to be played? (7, two words) |
| UGLY MEN – [sn]UGLY + MEN. | |
| 7 | Small fairy that is Snap (6) |
| SELFIE – S + ELF + I.E. | |
| 8 | Face ferry often being out of order (10) |
| EFFRONTERY – Anagram of FERRY OFTEN. | |
| 9 | Wicked close to contest (6) |
| DEFEND – DEF + END. | |
| 11 | Shine in engineering and science (10) |
| INCANDESCE – Anagram of AND SCIENCE | |
| 16 | Excessively tense about yob and lecturer, discretely (8, three words) |
| TO A FAULT – T(OAF)AU(L)T – a double enclosure. | |
| 19 | Democrat, comparatively droll American rep (7) |
| DRUMMER – D + RUMMER. | |
| 20 | Set a limit on said strong baccy (7) |
| CAPORAL – CAP + ORAL. | |
| 21 | Thrice daily perhaps, roadside danger is cleared away (6) |
| TIDIED – TID + IED. Ter in die + improvised explosive device. | |
| 22 | This was used for loft in French house — price runs away (6) |
| MASHIE – MAS + HI[r]E. A mashie was not actually that highly lofted. | |
| 24 | Being chopped like leaves of gladioli, say (6) |
| ENSATE – ENS + ATE. | |
| 27 | Article, it turned up on Queen Anne’s head? (5) |
| TIARA – A.R. + A + IT, all upside down, an &lit. | |
| 30 | Resistance whizz’s stock career (4) |
| RACE – R + ACE. | |
Nothing else here is quite as obvious as the pun, but I got thru it in a very few, and not overly long, sessions. I was glad to have Chambers, but haven’t fathomed the allusion to the Prince of Wales. What bothered me about BOUNDER is that I at first took “one” as part of the definition, which would make it a noun and thus matching the reference in the clue, but then realized I needed “one” for the penultimate I.
The only way I could reason Prince of Wales is that it is a common name for an English pub.
For 5 down I got obdure for heartlessly which then works out erratically as an anagram of bouder. The rest as per the blog.
Thank you vinyl for 1 down. The Prince of Wales had me stumped. I thought the parsing was roo for bar and by for past leaving m which is used once in William Prince of Wales. This is obviously wrong but I am assuming the POW is referring to a character in Henry V.
Re BYROOM, it’s probably BY-ROOM as Prince Hal says to Poins in Henry IV part 1 “do thou stand in some by-room while I question my puny drawer”.
Re BOUDERIE, the parsing includes BOU[l]DER, as Chambers has for erratic: “2. An erratic block or boulder”
You beat me to it on both counts!
Aha! Thanks!
Indeed. I was completely off with my parsing of 1d.
I found this quite difficult.
Hal was the Prince of Wales, and in Henry IV Part 1 says:
It definitely is boulder: an erratic, or ‘erratic boulder’, is ‘a mass of rock transported by ice and deposited at a distance’.
And it’s now just past four o’clock, so I’m late to the party, but agreed re POW and BOULDER. Here in Jockland such erratics are known as gowk stanes. Sliding down the end of one is meant to bring good luck. (Gowk = cuckoo.)