Greetings, barred-grid fans
I thought this one was a little easier than recent John Grimshaw puzzles, though I didn’t solve it all in one sitting. It is a fun grid with the 12-letter answers around the outside and 90-degree symmetry – I’m surprised there are a minimum of obscure words in the grid.
I once told Paul McKenna that each puzzle he catches me at least once with an abbreviation for “A”. John Grimshaw might be going for a record of abbreviations for “E” in the one puzzle.
Away we go…
| Across | |
| 1 | Aussie weed patch with wild spurges less acceptable (12, two words) |
| COBBLER’S PEGS – COBBLE (patch) and an anagram of SPURGES minus U (acceptable) | |
| 10 | Returned some caramelised old vinegar (5) |
| ESILE – hidden reversed inside caramELISEd | |
| 11 | Shout to horse carrying veteran highwayman (6) |
| HOLD-UP – HUP (shout to horse) containing OLD (veteran) | |
| 13 | Calico utilises partly cotton material (6) |
| COUTIL – hidden inside caliCO UTILises | |
| 14 | Regret about Liberal government (4) |
| RULE – RUE (regret) surrounding L (Liberal) | |
| 15 | Cold roll which may be served for pudding (7) |
| CRUMBLE – C (cold), RUMBLE (move with a rolling noise) | |
| 16 | Run away after European writ of execution (6) |
| ELEGIT – LEG IT (run away) after E (European) | |
| 17 | Prison camp for males outside Los Angeles (6) |
| STALAG – STAG (for males) surrounding LA (Los Angeles) | |
| 19 | Like a dirndl incorporating eastern fabric (7) |
| ALEPINE -ALPINE (like a dirndl) containing E (eastern) | |
| 22 | Losing pressure, flying Imperial planes cover this quickly (7, two words) |
| AIR MILE – anagram of IMPERIAL minus P (pressure) | |
| 26 | Earthy disgust about department director (6) |
| CLODDY – CLOY (to disgust) surrounding D (department) and D (director). I thought the abbreviation might have been in Chambers under DD, but it was not. | |
| 28 | Lava flow could cut ends off esplanade (6) |
| COULEE – COULD minus the last letter, then the external letters in EsplanadE | |
| 29 | East give assistance after Hungary’s exported fish (7) |
| EELPOUT – E (east), then HELP OUT (give assistance) minus H (Hungary) | |
| 31 | Indian employer sacking last local gardener (4) |
| MALI – MALIK (Indian employer) minus the last letter | |
| 32 | The Spanish poet goes back to positive subjects (6) |
| PEOPLE – EL (“the” in Spanish), and POE (poet) reversed after P (positive) | |
| 33 | Separate university in blunder losing billions (6) |
| UNGLUE – U (university) inside BUNGLE (blunder) minus B (billions) | |
| 34 | Abandoned English picked up in Spenser (5) |
| LEFTE – LEFT (abandoned), E (English) | |
| 35 | Surviving fire alone, artist gets academy to replace oxygen everywhere (12) |
| SALAMANDRIAN – SOLO (alone) and the artist Piet MONDRIAN with A (academy) replacing O (oxygen) every time it appears. This is a very fun clue to unravel. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | See red coucal wandering about some trees (12) |
| CEDRELACEOUS – anagram of SEE,RED,COUCAL | |
| 2 | Mouthlike aperture very large on tailless mosquito (6) |
| OSCULE – OS (very large) then CULEX (mosquito) minus the last letter | |
| 3 | Sad fool climbing tree (7, two words) |
| BLUE GUM – BLUE (sad) then MUG (fool) reversed. In my 25 years in Australia, I saw a lot more blue gums than I did cobbler’s pegs | |
| 4 | The French outing was uncontrolled (6, two words) |
| LET RIP – LE (the in French), TRIP (outing) | |
| 5 | Dialect wrongly used in an official order (7) |
| EDICTAL – anagram of DIALECT | |
| 6 | Free acknowledgment holds nothing for one (6) |
| SOLUTE – SALUTE (acknowledgement) with O (nothing) instead of A (one) | |
| 7 | Local swell — prince with a lot of capital (4) |
| PLIM – P (prince) and LIMA (capital) minus the last letter | |
| 8 | Instrument, small, introduced to upper throat (5) |
| GUSLA – S (small) inside GULA (upper throat) | |
| 9 | Spot old jelly — see in cooked pig, perhaps (12) |
| SPIEGELEISEN – SPIE (spot, old), GEL (jelly), then an anagram of SEE IN. Referring to pig iron | |
| 12 | Capital dress for fishing above waterfall (6) |
| DUBLIN – DUB (dress a fly for fishing) over LIN (waterfall) | |
| 18 | Poor labourer — key contributor to immature movement (6) |
| PROLEG – PROLE (poor labourer), then the key of G | |
| 20 | Eagle, say, in the place cited eating eastern seabird (7) |
| LECTERN – LC (loco citato, in the place cited) surrounding E (eastern), then TERN (seabird) | |
| 21 | Cushy for a thespian’s pad (7) |
| PLUMPER – PLUM (cushy), PER (for) | |
| 23 | Mental image I had over Scots headgear (6) |
| IDOLUM – I’D (I had), O (over), LUM (a chimney-pot hat) | |
| 24 | Striking after digging stick being found in mine? (6) |
| KOBOLD – BOLD (striking) after KO (digging stick) | |
| 25 | See Strictly’s setting up a dance number (6) |
| VELETA – V (see), then TELE (Strictly is a TV show that I have never seen) reversed, then A | |
| 27 | Lake near strange swamp (5) |
| LERNA – L (lake) then an anagram of NEAR | |
| 30 | African currency bond abandoned by company (4) |
| PULA – COPULA (bond) minus CO (company) | |
Left hand side went in relatively quickly then I hit a brick wall until SPIEGELEISEN was solved. After that the rest followed, but I did find the RHS quite hard but overall rewarding to solve. SALAMANDRIAN was a lovey clue.