I really really liked the surface for 26ac, but also have a soft spot having grown up on the wrong side of Offa’s Dyke for 13ac. What tickled your fancies this month?
ACROSS
1 Wafer eaters forgoing starter, confused with tiny portions (8)
AZYMITES – {h}AZY [confused, minus its starter] + MITES [tiny portions]. An azymite is “a member of any church using unleavened bread in the Eucharist”, if you want to drop it casually into conversation at some point.
6 Pop radio personality possibly a preener, according to tragic Prince (6)
PAJOCK – PA [pop] + JOCK [radio personality]. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, either (a) a peacock or (b) a misprint.
9 Once turned piles over (4)
SPAN – reversed NAPS. “Spun” is preferred these days, hence the “once”.
10 Male cricket team putting name forward initially tried taking woman from old Scottish trial? (10)
ENLEVEMENT – ELEVEN MEN, putting N (= name) forward; + T{ried}. An archaic term in Scottish law for abducting a woman or child. Whew!
11 Something from prompter, a nod, once, for toothless one that was giant in the wings (10)
PTERANODON – flying dinosaur hidden in {prom}PTER A NOD ON{ce}.
13 John Wyclif has this divine inspiration symmetrically arranged (4)
HWYL – located, symmetrically and inventively, in {jo}H{n} WY{c}L{if}. As you may have guessed, it’s Welsh.
14 Locked room vacated unexpectedly for official function? (8)
CLERKDOM – (LOCKED R{oo}M*) [“unexpectedly”]
16 Music featuring accordion cases in Zemlinsky double concerto (6)
ZYDECO – Z{emlinsk}Y D{oubl}E C{oncert}O. Louisianan, mainly.
18 Society of Jesus welcomed by Virgin (traditionally) in place of worship (6)
MASJID – S.J. “welcomed” by MAID, to find another word for a mosque.
20 Succeeded with grooming tool, having teeth clear of tuna etc (8)
SCOMBRID – S [succeeded] + COMB [grooming tool, having teeth] + RID [clear]. Very fishy if you ask me.
22 Dirty dog stops short of male monkey (4)
DOUC – DOUC{he}. A “variegated monkey of SE Asia”, well worth a Google Image Search.
24 Parisian who fills multipurpose device: note volcanic chemical (10)
COQUIMBITE – QUI [Parisian “who”] fills COMBI [multipurpose device] + TE [note]. Named for Coquimbo in Chile where it was found, obviously.
26 Scotsman’s son moves to opening, driven out by last of scary stories in tent (10)
SHAMIYANAH – take HAMISH, a Scotsman, and drive out his S (= son) as instructed with {scar}Y ANA. The tent is Indian or Persian.
28 Said what results from initial delay in attention (4)
EHED – take HEED [attention], and delay the first letter just a tad. Said “what?”
29 Shellfish porridge on leaves? That’s 100 yen up front (6)
CYPRIS – PRIS{on}, with C Y “up front”. Cypris is a sobriquet of Aphrodite, so I’m imagining these bivalve crustaceans are quite dishy in some way.
30 Proud necromancer almost secures ways to escape going west (9)
FASTUOUS – FAUS{t} [necromancer, “almost”] secures reversed OUTS
DOWN
2 Tropical fruit punch replacing fluid in several small vessels (9)
ZAPOTILLA – take FLOTILLA [several small vessels] and replace FL [fluid] with ZAP [punch]
3 Dresser upended, given another airing before midday (7)
MANURER – reversed RERUN A.M.
4 Next to embrace grand old English aristocrat (5)
THEGN – THEN [next] to “embrace” G
5 Half of pay needed to make a crust (3)
SAL – SAL{ary}. Another word for “sial”, the silica-alumina upper part of the earth’s continental crust/
6 Coloured marble from around Wunsiedel used for length of sumptuous Italian building (9)
PAVONAZZO – take a PALAZZO [sumptuous Italian building], and replace its L (= length) for VON [from, in Wunsiedel or anywhere else in Germany really]
7 Legendary king’s predicament easily frightened daughter (7)
JAMSHYD – JAM SHY D [predicament | easily frightened | daughter]. Jamshyd is (as we all know) the fourth and greatest king of the epigraphically unattested Pishdadian dynasty.
8 Glaswegian’s in good spirits, barely enough to lose head (5)
CANTY – {s}CANTY. Scots word for lively or cheerful.
12 For locals, Syrian city is unlit, similar to headquarters (7)
DIMASHQ – DIM AS HQ [unlit | similar to | headquarters]. One must assume that we’ve been spelling Damascus wrong all these years…
15 Perhaps unaus made a move, climbing with surreptitiousness (9)
DIDACTYLS – DID ACT [made a move] + reversed SLY [with surreptitiousness]. The unau is the two-toed sloth.
17 Fizzy tonic with bottomless red, gold and orange drink (9)
COINTREAU – (TONIC*) [“fizzy”] + RE{d} + AU [gold]
19 Vessel crossing a river to see iridescent bird (7)
JACAMAR – JAR crossing A CAM. South American long-billed insect-catching bird.
21 Live insect on middle of spruce tree (7)
BEBEERU – BE + BEE + {sp}RU{ce}. This is the “greenheart” tree of Guyana.
23 Perthshire town abandoning pit left full of colourful earth (5)
OCHRY – {pit}{l}OCHRY
25 Hope for good outcome with wife leaving Scottish court’s exits (5)
ISHES – {w}ISHES. The “liberty of going out”, in Scots law, is an ish, ish.
27 Stand for cutlery etc and wash up (3)
NEF – reverse of a FEN, or marshy wash. This ornamental cutlery stand was “often in the shape of a ship”, hence the word’s similarity to “nave”.
Cypris just means (shellfish apart) a female from Cyprus, the equivalent of Cypriot. Aphrodite’s antecedents are unclear and more than one place claims she came from there.. I like the story about her unconventional descent from Uranus best.
News to me
I once had a conversation with some very exclusive brethren about whether the Eucharistic (“Lord’s Supper” for them) bread should be unleavened. I was only recognised as worth talking to because my Jewish connection made me an authority on Passover, otherwise I would have been avoided as unworthy. I’m no AZYMITE myself, but I believe they became so on my recommendation.
I’ve been using NEF quite a lot in Words With Friends. Nice to know what it is.
Edited at 2020-07-01 08:18 am (UTC)