A large number of clues this week would not be out of place in the 15×15, and probably in contention for a COD award on most normal days for said puzzle: 9ac, 11ac, 16ac, 22ac, 27ac, 29ac, the super 1dn, 3dn, ingenious 5dn, 13dn, 17dn, 26dn for sure… in short there’s a lot here that anyone who regularly solves the normal-strength puzzle should be well equipped to get stuck straight into. I believe in you all! You can do it!
Though apparently *I* can’t, because if at any point this month I did work out exactly how 10ac parses, I seem to have forgotten it again. If anyone can help put my mind at rest I’d be very grateful. But for now I must see if it’s possible to forge my way to work through the teeth of the blizzard outside – well I remember, only about a week ago thinking “what a lovely day, truly the first glimmerings of spring, though now that I’ve thought that I’ve probably completely jinxed things, ha ha”. Is all of this my fault?
ACROSS
1 Will’s given top place to runner covering the centre of NZ (7)
ENSKIED – The runner is a SKI. Use that to oust the middle letter of ENZED, and you have a word that Will Shakespeare might use to mean “given top place to”.
5 Scot’s whistling in broadcast item from Bow? (7)
SOWFING – SOW [broadcast] + FING, a Cockney’s rendition of the word “thing”. SOWF is a Scots word for to croon or hum.
9 Judge of diamond finished holding its middle (3)
UMP – UP [finished] holds the middle letter of {dia}M{ond}. “Judge of diamond” referring to a baseball diamond.
10 He has raced around tiny state for large citrus fruit (11)
HESPERIDIUM – HE has SPED [raced] around RI [tiny state]… I… um? There’s something going on in this clue that I can’t quite get, but that’s what you lovely lot are for. At least there wasn’t much doubt about what the answer needed to be based on the crossers. Alright, take *HELIUM* [He], and replace its L [large] with the SPE{RI}D. Thanks pals!
11 Worry about tribe and king’s ebbing mind (4,4)
TAKE CARE – EAT [worry] about RACE + K [tribe + king], all reversed [“ebbing”]
12 Round instruments displaying colourful spots (6)
OCELLI – O CELLI [round | instruments]. Ocelli are those lovely things on peacock feathers.
15 Ocker’s ugly character is reflected (4)
DRAC – reverse/reflect CARD [character] to find an Australian slang word for unattractive.
16 Fire door should be high on joint, maybe (10)
SMOKETIGHT – TIGHT [high] on SMOKE [joint, maybe]
18 “Work pounds” included in what’s said to be cutting fibre in muscle (10)
SARCOPLASM – OP L [work | pounds] included in SARCASM [what’s said to be cutting]
19 Cape’s head covering like hood with front halves trimmed back (4)
DOEK – first trim the front halved of {li}KE and {ho}OD, then reverse to find an African woman’s head covering.
22 Hard-hitting report from Scouse pal on Thursday (6)
THWACK – WACK [Scouse pal] on TH [Thursday].
23 To preserve affluent London area, each leaves deer-hunting circles (8)
TINCHELS – TIN [to preserve] + CHELS{ea} losing its EA [each]. A tinchel is a circle of huntsmen moving inwards to trap their prey, I now know.
25 Buyer holds note bearing name of first month (11)
VENDEMIAIRE – VENDEE [buyee] holds MI AIR [note | bearing]. Vendemiaire was the first month of the French revolutionary calendar.
27 We must leave inferior crumbs (3)
LOR – LO{we}R [inferior, losing its WE]
28 Relations keeping on about frogs once used for pregnancy testing (7)
XENOPUS – SEX [relations] keeping UPON [on], reversed. “Frogs once used for pregnancy testing” is surely one of the all-time great clue definition parts? And apparently it’s all quite true: Google “Hogben test” to learn more.
29 Small stone cask around evergreen trees (7)
NUTMEGS – S GEM TUN [small | stone | cask], reversed
DOWN
1 Rising temperature among top-flight crew (7)
EXULTED – T [temperature] among DELUXE [top-flight], reversed [“rising”] – crew as in the past tense of “crow”.
2 Ball game park takes a new wicket (5,6)
SEPAK TAKRAW – (PARK TAKES A*) [“new”] + W [wicket]. Kick volleyball, a game native to SE Asia, and now you know something new.
3 Trendy wine behind bars (2,4)
IN HOCK – IN [trendy] + HOCK [wine]
4 Make intelligible sign in proof that contains substantive bracketing stuff (10)
DESCRAMBLE – DELE [sign in proof] that contains SB [substantive] “bracketing” CRAM [stuff]
5 Risky investment urge after double back-shift? (4)
SPEC – take each letter of URGE and move it two spaces backwards in the alphabet. Clever clue!
6 Traditional outfitters putting one per cent into wide chapeaux (8)
WHIPCATS – I PC [one | per cent] into W HATS [wide | chapeaux]. A whipcat appears to be British slang for a tailor, and an excellent word it is too.
7 Whiskey drunk by two in New Zealand community (3)
IWI – W [whiskey] “drunk by” II [two]. An iwi is a tribe, or thereabouts, in Maori society.
8 String player succeeded in opening device (7)
GAMBIST – S [succeeded] in GAMBIT [opening device]. A performer of course on the viola da gamba.
13 Liberal overturned European claim with one working in bacteria (11)
LEGIONELLAE – L [Liberal] + reversed E ALLEGE [European | claim] with I ON [one | working] in.
14 Who might revise cities in Korea’s borders? (10)
EKISTICIAN – (CITIES IN K{ore}A*). Semi-&lit as “ekistics” is the science of community planning.
17 Rip off George Cross collection for ten a penny (3-5)
DOG-CHEAP – DO GC HEAP [rip off | George cross | collection]
18 MS treatment posed the author distress (7)
SATIVEX – SAT I VEX [posed | the author | distress]. An extract of cannabis that can be very beneficial for muscle stiffness.
20 Rusk has violated dietary rules (7)
KASHRUS – (RUSK HAS*) [“violated”]. Kashrus or kashrut is a set of Jewish religious laws, cognate with “kosher” I expect.
21 Thrilled to accept Curie as knowledgeable earlier (6)
SCIENT – SENT [thrilled] to accept CI [Curie, the unit of radioactivity]. Obsolete word for “knowledgeable”.
24 Burns brought up Selkirk Grace in “Caledonian” to start with (4)
CIGS – S{elkirk} G{race} I{n} C{aledonian}, but in the opposite order. “Burn” is another very charming British slang term, for a cig(arette).
26 Ancestor protected by guardian angel? (3)
NAN – hidden in {guardia}N AN{gel}
I was usually left with a couple I couldn’t parse, and so had to worry at the clue for a day or two
What irks me now, of course, is being informed by Nestor that there’s a NINA, and unless its the rather Yodaish NUL HE BLOG down the left hand side I’m blowed if I can see it. Maybe I’ll get Mrs Z to look for it as a wordsearch aficionado.
Might I suggest the setter retires now that his century has been reached, and his bunch of Cs has been admired! Mr. Parrot, might we have a puzzle with more emphasis on Club?
I would challenge anyone to write a short story containing all the words in this lamentable logorrhoea.
(Also, if you think this set of answers was obscure, I’d advise you not to go and look at last month’s, you’ll get palpitations!)
When the setter has to point out and then expose his own NINA, as it was beyond obscure to all but himself, then that lovely old word from the pageant – ‘masturbation’ arises.
I have completed just a few Club Monthlies in my time but they have generally ruined my sociability. A bit more inclusion, more clubability, my Lord?
Edited at 2018-03-07 03:12 am (UTC)