Last month’s Club Special was, once again, full of interesting words and intricate wordplay. Lots of fun, but rather hard – it took me just over 1 1/2 hours. 12D was Clue of the Month, but 18D a close second for the neat trick in the wordplay. Thank-you, once more, clever setter.
Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, {deletions} and [] other indicators.
| Across | |
| 1 | Old governors of Channel island in retreat, with lots of poetry (8) |
| WOIWODES – IOW (Isle of Wight; Channel island) reversed -> WOI, W (with) ODES (lots of poetry). Cracking word to start with. | |
| 9 | Old temple: that’s found empty, and pub, the first now the last one (8) |
| TEOCALLI –T{empl}E (that) [found empty], LOCAL (pub) with first letter moved to the end [the first now the last] -> OCALL, I (one). “That” means use TEMPLE in the wordplay as well as the definition, so the word temple isn’t doing double duty. | |
| 10 | Problem describing heterosexual relationship when there’s no one right or left (4) |
| BOYG – BOY G{irl} (heterosexual relationship) without the I (one) R (right) L (left). | |
| 11 | Writing as biographer, I go after something startling said to be expansive (12) |
| BOSWELLIZING – BO (something startling said) SWELL (be expansive) I ZING (go). | |
| 13 | Dusky swimmer no longer comes out with energy (6) |
| SAITHE – The coalfish. SAITH (says; comes out archaically) E (energy). | |
| 14 | Perfume ingredient maybe occupying some ladies in the fifties (8) |
| LINALOOL – IN A LOO (occupying some ladies) in L L (fifties). Ho ho. It got me thinking.. “Oh dear what can the matter be…” | |
| 15 | A very filling meal that’s later grabbed near revolving restaurant (7) |
| TAVERNA –A V (very) and NR (near) [revolving] -> RN, in [filling] TEA (meal). Easier to biff than to parse! | |
| 16 | A lot of clever people for one genetically modified idiot (7) |
| EGGMASS – E.G. (for one) GM (genetically modified) ASS (idiot). | |
| 20 | Furniture maker’s shareware warranted being scaled down (8) |
| REWAREWA – Hidden in shaREWARE WArranted. | |
| 22 | Put a dampener on old woman with challenge (6) |
| MADEFY – MA (old woman) DEFY (challenge). | |
| 23 | Unruly band pillaging area’s left swine out of work! (7,5) |
| PIGLING BLAND – (B{a}nd pillaging)* [unruly]. The Beatrix Potter character. | |
| 25 | Coin once passed on, behold sent back (4) |
| OBOL – OB (obit; passed on) LO (behold) [sent back] -> OL. | |
| 26 | To the west, large area of land Yank mostly used for festival (8) |
| LUPERCAL – L (large) ACRE (area of land) PUL{l} (yank) [mostly] all reversed -> LUPERCAL. | |
| 27 | Form of disease found in spruce, regrettably, earlier (8) |
| ALASTRIM – ALAS (regrettably) TRIM (spruce). | |
| Down | |
| 2 | Looking up a mild oath, formerly something unacceptable in native language (8) |
| ONONDAGA -A GAD (mild oath formerly) NO-NO (something unacceptable) -> ONONDAGA. | |
| 3 | Clock northern comedian and Times hack, unlikely hosts (3-2-3-4) |
| WAG-BY-THE-WALL – WAG (northern comedian) BY (Times), HEW (hack ) in TALL (unlikely; a tall tale). | |
| 4 | Irish food: one way to reverse what the Polish brought up? (8) |
| DRISHEEN – I (one) RD (road) [to reverse] -> DRI, SHEEN (what polish brought up). | |
| 5 | Small place of worship using English for Mass: one’s above all that? (7) |
| STEEPLE – S (small), E (English) replacing the M (mass) in TE{m}PLE -> TEEPLE. The definition means a tower above a place of worship. | |
| 6 | Couple retaining place for US singer (6) |
| JOPLIN – PL (place) in JOIN (couple). | |
| 7 | Island sinking in foul marsh on the veldt? (4) |
| VLEI – VILE (foul) with the I (island) sinking, i.e. letter coming later in the word, -> VLEI. | |
| 8 | Sit with lungs heaving, making convulsive gasps no more (8) |
| SINGULTS – (sit lungs)* [heaving]. “No more” indicating the answer is archaic. Nice surface. | |
| 12 | Doctors veg, mostly reversing contradictory advice for insectivore (12) |
| ZALAMBDODONT – BMA (British Medical Association; doctors) LAZ{e} (veg) [mostly], all reversed -> ZALAMB, DO DONT (contradictory advice). Gold star for intricate clue and unlikely looking word. | |
| 15 | Choke by informally and very quietly pressing on outside of ligature (8) |
| THROPPLE – THRO (by, informally) PP (pianissimo; very quiet), [outside of] L{igatur}E. | |
| 17 | Leg raised in the morning, a hand likewise, making decorative figures (8) |
| GAMMADIA – GAM (leg), AM (in the morning) [raised] -> MA, AID (a hand) also raised -> DIA. | |
| 18 | Sons switch positions, the second occupying two steam-holes (8) |
| SOFFIONI – S (sons), OFF, and ON (switch positions) with the ON inside II (two) -> IONI. Nice one. | |
| 19 | Flounce out of a party, upset after brief stumble (7) |
| FALBALA – FAL{l} [brief] (stumble), A LAB (party) [upset] -> BALA. | |
| 21 | Daughter’s right to withhold the odd stuff from personnel, coy (6) |
| ESNECY – Even number letters [withhold the odd stuff] from pErSoNnEl CoY. | |
| 24 | Holes, one graphically represented, in flooded forest (4) |
| GAPO – GAP (hole) O (hole graphically represented). | |
9a. I think the colon and ‘that’s’ avoids the double-duty jeapordy, though would note that both are required.
Aha. I see. Thanks. Will update the blog.