Once more the Monthly Club Special provides us with a feast of exotic words clued by inventive and entertaining wordplay. I found this a little easier than recent months but it still took me 1:09 – hours:minutes, not minutes:seconds, that is! My LOI was the 3-letter 12A with its clever wordplay. Word of the Month goes to the unlikely looking 15D and most-fun bit of wordplay the ‘stripping curvy characters’ in 24D. Thank-you clever setter.
Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, {deletions} and [] other indicators.
| Across | |
| 1 | Chicken brood’s left a little late in bed of shells and gravel (6) |
| CULTCH – CLUTCH (chicken’s brood) moving the L (left) back 1 letter -> CULTCH. | |
| 4 | Psalm for Mass’s one in stony defence of Boers (8) |
| SCHANTZE – S{i}ZE (mass) with the I (one) replaced by CHANT (psalm). I had a MER at CHANT for psalm, which is the tune one is sung to, but Collins Thesaurus has it as a synonym. | |
| 10 | Extreme conservative confusion beginning to ruin friendship (9) |
| FOGRAMITY – FOG (confusion), first letter of Ruin, AMITY (friendship). | |
| 11 | Of two-party arrangements, just over half repelled fundamentalist (5) |
| TALIB – 5 of the 9 letters of BILATeral (of two-party arrangements) reversed -> TALIB. | |
| 12 | Point out ring from radials (3) |
| RAS – Remove DIAL (ring) from RA{dial}S. My LOI, needing to see to split “Point out” to get the definition. | |
| 13 | Cause of smell that’s strong or faint, recalled between siblings familiarly (11) |
| BROMIDROSIS – OR DIM (faint) reversed -> MIDRO, in BRO and SIS (siblings familiarly). | |
| 14 | Man turns on doctor who’s closing passages in temple (6) |
| DROMOI – DR (doctor), last letter of whO, IOM (Isle of Man; Man) reversed -> MOI. | |
| 16 | Perhaps a local character taking care of whitefish (7) |
| INCONNU – C/O (care of), in INN (perhaps a local) NU (Greek character). | |
| 19 | Ferrari’s agreed to stop luxury cars being abnormally thirsty? (7) |
| LIMOSIS – SI (Italian for yes) in LIMOS (luxury cars). The dictionaries I use, Chambers and Collins (it’s not in ODE) have the word meaning “An abnormally ravenous appetite”, but I guess a thirst can mean a desire for something other than drink and “hungry” would wreck the neat surface. | |
| 20 | Brewer’s product protecting business against recession (6) |
| ALCOVE – Good grief! A normal word and an easy clue. CO (business) V (against), in ALE (brewer’s product) | |
| 22 | Flexible stone’s desirable quality on both sides of a short pillar by end of arcade (11) |
| ITACOLUMITE – IT (desirable quality) before and after A COLUM{n} [short] (pillar), last letter of arcadE. | |
| 25 | Marker buoy or tub, locally and at sea (3) |
| DAN – Two definitions and an anagram, (and)* [at sea]. “Locally” indicates that the second definition is in dialect. | |
| 26 | Pared-down Damnation of Faust with intermissions (2-3) |
| ON-OFF – Hidden in DamnatiON OF Faust. | |
| 27 | One validates constant, endless burning with instant resistance (9) |
| CONFIRMOR – C (constant) ON FIR{e} (burning) [endless], MO (instant) R (resistance). | |
| 28 | I suggest we turned across river, chasing evasive knave (8) |
| COYSTREL – COY (evasive), LET’S (I suggest we) [turned] and including R (river) -> STREL. | |
| 29 | Oil producer’s to appear to bury unpublished text (6) |
| SEMSEM – MS (manuscript; unpublished text) in SEEM (appear). | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Soccer’s authority is in referee’s colourful reprimand for Blues (6) |
| CAFARD – FA (Soccer’s authority) in CARD (referee’s colourful reprimand). | |
| 2 | Shrub or flip’s contents: blow and liquor (9) |
| LIGUSTRUM – fLIp [‘s contents], GUST (blow) RUM (liquor). Both shrub and flip are types of alcoholic drink. | |
| 3 | Hooded striker’s supporter arises as spiritual successor for Celtic (5) |
| COARB – COBRA (hooded striker) with the BRA (supporter) reversed -> COARB. | |
| 5 | Digestive processes disrupted in stomach if icy (14) |
| CHYMIFICATIONS – (in stomach if icy)* [disrupted]. | |
| 6 | Catch rain after treatment of wool-sorter’s disease (9) |
| ANTHRACIC – (catch rain)* [after treatment]. | |
| 7 | In retrospect, only time reveals ultimate purpose (5) |
| TELOS – SOLE (only) T (time) reversed -> TELOS. | |
| 8 | Slacker to board coach ahead of waiting line, with 40 per cent off (8) |
| EMBUSQUE – EMBUS (board coach) QUE{ue} (waiting line) without the last 2 of 5 letters (40%). A word I recognised from a Mephisto in December. | |
| 9 | Smallest state twice catching very American smuggler involves scene that can make you smile (8,6) |
| RISORIUS MUSCLE – SO (very) in RI (Rhode Island; smallest state in USA) RI [twice], US (American), SC (scene) in MULE (smuggler). Phew. Very Ikean. | |
| 15 | In greatest quantity, receiving a thousand cases of often fizzy grape syrup (9) |
| MOSKONFYT – K (a thousand) and outside letters of OfteN FizzY, in MOST (greatest quantity). | |
| 17 | To add difficulty, see about withdrawing Scottish legal charter (9) |
| NOVODAMUS – SUM (add) ADO (difficulty) V (videlicet; see) ON (about) all reversed -> NOVODAMUS. | |
| 18 | Sign covering papers held by commander-in-chief protected by shell (8) |
| CLEIDOIC – ID (papers) in LEO (sign of the zodiac), all in CIC (Commander-in-Chief). | |
| 21 | Former unenlightened batter is off beam for breaking down doors (6) |
| INGRAM – {batter}ING RAM (beam for breaking down doors) without the “batter”. | |
| 23 | Hopelessness in breakdown of society’s physical structure, at being estranged (5) |
| ANOMY – AN{at}OMY (physical structure) without the AT. | |
| 24 | Erotic feeling when stripping all curvy characters outside for reproductive stuff (5) |
| EXINE – {s}EXINE{ss} (erotic feeling) without the Ss (curvy characters). Nice one. | |