Another monthly gourmet treat of a crossword for the connoisseur with some entertaining wacky vocabulary from the dusty corners of the dictionary and witty wordplay. Word of the month goes to KOK-SAGHYZ and favourite clue to LIKER. In all it took me about 1hr 20 minutes, which is about par for me with these. Thank-you clever setter.
Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, {deletions} and [] other indicators.
Across | |
1 | Rat getting into grub left muck around for diggers (9) |
FARNARKEL – NARK (rat) in FARE (grub), L (left). Australian slang. I found this in Collins but not in Chambers or ODE. | |
6 | A very observant person can prove who they are? (5) |
HASID – HAS ID (can prove who they are). Ho ho! | |
9 | Thread revolved around misprint after abridgement of a copy (7) |
ECTYPAL – TYP{o} (misprint) [after abridgement], in LACE (thread) reversed -> ECAL. | |
10 | Skin lesion or cut after revolutionary parade (7) |
MORPHEW – PROM (parade) reversed -> MORP, HEW (cut). | |
11 | Ridicule in ocean during periodical teasing in Trinidad (10) |
MAMAGUYING – A double inclusion. GUY (ridicule) in MAIN (ocean) , all in MAG (periodical). | |
12 | Chess champion not seeing her lost purse (4) |
FISC – Bobby FISC{her} (chess champion) without the HER. “Lost” to indicate the word is obsolete… and make a good surface. | |
14 | Metal pan for cooking milk a dairymaid uses (5) |
KADAI – Hidden in milK A DAIrymaid. | |
15 | Dash of vodka along with eastern Hebridean island’s tangerine liqueur (3,3,3) |
VAN DER HUM – First letter [dash of] Vodka AND (along with) E (Eastern) RHUM (Hebridean Island). I knew this one as my Dad had some in the cupboard of liqueurs that were brought out at Christmas. I’m not sure I ever had any, though. | |
16 | Plant with colourful flowers and crinkly leaves covering most of moor? (9) |
KALANCHOE – [Most of] ANCHO{r} (moor) in KALE (crinkly leaves). Another one I knew. We’ve had a couple of them in pots before. | |
18 | Line that’s fixed on TV hospital drama (5) |
LEGER – LEG (on; side of the field in cricket) ER (hospital drama). The fixed lines that notes are written on in music notation. | |
20 | Scattered rays showing spikiness (4) |
ARSY – [scattered] (rays)*. Not the hardest of clues, but the answer did raise a prudish twitch of the eyebrows. | |
21 | Easy Times sudoku: alternately, second-to-last is complicated (10) |
IMPLEXUOUS – Alternate letters of sUdOkU in {s}IMPLE (easy) X (times) S (second), moving the S (second) to the end. | |
25 | Haiku isn’t outwardly a popular set of poetic lines (7) |
HUITAIN – Outer letters of H{aik}U I{sn’}T, IN (popular). | |
26 | Marx possibly besets king wearing gold lamb’s fur (7) |
KARAKUL – A second double inclusion – K (king) in AU (chemical symbol for gold) in KARL (Marx, possibly). | |
27 | Half of Kazaks making a return in exchange for Muslim tax (5) |
ZAKAT – First half of KAZ{aks} reversed -> ZAK, AT (in exchange for). | |
28 | Fish around enormous bog and large city on the Volga (9) |
YAROSLAVL – RAY (fish) reversed -> YAR, OS (outsize; enormous) LAV (bog, which is schoolboy slang for lavatory) L (large). |
Down | |
1 | Bloodsucking insect with mark that releases animal’s blood (5) |
FLEAM – FLEA (bloodsucking insect) M (mark). | |
2 | Set a new schedule for rotating device to clear windscreen with small cut (7) |
RETIMED – DEMI{s}TER (device to clear windscreen) reversed and without the S (small) -> RETIMED. | |
3 | Period string instrument’s pin for tuning note in middle section for clarionets (10) |
ARPEGGIONE – PEG (pin for tuning) G (note) in middle letters of clARIONEts. | |
4 | Captain’s junior guide holds Scot’s glass filled to the brim (5) |
KELTY – LT (lieutenant; captain’s junior) in KEY (guide) | |
5 | Strength of light weapon, minus smaller shot loaded (9) |
LUMINANCE – (minu{s})* [shot] without the S (smaller), in LANCE (weapon). | |
6 | Praise for poet who celebrated Elizabeth, expunging her father’s name? (4) |
HERY – A word for Praise from Spenser (poet who celebrated Elizabeth), removing the N from HE{n}RY (her father). | |
7 | School wraps cored hot pepper that’s finely crushed and washed? (7) |
SCHLICH – CH{i}LI (hot pepper) without the middle letter in SCH (school). | |
8 | Fancy modern WC fed by old pipe from cistern? (9) |
DOWNCOMER – O (old) in [fancy] (modern WC)*. Nice surface. | |
13 | Excellent enticements to embrace old lover’s deviations (10) |
DEFLEXURES – DEF (excellent), and EX (old lover) in LURES (enticements). | |
14 | In Kentucky, approved flag with height variable shows dandelion (3-6) |
KOK-SAGHYZ – OK (approved) SAG (flag) H (height) Y (variable in an equation), all in KY (Kentucky). What a great word! | |
15 | See European strong guys weep, expressing right strength of feeling (9) |
VEHEMENCY – V (videlicet; see) E (European) HE MEN (strong guys) C{r}Y (weep) without the R (right). | |
17 | Anachronistically vigorous criticism dogs liberal university (7) |
LUSTICK – L (liberal) U (university) STICK (criticism), with [dogs] being a positional indicator for follows. | |
19 | Nepalese in advance operations research Turkish hostel, missing base (7) |
GOORKHA – GO (advance) OR (Operations Research) KHA{n} (Turkish hostel) without the last letter. | |
22 | Someone who appreciates football pundit avoiding Shearer’s area? (5) |
LIKER – LI{ne}KER (Gary ; football pundit) without the NE (where Alan Shearer comes from). That made me smile. | |
23 | It’s hilarious when repulsed by something in suntan lotion (5) |
SALOL –LOL (it’s hilarious) AS (when), all reversed -> SALOL. | |
24 | Manganese ore with commercial benefit ultimately (4) |
WADT – W (with) AD (commercial) and last letter of benefiT. |
Yipee. No pink squares. 4d brought this to mind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqB9euFMFZY
Lol. No pink squares for me either, so there’s a decent chance my blog is accurate. Loved the song. Thanks! As it happens my (Scottish) parents had a West Highland terrier called Kelty.
That was much faster than my time which was over 3 hours which is about par for me and that involves ample use of on-line word searches anagram solvers plus Chambers and the full Collins. Why bother if you have to use so many aids? I often ask myself, but it is the clever parsing of the clues I find most entertaining. There were even a few words that looked familiar! (such as kalanchoe which I have bought from a garden centre). However, farnarkel, mamaguying and kok-saghyz definitely weren’t included in the familiar list. Hats off to the setter for finding these wonderful words and for the very clever clues that go along with them.