Another monthly treat of interesting words and clever wordplay. In all it took me 1hr 15 minutes with plentiful use of aids. Last two in were SUPERHETS and BASSIANO. Favourite word of the month is TARGUMIST and favourite clue innovation the wordplay between two definitions for FONDA. Thank-you clever setter!
Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, {deletions} and [] other indicators.
| Across | |
| 1 | Still holding a strike, fanatic borders on expanding growth in Africa (8,6) |
| CALABASH NUTMEG – A BASH (strike) NUT (fanatic) in CALM (still) and outside letters of E{xpandin}G. | |
| 9 | Plant Coliseum-based performers in second entrance to arena (9) |
| OENOTHERA – ENO (English National Opera; Coliseum-based performers) in OTHER (second) and first letter of Arena. | |
| 10 | Strengthening rod beginning to bend in tower (5) |
| REBAR – First letter of Bend in REAR (tower, the verb). | |
| 11 | Concert one left feeling overwhelmed by cuteness (5) |
| GIGIL – GIG (concert) I (one) L (left). Not in the usual dictionaries but is in Wiktionary. It’s from Tagalog. | |
| 12 | Streaming a Welsh female embracing Unilever soap brand (9) |
| AFFLUXION – LUX (Unilever soap brand) in A FFION (Welsh girl’s name). | |
| 13 | Chinese city supplants focus of preliminary survey in old people’s home (8) |
| RESIANCE – An archaic word for RESIDENCE. RE{c}CE (preliminary survey) with the middle letter, [focus], replaced by SIAN (Chinese city, more commonly spelled Xian). | |
| 15 | Blind, lost relatives going back and forth (6) |
| BISSON – Another archaic word, hence the “lost”. SIB [going back] ->BIS and SON going the right way (relatives) [going back and forth]. | |
| 17 | Evil cloaked in unlimited panic reflected matter of concern for Mandela? (6) |
| INDABA – BAD (evil) in{p}ANI{c} -> ABADNI, all reversed -> INDABA. | |
| 19 | Fragmented Thracian pottery cups (8) |
| CANTHARI – [Fragmented] (Thracian)*. | |
| 22 | Daredevil for one twice snubbed extremely tendentious receivers (9) |
| SUPERHETS – SUPERHE{ro} (Daredevil, for one) without the last two letters [twice snubbed]. and outside letters of T{endentiou}S. | |
| 23 | Call interrupted by hospital unit (5) |
| THERM – H (hospital) in TERM (call, the verb). | |
| 24 | Acting family loving Andalusia’s first tavern there? (5) |
| FONDA – FOND (loving) and first letter of Andalusia. An unusual clue with wordplay sandwiched between two definitions. | |
| 25 | Patronisingly elaborate electricity supply scheme in which current is delayed (9) |
| MANSPLAIN – MA{i}NS PLA[I]N, moving the I (current) backwards. | |
| 26 | Wake-up call aimlessly drew in Aussie lookout taking time off (4-1-6-3) |
| COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO – DOODLED (aimlessly drew) in COCKA{t}OO (Aussie lookout) without the T (time). | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Russian girl dividing gold stamps found in diner’s cupboard down under (10,4) |
| COOLGARDIE SAFE – A double inclusion. OLGA (Russian girl) in OR (gold), DIES (stamps) all in CAFE (diner). | |
| 2 | Downs raised weapon in SE Asian republic (7) |
| LANUGOS – GUN (weapon) raised -> NUG in LAOS (SE Asian republic). | |
| 3 | Radical Lefty gutted about supporting raised VAT (5) |
| BUTYL – TUB (vat) [raised] -> BUT, L{eft}Y [gutted] reversed -> YL | |
| 4 | Seal clasp below notice (8) |
| SEECATCH – SEE (notice) CATCH (clasp). | |
| 5 | Short fat naked gent stands before iron fist of Will (6) |
| NEAFFE – FA{t} [short], {g}EN{t} all reversed -> NEAF, FE (chemical symbol for Iron). A word from Will Shakespeare, that is. | |
| 6 | Tense dispute ignoring English film expert in Aramaic? (9) |
| TARGUMIST – T (tense) ARGU{e} (dispute) without the E (English), MIST (film). | |
| 7 | European climbs high East Indian trees (7) |
| EMBLICS – (E (European) climbs)* [high]. | |
| 8 | Edict in favour of papal ambassador that’s somehow meant to be included (14) |
| PRONUNCIAMENTO – PRO (in favour of) NUNCIO (papal ambassador) including (meant)* [somehow]. | |
| 14 | Atlantic swimmer’s medal wrapped in Arabian flag (9) |
| AMBERJACK – MBE (medal) in AR (Arabian), JACK (flag). | |
| 16 | Censor checks pompous sort before start of inquest on old Venetian spendthrift (8) |
| BASSANIO – ASS (pompous sort) in BAN (censor), [start of] Inquest O (old). A character in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice. | |
| 18 | Skim-read papers, looking up horse (3,4) |
| DIP INTO – ID (papers) reversed -> DI, PINTO (horse). | |
| 20 | French theological scholar pounds into a clock accessory (7) |
| ABELARD – L (pounds) in A BEARD (clock accessory; clock = face). | |
| 21 | Alga perished around small (minute) stems (6) |
| DESMID – First letters [stems] of S{mall} and M{inute} in DIED (perished). | |
| 23 | Representative melody with finale in part rising (5) |
| TYPAL – LAY (melody) with the last letter in the middle of PT (part) all going upwards. | |
The usual mixture of interesting words, clever wordplay, and a transcription error. Thanks for the blog. SIAN is not in my Boy’s List of Chinese Cities, and it took a while for pennies to drop with that one.
Oddly enough the one that caused most hesitation was NEAFFE: way too many alternative spellings, even only in Shakespeare!