I had a pretty hard time with this – hopefully it’s just me. Couldn’t see what was going on at 1ac (my LOI), NHO 5ac or 15dn, and thrown by the Guardian-esque 2dn. There are a couple of really inspired and witty anagram clues in here. A respectful handshake to Orpheus.
Definitions underlined.
| Across | |
| 1 | H, perhaps, in the role of buccaneer? (8) |
| ASPIRATE – AS PIRATE (in the role of bucaneer). Aspirate = to pronounce with full breathing, i.e. the sound of ‘h’, or the sound represented by the letter ‘h’. | |
| 5 | Diving duck scared at first by cat’s cry (4) |
| SMEW – first letter of (at first) Scared, then (by) MEW (cat’s cry). I had never heard of this sea duck, and it is such an unlikely word. | |
| 8 | Unseen, a badger tormented a bovine animal (8,5) |
| ABERDEEN ANGUS – lovely anagram of (tormented) UNSEEN A BADGER. | |
| 10 | Japanese verse originally hidden away in Kyoto university (5) |
| HAIKU – first letters of (originally) Hidden Away In Kyoto University. | |
| 11 | Three-dimensional scene Ivor regularly included in play (7) |
| DIORAMA – first and third letters of (regularly) IvOr contained by (in) DRAMA (play). | |
| 12 | Drunk son’s inappropriate garment? (6) |
| TIGHTS – TIGHT (drunk) and S (son). In what sense these are inappropriate, I do not know. | |
| 13 | Stick one’s nose in, hearing gong (6) |
| MEDDLE – sounds like (hearing) “medal” (gong). | |
| 16 | Live among opponents in French resort (7) |
| ANTIBES – BE (live) contained by (among) ANTIS (opponents). | |
| 18 | Group of witches beginning to clean stove (5) |
| COVEN – first letter of (beginning to) Clean, then OVEN (stove). | |
| 20 | Noble old general giving up whiskey for jazzman (4,9) |
| DUKE ELLINGTON – DUKE (noble), and wELLINGTON (old general) missing the (giving up) ‘w’ (whiskey). | |
| 21 | Reportedly bring in bird of prey (4) |
| ERNE – sounds like (reportedly) “earn” (bring in). | |
| 22 | Amiable, and at close of day extremely lively (8) |
| FRIENDLY – first and last letters of (extremely) LivelY next to (at) FRI END (close of day). Shrug. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Area used to be hot and seriously flooded (5) |
| AWASH – A (area), WAS (used to be), and H (hot). | |
| 2 | Possible earl in Gateshead, having a close look (7) |
| PEERING – PEER (possible Earl), IN, and the first letter of ‘Gate’ (gate’s head, Gateshead). | |
| 3 | Fearful, but again subject to uncertainty? (11) |
| REDOUBTABLE – RE-DOUBTABLE (again subject to uncertainty). | |
| 4 | Groovy attempt to secure goal (6) |
| TRENDY – TRY (attempt) containing (to secure) END (goal). | |
| 6 | Molten rock mother observed around foot of berg (5) |
| MAGMA – MAMA (mother) containing (observed around) the last letter (foot) of berG. | |
| 7 | Worrying at first, a phase in degeneration (7) |
| WASTAGE – first letter of (at first) Worrying, A, STAGE (phase). | |
| 9 | Youth in case once led astray (11) |
| ADOLESCENCE – another great anagram of (astray) CASE ONCE LED. | |
| 12 | Time to walk with swinging motion? Nonsense (7) |
| TWADDLE – T (time) WADDLE (to walk with swinging motion). | |
| 14 | Dedicated action inspiring five religious books (7) |
| DEVOTED – DEED (action) containing (inspiring) V (five) and OT (Old Testament, religious books). | |
| 15 | Old way the French primarily regarded a stableman (6) |
| OSTLER – O (old), ST (street, way), LE (‘the’ in French), and the first letter of (primarily) Regarded. Back to school for me. | |
| 17 | Symbol adopted by Vladivostok entrepreneurs (5) |
| TOKEN – hidden in (adopted by) vladivosTOK ENtrepreneurs. | |
| 19 | Woman in US city, one looking after children (5) |
| NANNY – ANN (woman) contained by (in) NY (New York, US city). | |
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