| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | RUM,GUM,(IN TOP)* – RUMGUMPTION can mean common sense or native wit. I’d heard of plain old “gumption” (which can mean the same thing) but thought it only meant nerve or courage. |
| 11 | (SURE LIUM)* – I assumed that “half of mycelium” would be MYCE so I didn’t get very far with this until I had a few letters in place. |
| 12 | R in (SELECT BRAI[-n]S)* – CEREBRALISTS. |
| 19 | [-d]INNER BAR – I think this is right but I don’t understand all of the wordplay. The full clue is “Lawyers missing start to meal: amusing incident”. The INNER BAR is the Queen’s (or King’s) counsel. |
| 27 | FLAM in A,E – FLAM can mean lie (“fancy”) or deception. |
| 28 | WED in SEN – SEN is State Enrolled Nurse. |
| 29 | JOE-MILLER,IS,M – which is apparently the practice of re-telling old jokes. Nice &lit clue too, with a pun on corn: “One beloved handler of corn is beginning to manifest this”. |
| 30 | LIES< in ORLE – ORSEILLE. An ORLE is (in Webster’s comma-heavy definition) “A bearing, in the form of a fillet, round the shield, within, but at some distance from, the border”. One of the tougher clues in the puzzle for me, given that I didn’t know ORLE or the answer word. |
| 32 | MARROW,BONES – an informal term for the knees. MARROW can mean a variety of things: spouse, helpmate, co-worker, companion or close friend, all of which were new to me. Not sure about BONES for “pinches” though. Is this is in Chambers (which I don’t have to hand right now)? |
| Down | |
| 2 | URENA – I liked this; the full clue is “Mallow plant encountered in Nature repeatedly.” So URENA is hidden “NatURE NAture” |
| 6 | T in RAF in PALLS – another good clue with a nice surface reading. |
| 8 | GEM,TUN< – for non-footie fans, a NUTMEG is when you play the ball through an opponent’s legs. |
| 9 | OS,SE[-t]TERS – an OSSETER is a species of sturgeon. |
| 13 | SOL,IF,I,DIAN – DIAN was the only bit I wasn’t sure of her. Is it another spelling of Diana (the Roman goddess of hunting)? |
| 15 | BARE,L in ALL,O – an ALBARELLO is “a majolica jar of the 15th and 16th centuries, cylindrical with a waist slightly narrower than the ends, used in Spain and Italy for keeping dry drugs” |
| 17 | I in JOCK in JIG – JICKAJOG. I found this tough to parse and really needed the four consecutive checked letters at KAJO. |
| 25 | WE in BED< – very nearly filled in TWERP as I had the W filled in. |