In theory I should delay this another hour but I’m sure anyone intending to write a clue to HUMONGOUS will have done so by now.
Solving time: 22:20 – no books – and no mistakes for a change (unless of course, you know different). Despite about 11 new words for me, this was a straightforward puzzle.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | OBSTRUCTED R in (doubts etc.)* |
| 11 | GEARE hidden – = gear = armour (obs.) – new meaning to me |
| 12 | COEQUAL – Lord COE,QUA,L |
| 13 | METOPON – met,op,on – a less addicitve alternative to morphine apparently – first of a pair, both new to me I think |
| 14 | MOXA – ox = neat, in ma- leaf down, sunflower pith or other fluffy sbstances used to relieve chronic arthritic pain |
| 17 | CLIP-ON – lip = brass = cheek in con |
| 18 | DIENE – E in dine – an organis compound with two bonds between carbon atoms – those double lines I vaguely remember from the diagrams, I guess. |
| 25 | SANKO – or sancho – a W African guitar – another new word |
| 27 | THORPE – H in (rep to)* |
| 31 | ODAL – rev. of L,ado – my time might have been even quicker if I hadn’t strugggled to remember this barred-grid chestnut. A bit worrying, that was. |
| 32 | NARTHEX – n,art,hex – it’s something in church architecture and that’s near enough for me. |
| 33 | NORIMON – new word for me – rim in noon = 12. |
| 35 | DRESS SENSE – S in rednesses* |
| Down | |
| 2 | BEEGLUE – gee=well! reversed in blue=waste |
| 3 | SATI – from satiable |
| 4 | TROPPO – (Op. port) rev. |
| 6 | CONFRONTE – CON(FR.,ON)TE – new word but not worth looking up |
| 7 | TELEDU – eluted* – the stinking badger of Java |
| 8 | DUODENA – don’t quite get the worplay though I guess it involves the oud, a N African fiddle. |
| 9 | WAXEN – axe in (he)wn |
| 10 | CLARENCEUX – CLARE=Nun – a ‘Poor Clare’ I guess,N,C.E.,ux. = uxor = wife. New word for me – the second king-of-arms in England apparently |
| 13 | MOCHA STONE – mo,chast(e),one – another new word but one not worth looking up |
| 15 | ANGELENOS – gel in (as none)* – residents of LA |
| 20 | MANSARD – man,sa(r)d – those roofs with steep sides and flatter tops |
| 21 | LIPPENS – lip,pens – a new Scots word for me |
| 23 | TO-NAME – on in tame |
| 24 | PONTIE = punty and other spellings – the iron rod used by glassblowers, another new word for me |
| 26 | AIDOS – “I do” in as. Gk. for modesty – another new word, I think |
| 28 | HARDS – hard,S – I think I may have seen this meaning before |
| 30 | THAN – H in tan. I don’t understand the def., but it must be right. |
For 30D, the definition is from THAN, an obsolete (=”forgotten”) form of THEN, which = “immediately” (confirmed by Chambers).
Apologies (sort of) for what turned out to be a premature posting of the blog for 1857, the deadline having been extended because of the various typos. This was not mentioned on the website, or next to the printed puzzle in the paper, and I didn’t see it until many hours later. What with a combination of extreme pressure of work and a cold, I didn’t have time to do anything about it. And I blame the Observer, anyway.