Solving time: not recorded
I can’t remember how long this took or how much I used Chambers. But I made a wrong guess at the first letter of 17D, which suggests that the rest was solved without Chambers.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | SUFFRUTESCENT – (turf fuse)*, scent – herbaceous, with a woody stem-base |
| 12 | IN ONE – (NO.,N) in i.e. |
| 13 | IVOR(y) – ref. Ivor the Engine |
| 14 | RO(q)UE |
| 18 | HE,A,R.(TIKI)N. – “a little heart, used euphemistically in an old oath”, says C. |
| 19 | TAKE TEN – a longer version of “take five” |
| 20 | A.,ESC – “the rune for a, used in Old English for ae; the ligature ae used in Old English for the same sound (that of a in Mod Eng RP cat).” |
| 22 | ABD=bad*,OMEN |
| 25 | HEYS = “haze” = rag in the ‘play jokes on’ sense |
| 27 | PIROGUE = (I go up R.,)*,E |
| 30 | TRANSMUTE = (UN matters)* |
| 32 | D.E.,MOB – D.E. = Dept of Employment |
| 33 | DAFF – hidden reversal, – to put by (Shak.) |
| 34 | SAND = to polish with a sander, and the female novelist known as George Sand’s lover was Chopin, who was Polish. |
| 35 | MOWER – W. in Rome* |
| 36 | GULE – glue with its centre reversed, and Sots for ‘marigold’ |
| 37 | TRANSGENDERED – strange*,redden* |
| Down | |
| 1 | SCRATCH-TEST – scratchiest with T for I. Nice easy one if you’re married to an immunologist! |
| 2 | FLUNK(y) – to flunk = to faiil an exam, which is also ‘plough’ |
| 3 | F,LEG – a Scotticism for ‘scare’ |
| 4 | RICH T(ea.) – sound = correct = right = richt. |
| 5 | UN,FEED |
| 6 | ENTRY = a field. I suspect the wordplay is Y = young. following something, but I can’t see what |
| 7 | SEE THE |
| 8 | EVOKES – OK in Seve rev. – ref. Olazabal and Ballesteros |
| 9 | NONISSUE – O = centre of ‘October’ in (suns(h)ine)* |
| 10 | TRENCHER-FED = separate from the pack, of hounds. (here FC)* in trend |
| 15 | CAN,OPUS – an urn for mortal remains |
| 17 | TABERDAR – beard* in tar = to incite = egg (vb.). I made a wrong guess at DABERDAR |
| 21 | HYAENA – A after AY rev. in HEN |
| 23 | BOSOMS – MO rev. in BOSS |
| 24 | MI(TT)EN – slang for ‘dismissal’, type (employment or cricket?) not specified in C. |
| 26 | E.,M.(BO)G. |
| 28 | REIRD = drier rev. |
| 29 | GLAUR – hidden – Scots for a mire |
| 31 | E(D.G.)E – the BBC = Auntie is headed up by the DG = Director General |
According to Chambers, ENTRY is “a young hound, or hounds collectively, old enough to begin training”. So I suppose it’s actually just a (very misleading) double def.
In the true pedantic spirit, may I be the first to say that there is a mistake in the most recent Azed which will have linguists shrieking in horror. Well, cringing slightly, anyway.