The usual flawless clueing and a good handful of new words for me. Clarification would be appreciated at 24dn – I assume it’s a combination of two of the many soldier-related acronyms, but I haven’t been able to pinpoint which.
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | GREATCOAT – (A COTTAGER)*. |
| 12 | BARRIO – BAR + RIO[t]. |
| 13 | BREECH – B + REECH. |
| 14 | HEMICHORDATA – HE + (A CHROMATID)*. |
| 16 | FROM – F[lies] + ROM. |
| 17 | UINTAITE – U + IN + (1 “probes” TATE). “Tate” seems to be a Scots word for “a small portion, pinch, tuft”. |
| 19 | SNUB – BUNS<. |
| 20 | MAEV – (ME “embraces” A) + V. One tends to worry a bit on realising that what’s sought is a distinctly Irish name: they tend to be quite unfamiliar to us here in South London, and Chambers isn’t much help with them! Disaster was of course avoided by tight clueing. |
| 21 | RADIATE – RAD + 1 + ATE. |
| 23 | BUSHISM – (BUS HIM) “round” S[peech]. |
| 25 | T-BAR – T[he] B[est] A[lpine] R[esorts]. A type of ski-lift so a very nice &lit. |
| 27 | UNTO – [co]UNT O[ften]. |
| 28 | CHESIRE – CH[e]ES[e] + HIRE. |
| 29 | DARN – AND* “concealing” R. Another &lit. |
| 33 | GREEN VITRIOL – (REGRET VIOLIN)*. |
| 34 | EMEUTE – (‘EM + U) in ETÉ. |
| 35 | NEARLY – NEATLY “with R doing for T”. |
| 36 | BEADY-EYED – (BEA DYED) “embracing” YE. |
| Down | |
| 2 | RAETIA – (A1 TEAR)<. |
| 3 | ERMINE STREET – (MERE INTEREST)*. A Roman road that ran from London to York via Lincoln. |
| 4 | ARIA – [m]ARIA. |
| 5 | TICK – dd. |
| 6 | COHEIRS – HEROICS*. “Those of some will” is a nice, misleading def. |
| 7 | OBOE – OB + O’ + [lan]E. “Stop” in the sense of an organ stop. |
| 8 | ARREEDES – (DEER + R “into” SEA)<. |
| 9 | LEARNABILITY – (BRILLIANT + AYE)*. |
| 10 | ACT OUT – AC + TOUT. |
| 11 | CHAMBERER – CHAMBER[s] + RE<. |
| 15 | MUM-BUDGET – (M + BUDGE) in MUT[e]. |
| 18 | ALICANTE – ALICE “embracing” ANT. |
| 22 | AMERIND – AMEND “about” RI. |
| 24 | UNARMS – the def. is “Removes weapons from…“, but I can’t explain the wordplay: “…one soldier surrounded by others? Not initially“. |
| 26 | AREOLE – (A ROLE) “around” [op]E[ra]. |
| 30 | UVEA – UV + EA. |
| 31 | STEY – S[cots] + YET<. |
| 32 | BRAE – BRA[c]E. |
24D: a R(oyal) M(arine) in (g)uns?