A pretty tough week, I found. Despite the auspicious puzzle number, I don’t see any Hastings-related material here, but then I will tend to miss whole themes entirely. 19ac remains unexplained.
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | MECHANICALS – (CLASH + CINEMA)*. The Rude Mechanicals are the theatre company who perform the play-within-a-play in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. |
| 11 | UGLY – U[psetting]G L[ad]Y. |
| 12 | MONOCYTE – hom. of “mono sight”. |
| 13 | NGANA – (A NAG + N)<. |
| 14 | CAROL – CA + ROL[e]. |
| 15 | HERMITIC – HERM + I + TIC. |
| 17 | MUCUS – MUC[k] + US. |
| 19 | NITROANILINE – I can’t explain this one: Splashes repeated in oriental dye. |
| 20 | DEVIL-MAY-CARE – (LADY + MAVERIC[k] + [sauc]E)*. |
| 21 | ISSEI – ISS[u]E + I. |
| 26 | BROCCOLI – BROC[c] + COLI[c]. |
| 27 | ETUIS – (U in SITE)<. |
| 28 | AGRIN – [ch]AGRIN. |
| 29 | SELEUCID – (I[srael] + CUE)< in SELD. |
| 30 | AREG – ARE + G[obi]. |
| 31 | PLUMASSIERS – PLUM + ([oth]ER in ASSIS[t]). “Plum” was apparently P.G. Wodehouse’s nickname. “Pen pusher” is used cleverly here, to mean “feather seller”. |
| Down | |
| 2 | EGGERIES – E.G. + G + [s]ERIES. |
| 3 | CLARK – C + LARK. |
| 4 | AMAIN – I in A MAN. |
| 5 | NORTH AMERICA – (IRATE MONARCH)*. |
| 6 | INDIANAPOLIS – NAPOLI in (INDIA + S). Although it couldn’t have been much else, this took a while to work out – the wordplay for INDIA is well hidden as simply “I…”! |
| 7 | ACAPULCO – A CAP + COUL[d]*. |
| 8 | LYRIC – [theatrical]LY RIC[e]. He does too: Tim Rice is the wordsmith behind countless musicals. |
| 9 | STOP – ST[r]OP. |
| 10 | SELF-SEEKING – SE[t] + FEELS* + KING. |
| 11 | UNHANDINESS – (SUNSHINE AND)*. |
| 16 | PRIE-DIEU – PR + I.E. + DIE + U[nitarian]. |
| 18 | UNRULIER – URN* in U[g]LIER. |
| 22 | SKULL – K in SULL[y]. |
| 23 | SCADS – SCA[l]DS. |
| 24 | LORRE – LORRE[ll]. Reference to László Löwenstein, better known as Peter Lorre. |
| 25 | STEP – ST[e]EP. |
Is it definitely that could it be nitroaniline
An anagram of in in (in twice) and oriental?
Ah yes, that’s it – many thanks. The lack of a “T” was a typo, now fixed.