A tough week, I thought, especially without online access to Chambers any more. Apologies for the late-ish blog.
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 4 | EFFECTUAL – EC in FATEFUL*. |
| 10 | AVANT – AV + ANT. |
| 11 | LORENZO – LORE + N + OZ<. |
| 12 | MERRY AS A GRIG – RR in (MY GARAGE IS)*. |
| 13 | ESCOT – ESCO[r]T. |
| 14 | MINUEND – (NU + E) in MIND. |
| 16 | CHOLI – C + HOLI. |
| 18 | SWEET PEA – T[ermites] in (SWEEP + EA). |
| 21 | EMISSARY – MISS in [t]EARY. |
| 25 | MANGY – MAN + G[u]Y. |
| 26 | KAROSHI – I’m not sure about the wordplay here: What’s agitating to this word? ‘Work too hard’ is. |
| 27 | ELSIE – S[trangeness] in (E + LIE). |
| 28 | SIAMESE TWINS -(WITNESSES AIM)* . |
| 29 | ADMIRER – ADMIR[al] + ER. |
| 30 | LEVEE – L + EVE[n] + [dialogu]E. |
| 31 | EASTER EGG – SEGREGATE*. |
| Down | |
| 1 | NAMECHECK – A + MEC in NECK. |
| 2 | EVESHAM – EVE + SHAM. |
| 3 | MARCONIGRAMS – CON in (GRAMMAR IS)*. |
| 4 | ENROLLS – EN + ROLLS. |
| 5 | FLAME WAR – (W + EMA[i]L)< in FAR. |
| 6 | CRANK – two definitions, plus C + RANK. |
| 7 | TEGUS – TEG + US. |
| 8 | UNRESPONSIVE – (PRISON VENUES)*. |
| 9 | AZINE – A + ‘ZINE. |
| 15 | DIAPYESES – (I’D SEEP SAY)*. |
| 17 | DERRIERE – (ERR in DIE) + RE. |
| 19 | THALWEG – (LAW* in THE) + G. |
| 20 | ENGINED – NEEDING*. |
| 22 | HAIDA – (A in HID) + A. |
| 23 | VOMIT – V + (I in TOM*). |
| 24 | ISERE – R in I SEE. |
Hi Simon
I haven’t done this puzzle but I think the answer to 26ac is KAROSHI – defn. “(in Japan) sudden death as a result of extreme overwork”.
If you replace ‘this’ in the clue with the answer and then anagram (agitating) TO KAROSHI WORD you get ‘work too hard is’.
Oh good, thanks Geoff. I started with KAROSHI then confused myself by blogging entirely the wrong answer for 3dn, which crosses that one. Time for a swift edit…