A slightly rushed post as I’m fairly late with this. One that I’m not sure about at 1dn.
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | DABBLER – A B[i]BLE in DR. |
| 7 | SHAH – HAS* + H. |
| 10 | AGIOTAGE – (IOTA + G) in AGE. |
| 11 | SHRIVELLED – SHRIVE + DELL<. |
| 12 | PRESS – dd. |
| 13 | PLANAR – LAN[d] in PAR. |
| 14 | SECTS – SEC + ST<. |
| 17 | SMASH-AND-GRAB – (BAGS HARD MAN’S)*. |
| 18 | SERPENT-EATER – (R + PEN + TEAT) in (SEE + R). |
| 23 | MARSH – MAR + SH. |
| 25 | SOMATA – ATOMS* + A. |
| 26 | ZOOEA – ZOO + EA. |
| 27 | DUNDERFUNK – (UNDER + FUN) in DK. |
| 28 | EVACUATE – AVE< + CU[r]ATE. |
| 29 | DEFY – DEF + Y. |
| 30 | MAHSEER – SHAM< + [v]EER. |
| Down | |
| 1 | DISPOSSESSED – I can’t quite see how the “concessions” bit of this works: Finished protecting existence with special concessions upset and deprived. |
| 2 | ASHRAM – ASH + RAM. |
| 3 | BARESARK – BARES ARK, presumably from the same etymology as “berserk”. |
| 4 | BRISE – B[ring] + RISE. |
| 5 | EGESTA – (SEA GETS)*. |
| 6 | COLLIDER – COL + [g]LIDER. |
| 7 | STEAL – hom. of “steel”. |
| 8 | AGLAIA – LAI[r] in AGA. |
| 9 | HEARTBREAKER – (ART in HEBRE[w]) + RAKE*. |
| 15 | CHESTNUT – C + H.E. + STUNT*. |
| 16 | ARTHOUSE – SHOUT* in ERA<. |
| 19 | EVOLVE – from (V + LOVE)< + E. |
| 20 | TAPETA – TAPE + T.A. |
| 21 | EGENCE – E.G. + [f]ENCE. |
| 22 | SAUCY – UC in SAY. |
| 24 | SOFAS – [place]S OF A[ssembly]. |
Hi Simon
1dn: “concessions” is SOPS, so it is (ESSE + S + SOPS)< in DID.
Ah yes, that makes sense. I’d convinced myself that the SP was “special”, which didn’t leave me much to work with. Thanks for the explanation!