I made good smooth progress unaided this week, forced (forced, I tell you) as I was to take shelter from biblical rains in a nearby hostelry without the usual tools at hand.
Just 11ac, where I should have spotted which river was needed, 17dn, where I should have made more from a very fair anagram, and 18dn held me up. Still, back home with a copy of Chambers, everything fell into place.
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | STEGOCARPOUS – (ESCARGOT SOUP)*. |
| 10 | TIKA – KIT< + A. |
| 11 | PAVONINE – AVON in PINE. |
| 12 | EARLIER – EAR + LIER. |
| 14 | PANSPERMIC – (S + PERM) in PANIC. |
| 15 | LASSI – homophone of “lassie”. |
| 16 | A DROITE – RADIO* + T[ransmit] + E[ncouragement]. |
| 19 | DIPLON – DIP + LON[e]. |
| 21 | NIDING – DIN in GIN<. |
| 23 | GANESHA – GANE + HAS*. |
| 25 | PEYSE – YEP< + SE[t]. |
| 26 | AMELIORATE – AMELI[a] + ORATE. I hadn’t heard of amelia, but it’s a “congenital condition in which one or more limbs are completely absent”. |
| 28 | ARIETTA – A + RI[v]ET + TA. |
| 29 | ERASTIAN – ERAS + (A in TIN). |
| 30 | SEER – SE[w]ER. |
| 31 | ALL SAINTS’ DAY – (ISN’T SAD)* in ALLAY. |
| Down | |
| 1 | STERLING AREA – (A GENERAL STIR)*. |
| 2 | TIA MARIA – IT< + ((MAR + I) in AA). |
| 3 | GALASHIELS – GALA + (L in SHIES). |
| 4 | OPINION – [flaming]O + PINION. |
| 5 | CAESAR – SEA< in CAR[e]. |
| 6 | ROWER – [g]ROWER. |
| 7 | OIL MILL – [t]OIL + M + ILL. |
| 8 | UNCI – ‘UN + C + [f]I[sh]. |
| 9 | SEXCENTENARY – ENTRANCE* in SEXY. |
| 13 | PROPHETESS – THESE* in PROPS. |
| 17 | TOUSY TEA – (YOU TASTE)*. Scots term for “high tea”. |
| 18 | ADNEXAL – A + (LAX END)<. |
| 20 | IMPAINT – (M + PAIN) in IT. |
| 22 | GARRAN – ARR in NAG<. |
| 24 | SITTA – SIT + TA. |
| 27 | MARL – MARL[in]. |