A slightly strange week for me. On the one hand I seemed to struggle greatly, having to resort to aids with only a few answers written in, yet on the other there doesn’t seem to be anything unusually toublesome in there.
*=anagram, []=dropped, <=reversed.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | ADAPTOR – (PAD in ROTA)<. |
| 6 | LEASH – [flut]E in LASH. |
| 10 | FINNAN HADDIE – INN in (FAN + HAD + DIE). A Scottish variety of smoked haddock. |
| 12 | GINGILI – GIN + G + [w]ILI. Wili are spirits in Slavic folklore. |
| 13 | RAILROADER – (L + R + O + A) in RAIDER. |
| 14 | ESCOT – ESCO[r]T. |
| 16 | ENEW – ENE + W[et]. |
| 17 | STOVAINE – A in (TO VEINS)*. |
| 19 | BLOWFISH – (LOW + F) in BISH. |
| 20 | CRAM – CRAM[p]. |
| 22 | JELAB – EL in JAB. |
| 24 | PORT OF CALL – PORT + (F in LOCAL*). |
| 26 | URINARY – RAIN* in [f]URY. |
| 27 | ME GENERATION – (ENGINEER ATOM)*. |
| 28 | BARYE – BAR + YE. The centimetre-gram-second unit of pressure, apparently. |
| 29 | EYE BANK – (BY A KNEE)*. |
| Down | |
| 1 | AFIRE – A FIR + [foliag]E. |
| 2 | DISASTER AREA – (ARRESTED AS I)* + A. |
| 3 | ANGICOS – GI in (A + NCOS. |
| 4 | TAHR – (R + HAT)<. |
| 5 | RHIANNON – ANN in RHINO*. |
| 6 | LANDE – L AND E, as in “le”, one of the French definite articles. Many thanks to Dormouse for the correction here. |
| 7 | EDGE EFFECT – [l]EDGE + ([d]EFECT, with an extra F inserted). |
| 8 | SILVER SALMON – (MARLIN SOLVES)*. |
| 9 | HEIMWEH – HE + I’M + HEW<. |
| 11 | GLOVE MONEY – (LOVE + M[arriage]) in (GONE + Y). |
| 15 | MILK TREE – ILK in (MT + REE). |
| 17 | SUCCUMB – M in SUCCUB[i]. |
| 18 | FILARIA – FIL[m] + ARIA. |
| 21 | CRANE – CRAN E, i.e. the fifth one after crans A to D. |
| 23 | BLUNK – L in BUNK. |
| 25 | FRAE – FRA[m]E. |
6dn, I have LANDE, which is in Chambers as a “heathy plain… along the coast of France”. The French article be “le”, of course.
Don’t recall having too much difficulty with this one, myself, but it was last year.
You’re probably right. I did wonder, as neither option was familiar and it wasn’t unambiguous from clue + checking letters. I suspect I lazily googled them rather than pick up the weighty Chambers.
There usually comes a point in solving where I need to pick it up for something, at which point I leave it on my lap. It’s a useful rest for the magazine, as well. 🙂