We were told that “S has the same meaning throughout the clues” so, as all the across clues started with an S, I looked at the down clues first and entered seven solutions, six of them being anagrams. My first pass through the across clues led to no entries and no idea as to what the S could be until I got to 30ac.
Having parsed 30ac, I realised that the S must mean ‘state’ and I was then able to go back through the across clues and enter a number more. After this it was a case of filling in the four quadrants (my order was SW, SE, NW, NE) followed by the middle section.
The grid layout was not exactly solver friendly (litotes!) in that the four corners were only joined to the central core by a single letter which meant that I had to solve five sub-puzzles virtually in isolation. However, I got there in the end. It is to Gozo’s credit that he was able make all the across entries, bar two, the names of an American state without incurring too much obscurity in the down lights.
A stiff challenge by FT standards, particularly some of the parsing, but an enjoyable one with a sense of satisfaction at the end.
Across
1 S to moan endlessly during interminable wet weather (6)
HAWAII – WAI[l] (moan endlessly) in (during) HAI[l] (interminable wet weather)
4 S at Aix-la-Chapelle, getting wounded, we’re told (8)
ARKANSAS – a homophone (we’re told) of ‘Aachen’ (Aix-la-Chapelle) ‘sore’ (wounded)
9 S for young boy and girl (6)
NEVADA – NEV (young boy) ADA ({young} girl)
10 S put away in country with no African head (8)
KENTUCKY – TUCK (put away) in KENY[a] (country with no African head)
12 S having its shade at a party (8)
COLORADO – COLOR (its shade) A DO (a party)
13 S aggregate almost over (6)
OREGON – ORE (aggregate) GON[e] (almost over)
15 Small S and two fifths of S at ceremony (4)
RITE – RI (small S {Rhode Island}) TE[xas] (two fifths of S)
16 S against more new books (7)
VERMONT – V (against) plus an anagram (new) of MORE plus NT (books)
20 S with richer characters for North American (7)
MONTANA – ‘North American’ is an anagram of MONTANA and ‘richer’
21 S addressing sailor reportedly (4)
UTAH – a homophone (reportedly) of ‘you tar’ (addressing sailor)
25 S making small S seek answer (6)
ALASKA – AL (small S {Alabama}) ASK (seek) A (answer)
26 S sign cut diamonds from country (8)
VIRGINIA – VIRG[o] (sign cut) IN[d]IA (diamonds from country)
28 S girl first, evenly laid out flooring (8)
ILLINOIS – [g]I[r]L [f]I[r]S[t] (girl first, evenly) around (laid out) LINO (flooring)
29 S embraces radical sailor (6)
MARINE – MAINE (S) around (embraces) R (radical)
30 S female teacher – alluring woman going topless (8)
MISSOURI – MISS (female teacher) [h]OURI (alluring woman going topless)
31 S rock python’s eaten partners (6)
KANSAS – KAA’S (rock python’s) around (eaten) NS (partners) – Kaa is a character in Kipling’s Mowgli stories
Down
1 Style of indication on taps on barrow (8)
HANDCART – H AND C ART (style of indication on taps)
2 Ripples from Westvale (8)
WAVELETS – an anagram (from) of WESTVALE
3 Spoke of entrance to Indian city (6)
INDORE – a homophone (spoke of) of ‘in door’ (entrance)
5 Female ruff and female knot (4)
REEF – REE (female ruff {bird}) F (female)
6 Changing integral components (8)
ALTERING – an anagram (components) of INTEGRAL
7 Feudal tenure of lands provided prison (6)
SOCAGE – SO (provided) CAGE (prison)
8 Gave voice about youth leader I saw (6)
SAYING – SANG (gave voice) around (about) Y[outh] (youth leader) I
11 Refers to / notices (7)
ADVERTS – double def.
14 Mental S at 29’s S, maybe (7)
AMENTIA – an anagram (maybe) of AT MAINE (29’s S)
17 John and his relatives starting thoroughly orderly research (4,4)
LOOK INTO – LOO (John) KIN (his relatives) T[horoughly] O[rderly] (starting thoroughly orderly)
18 Plates client smashed on board (8)
STENCILS – an anagram (smashed) of CLIENT in SS (on board)
19 Wild cats spoken of by fraudsters (8)
CHEATERS – a homophone (spoken of) of ‘cheetahs’ (wild cats)
22 This hospital meal is from Umbria (6)
BARIUM – an anagram (id from) of UMBRIA
23 The German accepts every bit of soap (6)
DALLAS – DAS (the German) around (accepts) ALL (every bit of)
24 “Lizard – Nicaragua” with no car organised (6)
IGUANA – an anagram (organised) of NI[car]AGUA (Nicaragua with no car)
27 Level off 15 (4)
TIER – an anagram (off) of RITE (15)
12a was the first across clue I cracked and the rest of the across clues followed, having solved the most of the down clues.Thanks Gaufrid and Gozo.
Thanks for explaining MONTANA, Gaufrid.
I agree this was both enjoyable and impressive.
For 15 ac RITE, I had RI + (sta)TE, but it works well either way.
Thanks G and G. A good challenge. Several I could not parse. One niggle was 19d – I originally entered cheetahs, later corrected. The clue seems to work equally either way, which is not ideal imho.
Thanks for the blog, Gaufrid.
I got the theme through 25ac.
Couldn’t complete NE quadrant as I’ve never heard of a ree, or socage, and I forgot that perennially irritating use of ‘saw’ as a synonym for saying.
Hats off to Gozo for great clueing of 4 & 20, though.
Enjoyable stuff – had exactly the same experience as Gaufrid in that I drew a blank on the acrosses on first pass and got a handful of downs. 16ac was my way in, and once I’d cracked the theme they all started falling in pretty quickly. Never quite sure of themed puzzles like this: impossible if you can’t crack the theme and easy if you can. Thanks anyway though…
Strangely, I solved 21ac UTAH first, which told me what I was looking for. I still didn’t understand MONTANA until Gaufrid explained it. Thanks for the explanations, Gaufrid, and to Gozo for a cracker.
Despite the fact that the first across clue I solved was 21a, being Irish and therefore not used to the silent r, I have difficulty accepting that ‘tah’ sounds like ‘tar’. I have even more difficulty accepting that ‘saw’ sounds like ‘sore’ in 4a. Not alone do the latter pair differ in the ‘r’ sound, they also differ in the vowel sound, unless one has a particular English accent. I currently live in the S’s, in 26a, but I suppose if I lived in ‘Small S cellist’, where these pronunciations are common, I would be more accepting of these devices.
Thans to Gozo for an enjoyable challenge.and to Gaufrid for the blog and for parsing 4a and 26a.
Same niggle about 19 but that’s why we have checking letters, had either answer worked at that point then it could be a major whinge. Thanks Gaufrid and Gozo, that took some unraveling.
Thanks Gozo and Gaufrid
A really enjoyable puzzle that was cracked open after many of the down clues were entered and was able to eventually see KANSAS at 31a – even though I hadn’t equated KAAS to a rock python at that stage. Funny all of the different entry points to the States !
My last one in was AMENTIA which I had parsed slightly differently – I had MEN (marines) in AT and the IA (Iowa – state). Think that you guys might be on the more correct path though, ????
I notice that the MONTANA type clue is becoming more popular with many of the setters now … and it still usually takes a long time to spot it.
Interesting theme which didn’t lose anything when the solve became easier when it revealed itself.