A bit of a rollercoaster for me this week. When 1 across dropped in straight away, I thought this was going to be an easy ride. An hour later the second answer fell into place.
I eventually almost finished unaided, needing Chambers to complete 1 down and its crosser 12 across. Indeed, I still don’t fully understand 1 down or 7 down. Last one in was 19 down.
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | LAIC – LA[con]IC. |
| 5 | EXACTING – EX ACTING. Nice one. |
| 11 | COALITIONER – ([al]LLIANCE + I TOO)* + R and &lit. Quite complex wordplay and upon blogging, it took me a while to figure how I’d got there! |
| 12 | SANNYASIN – [c]ANNY in SASIN. If I’ve learned one thing from crosswords, it’s that there are a lot of types of antelope out there! |
| 14 | SNIFT – (T + FINS)<. |
| 15 | CHIRU – CHI + RU. You see my point. I guess they’re quite useful crossword fodder as they often present combinations of letters that you don’t tend to see in general English words. |
| 16 | UNFORGOTTEN – (N in UFO) + R + GOTTEN . |
| 19 | MATRILOCATITY – (A MILITARY CLOT)*. Loved the surface here: A military clot, besotted, going to live with his wife. |
| 20 | IMPEDIMENTA – PEDIMENT in (I’M + A). I wonder how many wrote in IMPEDIMENTS absent-mindledly, as I nearly did. |
| 23 | RABAT – AB in RAT). Capital of Morocco, and useful confirmation for 31 across, which I hadn’t quite committed myself to by that point. |
| 27 | ATTAR – AT + TAR. |
| 28 | OENANTHIC – (ONE CHIANT[i])*. |
| 29 | PROOF READER – (FEARED POOR)* + R[ocks]. I felt sure this was going to involve FOOD, but no, “galley” is a printing term. |
| 30 | SECRETOR – RE in SECTOR. |
| 31 | RATS – STAR<. |
| Down | |
| 1 | LASSU – a musical movement, but I don’t follow the composer reference despite some googling: Old composer would offer several examples of this dance movement. Lovely surface, either way. |
| 2 | ALANNAH – ALA[s] + N + NAH. |
| 3 | CONFORMATOR – (FROM CARTOON)*. |
| 4 | DAY TRIP – (PARTY I’D)*. |
| 5 | ELAN – from LANE, with the terminal E first of all. |
| 6 | ATILT – [devou]T LITA[ny]<. |
| 7 | TO THE LETTER – can’t remember how I got there with this one, beyond TOTTER for “rock”. Conceal old bit of treasure in rock. |
| 8 | INTI – [pr]INTI[ng]. |
| 9 | NEAR – N + EAR. |
| 10 | GROUTY – ROUT in GY. |
| 13 | STOODEN – ODE in STON[e]. |
| 17 | TAMANDU – (A MUD ANT)*. |
| 18 | ATTAINT – (TA + IN) in ATT. |
| 19 | MEROPS – (SPORE + M)<. |
| 21 | EXERT – EX[p]ERT. |
| 22 | ARCUS – (C in SURA)<. |
| 24 | ACRE – A CRE[w]. Apparently the Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment. |
| 25 | BLOC – L in BOC[k]. I’m familiar with Bock as a style of beer, but did not know that it can also be a particular type of glass. |
| 26 | MAAR – A in MAR. |
Thanks for the blog.
I agree this was fairly tricky – fortunately I had a smattering of both across & down clues from the first pass & the crossers from those gave me enough to steadily work my way through it.
I can help with 1d & 7d
1d – the composer is Lassus
7d – HELE (conceal) + T (bit of Treasure) in TOTTER
Respects to S&B.
Simon, you amaze me. I have never finished unaided, or anywhere near. The two aids I turn to are my coverless Chambers on my knee under the puzzle, and a single malt at my elbow.
Still left with an unch today so far. Perhaps another malt?
I’m blushing somewhat, but in all honesty my success varies hugely from week to week.
Usually in order to get close, I have to be unnecessarily stubborn about reaching for help, and often need several sessions. It’s not rare to still be working on it by the time I’m supposed to be blogging!
Joyce has just been tidying up and found the completed crossword with a box around 1d indicating we couldn’t parse it.
Thanks Simon and shikasta. Joyce can now throw the puzzle away!