I’m having to finish this one off as I’m blogging. I think that’s more to do with struggling to find the time during the week rather than struggling with the puzzle, as everything seems to fall into place quite smoothly.
The infuriating keyboard on this rather useless HP (a very poor choice) laptop is currently providing completely non-deterministic output, so apologies in advance for any slips.
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | PAUPERISE – PERI in PAUSE. |
| 8 | BUTT – BUT + T. |
| 11 | OENONE – ONE< in ONE. Wife of Paris, even. |
| 12 | PA’ANGA – (A in ANG) in PA. I thought this was going to be PEANGA but no, ANG can be “English” too. |
| 13 | ROBIN’S EGG BLUE – (BEING SURE BLOG)*. |
| 15 | ALLYING – [r]ALLYING. |
| 17 | LIFT GATE – GIFT* in LATE. |
| 19 | AIDES-DE-CAMP – A + DECIDES + AMP. |
| 25 | ERRORIST – ER + (IS in RORT). |
| 26 | PERVERT – VER[y] in PERT. |
| 29 | HEMISPHERICAL – HEM + IS + P + HER[o]ICAL. |
| 30 | AVOCET – CO< in (A VET). |
| 31 | MINUTE – from MINUET, with a slight change at the end. |
| 32 | HARE – [s]HARE. |
| 33 | LAMBEGGER – LAM + homophone of “beggar”. |
| Down | |
| 1 | PORTLY – ORT in PLY. |
| 2 | AEOLIAN – 0 in (A + ELIAN). “Elia” being Charles Lamb, who I’m fairly sure I only know of through crosswords, and perhaps that pub up in Islington. |
| 3 | UNBE – B in UNE. Such a great word. |
| 4 | POINT-DEVICE – (NOTICED + E + VIP)*. |
| 5 | ENNAGE – (N + N) in EAGE[r]. |
| 6 | IDEA – I’D + (AE<. |
| 7 | EAGLE – [t]EAGLE. I must admit some electronic cheatery was needed to ascertain which letter was to be removed. That said, it can’t possibly be cheating if you’ve already written the answer in. |
| 8 | BABY-FARMING – (BY in FAB<) + ARMING. Not as troubling a concept as it may sound, this just means looking after infants for pay. The “no current” just means the term is deemed obsolete. |
| 9 | UNLIT – L in UNIT. |
| 10 | TAEGU – [h]UGE AT[traction]<. |
| 14 | LASER – LAS[t]ER. |
| 16 | LEERY – LE[ch]ERY. |
| 18 | UPSTATE – UPS + TATE. |
| 20 | COWRIE – CO + WRI[t]E. |
| 21 | STYLER – S + TYLER. Wat Tyler apparently led the Peasants’ Revolt. |
| 22 | EPHAH – (H in PA) in EH. A Hebrew measure for dry goods. |
| 23 | ARMOR – [travelle]R in AMOR. |
| 24 | MESEL – [ti]ME SEL[dom]. |
| 27 | THEM – THE + M. |
| 28 | SCUG – S[ome] C[alm] U[rban] G[lasgow]. |
Bravo Simon. Another good ‘un, blog and puzzle. Obeisance to the nameless one.
Fortunately, I had plenty of time last Sunday and don’t recall any trouble finishing this – but it was a week ago.
Re: 8dn. Couldn’t help recalling that when E.J. Moeran was composer of the week on Radio 3 a few years ago, they included his version of the old ballad, “Mrs Dyer the baby farmer”, the gruesome story of Amelia Dyer, possibly the most prolific serial killer in British history.