I’m back again because another stand-in has been needed. On my initial pass through the clues it was a long time before I had my first entry (10dn) but this was quickly followed by another couple of down entries in the SE corner.
These enabled me to solve some of the across entries in that corner from which I progressed sideways and upwards at a satisfactory rate until the grid was complete. My only real hold up came with the parsing of 6dn. The solution was obvious from TRA?I?G but the parsing eluded me until after a break for some breakfast. On my return I decided, on the off-chance, to look up ‘trig’ in Chambers and, lo and behold, what did I find!
Across
1 Fancy brief hot pants, arty, tight (10)
PHANTASTRY – an anagram (tight) of H PANTS ARTY
11 Scots dummy to own three quarters of bank (7)
HAVEREL – HAVE (own) REL[y] (three quarters of bank)
12 One chipping in afterwards backed sale (6)
RETAIL – I (one) in LATER (afterwards) reversed (backed)
14 Old composition including a chap in sparkly stuff (8)
DIAMANTE – DITE (old composition) around (including) A MAN (a chap)
15 Bone one removed in cooked trout fish (6)
TURBOT – B[one] in an anagram (cooked) of TROUT
16 Bulk out, as formerly, part of undersize chest (4)
ECHE – contained in (part of) ‘undersizE CHEst’
17 Légumes for Hawaiian dishes (4)
POIS – double def.
18 Clan leader following son as anti-establishment type (8)
SKINHEAD – KIN (clan) HEAD (leader) after S (son)
19 Monetary unit, risen in rank, king struck (5)
RUPEE – UP (risen) in REE[k] (rank, king struck)
20 Tiny element of genetic change, one of pair removed from sheep (5)
MUTON – MUT[t]ON (one of pair removed from sheep)
22 Service, say, including meat I rejected (8)
EVENSONG – EG (say) around (including) VEN[i]SON (meat I rejected)
24 Ray maybe doffing cap, one of pair flanking doorway (4)
ANTA – [m]ANTA (ray maybe doffing cap)
25 Pan reflected rainbow (4)
SIRI – IRIS (rainbow) reversed (reflected) – Betel
*27 Numb (6)
ASLEEP – def.
29 Dye, fashionable, worked out, I extend for lining (8)
INDIGOID – IN (fashionable) DID (worked out) around I GO (extend)
30 Star swallows cocktail – it’s gone down fast! (6, 2 words)
SKI RUN – SUN (star) around (swallows) KIR (cocktail)
31 As Jock’s day progresses, energy goes into diversion of ladies (7)
DEISEAL – E (energy) in an anagram of (diversion of) LADIES
32 Marks on cheesy men after damaging skin tissue (10)
MESENCHYME – M (marks) plus an anagram (after damaging) of CHEESY MEN
Down
1 Powerful in interstices, it’s active withstanding acids etc (11)
PHOTORESIST – HOT (powerful) in PORES (interstices) plus an anagram (active) of IT’S
2 Clan division in Scots mansion, turning up (4)
HAPU – HA (Scots mansion) UP reversed (turning)
3 First of wines included in bill, that is e.g. Beaujolais Nouveau (6)
NEWBIE – W[ines] in NEB (bill) IE (that is)
4 The simplest of sugars I kept in store, granulated? (6)
TRIOSE – I in an anagram (granulated) of STORE
5 Smooth rock, cut, houses fish inside (11)
SLICKENSIDE – KENS (houses) ID (fish) in SLICE (cut)
6 A racket I’ll yield to in sound commercial practice (7)
TRADING – A DIN (a racket) replacing the ‘i’ in TRiG (sound)
7 Royal cubit used in measurements (5)
REMEN – part of (used in) ‘measuREMENts’
8 Before playing of test, ball zigzags (9)
DANCETTES – DANCE (ball) before an anagram of (playing of) TEST
9 Oldie’s joint, tight and hard (4)
LITH – LIT (tight) H (hard)
10 Gas valve? Bell-end pipe needs adjusting (11, 2 words)
BLEED NIPPLE – an anagram (needs adjusting) of BELL-END PIPE
13 Natural substance curbing disease and creating real uproar (9)
PROPERDIN – PROPER (real) DIN (uproar)
18 Runners from Bristol on steeplechase (7)
STOLONS – contained in (from) ‘briSTOL ON Steeplechase’
20 Wine introduced by banquet official, resinous stuff (6)
MASTIC – ASTI (wine) in MC (banquet official)
21 Hauls in warps? Not I, free from such? (6)
UNLASH – an anagram (warps) of HAULS [i]N
23 Linked compilation, as present in court (5)
SEGUE – EG (as) in SEE (court)
26 Black knight sacrificed by eccentric initially (4)
INKY – [k]INKY (knight sacrificed by eccentric initially)
28 Latin unseen, perhaps, in hexameters (4)
EXAM – hidden in ‘hEXAMeters’
Why is 28dn “Latin unseen, perhaps”? I spotted the hidden word almost from the first, but I couldn’t see what it had to do with the definition.
Chambers gives ‘an unprepared passage for translation’ as a meaning of ‘unseen’, so I assumed it could also refer to an exam in which one is required to translate such a passage.
I think 19a works better if ‘rank, king struck’ is REE[king].
25ac repeats what John was dubious about in last week’s blog, where RECAP was a reversal of PACER: SIRI/IRIS is an even more blatant instance, since either is, surely, 50% possible until you have a crosser. John implied that Azed was normally careful to avoid such ambiguities – I am less knowledgeable about the history – perhaps John can comment?
Dormouse, those of us who studied Latin for the Common Entrabce exam (as Azed himself may have done) will remember only too well the terror of being confronted with a passage (usually with a military theme) which had to be translated into English.
OK, thanks. Never studied Latin at school. In my form I had to chose between languages and sciences and I was always the science nerd. As it happened, most of the language pupils did German and only two opted for Latin – a very small class! We all had to do French, but I failed that at O-level.
Thanks for explaining EXAM. I too saw this straight away as a hidden answer, but only entered it in the grid after seeing Bradford’s listing UNSEEN under EXAM. I didn’t know why though.
Nick
An easyish Azed, with the only real query the EXAM explained above.