Another fine puzzle. Thank you Azed.
| Across | ||
| 1 | WASHWIPE | Aid to driver’s prospect, we’ll engage one cracking whips (8) |
| WE contains (will engage) A (one) and anagram (cracking) of WHIPS | ||
| 11 | PANATELLA | What’s smoked oyster I’ve trimmed, included in Spanish dish? (9) |
| NATive (oyster) missing (trimmed) I’VE inside PAELLA (Spanish dish) | ||
| 12 | NEXUS | Bond girlfriend no longer enthralled by union (5) |
| EX (girlfriend no longer) inside (enthralled by) NUS (National Union of Students) | ||
| 13 | PRAUS | Malay craft fixed oars up, not old (5) |
| anagram (fixed) of oARS UP missing O (old) | ||
| 14 | TRAITS | Feature of nude, informal? Artist added in touches (6) |
| TITS (feature of nude, informal) contains (…added) RA (Royal Academician, artist) | ||
| 15 | LEVEES | Eastern vessel in trouble, second going for quays (6) |
| E(eastern) then anagram (in trouble) of VESsEL missing S (second) | ||
| 17 | TAOISM | Chinese communist exchanging extremes for religion (6) |
| MAOIST (Chinese communist) swapping outer letters | ||
| 21 | REICH | Spain in grip of opulent foreign empire (5) |
| E (Espana, Spain) inside RICH (opulent) | ||
| 22 | GRAHAM | Cheer in school for what Scottish climber attempts? (6) |
| RAH (cheer) in GAM (school, of whales) | ||
| 23 | SELL-IN | Woven lisle, new purchase by retailer (6) |
| anagram (woven) of LISLE then N (new) | ||
| 24 | STIRE | Lost movement in Holst I restored (5) |
| found inside holST I REstored – lost signifies obsolete | ||
| 25 | NEATEN | Sliver of noisette consumed red? (6) |
| Noisette (sliver of, first letter) then EATEN (consumed) | ||
| 27 | OSTMEN | Early Irish settlers having forewarning about e.g. Columba (6) |
| OMEN (forewarning) contains (about) ST (saint, St Columba for example) | ||
| 31 | TRUTHS | Abbreviated transactions shut out the known facts (6) |
| TR (transactions, abbreviated) then anagram (out) of SHUT | ||
| 32 | ROOPY | Mackellar’s unable to sing properly, poorly about opening of opera (5) |
| ROPY (poorly) containing (about) Opera (opening letter of) – hoarse, Scots | ||
| 33 | ADIEU | A day I had in France, so long there (5) |
| A D (day) I then EU (had, in French) | ||
| 34 | TOAST RACK | Feature of breakfast course round oven (9, 2 words) |
| TRACK (course) contains (round) OAST (oven) | ||
| 35 | MILK-TREE | Source of nourishing juice stirred kilter inside me (8) |
| anagram (stirred) of KILTER inside ME | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | WINTER SPORTS | Doings at Davos? Tense porter’s employed with gains around (12, 2 words) |
| anagram (employed) of T (tense) with PORTER’S inside WINS (gains) | ||
| 2 | ABERDEEN | Dog, one breed that’s trained with measure of dash (8) |
| A (one) then anagram (that’s trained) of BREED and EN (en dash, printing) | ||
| 3 | SAXATILE | Instrument for chopping a slate suitable for one’s rockery (8) |
| SAX (instrument for chopping) then A TILE (slate) – a SAX is specifically an instrument for chopping slates, though this is a red-herring | ||
| 4 | WASTE | Last of a casserole used as starter – to avoid this? (5) |
| A STEW (casserole) with the end letter moved to the start | ||
| 5 | INKSTONE | Producer of ferrous sulphate modified skin shade (8) |
| anagram (modified) of SKIN then TONE (shade) | ||
| 6 | PAUL | Saint Simon? (Could be a catch) (4) |
| triple definition – St Paul, Paul Simon, variant spelling of pawl | ||
| 7 | PERVIATE | To go through exercises run quickly round area (8) |
| PE (exercises) R (run) VITE (quickly) containing (round) A (area) | ||
| 8 | BLAE | Some real barren mounts, bleak in the Cairngorms? (4) |
| found reversed (mounts) inside rAEL Barren | ||
| 9 | BLUE | Wretched waste in the sea (4) |
| triple definition | ||
| 10 | PASSEMEASURE | Old dance? Assume a spree is wrong for it (12) |
| anagram (wrong) of ASSUME A SPREE | ||
| 16 | ECLAMPSY | Expectant woman’s affliction? Reduced energy immobilizes end of pregnancy (8) |
| E (energy, reduced=abbreviation) CLAMPS (immobilizes) then pregnancY (end letter of) | ||
| 18 | AGENTIAL | Signifying ‘doer’, one brought in untangled a tangle (8) |
| I(one) inside anagram (untangle) of A TANGLE | ||
| 19 | SHIFTIER | Silence one noisy row? Increasingly tricky (8) |
| SH (silence) I (one) F (forte, noisy) TIER (row) | ||
| 20 | MARCHESE | Noblewoman is bent, in grip of chronic fatigue (8) |
| ARCHES (is bent) inside ME (chronic fatigue) | ||
| 26 | BRACK | Fabric mark? A firm’s upset with this (5) |
| FABRIC MARK is an anagram (upset) of A FIRM and BRACK (this) | ||
| 28 | SOOM | Dip in the loch section, low but rising? (4) |
| S (section) then MOO (low) reversed (rising) – a swim, Scots | ||
| 29 | TO A T | Child holding adult perfectly (4, 3 words) |
| TOT (child) contains A (adult) | ||
| 30 | NORI | Edible seaweed? Me neither! (4) |
| NOR I (me neither) | ||
definitions are underlined
I write these posts to help people get started with cryptic crosswords. If there is something here you do not understand ask a question; there are probably others wondering the same thing.
Thanks Azed and PeeDee
Small correction to 15ac, which must be anagram of E VESsEL, Azed giving a clear indication to remove only one of the two Ss. Also the answer (NORI), which I am sure you had, is currently missing at 30dn.
Thanks to both. The usual mix of obscure and aha moment rewards. All clearly clued. Great.
I agree with Pelham Barton@1 regarding 15a and 30d.
Another small mistake in the blog: 24a is hidden in ‘Holst I restored’ rather than being an anagram.
A small mistake by Azed: The definition in 20d should be either ‘Nobleman’ or ‘Noblewomen’.
Hello evrybody. My back has gone this wekend and I’m flat out hardly able to get up. Please keep comments coming and I will fix the blog if and when I can sit at a proper coputer.
Hello Matthew, why has azed got 20dn wrong?
I have no knowledge of the nobility but Chambers says a marchese in an Italian marquess, so a noblewoman? Is this right?
Thanks again for the corrections. I have got the laptop working again. It is balanced on my stomach and I can see the screen or the keyboard, but not at the same time. I would find this situation funny except it hurts when I laugh. I tired using my phone but the auto-complete had a nervous breakdown trying to cope with Azed’s vocabulary.
I’ll admit that the Chambers definition of marquess only says it is a title of nobility and it looks like it has the -ess suffix, but marquess is a title for a man and the equivalent title for a woman is marchioness.
Thank you Matthew, that’s very interesting. Shows that one can only get so far relying on just a dictionary.
Felicitations to all. It is good to see a conversation around Azed’s wonders. Thanks to PeeDee for the commentary and hope the back soon mends.
I envisage a fair number having fun with today’s Carte Blanche. Rejigging the mind to different challenges is always hard going.
Thanks to PeeDee and Azed
I hope your back is ok now.
From your recumbency you may not have noticed:
15a (EVESEL)*
32A Def includes POORLY
And, separately, has anyone found a source for MARCHESE = NOBLEWOMAN. My sources only give NOBLEMAN, but I don’t think Azed would have used it without reputable support from somewhere
I’m confident that ‘Noblewoman’ for MARCHESE is an error. Although in the UK the term ‘marquess’ apparently went unisex (whether by mistake, based on the ‘-ess’ ending, or design) for a time in the 16th and 17th centuries, the Italian ‘marchese’ is unequivocally masculine, just as ‘marchesa’ is feminine. Also, even if there were a secondary reference which provided support for marchese=noblewoman, to use ‘Noblewoman’ in the clue when ‘Nobleman’ works equally well would be at best disingenuous.