A plain puzzle with an unusual grid, a central horizontal line cutting it nearly in half.
I found this puzzle harder than usual, but that may have been because I was solving it on the train without access to Bradford (Bradford’s crossword solver’s dictionary). In retrospect the proportion of obscure words looks about normal (no Scottish or Spenserian words this week, unless I’ve missed one). Thanks to Azed, as ever.
| Across | ||
| 1 | APTERISM | Kiwis display this, and rip teams asunder (8) |
| *(RIP TEAMS). It means winglessness. The fact that the puzzle appeared on the day England narrowly beat New Zealand in the Cricket World Cup is just a coincidence. | ||
| 7 | SOLA | ‘Ahoy, there!’ from one after tincture (4) |
| SOL A. | ||
| 10 | SARKY | Weather interrupted by a bit of rain, cutting (5) |
| A R(ain) inside SKY. | ||
| 12 | NOACHIC | Intrepid sailor’s in charge after anchor mostly bust (7) |
| *ANCHO(r), IC. | ||
| 13 | CLAG | Stick to trail, following canine (4) |
| C(anine) LAG. | ||
| 14 | ULVA | Left what goes into wine bottles for free beach food? (4) |
| L in UVA (grapes). It’s an edible seaweed. | ||
| 15 | SKIBOBBER | One on modern piste vehicle biker’s adapted, about to duck (9) |
| BOB in *BIKERS. | ||
| 16 | RONCADOR | Pacific fish recipe applied to a cod that’s battered, right? (8) |
| R ON *(A COD) R. | ||
| 18 | INNER SPACE | Pincers a net almost dislodged in undersea environment (10, 2 words) |
| *(PINCERS A NE(t)). | ||
| 20 | DINITROGEN | Like a chemical compound, denoting 50% iron in blend |
| I(ro)N in *DENOTING. It’s an adjective, hence “like”. | ||
| 26 | IMBECILE | Very foolish, that is about doctor reversing parasites (8) |
| MB LICE (rev) inside IE. | ||
| 27 | AIR-ENGINE | Working in gear, i.e. new inside, are its emissions clean? (9) |
| *(I E N IN GEAR). | ||
| 29 | RETE | Tangle of nerves, separate, having slipped disc (4) |
| (disc)RETE. | ||
| 30 | ALUN | Rugby skipper in international, unequalled? (4) |
| Hidden and lit. Alun Wyn Jones is the captain of the Welsh team that won the Grand Slam in 2019. | ||
| 31 | OVERAGE | Having nothing to replace a typical surplus (7) |
| AVERAGE with O for the initial A. | ||
| 32 | OPERA | E.g. Covent Garden cooperage includes it (5) |
| Hidden. | ||
| 33 | MOLY | It supplies balm to magical sorcery, ultimately (4) |
| Last letters and lit. | ||
| 34 | TOROIDAL | Shaped like a ring, ring in a form of dilator (8) |
| O in *DILATOR. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | ASCARID | Help – mark of wound penetrating for worm in the gut (7) |
| SCAR in AID. | ||
| 2 | TRAINING | Being out-of-condition girn, anti work-outs etc (8) |
| *(GIRN ANTI). | ||
| 3 | RYOKAN | Traditional inn yard with fair – hurried round (6) |
| Y OK inside RAN. It’s a Japanese word for a traditional inn. | ||
| 4 | INSIDE | The government conceal dumping leader? It’s from a secret source (6) |
| INS (the government, or at least members of the party in office) (h)IDE. | ||
| 5 | SORB | Service using second ball (4) |
| S ORB. The wild service tree. | ||
| 6 | MAJORS | In top events he’s thrown from horse after mounting block (6) |
| JAM (rev), (h)ORS(e). | ||
| 7 | SCUBA | What divers use when coming up clutching chest (5) |
| CUB in AS (rev). | ||
| 8 | LIVER-COLOUR | Dark reddish-brown I noted in clover shrivelled with glare (11) |
| I in *CLOVER, LOUR. | ||
| 9 | ACARI | Tiny arachnids leaving Middle East devastated America (5) |
| *A(me)RICA. You have to read the clue as “Middle East leaving America”. | ||
| 11 | ALTO-RILIEVO | Creation of tailor I love – it certainly stands out (11) |
| *(TAILOR I LOVE). | ||
| 17 | PANICLED | In the grip of terror, showing blooming irregularity (lax) (8) |
| PANIC LED. Chambers describes a panicle as “loosely, a lax irregular inflorescence”. | ||
| 19 | ETERNAL | Sailors in eastern greenish-blue that never fades (7) |
| RN in E TEAL. | ||
| 21 | TIN HAT | At the wicket is protected by such a helmet (6, 2 words) |
| IN (at the wicket being one of many meanings of “in”) inside THAT. | ||
| 22 | OBITER | Satellite e.g. losing second by the way (6) |
| O(r)BITER. | ||
| 23 | GENTOO | Penguin not seen swimming in creek (6) |
| *NOT in GOO. | ||
| 24 | CAROM | Cue in play may make this – delay about over (5) |
| MORA (delay, especially in a legal context) C (all rev). A carom is a cannon in billiards. | ||
| 25 | BEERY | Former movie star the worse for drink? (5) |
| Wallace Beery is the film star in question. | ||
| 28 | GO-GO | Erotic final line dropped by Russian writer (4) |
| Gogo(l). | ||
*anagram
Thanks Azed and Bridgesong.
1ac did make me wonder if Azed had second sight or had set the puzzle after the previous Thursday.
I’ve been away and this was my first Azed for three weeks. Don’t recall it taking that long. I think I started it late in the England innings and finished it before the super over.
Thanks for the explanations, especially 24dn and 17dn. The latter is so obvious I can’t see now why I couldn’t see it.
Dormouse, I didn’t understand 24dn until I came to write the blog. At first I thought it must be a particularly subtle compound anagram.
Yes, MORA is not a word I can recall coming across before. That one was not obvious.
I’m not sure I like all these “popular” proper nouns that are appearing. We’ve had RORY and ALUN now. We should have, in all fairness to the Six Nations, the other captains as well. Why not the southern hemisphere Rugby Championship too? Georgia, Romania? I am, needless to say, sour because Wallace Beery went right off my screen and I had MERRY Anders instead. Perhaps an hour for most of the puzzle and then another hour and a good self-castigation just for the last two in the bottom left.
Proper nouns are all right by me but I’m useless with modern culture, by which I mean anything after about Dickens.
Stefan
MERRY was my first thought for 25dn as well, but I’d never heard of Merry Anders, and there was a clash with 29 across. In fairness, Wallace Beery did win an Oscar as best actor (in 1931) so there is no doubt that he was a movie star.
In 1935, aged 7, I saw the film “China Seas” and, I suspect, spent quite a while hiding under the seat as the ship weathered a typhoon with a steamroller breaking its moorings and trundling around the deck. Wallace Beery was one of the film’s star cast and made an impression then, so years were an advantage for once when 25 down was reached.
Many thanks to Azed and bridgesong for his blog..