After last week’s tricky Letters Latent puzzle, this one was a lot gentler, though of the usual high quality. Thanks to Azed.
| Across | ||||||||
| 1. | SHAMBA | Plot devising counterfeit degree (6) SHAM + B.A. – it’s a Swahili word for a plot or smallholding |
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| 6. | PSMITH | Plum creation with bits of sweet mango in part of orange? (6) S[weet] M[ango] in PITH. Psmith (with a silent P) is a character created by P G Wodehouse, who was nicknamed “Plum”, from his childhood pronunciation of his first name, Pelhem |
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| 11. | HARIOLATE | Man receiving what a tailor’s fashioned, divine (9) (A TAILOR)* in HE |
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| 12. | AFTERSUN | A bit of enjoyment? Rest fitfully inside as treatment for sore back? (8) REST* in A FUN, the sore back being a sunburnt one needing aftersun lotion |
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| 13. | REACH | Range about a church (5) RE A CH |
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| 14. | ANTRE | Group of dormant reptiles in e.g. Wookey Hole (5) Hidden in dormANT REptiles; it’s a kind of cave, as is Wookey Hole (in Somerset) |
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| 15. | TWEEDLEDEE | Play casually in lea, mostly between two rivers (10) LE[a] between the rivers TWEED and DEE. Chambers gives this as a variant of “tweedle”, meaning to play casually on an instrument |
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| 17. | COBB | Gull once died in grip of crab’s ‘pincers’? (4) OB (dies) in the outer letters of CraB; “once” because it’s an archaic word |
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| 20. | PEDANT | Old teacher favoured pupil circumventing grade of proficiency (6) DAN (grade in martial arts) in [teacher’s] PET |
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| 21. | HOOP-LA | Great excitement, what one associates with Luton player missing second half (6) HOO + PLA[yer] |
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| 22. | EDDO | Edible tuber fed to spoiled donkey (4) Hidden in spoilED DOnkey. Strangely, Chambers gives the plural “eddoes” as the main entry, with the singular form in brackets |
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| 23. | GRASS-GREEN | Grand Italian gating fancy egress of luxuriant lawn? (10) EGRESS* in GRAN (Italian for “grand”) |
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| 26. | NAGOR | Horse as alternative for antelope (5) NAG + OR (as an alternative) |
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| 28. | BOURG | Town stocking ordinary food from the east (5) Reverse of (O in GRUB) |
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| 30. | GUARANIS | Some foreign cash that may be exchanged for Asian rug (8) (ASIAN RUG) – Guarani is the currency of Paraguay; also the name of an indigenous people, and their language |
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| 31. | SIGNALISE | Indicate distinctly choppy sailing in Kent region? (9) SAILING* in SE |
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| 32. | RE-DONE | Tidy unit given a fresh coat of paint? (6) RED (variant of redd, to tidy) + ONE |
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| 33. | GUSTED | With good forecast, Tuesday, not always stormy, was blustery (6) G + anagram of TUESDAY less AY (always); quite appropriate in view of the recent storms |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 1. | SHORT‑CHANGER | Dishonest dealer caught, imprisoned by snappish ultra-severe judge? (12) C in SHORT (snappish) + HANGER (severe judge) |
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| 2. | HAREWOOD | Stained furniture material doubled around court (8) WOO (to court) in HARED (went fast, doubled) |
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| 3. | ARNA | Source of ghee used in Peshawar naans (4) Yet another hidden answer, in peshawAR NAans; Arna is an Indian water-buffalo, whose milk might be used for ghee |
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| 4. | MINCE | Finely chop egg with a bit of chilli in (5) C[hilli] in MINE (the explosive device, nicknamed an egg) |
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| 5. | ALFALFA | Fodder plants: one flourished about Florida? The reverse (7) Reverse of A (one) + FL (floruit, flourished) + A (about) + FLA (Florida) |
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| 6. | PATTE | Belt loop shaped with the hand, concealing end (5) PATTE[d] – Chambers gives “to shape by patting” as one defintion of “pat” |
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| 7. | STEADED | What the ravenous could eat, and ’ad gobbled once served? (7) ‘AD in STEED (as in “I could eat a horse”); from an old sense of “stead”, which is also the main element of the next answer… |
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| 8. | INSTEAD | Sin sporting with dodgy date in place of another (7) SIN* + DATE* |
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| 9. | TOUR | Outing in French city, endless (4) TOUR[S] |
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| 10. | HONEY‑TONGUED | Ground wherein you’ll observe Eton guy, deviously eloquent (12) (ETON GUY)* in HONED; I suppose to hone a blade is to grind it |
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| 16. | UNDERUSE | Sinuous artifice being insufficiently exploited (8) UNDE (wavy, in heraldry) + RUSE (artifice) |
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| 18. | BOGGARD | It’s terrifying to northerners to haul trap uphill (7) Reverse of DRAG (haul) GOB (mouth, trap) |
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| 19. | CLARAIN | Family welcoming jaunty air for coalminers’ bands, lustrous (7) AIR* in CLAN – “lustrous, brightly-coloured bands in coal” |
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| 20. | POSTING | Job abroad? Whiff about it’s coming up (7) Reverse of ITS in PONG (bad smell, whiff); a posting doesn’t have to be abroad, hence the question mark |
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| 24. | SINGE | Char in French capuchin? (5) Double definition: singe is French for monkey, of which the capuchin (named for its resemblence to Capuchin friars) is an example |
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| 25. | ROLLS | Upmarket transport delivering supplies from the bakery? (5) Another DD – Rolls Royce and bread |
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| 27. | AUNE | Former measure of cloth, a French one (for women?) (4) A + UNE (feminine French “one”) |
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| 29. | UNIT | Domestic appliance, a must-have for the community (4) Hidden in commUNITy |
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Thanks Andrew, I think 13 is just a charade, and ‘deviously’ is the anagrind in 10, not part of the definition.
I found this straightforward too, but feel for anyone flummoxed by ‘Plum creation’.
Thanks Gonzo, blog corrected.