The puzzle can be found here.
Hello all. I hope you are well and enjoying the extended weekend. Thanks to Kairos for an enjoyable puzzle.
EDIT 25/05/2020: There were some extras for us to find! See the setter’s comments below for an explanation of the highlighted entries.
Definitions are underlined in the clues below. In the explanations, quoted indicators are in italics and I’ve capitalised and emboldened letters which appear in the ANSWER.
Across
8a Teacher pinching student’s rear creates excitement (4)
STIR
SIR (teacher) containing (pinching) the last letter (rear) of studenT
9a Oddly overlooked untemptable state (5)
NEPAL
With odd letters removed (oddly overlooked), uNtEmPtAbLe
10a Called priest away to see One Foot in the Grave (4)
AGED
[p]AGED (called) without P (priest away)
11a Britain to oversee East Indian country (6)
BRUNEI
B (Britain) + RUN (to oversee) + EI (East Indian)
12a Bloggers maybe unusually intense about Zionist leader (8)
NETIZENS
An anagram of (unusually) INTENSE around (about) the first letter (leader) of Zionist
13a Indian that is acquiring information for native (8)
INDIGENE
IND (Indian) + IE (that is) containing (acquiring) GEN (information)
15a Reputable home for prostitute? (6)
HONEST
Split as HO NEST this could be a home for a prostitute
17a Small red wine lecturer replaced with another red (7)
SCARLET
S (small) + CLARET (red wine) with L (lecturer) re-placed to give us a different kind of red
19a Sussex heir holds five records (7)
ARCHIVE
ARCHIE (Sussex heir) contains (holds) V (five)
22a Metal safe stores whiskey (6)
PEWTER
PETER (safe) contains (stores) W (whiskey)
24a Review approved pay increase for Trump (8)
APPRAISE
APP (approved) + RAISE (pay increase for Trump, for Trump indicating that this is mainly a North American usage)
26a Aim in good teaching (8)
TRAINING
TRAIN (aim) + IN (from the clue) + G (good)
28a Time to shoot head off reptile (6)
TURTLE
T (time) + hURTLE (to shoot) with the first letter removed (head off)
30a Cook returns from week abroad (4)
BAKE
The answer is found backwards in (returns from) weEK ABroad
31a Fifth Beatle drops off record for Gertrude? (5)
STEIN
[ep]STEIN (fifth Beatle) discards (drops off) EP (record). Gertrude Stein was an American writer
32a Leaders of Senate have ordered witness to appear (4)
SHOW
The first letters of (leaders of) Senate Have Ordered Witness
Down
1d Principal traitors stand up (4)
STAR
RATS (traitors) are reversed (stand up, in a down answer)
2d Ron and I fret about marches (8)
FRONTIER
RON and I FRET anagrammed (about)
3d Eventually keeping rhythm (2,4)
IN TIME
A double definition
4d Tool I removed from top of saddle bag (7)
SPANNER
I is removed from the first letter of (top of) Saddle + PANN[i]ER (bag)
5d Weapons maker, one who did time with mutineer (8)
FLETCHER
A triple definition: a maker of arrows, Fletcher from Porridge, and Fletcher Christian
6d Viscount Greystoke spotted in Gibraltar and Zanzibar (6)
TARZAN
The answer can be found in (spotted in) GibralTAR [and] ZANzibar
7d Plant by river in marshland (4)
FERN
R (river) in FEN (marshland)
14d Specialist form of taxation that man supports (5)
NICHE
NIC (form of taxation, National Insurance Contributions), which HE (that man) follows (supports, in a down answer)
16d Rescues southern birds (5)
SAVES
S (southern) + AVES (birds)
18d First design of ateliers (8)
EARLIEST
An anagram of (design of) ATELIERS
20d Briefly try to pour scorn on source of irritation (4,4)
HEAT RASH
All but the last letter of (briefly) HEAr (try) + TRASH (to pour scorn on)
21d Twisted view held by doctor (7)
MANGLED
ANGLE (view) held by MD (doctor)
23d Set off starters of escargots and shallots with stomach linings (6)
TRIPES
TRIP (set off) plus the first letters of (starters of) Escargots and Shallots
25d Powerful drug supported by hospital department (6)
POTENT
POT (drug) followed by (supported by, in a down answer) ENT (hospital department)
27d Sound of biting scream (4)
ROAR
The sound of RAW (biting)
29d Money for NYPD officer? (4)
LOOT
Two definitions, the second being an informal short form of the US pronunciation of lieutenant
How lovely to have a double Kitty weekend matched to two excellent puzzles!
I have never heard of NETIZENS but it was easily derivable from the anagram fodder. I held myself up a little bit by originally putting in MORALITY as the answer for 26a, and I’m not sure quite why MARCHES in 2d equates to FRONTIER and not FRONTIERS.
Many thanks to Kairos for the challenge and the fun and to Kitty for the review.
Thanks for explaining 29d, Kitty. That one had me stumped. Thanks also to Kairos for a tough puzzle.
You are a busy girl this weekend, Miss Kitty, always a pleasure to read your excellent reviews.
Saddens me a little to see a non-word like 12a accepted by the likes of Chambers and, even worse, NETIQUETTE!
Lovely to watch dear old Victor Meldrew again – I had to take time out to view some of the clips available online.
Wonder whether that’s a first appearance for young master Sussex in a crossword?
Thanks to Kairos for a most enjoyable puzzle and to Kitty for a review that did it justice.
Excellent puzzle, though I expect some North British and North American solvers may feel that ‘roar’ as a homophone for ‘raw’ is not to be tolerated. Also in 7D ‘by’ seems to sit a little uncomfortably; could it be described as a partial &lit? Thanks Kairos and the hardworking Kitty.
A very enjoyable solve; the only downside was that it was over too quickly. We can’t nominate a CoD, it was all good.
RD@1: The area along the border between England and Wales is often known as ‘The Welsh Marches’ which we think justifies use of the plural, ‘marches’.
Thanks, Kairos and Kitty.
Thanks very much for the explanation, allan_c @5.
Thanks to the purrfect review Kitty and to those who have commented. There are some Feghoots scattered in the solutions for those who want an additional challenge on a fine Sunday afternoon.
Thanks Kairos. I had to google Feghoot … then I had to google Feghoots, but I’ve uncovered one. Will look again properly tomorrow and add a highlighted grid to the blog.
Intriguing. I hadn’t heard of Feghoots before, and now, having Googled them, have only managed to find one in the crossword.
They were:
(The) Star Mangled Spanner (In Neutron Tide by Arthur C Clarke)
Tarzan Tripes
(A) Niche In Time Saves Stein (In A Loint of Paw by Isaac Asimov).
Isaac Asimov had a fondness for Feghoots in his short stories including “Sloan’s teddy wins the race” in Sure Thing and “Tell all the Foys on Sortibackenstrete that I will soon be there” in Death of a Foy
Thanks for the update Kairos. This is annoying as I’ve read all the Asimov stories mentioned. Looking up “A Loint of Paw” in my copy of Asimov’s Mysteries I see he included an afterword: “I consider a play on words to be the noblest form of wit, so there!”.
Thank you Kairos! I managed to find a niche in time, but not the mangled spanner. I’ve popped a highlighted grid into the blog.