I’m writing this up somewhat belatedly, so don’t remember much about my solving experience, but I think it was of fairly average difficulty. I may be missing something (it wouldn’t be the first time), but I think there may be a slight error in 16a. Thanks as ever to Azed.
| Across | ||||||||
| 1 | COSPAS‑SARSAT | System aiding ships, one tar’s deployed after direction-finder showing south not mobile (12) COMPASS with M[obile] replaced by S, + A + TARS*. As the rubric tells us, this appears in Chambers under SARSAT |
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| 9 | GALUT | One among superfluity in diaspora (5) A m GLUT |
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| 10 | CROUPE | Squat, taking run in sports model? (6) R in COUPÉ |
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| 12 | PUPARIUM | Durable skin turned up on annoying fly found round Arabia (8) Reverse of UP + AR[abia] in PIUM |
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| 13 | PRATER | Chatterbox such as Violet? (6) Double defintion – the second from the eponymous film title in Christopher Isherwood’s novel Prater Violet |
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| 14 | TEACUP | What’s brewed etc around afternoon fully appears in this (6) A[fternoon] in ETC* + UP (fully), &lit |
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| 15 | PRAESEPE | Star group paper’s given spread with extremes of eloquence (8) Anagram of PAPERS + E[loquenc]E |
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| 16 | NE WAS | Spenserian isn’t perfect (one featured in bulletin)? (5, 2 words) A in NEWS – this is in Chambers under NAS, which is a shortening of either NE HAS (has not) or NE WAS (was not). Doesn’t the “perfect” in the clue (presumably referring to the perfect tense) suggest that the answer should be the former? |
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| 18 | WHET | Appetizer, hot, dipped in water (4) H in WET |
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| 20 | SHUN | Avoid bypass, missing junction? (4) SHUNT (to bypass) less T |
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| 23 | LODEN | Before start of November reach for thick coat (5) LODE (reach of water) + N |
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| 25 | GLAREOUS | Seoul garden, half stripped, relaid and gravel-based (8) Anagram of SEOUL + GAR[den] |
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| 28 | LONERS | Liberal pundits, friendless types? (6) L + ONERS (experts, pundits) |
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| 29 | RADIAN | Angular unit, excellent, stylish, one installed (6) RAD (excellent) + A in IN (stylish) |
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| 30 | AKINESIA | Cattle in large area of land showing type of paralysis (8) KINE in ASIA |
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| 31 | SOUARI | Timber tree: first of various cut, the rest splintered (6) Anagram of [v]ARIOUS |
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| 32 | AWEEL | Scottish well, one with fish (5) A W[ith] EEL |
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| 33 | SUSPENSORIAL | Re linking plant cells, see wild roses and lupins one planted (12) A in (ROSES LUPINS)* – it’s the adjectival form of “suspensor”, “a chain of cells to which a plant embryo is fixed” |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 1 | CUPPING‑GLASS | It was used in drawing blood, raising gallons in lesson (12) UPPING G G in CLASS (lesson) |
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| 2 | SAPAN | Brazil-wood? Adult slices width (5) A in SPAN (width) |
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| 3 | PLATEAU | Left a meal in lifting up ornamental tray (7) L[eft] A TEA in reverse of UP |
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| 4 | STIRRE | Sensation to do with possible misprint found in Shakespeare (6) STIR (sensation) RE (to do with) |
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| 5 | SCUTAL | Wound piercing surface part of Roman shield (6) CUT (wound) in SA: |
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| 6 | ROTAS | Intake of students at Oriel turned up for courses (5) Hidden in reverse of studentS AT ORiel |
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| 7 | SUCCEED | To score the dissolute seduce about a hundred (7) C in SEDUCE* |
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| 8 | TENPENNY NAIL | It required some hammering: panel fixed with n-ninety? (12, 2 words) (PANEL N-NINETY)* |
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| 9 | GURGE | Gulf offering grand drive (5) G + URGE |
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| 11 | POUPT | Formerly undone, one’s winning in trophy (5) UP (winning) in POT (trophy) |
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| 17 | WHANAUS | Wife and husband gossip over American extended families (7) W + H + ANA (gossip) + US – Maori word for extended families |
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| 19 | HOG-DEER | Small ungulate, briefly on edge found shivering in hunter’s periphery (7) Anagram of O[n] EDGE in H[unte]R |
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| 20 | SLO-MO | Replay may feature this part of meeting between Oslo and Moscow (5) Hidden in oSLO MOscow |
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| 21 | JOSKIN | Jester jestin’ about society (6) S in JOKIN’ |
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| 22 | CURIAS | Worthless type, monkey turning up in courts (6) CUR + reverse of SAI (the capuchin monkey) |
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| 24 | Message press raised mum’s taken in by (5) ME in LIE (to press) |
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| 26 | RECAP | Shortened aperçu possibly? (5) Anagram of APERC[u], &lit |
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| 27 | NISEI | One of foreign origins? Some colonise India (5) Hidden in coloNISE India |
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Thanks Andrew,
16 has me puzzled too – though surely the perfect tense of “isn’t” is “has not been”?
You have a typo in SCUTAL, no L in the explanation. Are we to take SAL=SIAL? I think the definition is just ‘of Roman shield’.
Also an extra G in 1dn 🙂
The COSPASS part of 1ac I guessed early on, but it was a long time before the SARSAT fell.
Thanks as ever to Azed.
This was the usual commune period between the dictionary and myself. Thanks for providing the enjoyment Azed.
I agree with the little bits mentioned by Gonzo and have another finger slip to mention. 9a is A in GLUT, which isn’t quite what it says on the screen in front of me. Yes, I have looked closely.
Thanks for the explanations Andrew.
Thanks for the blog, agree for NE WAS, Gonzo@1 says it is not the perfect tense, I just went with the word play.
Agree with Gonzo for SCUTAL, sal=sial the upper PART of the Earth’s crust.
1Ac not in my Chambers 93 , just the second part, but the compass bit was quite clear.
PRAESEPE is better known as the Beehive cluster , about 1000 stars but far away, visible to the naked eye in good conditions.
AWEEL took me far longer than it should have done.
Like the rest of you, 16ac had me puzzled for the parsing; I agree with Gonzo @1 that it’s not the perfect tense, but as Roz@3 says, I went with the word play. 9dn also had me checking with Chambers: GURGE is given as a literary or Miltonic word for a whirlpool – rather than a gorge, as I’d assumed. So I checked Gulf – and that is apparently an archaic or poetic word for a whirlpool. Possibly some reference to poetic might have been included in the clue? Thanks as ever for the blog.
I’m with the others on 6dn and think the blog should read
Wound piercing surface part [underline] of Roman shield
ie CUT in SAL, with the definition being the adjective SCUTAL – scutal is not part of a shield such as a boss would be
Also a typo in the blog for 24dn – ME should be MA
….and to be really picky, it should be MA in reverse of (raised) LIE (to press). But I think we all get the idea!
With you on AWEEL Roz – one gets so used to ‘with’ being just a link word.
I had the same search as MunroMaiden@4 for GURGE , I decide it was okay because definition and answer were BOTH taking an archaic/ poetic meaning. When just one is I expect Azed to indicate.
Gonzo @8 I kept trying to think of 2 letter words for one.
Hello all.
Thanks to Azed and Andrew for the blog.
Have only just spotted the note about Azed’s having COVID and “andlit” is out of action after John Tozer’s illness. Wonder what we made of PROSAIST?
I wrote myself some notes.
“Had to use the dictionary sooner than usual”.
“My last in was LODEN.”
“COSPAS-SARSAT must be one of the longest acronyms.”
“NE WAS took a bit of fathoming and finding though it was a write-in”
Fifteen squared says I’ve already said this!
Hello all.
Thanks to Azed and Andrew for the blog.
Have only just spotted the note about Azed’s having COVID and “andlit” is out of action after John Tozer’s illness. Wonder what we made of PROSAIST?
I wrote myself some notes.
“Had to use the dictionary sooner than usual”.
“My last in was LODEN.”
“COSPAS-SARSAT must be one of the longest acronyms.”
“NE WAS took a bit of fathoming and finding though it was a write-in”
This might have been the first Azed I’ve really enjoyed. Getting 1a made for a happy start. It, perhaps with a third of the answers, was a new word. I temporarily slipped up by putting TAIL instead of NAIL after solving the anagram and after a bit of head scratching 29a had to be RADIAN and then I realised my typo.
Thanks Azed and Andrew.
pdp@12 you can still enjoy them if you struggle/fail, all part of the learning process. Wait until we get a special. This one is fairly typical with the two long words at 1. Get these and you can invade the grid from two directions, lots of useful first letters.
Roz@13 – true. I did complete this one but I’ve not had much time this week to solve the latest. I’ve enjoyed the few I’ve got so far.
Just in case anyone looks here. In 2617 today clue 2 should say (9) not (10) Hope no-one has been put off.