This was my quickest Azed solve for quite a while: I found I’d written in 13 answers after my first pass though the clues, and most of the rest followed easily (albeit with a lot of guesswork for plausible answers), with just a couple of stragglers needing a bit of dictionary-hunting. Thanks to Azed.
| Across | ||||||||
| 1. | PURSE-SNATCHER | Punters search distractedly for pickpocket (13) (PUNTERS SEARCH)* |
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| 10. | SCAPULA | When coming from behind old horse breaks bone (7) CAPUL (old word for a horse) in reverse of AS (when) |
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| 13. | OOTID | Egg cell produced by ducks before due time in Scotland (5) O + O + TID (Scot. “fit time or condition”) |
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| 14. | MASSORA | Biblical apparatus (a large number or one) (7) MASS (large numnber) + OR A |
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| 15. | FEATHERED | Was frightened of consuming article only lightly touched (9) THE in FEARED |
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| 16. | SCATT | Historical land tax the Queen leaves to disperse (5) SCATTER less ER. I guessed this word was essentially the same as “scot”, as in the expression “scot free”, but they seem to have different origins. |
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| 18. | BOUTADE | Tantrum made public, ordered outside (7) OUT (made public) in BADE |
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| 19. | CHRONOGRAPHER | Historian, chap confused with gen? Horror (13) (CHAP GEN HORROR)* |
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| 22. | REEDILY | In a thin voice you’ll need to rebuild with line not forte (7) RE-EDIFY (rebuild) with F replaced by L |
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| 24. | VERST | Middle distance for Muscovite, run in singlet (5) R in VEST – the Verst is an old Russian unit of length, about two-thirds of a mile. |
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| 27. | AT LIBERTY | Tribal, yet roaming free (9, 2 words) (TRIBAL YET)* |
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| 30. | STARETS | Religious teacher gets going about source of ecumenism (7) E[cumenism] in STARTS |
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| 31. | TAGGY | Strange guys having regular trim of matted locks (5) Alternate letters of sTrAnGe GuYs |
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| 32. | PANGENE | Darwinian unit, information held in rectangular compartment (7) GEN in PANE |
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| 33. | SWEET-TEMPERED | We’ll be accepted by group the misguided term ‘deep’ or ‘benign’ (13) WE in SET + (TERM DEEP)* |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 1. | PSOAS | Tenderloin like this is bathed in juice when flipped (5) SO in reverse of SAP |
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| 2. | RATHA | Chariot: race that involves this etc (5) Composite anagram: (RACE THAT)* = RATHA + ETC |
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| 3. | SPINTO | Reel for denoting dramatically lyrical music (6) SPIN (reel) + TO (for) |
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| 4. | SLEE | Jock’s artfully dextrous getting fish to rise (4) Reverse of EELS – Scots form of “sly” |
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| 5. | AMATORY | Fervent until trapped by a girl (7) TO (until) in A MARY |
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| 6. | TUSH | Pooh accordingly delays bit of honey to the end (4) THUS with H[oney] moved to the end |
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| 7. | COSET | Product of Tesco, it’s added to and enlarges one like itself (5) TESCO* – a coset is a concept in the theory of mathematical Groups, but the definition here mirrors the one given in Chambers: “a set which when added to another set resuts in a larger set”, which is not particularly meaningful. |
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| 8. | HOORAH | Cheer up jumper overturned in ditch when one’s thrown (6) Reverse of ROO (jumper) in HAH[A]. “Up” doesn’t seem to make sense as part of the definition, but otherwise what is it there for? Is a roo an “up jumper”? |
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| 9. | READER | School book? Number left off study in the back (6) DE[n] in REAR |
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| 11. | COUCHETTE | Conservative, tho’ with EU etc prepared for a bunk (9) C + (THO EU ETC)* |
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| 12. | PREDESIGN | Make early plans for speed ring, circuitous (9) (SPEED RING)* |
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| 17. | COLE TIT | Little bird, young filly filled with energy and oomph (7, 2 words) E in COLT (a young horse – not necessarily a filly, I think) + IT (oomph) |
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| 19. | CRASIS | Mingling of vowels, key moment when ‘i’ becomes ‘a’ (6) CRISIS with the first I replaced by A |
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| 20. | RELATE | Clergyman losing head in service offering advice on parenting (6) [p]RELATE |
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| 21. | PELAGE | Exercises outside, wind rising – woolly coat maybe needed (6) Reverse of GALE in PE |
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| 23. | DIRGE | It’s performed doloroso, dreadful when a bit of giocoso intervenes (5) G[iocoso] in DIRE |
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| 25. | ROGER | I must rise for senior churchman’s reception – that’s understood (5) Reverse of EGO in RR |
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| 26. | TOYED | In contact with uppish maid, was flirting (5) TO (in contact with) + reverse of DEY (a dairymaid) |
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| 28. | BELT | District held by rebel troops (4) Hidden in reBEL Troops |
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| 29. | TRAM | Miners’ truck? It’s for aligning machine parts (4) Double definition (in the second sense, a short form of “trammel”) |
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Thanks Andrew and Azed.
It is over 40 years since I last did a barred puzzle when I used to do the Mephisto every week. I managed to finish this puzzle without too much difficulty. Looks like I picked the right week to resume.