The puzzle can be found here.
Hi all. Thanks to Kairos for today’s very enjoyable puzzle, with a bit more of a sciencey flavour than usual which I appreciated. My favourite clue was SUPERNOVA, but I do always enjoy wasting* time playing with a LASER (pointer) too so have to mention that one.
*although I’m a firm subscriber to “time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time”
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
1a Sorry character briefly shown round German plane (5,4)
TIGER MOTH
All but the last letter of (… briefly) TIMOTHy (Sorry Character, Ronnie Corbett’s character in the sitcom Sorry!) round GER (German)
6a Get rid of drainage feature (5)
DITCH
Two definitions
9a Reserve soldier has part of heat exchanger (7)
COOLANT
A charade of COOL (reserve) and ANT (soldier)
10a Very important American fringe initiation theory? (3,4)
BIG BANG
BIG (very important) plus BANG (American fringe, hair cut straight across the forehead, usually in plural as bangs)
11a Animal covered in wee-wee (3)
EWE
She’s hidden in (covered in) weE–WEe
12a One leaves notaries half-cut with politician (7)
SENATOR
I (one) is removed from (leaves) NOTAR[i]ES, anagrammed (half-cut)
13a Improve subject’s skill (7)
RETOUCH
RE (Religious Education, school subject) followed by (‘s, has) TOUCH (skill)
14a Cosmetics sellers over to welcome high-class star (9)
SUPERNOVA
AVON REPS (cosmetic sellers) reversed (over) containing (to welcome) U (upper class)
17a One who continues to waste time creating scientific instrument (5)
LASER
LAS[t]ER (one who continues) without (to waste) T (time)
19a A Liberal on stage is sanctioned (5)
LEGAL
A (from the clue) + L (Liberal) after (on) LEG (stage)
22a Type of music of French conductor (9)
ELECTRODE
ELETRO (type of music) plus DE (of, French)
25a Kitchenware from Northamptonshire town we hear (7)
TOASTER
Sounds like (… we hear) TOWCESTER (Northamptonshire town). It took me a long time to think of a town that sounded like anything from the kitchen
26a Choristers maybe miscreants with a change of heart (7)
SINGERS
SINnERS (miscreants) with the middle letter changed (with a change of heart), in this case to G
28a Top removed from smart tea maker (3)
URN
The first letter is removed from (top removed from) [b]URN (smart)
29a Unscrupulous males disrupting start of IT exam (7)
IMMORAL
MM (males, two copies of M, male) inserted between (disrupting) the first letter of (start of) It and ORAL (exam)
30a Disturb doughboy in American gallery (7)
AGITATE
GI (doughboy) between (in) A (American) and TATE (gallery)
31a Gentile touring Kings with Russian author (5)
GORKY
GOY (gentile) around (touring) R and K (kings, two different abbreviations for king)
32a Finest CID bust to get rid of bugs (9)
DISINFECT
FINEST CID anagrammed (bust)
Down
1d Fixes rails right away (5)
TACKS
T[r]ACKS (rails) without R (right away)
2d Big northern women raised in collective (5-2)
GROWN-UP
N (northern) + W (women) reversed (raised, in a down answer) in GROUP (collective)
3d Engineers work with squaddies to build power plant (7)
REACTOR
REACT (work) with OR (other ranks, squaddies)
4d Something furry found in charlotte russe (5)
OTTER
The answer is found in charlOTTE Russe
5d Awfully thin bear beginning to eat and sleep (9)
HIBERNATE
An anagram of (awfully) THIN BEAR plus the first letter of (beginning to) Eat
6d Bits evenly removed from foxglove with a finger (7)
DIGITAL
The even letters of bItS (bits evenly) removed from DIGITAL[is] (foxglove, the scientific name of which means “finger-like”)
7d Briefly run over awards for China? (7)
TEACUPS
All but the last letter of (briefly) TEAr (run, race) goes before (over, in a down answer) CUPS (awards). It took me a long time to shake my early thought, teapots, even though I suspected there might well be a better answer to be found
8d Off heroin – on it one is arrogant (4,5)
HIGH HORSE
A charade of HIGH (off, slightly decomposed) and HORSE (heroin, slang)
14d Lecturer involved in very angry separation (9)
SPLITTING
L (lecturer) inside (involved in) SPITTING (very angry)
15d Prime members of German generation (3)
ERA
Letters in the prime-numbered positions of (prime members of) gERmAn
16d Cancelled design of red louvre (9)
OVERRULED
An anagram of (design of) RED LOUVRE
18d Leaders of Albania in radio broadcast (3)
AIR
The first letters of (leaders of) Albania In Radio
20d School rules (7)
GRAMMAR
A double definition
21d Broadcast right form of worship (7)
LITURGY
This is a RITE, which sounds like (broadcast) RIGHT
23d Stress is arising in part of joint (7)
TENSION
IS, reversed (arising), inside TENON (part of joint)
24d Public cost for new work (7)
OPERATE
OPEn (public), with RATE (cost) replacing (for) N (new)
26d Problems with horse on board ship (5)
SNAGS
NAG (horse) inside (on board) SS (ship)
27d Going up without a trail (5)
SCENT
[a]SCENT (going up) without A (from the clue)
Thanks, as always, for the very entertaining blog, Kitty.
Found this quite hard in places. I suspect non-UK solvers may have even more trouble with answers such as TOASTER and, perhaps, the Ronnie Corbett character. Wrote in LITURGY but just couldn’t see the reason. Thanks for the explanation.
Thanks also to Kairos.
What a joy this was to solve – great fun all the way, and with a beautifully illustrated review from Kitty to accompany it.
My page is littered with ticks, but 14a gets my vote as the best of a very good bunch.
Many thanks to a different 2Ks to the pair we find in another crosswordy place.
Found this one quite tough for an IOS and didn’t know the 22a music or the 31a gentile.
Not overly keen on 11a – Kitty wouldn’t expect me to be – nor of the root word used in 17a. Sadly, I didn’t know Timothy so 1a went in on a wing and a prayer.
14a was my favourite, I well remember those ladies calling to see my Mum.
Thanks to Kairos whom I would imagine was in conversation with Radler at BD’s birthday bash and to our lovely Kitty for a great blog. I know that a camel is supposedly a horse designed by a committee but your 8d version beats that hands down!
I really don’t think that knowing about Ronnie Corbett’s “Sorry” constitutes general knowledge.
Geoff @4 – I suppose that, at a push, you could equate Timothy with the biblical character of that name who was supposedly reserved and timid.
Geoff Wilkins @4 – it’s true the reference is rather dated now. I only knew it because a commenter on Big Dave’s site has a couple of times replied to me with “Language, Timothy!” (can’t think why!) and, while the phrase sounded vaguely familiar, I did have to look it up to find out its source.
Jane @3 – I didn’t know what you were referring to until I saw your comment over on yesterday’s NTSPP, so have added a link to that for the mystified.
All in all a pleasing puzzle from Kairos. 1ac was one of our last ones in, although the enumeration suggested TIGER MOTH right from the start, as we didn’t know the Timothy reference and were thinking that German indicated simply the letter G. We had no problem with TOASTER, though, one of us having lived in Northamptonshire for a few years. Favourite was HIBERNATE; we thought there was a touch of &lit-ishness about it as a bear might well be awfully thin after hibernating. Liked the kitty with the fringe on top in the blog.
Thanks, Kairos and Kitty.
Thanks to Kitty for a purrfect review and to all for their comments.
With my usual tardiness, I observe for the record that there’s a scientific theme here: COOLANT as used in a nuclear REACTOR, SPLITTING the atom, BIG BANG, SUPERNOVA, LASER, ELECTRODE. At a stretch perhaps also TOASTER and URN are electrical gadgets but perhaps that’s going a bit too far. And now I expect Kairos will tell me they’re coincidental!