I did not need the dictionary as much as usual this week – Azed is being kind to us. Thank you Azed.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | BRIDGE THE GAP | To supply need, girl (saintly?) introduces gallon in load (12, 3 words) |
| BRIDGET (girls, Saint Bridget perhaps) then G (gallon) inside (introduced to) HEAP (load) | ||
| 10 | AU MIEUX | Foreign girlfriend and wife, about united, on the best of terms (7, 2 words) |
| AMIE (girlfriend, foreign) and UX (wife) contains (about) U (united) | ||
| 12 | CRIT | Old vulgarian holding end of cigar – it’s often lit (4) |
| CIT (vulgarian, archaic) contains cigaR (end letter of) – literary criticism | ||
| 13 | GANGSTA | Rap singer, good one but full of unease about our lot (7) |
| G (good) A (one) contains (but full of) ANGST (unease about our lot, fate) | ||
| 14 | KITTUL | Outfit and curved sabre abandoned by war in palm tree (6) |
| KIT (outfit) then TULwar (curved sabre) missing WAR | ||
| 15 | PORTAL | One entering left twice (in different guises) – a grand entrance (6) |
| A (one) inside PORT L (left, twice, in different guises) | ||
| 18 | PRELIM | English and Latin included in rigidly formal exam (6) |
| E (English) and L (Latin) inside PRIM (rigidly formal) | ||
| 20 | TEUCH | Scot’s resolute for all to see, getting into college (5) |
| U (for all to see) inside TECH (college) | ||
| 21 | NGAIO | A keg fashioned with this whitewood? Ageing oak possibly (5) |
| an anagram (fashioned) of A KEG with NGAIO (this whitewood, the solution) gives AGEING OAK | ||
| 23 | RORAL | Runs test showing early signs of damp (5) |
| R (runs) ORAL (test) – dew (signs of damp) in the morning (early) | ||
| 24 | RECCE | Scout rule? Look after that (5) |
| R (rule) followed by (…after that) ECCE (look) | ||
| 25 | PANDIT | What’ll spell depression for Indian scholar? (6) |
| P AND IT spell PIT (depression) | ||
| 28 | ANSELM | Saint, one seen hiding in a tree (6) |
| S (…one, a saint) inside (seen hiding in) AN ELM (a tree) | ||
| 29 | SWEIRT | Sluggish Scottish river dam retained by stone (6) |
| WEIR (river dam) inside ST (stone) | ||
| 31 | CAILLES | Fowl à la française cooked in allspice (not soft inside) (7) |
| anagram (cooked in) of ALLSpICE missing P (soft) | ||
| 32 | PEPO | Large fruit, juice nil (4) |
| PEP (juice) O (nil) | ||
| 33 | CORRIES | I err badly because going round hollows in Cairngorms? (7) |
| anagram (badly) of I ERR inside (with…going round) COS (because) | ||
| 34 | CONTRAPPOSTO | Live model’s pose? No charge when (not initially very) melodious family’s involved! (12) |
| COST O (cost zero, no charge) contains (when…is involved) vON TRAPP (melodious family, from The Sound of Music) missing (not) V (very) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | BACKSTOP | Bread roll – stock ordered in – Irish one’s had much exposure (8) |
| BAP (bread roll) contains (with…in) anagram (ordered) of STOCK – the much discussed Irish Backstop during the Brexit negotiations | ||
| 2 | RURIDECANAL | Regret endless journey over waterway, caring for some country clergy (11) |
| RUe (regret, endless) then RIDE (journey) on CANAL (waterway) | ||
| 3 | DITTY | Doing without professional help bags IOM trophy – some catch! (5) |
| DIY (doing without professional help) contains (bags) TT (Isle of Man trophy) – a catchy tune maybe | ||
| 4 | GENU | Bent structure, last removed from class (4) |
| GENUs (class) with last letter removed | ||
| 5 | EUGLENA | Lunge awkwardly in river for primitive creature there? (7) |
| anagram (awkwardly) of LUNGE inside EA (river) | ||
| 6 | HONORARY | Voluntary fee, ancient and not limited (8) |
| HOARY (ancient) contains (…limited, provides limits for) NOR (and not) | ||
| 7 | EAGRE | Sudden rise in water rate agreed in part (5) |
| found inside (in part) ratE AGREed | ||
| 8 | GUSTLOCK | Flying locust sucked into Greek plane’s safety mechanism (8) |
| anagram (flying) of LOCUST inside GK (Greek) | ||
| 9 | PEAL | Countryman’s jumped up having caught a young trout (4) |
| LEP (jumped, countryman’s dialect) reversed (up) contains (having caught) A | ||
| 11 | STAIR CARPET | Sort of hovercraft, power in test failing – it may cover treads (11, 2 words) |
| AIR CAR (sort of hovercraft) P (power) all inside anagram (failing) of TEST | ||
| 16 | BURNSIAN | Large vessel filling basin drunk, recalling wild night in Dundee? (8) |
| URN (large vessel) inside (filling) anagram (drunk) of BASIN | ||
| 17 | THRILLER | Page-turner giving one tense time (short), not so good (8) |
| T (tense) HR (hour, time short=abbreviation) then ILLER (not so good) | ||
| 19 | MAESTOSO | A motet’s so stirring, though lacking tenor, in grand style (8) |
| anagram (stirring) of A MOTEt’S SO missing T (tenor) | ||
| 22 | GLOSSOP | Derbyshire location, one Bertie found forbidding (7) |
| double definition – town in Derbyshire and Sir Roderick Glossop character from Bertie Wooster stories described by Bertie as “an extraordinarily formidable old bird” | ||
| 26 | DELFT | Last of meal stored in handy earthenware (5) |
| meaL (last letter of) inside DEFT (handy) | ||
| 27 | REPRO | Copy as alternative to period (reverse thereof) (5) |
| OR (alternative to) PER (period) all reversed | ||
| 28 | ACDC | General’s assistant bags century batting for both sides (4) |
| ADC (aide-de-camp, general’s assistant) contains (bags) C (century) | ||
| 30 | WARP | Distortion? This roof is able to withstand onset (4) |
| (this, the solution) + ROOF gives WAR-PROOF (able to withstand an attack,onset). |
||
Thanks PeeDee. A pleasant challenge, after I had dredged the dictionary for TULWAR I had the feeling that I had come across it as a given name.
I held off putting in ANSELM because I couldn’t initially parse it, and because it isn’t in Chambers…
Thanks Azed.
The latest edition of Chambers also has WAR-PROOF as an adjective meaning ‘able to withstand attack’.
Thanks Matthew. Now I look more closely my copy of Chambers does too. User error!