Quite a hard puzzle this week, with a lot more unfamiliar words than usual, I think. My favourites clue are 10ac and 22dn for their unusual and confusing – but totally sound – constructions.
| Across | |||
| 1. | Chemical from Albania in meals mixed with soup | ||
| SAL ALEMBROTH | AL in MEALS* + BROTH | ||
| 10. | Stupid fellow once creating fiasco, losing head! | ||
| ASINICO | I nearly had to give up on explaining this, but got it just in time. It’s a kind of reverse cryptic: AS IN ICO give IASCO, which is FIASCO with its head removed. Shakespearian word (hence “once”) for a stupid fellow. |
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| 11. | Old-time dance tune: volume not allowed in foreign museum | ||
| LOURE | LOU[V]RE | ||
| 12. | Runic character in effect | ||
| WYNN | Homophone of “win” (as “to achieve, effect”) | ||
| 13. | Sound choice satisfied | ||
| PLUMMET | PLUM (choice) + MET (satisfied) | ||
| 15. | What rubbernecks do in university, entering passage? | ||
| GAUP | U in GAP A variant of “gawp” |
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| 17. | One scarcely believable in any circumstances | ||
| AT ALL | A + TALL (as in “tall story”) | ||
| 18. | Stony concretion rendering one often sore-headed, cross inside? | ||
| BEZOAR | ZO (cross) in BEAR (“like a bear with a sore head”) The hybrid cattle Zo (also zho, dso, dzho or dzo) is an Azed regular. |
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| 19. | Parrot about Latin stuff, the stuff of religious reformers | ||
| LOLLARDRY | L LARD in LORY | ||
| 22. | Something to keep the sun off a tennis court | ||
| EN TOUT CAS | Double definition – a parasol and (as En-Tout-Cas) a trade name for a type of tennis court. Both from the French expression meaning “in any case”. I don’t remember seeing anything like the “3 words or 1” in the enumeration before. |
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| 24. | Product of separation revealing couples in hell | ||
| ELUATE | [h]EL[l] + [d]UA[l] + [i]TE[m] “Couples in” tells us to take the middle letters of the three words. |
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| 26. | Once ready to lend quickly, with nothing to lose | ||
| PREST | PREST[O], and two (obsolete) definitions – “ready” and “to lend” | ||
| 29. | Compatriot of Goosen, R switching parts – opportune time | ||
| SEEL | E ELS with the first and last two letters swapped. Retief Goosed is a South African golfer, as is Ernie ELS |
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| 30. | Cereal grass spread round a meadow for a nicker? | ||
| TEA LEAF | A LEA in TEF Rhyming slang for a thief (“nicker”) |
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| 31. | Scottish flower historically forming unusual logo | ||
| GOOL | LOGO* Scots form of “gold”, meaning the marigold. |
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| 32. | Hardy e.g. snowboarder may execute this | ||
| OLLIE | Double definition – a type of jump in snowboarding, and Oliver Hardy, film actor. | ||
| 33. | Divine sculpture of gold given to Isaac | ||
| GODLIKE | GOLD* + IKE “Sculpture of” is an excellent anagram indicator here, giving a very smooth surface reading. |
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| 34. | Nice kids dressed up in drag, smoothly polished | ||
| SLICKENSIDED | (NICE KIDS)* in SLED | down | |
| 1. | They yield aphrodisiac fruit? Pass me a lot – two anyhow – once missing love | ||
| SAW PALMETTOS | (PASS ME A LOT TWO)* less O | ||
| 2. | Still time needed after a strain | ||
| AS YET | A SYE + T | ||
| 3. | In spelling, a Latinate language, one spoken in central Africa | ||
| LINGALA | Hidden in “spelLING A Latin” | ||
| 4. | Tonguelike organ in the heads of little insects above the upper throat | ||
| LIGULA | L[ittle] I[nsects] + GULA Interesting to have two similar-looking words in adjacent clues. |
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| 5. | Describing element of lower valency – likewise ‘upper’ is shown in modified symbol | ||
| MOLYBDOUS | DO (ditto) + U in SYMBOL* | ||
| 6. | Like Dunfermline’s royal red, initially deep in colour | ||
| BLUDE | D in Blue Scots form of “blood” |
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| 7. | Cape Town gran getting higher degree at Oxford? | ||
| OUMA | O[xford] U[niversity] M[aster of] A[rts] | ||
| 8. | Sweet stuff from beetle worked up in a lather | ||
| TREHALA | (A LATHER)* | ||
| 9. | Rosette oddly planted in wood, dead, showing varying plant parts | ||
| HETEROSTYLED | ROSETTE* in HYLE + D | ||
| 14. | Little Margaret sounds like this – dizzy | ||
| MAZY | Homophone of “Maisy”, which I never knew was one of the many short forms of “Margaret” | ||
| 16. | Beer time in the caretaker’s office | ||
| PORTERAGE | PORTER (caretaker) + AGE | ||
| 20. | Gusher (boring) to supply with copious alcohol? | ||
| OIL WELL | Double definition – cf “well-oiled” | ||
| 21. | Like a cat (rare), curiously oleic in hypnotic force? | ||
| OCELOID | OLEIC* in OD (a force imagined by Carl Reichenbach) “Rare” refers to the word, not the ocelot. |
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| 22. | Possibly brilliant decapitated noble soon separated from base | ||
| EARL | [p]EARL (brilliant) , or EARL[y] (soon), and an earl is a noble. Very clever – it had to be EARL from the crossing letters, but the definition is confusingly sited in the middle of the clue. |
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| 23. | Flips small coin before last point in the States | ||
| UPENDS | P[enny] + END in US | ||
| 25. | Cover (rustic-style, Scottish) we cut from periodical | ||
| THEEK | THE WEEK less WE | ||
| 27. | Whiff e.g. ass got following another’s tail? | ||
| SMOKE | [as]S + MOKE | ||
| 28. | Clay after makeover (bit of mulch on top) will do for this gardener | ||
| M + ALI | Cassius Clay became Muhammad Ali after a “makeover” | ||
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