I completely forgot about this blog. Gaufrid kindly reminded me yesterday so I promptly forgot again. And then woke up this morning with something niggling my memory. That was about an hour and half ago. This is the paltry result.
Across
| 1 | FAT CAT – two meanings |
| 7 | NOSER – rev(re[a]son) — yes it’s in Chambers as a headwind. |
| 12 | A,CA(LO)USE – means “stemless”. Bob points out quite rightly that this should be: A,C(AU)LOSE — I had transposed some of this clue with 17A while writing up my notes. |
| 13 | ROSTER – hidden reversed |
| 14 | TRO(M)PE – French device for fanning a furnace. |
| 15 | O(NT)AP – ref. Old Age Pensioner |
| 16 | UNIAT – (aunt, i)* – Christian sect |
| 17 | L(IBRETT)O – bitter* in LO |
| 18 | TRIATHLETE – (earth title)*. Oddly enough, reminds me must go running today. |
| 22 | SYNAERESIS – (senses, airy)*. To make diphthongs. |
| 24 | ECOSTATE – ribless. And I guess a pun on what the Green Party is planning to establish (in Brighton?) |
| 28 | SO,FAR – a sonar type of finding people at sea thingy. |
| 29 | F,RATE – I convinced myself at first this was F,RIAR |
| 30 | MET MA,N – Mamet* – a Brit weatherman. |
| 31 | A,NOM(I)E – means “sense of despair” and NOME is a Greek department. |
| 32 | MEL(ODE)ON – a type of accordion. Lay is a song is an ODE. |
| 33 | DRENT – hidden. archaic drenched |
| 34 | SW(E’EN)Y – muscle atrophy. And SWY is Australian for a 2 year prison stretch (shortish? I wouldn’t last a night in prison). |
Down
| 1 | FAR-OUT – Hippie slang for “satisfying” — competition word | |
| 2 | A CONTRE COEUR – (re actor on cue)*. French reluctance. | |
| 3 | TA(ST)Y) – ref. River TAY | |
| 4 | CUT,A,WAY – a film shot and what you need to do when you’re in thick jungle. | |
| 5 | TORSI – “trunks” but wordplay? “Twisting not on in trunks?” feels like a pun but…? | |
| 6 | AS,TABLE – the opposite of stable. | |
| 8 | OZ,ONE | |
| 9 | S(AM)ITE – yes, it’s a heavy silk | |
| 10 | EXP(ATR)IATION – rat* in EXPIATION | |
| 11 | R(HET)OR – HET as in “het up” (heated) and ROR is contiguous in perorations. | |
| 19 | HA(A)F-NET – A in (fat hen)* – I assume Maryport is a port on the North Sea (since HAAF-NET is from the Norwegian)? | |
| 20 | TET(ROD)E – TETE for head and it’s a (four-way) valve | |
| 21 | DESMID – hidden. “tiny linked alga” indeed. | |
| 22 | S,OF,TIE | |
| 23 | SHEENY – two meanings: shiny and fraudulent (of course I know this because I”m Jewish 🙂 | |
| 25 | SA,MAN – &lit. It’s a SA “rain tree” providing shelter from the rain presumably! | |
| 26 | TEALS – OK, they are ducks. I feel like I could work out the wordplay. If I wanted to. “More than one duck? Side’s exchanging money for one at learning stage”. | |
| 27 | MA([so]ME)E – it’s a W. Indian fruit. Ref. MAE West. |
Morning Ilan, 5 is torsion – on and teals is teams [sides] – m + l.
I’m puzzled by your explanation of 12A. I read this as AU in (A + CLOSE)
Bob: of course you’re right… I was thinking about 17A for some reason obviously when I was writing up the blog.
I feel like I could work out the wordplay. If I wanted to.
Isn’t that rather the point?
It’s half the point. The other half is the definition.
26dn: the wordplay which you didn’t seem to want to work out, and which was rather good I thought: team’s [side’s] exchanging m [money] for l [one at learning stage].
Wil: indeed — I was lazy. Didn’t mean to be cavalier… thanks!