Atrica has provided our Tuesday puzzle today on what is our known theme day. This time, I managed to get through to the end of the puzzle, and I finally managed to parse everything to my satisfaction. However, I still had no idea as to the theme of the puzzle! When did the penny drop for you, I wonder?
As for me, it was only when I scoured the completed grid that I spotted something that ought to have leapt off the page at me: many solutions are words that are often found in street addresses, so called street suffixes, as highlighted in the completed grid. There are a couple that I haven’t highlighted, as I couldn’t be sure they were definitely used in that way, but the highlighted ones are fairly reliable, I think.
The puzzle took me a good long while to solve, even though it turned out that there were quite a few anagrams and that the vocabulary was not particularly difficult. I still haven’t got my head around Atrica’s own style – once I solved 5 and 20, I remembered that there were clues crafted in a similar manner in the previous puzzle of his that I solved and blogged, but this didn’t help as I was actually solving the clues, alas.
My favourite clues today were 11, for the inclusion of both Oxford and Cambridge in the wordplay; 16, for overall construction; 18, for the inclusion of the geographical terms in the wordplay; and 21A, for smoothness of surface.
[R (=Republican) + ESC (=key, on a keyboard)] in CENT (=change in America, i.e. coin)
S<tree>T (=thoroughfare); “by removal of lime (=tree)”, what is left is “St”, the abbreviation (“can be shortened”) of “Street”!
R (=rector) in RE-POACH (=perhaps cook the egg again)
PAR (=normal, standard) + AD (=nowadays, anno domini) + E (=English)
U (=for all to see, of film classification) in LOSE (=get rid of)
M (=spy chief, in the Bond novels/films) in *(SILLIEST), “novel” is anagram indicator
DRIVE<l> (=press, force, push forward; “left (=L) unwritten” means letter “l” is dropped)
<h>ER<e> (“naked” means external letters are dropped) in TRACE (=how one might easily draw)
*(OPUS DEI); “after mix-up” is anagram indicator; the reference is to the story of Oedipus in Greek mythology, who married his own mother, Jocasta.
GLAD (=happy, content) + <smok>E (“finally” means last letter only); a glade is an open space in a wood or forest, hence a clearing
*(ALL DROP TO); “bust” is anagram indicator; to pay top dollar for something is to pay a very high price, an arm and a leg for it
HAS (KEEPS, HOLDS) in CE (=church, i.e. Church of England)
CAMP (=affected, in behaviour ) in SÍ (=in Italy, certainly, yes)
*(I CLEAR UP); “redesign” is anagram indicator
A + VENUE (=concert hall?)
SO (really, very) in [I (=one) + TONIC (=bracer, something that invigorates and strengthens)]; an isotonic energy drink contains the same concentration of salts and minerals as the human body.
Double definition: to circle is to circumnavigate, travel around AND a circle is a round figure in a plane
EX- (=former partner) + POUNDED (=hammered, battered); to expound is to expose or lay out the meaning of, hence to unravel
C (=about, circa) + LO<se>SE<at> (“every other couple in” means each other pair of letters is used)
<e>N<h>A<n>C<e> (“occasionally” means alternate letters only are used) + ELLE (=magazine); a nacelle is a streamlined structure on an aircraft housing an engine, hence “cover”
TRAT (TART=dessert; “tipped over” indicates vertical reversal) + TO + RIA (AIR=wind; “up” indicates vertical reversal)
EVAD (DAVE=Cameron, among others; “uplifting” indicates vertical reversal) + E<lon> (“capital” refers to the capital, i.e. first, letter of the name, not any money!)
*(<p>INE TREES); “pollarded” means first letter is dropped from anagram, indicated by “developed”
O<ford> (“entrance to” means first only) + MIT (=Cambridge university, i.e. in Massachusetts)
I’M PROMPT (=I arrive on schedule) + U (=you texted, i.e. “you” in textspeak)
Hidden (“caught by”) in “cAMERAS I ANticipate”; an Amerasian is someone of mixed American-Asian heritage, often the descendant of a US serviceman.
*(OR ATHENS); “bizarrely” is anagram indicator
SO<me ta>LE; “Zuckerberg’s company (=Meta) censored” means letters “meta” are dropped
Double definition: to weed is to do some gardening, hence to garden AND Kew Gardens are a large botanic garden in south-west London
MET (=encountered) + RIC<h> (=wealthy; “husband (=H) escaping” means letter “h” is dropped)
Homophone (“in report”) of “plaice (=fish)”
*(CUT OR); “interleaved”, suggesting a mixing of letters, is the anagram indicator; to flatter is to try to win over, to woo, hence to court
Thanks Atrica and RatkojaRiku.
Good puzzle, and theme is accessible, too. I had included Glade, too, maybe I am wrong.
Couldn’t see ROAD or LANE.
I’m sure there will be a “_ Chase” somewhere in the world. What about a “_ Glade”?
I’ve seen Chase as a suffix, my ex-wife’s father lived on one. Thanks Atrica & RR
Thanks Atrica and RR
There is a Hunter’s Chase about 500m from where I live.
Glade wouldn’t surprise me either.
… and was looking for a Mews — there’s one off our Street.
Quickest finish for some days.
Also didn’t spot the theme until it was all over. The Chase in Guildford is just down the road from me. Where I grew up in Newton Aycliffe, there was a Clarence Chare and in nearby Darlington there’s a Post House Wynd.
Completely forgot to look for a theme, but it’s obvious now that it’s spelled out.
My guess is that AMERASIAN would be Asians with some American ancestry rather than the other way around. In this country, we mostly hear Asian-American. (Worth noting too that in both cases it’s more east Asia than south–America’s Asian interactions have been mostly with Korea, China, Vietnam, Japan, and the Philippines.)
I used to live in a road that was a Glade
For 25d, I think the instruction to interleave is more specific than an anagram, since the odd letters of COURT give CUT, and the even ones give OR, all in order