I thought I was off to a good start on this one when I got 1ac straight away, but things got a bit tougher after that, and it took me a couple of sessions to finish it off. Perhaps unusually, there are no composite anagrams, and only one hidden; on the other hand there are a few of the “if you add [this] to the answer you get [that]..” type, as in 17ac and 22ac for example. Next stop the Christmas special, which will make 4 “special” competition puzzles in a row, starting with number 2000.
| Across | |
| 1. OBSCURANTIST | O + CURBS* + ANTI + ST |
| 10. CALLIOPE | ALL I in COPE |
| 13. BROOL | RO (run out) in reverse of LOB |
| 14. ANONA | ON (“gracing the table”) in ANA (“a collection of someone’s table talk”). Anona is a genus of edible fruits |
| 15. CLAPTRAP | L APT in CRAP |
| 16. CLITTER | C + LITTER |
| 17. ANTE | “And this” is ANDANTE, which as a musical term means “moderately slowly” (or, as I was taught, “at walking pace”). |
| 18. COCCO | “Cocco vin” sounds like “coq au vin” |
| 20. LEGMAN | LEG (on) + MAN (piece, e.g. in chess) |
| 22. HEELED | To be “well-heeled” is to be rich |
| 24. REEST | Dai REES + T. Scottish word for a fit of stubbornness |
| 26. AUNE | Remove BE from the wine BEAUNE – old French measure of length |
| 28. EQUINIA | QUINI[NE] in EA (each) |
| 30. NGULTRUM | (TURN GLUM)*. This unlikely-looking word is the currency of Bhutan |
| 32. THRAE | HEART* – a variant of Scots “frae” = from |
| 33. PARGE | G in PARE |
| 34. EYESTALK | YES in E TALK |
| 35. UNADMONISHED | UN (one) + SHE in DIAMOND* |
| Down | |
| 2. BAROLO | BAR OLIO less I |
| 3. SLOB ICE | OB (died, perished) in SLICE (bad golf stroke) |
| 4. CLOUT | C[lubs] + LOUT |
| 5. ROLLER DERBY | ROLLER (wave) + DERBY (hat) |
| 6. NEAPS | ASPEN* – neap tides are the opposite of spring tides |
| 7. TENTAGE | TAG in TENE |
| 8. IVOR | IVOR[Y], and a reference to Ivor the Engine |
| 9. SONATA | O in SANTA, and reference to Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata |
| 11. PEARLY QUEEN | P + EARLY + QUEEN (e.g. queen bee or ant, social insects) |
| 12. WAPENTAKE | A PENT in WAKE |
| 13. BACCHANTE | CAB< + CHANTE[D]. A growler is "a four-wheeled horse-drawn cab" |
| 19. CLELAND | N in CALLED. Fanny Hill was written by John Cleland. I wonder if Azed was tempted to clue this with reference to regular competitor C[hris] LEYLAND |
| 21. MENORAH | ONE in MARM, all reversed |
| 23. EUGHEN | Reverse of GUE (type of viol) + HEN (layer). This is a Spenserian variant of “yewen”, so the definition is “of wood”. |
| 25. SINGLE | Chambers says “of ale, weak”; and reference to singles bars |
| 27. STEEM | MEETS reversed |
| 29. IKATS | Reverse of STAKI[NG] |
| 31. URVA | Hidden in oUR VAcation. Urva is “the crab-eating mongoose of SE Asia”. And there was I thinking they only ate snakes. |
I could be wrong, but I don’t think there is always an Azed Christmas special.
For 17a I had ‘comp. anag. (hesitant)’ – discuss
Which doesn’t mean there won’t be a special 🙂
and + ante looks good to me.