This week we have an auspicious puzzle number of 1,111, and a helpfully Ninafied grid to match.
At 1ac we have FOUR-EYES followed by, well, four Is, while along the bottom row we have the four Is repeated, followed by ANABLEPS, a fish with – and you may be spotting the pattern here readers – four eyes.
The suspicion that those four entries began, and another four ended with an “I” was actually a big help in solving this one. After a brisk start I had just about ground to a halt when the device was spotted. All in all a very enjoyable week.
At the time of blogging, the wordplay for 34ac and 26dn eludes me, though I’m sure passing readers can help me out.
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed, hom=homophone, cd=cryptic definition, dd=double definition.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | FOUR-EYES – FOU[l] + RE + YES. |
| 11 | CALDRON – (Al + DR) in CON. |
| 12 | MERCERS – CE in M + ERRS. |
| 13 | BLEND – B[o]L[d] + END. |
| 14 | AREACH – AREA + CH. |
| 15 | TENSE – dd. I think this entry appeared in both IoS prize crosswords this week. |
| 16 | RESPIRE – R + (P in (E _ RISE<)). |
| 19 | OUTLEARN – (LORE AUNT)*. |
| 23 | DECANTER – CAN in DETER. |
| 27 | ANODYNE – ANNOYED*. |
| 28 | LARKY – [cape]R in LAKY. |
| 31 | THEIST – T+ HEIST. |
| 32 | ANZIO – NZ in (A + IO). |
| 33 | INGRATE – [see]ING RAT E[vade]. |
| 34 | STOWAGE – Hush over conduct in storeroom. |
| 35 | ANABLEPS – (ABLE + P) in ANS. |
| Down | |
| 1 | FUMADO – F + UM + ADO. |
| 2 | OVERTURN – OVERT + URN. |
| 3 | UNREST – U + (R in NEST). |
| 4 | RECALLED – (DELL + ACER)<. |
| 5 | ERECTED – ERE + C[onsolidate] + TED. |
| 6 | EASTER – T in (EASE + R). |
| 7 | IDLE – [h]ELD I[t]<. |
| 8 | IRENIC – IRE + N + IC. |
| 9 | IONS – ON in IS. |
| 10 | INDEED – DENIED*. |
| 17 | PONDERAL – [w]ONDER in PAL. |
| 18 | REED STOP – DESERT* + OP. |
| 20 | NASHGAB – HAGS* in BAN<. |
| 21 | DALASI – AS in DALI. |
| 22 | BORZOI – OR in (B + ZOI[c]). |
| 24 | ENSIGN – S in [b]ENIGN. |
| 25 | TRIAGE – TR + I AGE. |
| 26 | RATELS – Carnivores head round mound. |
| 29 | ANTI – (IT + N.A.)<. |
| 30 | KIWI – hom. of “key wee”. |
Good work, Simon! Just a guess on 26d, it might be RAS outside of TEL, where RAS is an Ethiopian title (best known example, Ras Tafari) and TEL is a mound (best known example, Tel Aviv).
Thanks Simon
34ac is ST (hush) O (over) WAGE (conduct {as in wage a war})
caretman has the parsing for 26dn correct but as well as being an Ethiopian prince a ‘ras’ is also a headland.