Overall, a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours on wet Sunday afternoon. I thought some of the normal clues were a little on the easy side but this was compensated for by the thematic ones, as reflected in my split of time spent on the two types (normal 35%, thematic 65%).
Once the ‘normal’ answers had been entered into the grid, some of the ‘thematic’ answers became obvious since there was only one word that would fit in various lights. Armed with these words, an attack on the thematic clues (starting with siderophile and pharmacists) quickly revealed the homophonic relationship between the definition and the subsidiary indications.
It was then mainly a case of determining the wordplay that gave these subsidiary indications, which was greatly helped by the enumeration and by the fact that all parts of an answer were real words. Six of the thematic entries in the grid were definitions and four were subsidiary indications.
*(XXX) – anagram
[x] – removed
Across
1 IBSEN I (international) B (bishop) SEN (nurse) – Henrik Johan Ibsen, 19th-century Norwegian playwright
5 SATRAP [f]A[t] in STRAP (belt)
8 SOCCER C (clubs) in *(SCORE)
9 UAE EAU (drainage channel) reversed – United Arab Emirates, a dry (no alcohol allowed) country
10 RUTH RUTH[less] (severe)
11 SUIT *([a bl]U[e] S[h]I[r]T) – ‘herbal’ removed from ‘a blue shirt’ then jumbled
12 HEAL [rescu]E in HAL (Henry)
13 GAGS G (good) in GAS (empty talk)
14 DISTURB DIS (coppers, Detective Inspectors) BRUT[e] (thug) reversed
15 CRAM R (runs) in CAM (river)
16 ORATORIES ORA (mouths) O (old) in *(RITES)
18 RURP alternate letters in ‘gRoUp RoPe’ – a very small hook-like piton used in mountaineering
20 MARC RAM (butter) reversed C[ake] – brandy made from grapeskins and other refuse from wine-making
23 PNYX P[o]NY (short horse) X (cross) – the meeting-place of the ancient Athenian assembly
25 DAHLIAS H (hearts) in DALI (surrealist) AS – Salvador Dali, surrealist painter
27 HOSIER OS[s]IE (Australian) in HR (Croatia, IVR)
28 SHORT [mixe]R in SHOT (dram)
30 PANS PANS[y] (violet) – slates as in criticises
31 LAME dd
32 EDISON NO (without) SIDE (arrogance) reversed – Thomas Alva Edison, prolific American inventor of, amongst many other things, the electric light bulb and the phonograph
33 SEEDY homophone of CD (music media)
Down
2 SCISSOR *(CROSS IS)
3 NEHRU H[yacinths] E[ntangle] in URN (vase) reversed – Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of the Republic of India
4 AREA A RE A (three ‘about’s)
6 TRANCE TRAN[ny] (cross-dresser) CE (church)
7 AT SEA dd
13 GEMINI EG (say) reversed MINI[m] (note for staff)
17 ARISES S (second) in ARIES (sign)
19 START IN STAR (top performer) TIN (can)
21 AGITATE A GIT (fool) AT [queu]E
22 AXISES SIX (boundary) in SEA (tide) reversed
24 NOMAD NO (certainly not) MAD[e] (manufactured)
26 HOKIS H (hotel) *(KOIS) – a food fish found in the waters of the southern hemisphere, eg around the Falkland Islands and New Zealand
28 SERF homophone of ‘surf’ – a person in modified slavery, especially one bound to work on the land
29 HAFT H (hard) AFT (at the back)
Thematic (grid entries in bold, location Row# or Column#)
* C12
ORDAINED (assigned)
ORE OR (other ranks) E (base)
DEIGNED N (northern) GI (American private) reversed in DEED (heroic exploit)
* R4
STRAIGHTENER (bribe)
STRAY R (rule) in STAY (guy)
TENNER RE (about) N (new) NET (catch) reversed
* C13
PHARMACISTS (drug suppliers)
FARM F (loud) ARM (provide weapons)
ASSISTS I (one) ST (way) in ASS[e]S (fools)
* R12
SIR SIR (gentleman)
FITTED I (institute) TT (non-drinker) in FED (ate)
SURFEITED (over indulged)
* C8
SALLE L (lecturer) in SALE (town near Manchester)
TYRE hidden in ‘universiTY REgularly’
SALTIRE (cross)
* C1
CIDER RED (colour) I C (see) reversed
WOE W (with) O (oxygen) E (energy)
FILE *(LIFE)
SIDEROPHILE (element with affinity to iron)
* R11
MISS MISS[is] (wife)
TEAK TEA (hot drink) K[eeping]
MYSTIQUE (enigmatic aura)
* R8
WAITERING (providing service at table)
WEIGHT W (with) EIGHT (crew)
ERRING [h]ERRING (fish)
* C2
BOUTIQUE (small shop)
BOOT B (black) O[wner] O (on) T (time)
EEK hidden in ‘coffEE Kenyan’
* C7
KEYBOARD (type text) – I never knew that ‘keyboard’ could be a verb (but I do now!)
QUAY UA (Ukraine, IVR) in QY (query)
BORED RE (note) in BOD (person)
This was an entertaining and quite novel puzzle for me. Like you I spent longer at the thematic ones, taking quite a while to get the idea. Then it got easier esp when I noticed they were real words lying side by side and studied the enumerations. Was held up by tentatively writing SALFORD in 5 dn, tempted by ford = cross so SALTIRE was my last entry. Thanks for explaining AREA.
Thanks for your comments. The idea for this puzzle came from The Independent quick crossword which has the first two (or three) entries making a homophone. My wife and I do this quick puzzle sometimes as she’s not into cryptics.
Xanthippe