Clever stuff today from Jason
Across
1 BRIGHT (vivacious) B[londe] RIGHT (Conservative)
4 SWEEPING (wide-ranging) WEEP (to pipe) in SING (to grass)
9 ASSIGN (give out) A S (small) SIGN (token)
10 MERCIFUL (kind) (CLUE FIRM)*
11 DINGHY (boat) H (husband) in DINGY (shabby)
12 SINECURE (picnic – easy job) SINE (maths function) CURE (pickle)
13 THE (French for tea) hidden in bro[THE]l
14 SATRAP (tyrant) A in STRAP (band)
17 DISCUSS (take up) DISCUS (field event) S (son)
21 STROVE (tried hard) R (recipe) in STOVE (cooker)
25 ALE (brew) hidden in [loc]AL E[nterprise]
26 PORPOISE (swimmer) P (power) OR (in preference to – rather) POISE (elegance)
27 CADDIE (to help in golf) CAD (bounder) DIE (decline)
28 EXAMINER (judge) EX (former) A (Australian) MINER (digger)
29 ADRIFT (unsettled) A D (date) RIFT (row)
30 DWELLING (lodge) WELL (fine) in DIN (racket) G (grand)
31 SENHOR (Portugese for man) N (northern) in (HORSE)*
Down
1 BRANDISH (display) BRAN (healthy stuff) DISH (bowl)
2 INSANITY (folly) (ITS IN ANY)*
3 HOGSHEAD (cask) HOGS (assiduously retains) HEAD (froth)
5 WEEPIE (emotional film) WEE (little) PIE (tart)
6 ESCHEW (shun) E (Spain) S (has) CHEW (champ)
7 INFLUX (one joining stream) IN (popular) FLUX (agent – in soldering)
8 GALLEY (proof in printing) G (German) ALLEY (passage)
12 SHACKLE (hamper) SHACK (shed) LE (the in French)
15 PIT (gulf) PIT[h] (substance)
16 ASS (fool) with P (piano) PASS (progress)
18 STRADDLE (bridge) STRAD (fiddle) [h]ELD< ([h]AD up)
19 GOLDFISH (fish in pond) GOLD (or) FISH (angle)
20 SEMESTER (college spell) (SEES TERM)*
22 SPREAD (middle-age feature) (special display)
23 CREASE (whole clue cricket ref) C (century) [opene]R EASE (contentment)
24 SOCIAL (do) SO (well) I (one) in CAL (California)
25 ASTERN (back) N (nitrogen) under ASTER (plant)
( )* = anagram < = reverse [ ] = omit
I took Spain in 6D to be ES (internet domain or abbreviation of Espania) with “has” as a conjunction.
I found this one harder than usual ..
Brilliantly concise word play.
I also thought Spain = ES.
15d I don’t understand why PIT = “stuff” though [or even “gulf” = “pith”].
Hello don.
For Spain, the International Vehicle Registration is E and the Internet
Country Code is es. A shortened form of the word ‘has’ is ‘s.
So I think 6dn could be parsed in two different ways:
either E + ‘s + CHEW or es + CHEW.
We’re thinking about PIT(H) in 15dn. The definition is Gulf = PIT.
PITH is a substance. If it’s endless, it would spell PIT!
Mike.