The usual mix of obscure words and Ximenean clues, although I have a couple of minor queries which I’m sure others can resolve. A crossword notable for three different ways of cluing the letter “H” as well as for using AZ without a self-reference.
| Across | ||
| 1 | CHEST REGISTER | ‘Tigers let loose in county town’? One can’t get lower than this (13, 2 words) |
| *TIGERS in CHESTER. It’s the lowest voice register. | ||
| 10 | HAVER | Dither before deciding to take queen (5) |
| HAVE R. | ||
| 12 | SPODE | Student endlessly studying eastern China (5) |
| SPOD E. China is the definition. | ||
| 14 | LUGGIE | Jock’s dish, one replacing silver in cases etc (6) |
| I for AG in LUGGAGE. | ||
| 15 | PATRIOT | Loyalist Irishman leading civil disobedience (7) |
| PAT, RIOT. | ||
| 16 | PRAXIS | Prince heading alliance accepted way of doing things (6) |
| PR(ince), AXIS. | ||
| 18 | RAZE | Level pay increase, by the sound of it (to do with limiting extremes?) (4) |
| Sounds like “raise”, and AZ (extremes of alphabet) in RE. | ||
| 19 | THEATER | Op avoided by very good conductor, one of many on Broadway? (7) |
| I think this is T(op) HEATER, Broadway indicating the American spelling. | ||
| 20 | CLASS ACTION | Group US lawsuit, Latin Sacco’s undoing? (11, 2 words) |
| *(LATIN SACCO’S). | ||
| 22 | PRINK UP | Groom, conceited youngster taking in where curlers go? (7, 2 words) |
| RINK (as in curling rink) in PUP. | ||
| 26 | LEWD | The backward remain endlessly ignorant, as of old (4) |
| DWEL(l)(rev). | ||
| 29 | RHUMBA | Dance music, vague noise in busy bar (6) |
| HUM in *BAR. | ||
| 30 | ATOMISE | Reduce to smithereens book shortened in a volume (7) |
| TOM(e) in AISE, or possibly A ISE, but either way I can’t explain why it means volume. | ||
| 31 | COOTIE | Silly-billy, in other words ‘nit’ (6) |
| COOT, I.E. | ||
| 32 | SHORN | Clipped opening of speech on the blower in LA? (5) |
| S HORN. | ||
| 33 | KAILS | Ninepins Scots scatter, first to last (5) |
| SKAIL, with the first letter at the end. | ||
| 34 | TOTIES QUOTIES | For marriages I put in records on each occasion (13, 2 words) |
| TO TIES, I in QUOTES. A Latin phrase with which I was unfamiliar. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | CHLOROPLAST | Type of granule in e.g. algae disheartened pupil in art school dreadfully (11) |
| P(upi)L in *(ART SCHOOL). | ||
| 2 | HAUSA | African lingo almost takes over western nation (5) |
| HA(s) USA. | ||
| 3 | SEGREANT | Singular heron seizes one with raised wings? (8) |
| S(ingular) AN in EGRET. | ||
| 4 | TRIAD | Criminal gang brought to court, one not English (5) |
| TRIED with A for E. | ||
| 5 | RHEXIS | King lives – Henry kept in for rupture (6) |
| H(enry) in REX IS. | ||
| 6 | GNASH | Hearts sinking after overthrow of celebrated champ (5) |
| SANG(rev), H(earts). I’m not sure what “sinking” is doing, as “overthrow” indicates the reversal. | ||
| 7 | ISTLE | Fibrous stuff extractable from mistletoe (5) |
| Hidden in “mistletoe”. | ||
| 8 | TOIL | Gin time – lubricant follows (4) |
| T(ime), OIL. TOIL can mean a snare or trap. | ||
| 9 | RETIREDNESS | Modesty at being separated from clothes, blushing all round? (11) |
| (AT)TIRE in REDNESS. | ||
| 11 | EPITAPHER | Composer of memorial the piper played round centre of grave (9) |
| (gr)A(ve) in *(THE PIPER). | ||
| 13 | DOYEN | Cook aching to become No. 1 in his profession? (5) |
| DO YEN. | ||
| 17 | MAILBOAT | What’s one in Mobil at, deviously making a packet? (8) |
| A in *(MOBIL AT). | ||
| 20 | CRITH | Review magnetic field strength in unit of mass (5) |
| CRIT, H. I know nothing of physics, so don’t know if H here is anything to do with henry. | ||
| 21 | COUCOU | Something for WI vegetarians, semolina special twice demolished? (6) |
| COU(s)COU(s). | ||
| 23 | KOINE | Shared language certainly turning up among English (5) |
| OK(rev) IN E(nglish). | ||
| 24 | URSUS | Grizzly’s family usually found around river Shenandoah’s source(5) |
| R(iver) S(henandoah) in USU – but it’s actually in UUS, which doesn’t seem to be indicated. Am I missing something? | ||
| 25 | SMOKO | Head in kitchen involved in ironing, thing abandoned for tea break? (5) |
| K(itchen) in SMOO(thing). | ||
| 27 | WHILE | Although undamaged, centre surrendering place for international (5) |
| I for O in WHOLE. | ||
| 28 | POOT | Gordon’s chicken or duck in casserole? (4) |
| 0 in POT. A Scottish variant of POULT. | ||
*anagram
30Ac is IS. (the Book of Isaiah) in A TOME.
24Dn is R in USU + S.
Re 20Dn, H = magnetic field strength is given explicitly in Chambers.
Thanks bridgesong. I think your explanation of theater is right, couldn’t see it at the time though.
ATOMISE is ISiah (book) in a tome (volume).
URSUS is r in USU + S(henandoah)
…or what Richard said…
Thanks, Richard and Sidey, for putting me right over ATOMISE and URSUS. My query at 20 dn was a genuine request for information: why is H a unit of magnetic field strength?
I found this on t’internet, if it’s any help:
“H and B aren’t the units, they’re the symbols for magnetic flux strength and magnetic field. Same way F is the symbol for force but its units are newtons (N).”
And this:
“These are symbols for the total and free magnetic field itself, not the units. They may have just started running out of capital letters. In electromagnetism alone, C, D, E, F, I, J, L, M, P, Q, V, and Z are taken. The best candidate, M, is magnetization, for example.”
Looks like the use of ‘H’ is arbitrary . . .
H is the symbol for henry, the unit of inductance, named in honour of Joseph Henry. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Henry )