Apologies for a late Azed report – can’t remember my time for this, or how much I used the big red book – I re-solved from memory after prematurely chucking the original.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | SCOTCH DRAPER – (hot CD)* in scraper = ‘one on the fiddle’ |
| 10 | OUTROOT – OO in tutor* |
| 13 | NIFLHEIM – the Norse underworld (= Nibelheim for Wagnerites). (Hel if)* in nim – the tree that gives us ‘nim oil’ (as well as ‘take’ and that matchstick game). Hel is a Norse female Pluto, daughter of 30D. |
| 15 | BE,A,(i)DLE |
| 16 | NATURE – Ruta = the rue genus, in ne = archaic ‘not’ |
| 17 | ARREAR – re = ray (alternate tonic sol-fa spellings) in arar which is the tree. |
| 18 | ILLFASTE – Ill-faced as spelled by Spenser – (ll = lines,FAST) in i.e. |
| 19 | A,VAS – vas = an anatomical duct or vessel |
| 22 | P(REV)IOUS – pious = “resulting from piety” – nice disguise as “resulting from” is a fairly common def/wordplay link. |
| 28 | VENTRE – archaic ‘venture’ – hidden. |
| 29 | OCTROI – comp anag. – (motor acid)* – (tram)*. It’s an old tax on goods brought into a district. |
| 31 | T,REASONS – I guess t = time = term of imprisonment, though this seems a bit cheeky. |
| 33 | SEAKALE – a.k.a. in else* |
| 34 | C(On TOUR)LINES – a ‘cline’ is a gradation of differences in form |
| Down | |
| 1 | SOMONI – nomos rev., I = independent. I’m hoping that nomos and nome are the same thing. This week’s wacky wonga clue. |
| 2 | CUI MALO – (A1 locum)* Latin – “who will it harm?” |
| 3 | T(R)OW – ‘pulled behind, one assumes’ = ‘in tow’ |
| 4 | CON=learn,TRAP=fault (I think – can’t quite see the exact link in C.),POSTO = stoop* |
| 5 | HO(I)SES |
| 7 | A,CHAR – easy for me as our local Indian takeaway does some ‘Acher’ dishes – must be the same stuff. |
| 8 | PREDEVOTE = foreordained – P,(tree dove)* |
| 9 | (p)RIMERS – rime = ream which roughly = drill (vb.) |
| 11 | PILA – first letters – a Roman soldier’s javelin |
| 14 | ATLANTEAN – an’t = archaic ‘has not’ in ‘at lean’ = “working on ‘thin'” |
| 21 | S(COT)IC – related to Scotland or the Scots. Can’t see a def in the clue – “Such as this includes a bed?” – unless it’s just saying that the whole puzzle, like many barred ones based on Chambers, uses lots of Scots language. Any other ideas? |
| 23 | EVENER – one of the three Es in veneer moves to the top |
| 24 | SEP(ro(SE)S – Seps is the skink genus. |
| 27 | ORANT – hidden word – someone who prays. You can remember the ora-/prayer link from various words like orison, or oratory as in Brompton Oratory. |
| 30 | LOKI = “low key”. Norse god of mischief (Wagnerites: Loge) |