Another week whereby about two thirds went in unaided, and then the rest put up quite the struggle. I believe I have at least managed to parse everything this week.
There are some particularly interesting words in both entries and wordplay, along with some nice interplay between one or two of the clues.
*=anagram, []=dropped, <=reversed.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | WEAPON – PO in WEAN. |
| 6 | ASSERT – R in ASSET. |
| 11 | ALLEY – ALL + EY[e]. The “mine entrance” definition of “eye” is the fourteenth entry in Chambers, but it’s there. I spent ages tying to make AL[l] + something work though. |
| 12 | AUREI – A + URE + I. |
| 13 | GRASPING – RASP in GING. “Ging” being an obsolete form of “gang”, hence “old company”. |
| 14 | SPERMATHECAL – (TRAMPLES EACH)*. |
| 15 | AERIE – A + [s]ERIE[s]. |
| 18 | WHIFFLER – L in (WHIFF + ER). |
| 19 | ALUN – A LUN[g]. |
| 20 | LUNA – from ALUN. The ellipsis tells us that we need to take the answer to the previous clue, and then move its “first to last”. |
| 21 | RUMINATE – a reverse anagram of A TINE, with RUM as anagrind. |
| 25 | KNIFE – K + NIFE. “Nife” is quite nice, being “the earth’s hypothetical core of nickel and iron”. |
| 27 | CONTAGIOUSLY – (YOU NOSTALGIC)*. |
| 29 | UNWISELY – S in UNWIEL[d]Y. |
| 30 | NAIVE – NA[r][rat]IVE. |
| 31 | STEER – T in SEER. |
| 32 | ALLEYN – ALLEY (see 11 across) + N. Roderick being the fictional detective, and entirely unknown to me. That wasn’t a significant hindrance, not least since the name Alleyn is familiar to all SE21 folks for other reasons. |
| 33 | AVERSE – AVER + SE[t]. |
| Down | |
| 1 | WARSAW – WAR + SAW. |
| 2 | ELOPE – [ov]E[r] + LOPE. |
| 3 | ALGERINE – GER in A LINE. |
| 4 | PETRIFACTIVE –T in (VIPER FACE IT)*. |
| 5 | NORA – [pa]NORA[ma]. |
| 6 | ANATHEMA – M in (AN + A + THE + A). Nicely done. |
| 7 | SASHA – ASH in SA. |
| 8 | SUPERANNUATE – [lassi]E in (NANA SURE PUT)*. |
| 9 | RENAL – [inne]R + LANE<. |
| 10 | TIGLON – (G + LO) in TIN. A cross between a male tiger and a lioness, they can be quite striking. |
| 16 | BLUDGEON – BLUDGE + ON. |
| 17 | SLAISTER – (LESS ART I)*. |
| 20 | LACUNA – Cu in LANA. |
| 22 | EEYORE – EE + YORE. |
| 23 | ZONAL – OZ< + (A in NL). |
| 24 | JASEY – S[om]E in JAY. |
| 26 | FLIES – F[lood] + LIES. |
| 28 | ILIA – [c]ILIA. |
Sterling blog, Simon, thanks.
Homage to the fiend.
A PS about Inspector Alleyn, Ngaio Marsh’s gentlemanly sleuth. A very classy series was made for television in around 1994, starring Patrick Malahide, perfectly cast. Golden age stuff, so no gore, no tension, just detection. Well worth a look.
PPS (trivia alert) despite his given name, he was known to intimates as Rory.