There were several hidden word clues in here and one or two straightforward anagrams. These got me off to a flying start but once the the ‘gifts’ had petered out I stuggled. Quite hard I thought. Thanks Azed.
| Across | ||
| 1 | CAPSTAN TABLE |
Stone worker in having practical skills round furniture piece (12, 2 words)
ST (stone) ANT (worker) in CAPABLE (having practical skills) |
| 10 | EARTHWORK |
Throw rake about creating embankment (9)
anagram (about) of THORW and RAKE |
| 11 | SLUR |
Slight speech defect? (4)
double definition |
| 12 | STAND-TO |
Precautionary parade getting back up (7)
a double definition (minus the hyphen) |
| 13 | TANIWHA |
Unreal monster, allure reversed with SA bird around (7)
WIN (allure) reversed inside (with…around) TAHA (the SA weaver bird) – a New Zealand legendary monster |
| 14 | POET |
Pope, maybe? If I can’t he may modify pontificate (4)
IF I CAN’T and POET (he) is an anagram of (may modify) PONTIFICATE |
| 16 | ANNEXURE |
Former queen, wife taken aback regarding codicil? (8)
ANNE (former queen) UX (wife) reversed (taken aback) and RE (regarding) |
| 17 | DISHY |
I have a fling pursuing ‘Dead Gorgeous‘ (8)
I with SHY (a fling) following (persuing) D (dead) |
| 19 | DENTIN |
Section of student intake that may succumb to drill? (6)
found inside (section of) stuDENT INtake |
| 21 | AMBAGE |
A doctor taking time in circumlocution (6)
A MB (doctor) with AGE (time) |
| 24 | CRATE |
‘Totem’ car? It could be this, MOT ploughed! (5)
CRATE (this) + MOT is an anagram (ploghed) of TOTEM CAR – I’m not sure what to underline as a definition here, unless the clue is a reference to the artwork Trans Am Totem, but I think this unlikely. |
| 26 | SARPANCH |
Village leader succeeded with cunning restricting saltworks (8)
S (succeeded) with ARCH (cunning) containing PAN (saltworks) |
| 28 | PREX |
College head applying pressure to old-style pranks (4)
P (pressure) with REX (spelling of reaks, pranks, now obsolete) |
| 29 | DEAREST |
Beloved abandoning first notion to settle (7)
iDEA (notion) missing (abandoning) first letter, then REST (to settle) |
| 30 | RUMBLES |
Recipe with offal – shows one’s hungry! (7)
R (recipe) with UMBLES (offal) |
| 31 | ANIL |
What’s replaced woad? It makes some Roman ill-at-ease (4)
found inside (it makes some of) romAN ILl-at-ease – a modern dye |
| 32 | HENPAIDLE |
Help Diane swimming – she’s ungainly in the water (9)
anagram (swimming) of HELP DIANE |
| *33 | GANGSTERLAND |
The criminal world (12)
prize clue |
| Down | ||
| 1 | CESTODA |
Parasites creating some places to dally (7)
founs inside (creating some) plaCES TO DAlly |
| 2 | PRUNUS |
E.g. peach tree, initially roseate in rising dawn (6)
Roseate (initial letter of) in SUN UP (dawn) reversed (rising) |
| 3 | STRIM |
Cut grass disease after removing ala (5)
alaSTRIM (disease) missing ALA |
| 4 | THE WAY |
One embraced by muscular Christianity (6, 2 words)
A (one) inside (embraced by) THEWY (muscular) |
| 5 | NOTANDA |
Number to beat – attorney follows what should be observed (7)
NO (number) TAN (to beat) then (…follows) DA (attorney) |
| 6 | TRALEE |
A lough that’s e.g. pine-fringed? Roses are famous here (6)
A L (lough) inside (fringed by) TREE (pine) |
| 7 | BED OUT |
Plant in the open, lyrical creation in garden container coming up (6, 2 words)
ODE (lyrical creation) in TUB (garden container) reversed (coming up) |
| 8 | LATERITE |
Clay: it replaces bit of rock in the soil of Brittany (8)
LA TERRE (the soil, French, in Brittany) with IT replacing one R (first letter of rock) |
| 9 | EMOTE |
Don’t be buttoned up – try Ecstasy, raising volume first (5)
E (ecstacy) following (with…first) TOME (volume) reversed (raised) – ‘try’ is an instruction to the solver |
| 15 | SIMARUBA |
Lift cloak before massage with a therapeutic bark (8)
AMIS (cloak) reversed (lifted) then RUB (massage) with A |
| 18 | PENDENT |
In prison? Death therein, hanging sometimes (7)
PENT (in prison) with END (death) inside (therein) – alternative spelling of pendant |
| 20 | NETTLED |
Final, with captain miffed (7)
NETT (final) with LED (led captain, an obsequious attendant) – alternatively: ‘led’ can be ‘with captain’, being led by a captain |
| 22 | BREMEN |
Battalion includes regiment going aboard in seaport (6)
BN (batallion) contains (includes…going aboard) REME (a regiment) |
| 23 | GABLES |
Architectural features causing much laughter Baron installed? (6)
GALES (much laughter) containing (with…installed) B (baron) |
| 24 | CHADAR |
Veil accepted in bridal conveyance? (6)
HAD (accepted) in CAR (bridal conveyance) |
| 25 | AGENDA |
What’ll need to be got through, a helping of Haagen-Dazs (6)
found inside (a helping of) haAGEN-DAzs |
| 26 | SPRUG |
Wee birdie loosed without number within? (5)
SPRUnG (loosed) missing N (number) – a sparrow in Scotland |
| 27 | BRAIL |
What’ll give a bird, clipped and trussed, little latitude? (5)
anagram (trussed) of A BIRd (clipped) then L (lattitude, little=abbrev) – definition is &lit, a binding of leather for a hawk |
definitions are underlined
Thanks to PeeDee for the blog, and Azed for another entertaining puzzle.
RE 32 across HEN-PAIDLE:
Azed hinted that the spelling at 32 was [only] implied in Chambers.
It is indeed merely implied in the entry for ‘paddle’, but it is given explicitly in the entry for ‘hen’.
Thanks Azed and PeeDee
20dn: I took the indicator for LED as “with captain” = “having a leader”.
Pelham, I’m sure you are right about ‘with captain’. I had never heard of a ‘led captain’ until I found it in Chambers, but I rather like it. It works well enough, and I hope no-one minds if I leave it in the blog.
Rather late to this as I had forgotten completely about it. I was uncomfortable with BREMEN for 22dn since it isn’t so far as I can see a seaport (it is 64km from the sea, according to my Pears Cyclopaedia).