At first I did not notice the special instructions, which resulted in some very puzzling defintiions. All became clear in the end. Thank you Chalmie.
| Across | ||
| 1 | ASSURE |
Guarantee backing for some further US sanctions (6)
found reversed (backing) inside (some of) furthER US SAnctions |
| 4 | STALLION |
Delay 10, bearing breeder (8)
STALL (delay) IO (ten) N (bearing) |
| 10 | MARABOU |
Damage almost concerning stork (7)
MAR (damage) ABOUt (concerning, almost) |
| 11 | OVERSAW |
Kept an eye on spare tool (7)
OVER (spare) SAW (tool) |
| 12 | LINZ |
Austrian city essentially ruling country (4)
ruLIng (essentially, middle of) and NZ (New Zealand) |
| 13 | HOOP SNAKES |
American reptiles shook aspen badly (4,6)
anagram (badly) of SHOOK ASPEN – a legendary snake in the US (and other countires) that forms a hoop by putting its tail in its mouth and then rolls along the gound after its victim. |
| 16 | TIFFIN |
Appropriate to return with some fish as a meal (6)
FIT (appropriate) reversed (to return) with FIN (some fish) |
| 17 | GORILLA |
Soldier captures another completely regressive ape (7)
GI (soldier) contains (captures) OR (Other Ranks, another soldier) ALL (completely) reversed (regressive) – I have not heard of OR as a singular soldier, only as a plural |
| 20 | KETCHUP |
Sauce boat winning (7)
KETCH (boat) UP (winning) |
| 21 | CLASPS |
There’s power in high-quality fasteners (6)
P (power) in CLASS (high quality) |
| 24 | ADDRESSING |
Sadder about having to celebrate speaking (10)
SADDER* anagram=about with SING (to celebrate) |
| 25 | UNIX |
You finally delete operating system (4)
yoU (final letter of) and NIX (delete, get rid of) |
| 27 | SHEATHE |
Woman worried about her first wrap (7)
SHE (woman) then ATE (worried) containing (about) Her (first letter of) |
| 29 | WRINKLE |
Sign of ageing shellfish overcoming resistance (7)
WINKLE (shellfish) contains (overcoming) R (resistance) |
| 30 | RED CROSS |
Medical helpers embarrassed and angry (3,5)
RED (embarrassed) and CROSS (angry) |
| 31 | DRIVEN |
Obsessive drip separates doctor and nurse (6)
IV (intra-venous drip) inside (separates) DR (doctor) and EN (Enrolled Nurse) |
| Down | ||
| 1 | ARMALITE |
Country being covered by top- class Irish broadcaster (8)
MALI (country) inside (being covered by) A (top class) RTE (Irish TV broadcaster) – a rifle |
| 2 | SPRINGFIELD |
Water source I fled in chaos (11)
SPRING (water source) then (I FLED)* anagram=in chaos – a rifle |
| 3 | RUBY |
Something precious from Republican buyout (4)
R (republican) and BUY* out=anagram |
| 5 | THOMPSON |
In Tennessee, man suppresses afterthought (8)
TN (Tennessee) contains (in…) HOMO (man) containing (suppreses) PS (afterthought) – a rifle and submachine gun |
| 6 | LEE-ENFIELD |
The French feed line is misdirected (3-7)
LE (the, French) then (FEED LINE)* anagram=misdirected |
| 7 | ITS |
Vistas regularly include objects (3)
found inside (regularly include) vIsTaS – definition is more than one IT (object) ? |
| 8 | NEWEST |
Very modern books about sheep (6)
NT (books, of Bible) contain EWES (sheep) |
| 9 | JUROR |
His verdict: magician must drop trick (5)
conJUROR (magician) dropping CON (trick) |
| 14 | KALASHNIKOV |
Endlessly evoking uprising after King Henry goes outside. What a shame! (11)
|
| 15 | WINCHESTER |
Complex game doesn’t quite finish during the season (10)
CHESs (complex game, doesn’t quite finish) inside (during) WINTER (season) – a rifle |
| 18 | QUESTERS |
Those seeking a way into puzzling essentially satisfied (8)
ST (street, a way) into QUEER (puzzling) then satiSfied (essentially, middle letter of) |
| 19 | M-SIXTEEN |
Men exist in a terrible state (1-7)
(MEN EXIST)* anagram=in a terrible state |
| 22 | MAUSER |
Meerkats are usually seen eating rhubarb tops (6)
Meerkats Are Usually Seen Eating Rhubarb (top letters of) – a rifle |
| 23 | KNOWS |
Is aware bouquet is announced (5)
sounds like (is announced) “nose” (bouquet) |
| 26 | LIAR |
Bottom half of well-known tale- teller (4)
bottom half of famiLIAR (well known) |
| 28 | EID |
Festival of the Inverted Cube (3)
DIE (cube) reversed (inverted) |
definitions are underlined
Could you please help me understand how “ate” = “worried” in 27 across, and how “tops” = “rifle” in 22 down?
Sorry, I see how 22 down works; just left with 27 across
Thanks Chalmie and PeeDee. The theme probably led naturally to the pangram, which helped me with 18dn.
Small correction to the parsing of 22dn: We are currently missing Rhubarb from the words whose first letters make up the answer.
Thanks PD for the blog and Chalmie for a fun time.
FT Long Term Regular Reader@2 – This is a straight definition, informal use. I could confirm this in Chambers.
PB@3, I missed the Pangram bit so thanks for pointing that out.
Regards,
Mahesh
Thanks PD.
One small correction – the “uprising” in the clue for KALASHNIKOV is a reversal indicator, not an anagrind.
FT long term regular reader @1, non-one else seems to have answered you query so here goes.
‘Ate’ is worried in the sense of ‘what’s eating you’ meaning what is worrying you. So ate is the past tense of eat, ergo worried.
HTH
Blog fixed now, thanks to all.
Thanks Chalmie and PeeDee
An entertaining puzzle with an interesting theme (and pangram that I failed to spot).
A good variety of devices used throughout with a couple requiring quite a bit of reverse engineering after getting the answer, including JUROR (took ages to see the conjuror), GORILLA (where was looking to use ‘guerrilla’ and replace the ‘eurr’ with OR somehow) and QUESTERS (which just stayed unparsed until the QUEER part emerged).
MSIXTEEN was the first gun, but it wasn’t until KAKASHNIKOV followed that the theme secret was out.
A really good challenge which I thoroughly enjoyed.
Note to self: read the crossword instructions in the future!
Thanks Chalmie and PeeDee.
I must be on the right wavelength because I got into this quite quickly. My first ‘rifle’ was Springfield so I thought we might be onto US State Capitals. Then I got ARMALITE and started looking for KALASHNIKOV and LEE ENFIELD to confirm my hypothesis – and there they were.
Finished in the SW with SHEATHE, MAUSER and QUESTERS my last in.
16ac raised a fond memory of TIFFIN in Raffles. That was 20 years ago. I hope they keep up the tradition.