AZED No. 2,275 Plain – Fifteensquared

When I first solved The Listener crossword I was pleased with myself, then went to a website that discussed it and everyone said how easy this particular puzzle was. This was rather dispiriting and I don’t want to do the same thing with this crossword; all I’ll say is that I solved it in an unusually fast time. The clues led straightforwardly enough to their solutions. It seemed that the invented words that resulted from following the dictates of the wordplay were all actual words when I looked them up.

Definitions underlined.

Across
1	Fine American naval vessel creating bally-hoo (4) — FUSS — f USS
4	See, a person’s caught woman showing face but no neck (8) — CABOSHED — C [= see] a bo(she)d
10	Any small island gets littered with a coral … group such as this? (10) — ALCYONARIA — (any i a coral)*
11	A lot of herrings, catch when gutted to chew noisily (6) — CRANCH — cran c{atc}h
13	Part of the body in charge of brain system (6) — LIMBIC — limb i/c
15	Ring in hand to introduce stealthily (5) — FOIST — f(O)ist
16	Prehistoric carnivore, one wandering Urals – look therein (8) — ALLOSAUR — a (Urals)* round lo
18	Plant extract reaped by small children (5) — CUTCH — cut ch.
20	Mammal taking flight at a gun going off (6) — TAGUAN — (at a gun)* — taking flight because it’s a flying squirrel
21	His Excellency’s loose living leading to fine, historically (6) — HERIOT — HE riot
23	Scots digging heels in are still letting English in (5) — REEST — re(E)st
25	Water in spate damaged garden plant (8, 2 words) — SWEET PEA — wee [= water, pee] in (spate)*
27	Terrace: name for one in The Strand (5) — BENCH — beach with the a replaced by an n
29	Pressing Monsieur Gentilhomme’s clothes (7) — URGENT — Hidden in MonsieUR GENTilhomme’s
30	Daughter after material for e.g. summer dresses was struggling (6) — TOILED — toile d
31	Prehistoric piece Noel composed (9) — PLEIOCENE — (piece Noel)*
32	Ready to drive? After end of binge soak getting back in hesitated (8) — TEETERED — teed containing ({bing}e ter), the ter being (ret)rev. — a golfer who has teed up is ready to drive
33	Tot with dash of tequila in revived wine (4) — STUM — s(t{equila})um

Down
1	Ugly mug, every one in café cracked (8) — FACEACHE — each in (café)*
2	Scots disperse to cruise round clubs? (5) — SCAIL — s(c)ail
3	It’s fused with radioactive waste, special and reverse of dull (6) — SYNROC — s (corny)rev.
4	Hen but not in e.g. Surrey as of old (4) — COCH — coch{in} — an old spelling of coach, for Surrey
5	What’s tunable, bit discordant, taking time to deliver? (10) — BALBUTIENT — (tunable bit)* — stammering, so taking time to deliver
6	Fabulous bird I start to manhandle in the grass without hesitation! (6) — SIMORG — s(I m{anhandle})org{hum}
7	Regular appearance, slightly constrained (7) — HABITUÉ — h(a bit)ue
8	Instances of arrest, i.e. steps vaguely involving old copper (9) — EPISTASES — as [= an old copper coin] in (i.e. steps)*
9	Pipe, something chewed up with time (4) — DUCT — (cud)rev. t
12	Two of four elements, one of them treated, in what’s fatal to cattle (10) — HEARTWATER — earth (with the h moved to the front) water — the first part is very close to an indirect anagram, but perhaps the fact that it is simply treated by being cycled rather than really jumbled makes it OK — the four elements are earth, fire, air and water
14	Collie, livid, left in lake (9, 2 words) — BLUE MERLE — blue mer(l)e — as Azed says, this can be found under Merle in Chambers
17	Brown ragged denim clothes going well together (8, 2 words) — IN TANDEM — tan with (denim)* going round it (clothes)
19	What runs along it, misguidedly let outside? (7) — TRINGLE — a rare clue where the definition is in the middle: a ring runs along a tringle, with (let)* outside it
22	Consume mushroom in battered tin (6) — INCEPT — cep in (tin)*
24	Science base, not that including carbon (6) — ETHICS — e thi(c)s — the science of morality
26	Plant bract, what may be brown in part (5) — PALET — p(ale)t — brown ale
27	Was necking, we hear, in boozy session (4) — BUST — “bussed”
28	On rising cook up something to eat (4) — FOOD — (of)rev. (do)rev.

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