Probably somewhere in the middle of the difficulty range this week, I seemed to find. We’ve reached a bit of a landmark, with a nice round puzzle number, but I didn’t spot any celebratory thematic goings-on.
*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | GUN – GÜN[z], though I’ll admit it took a dictionary search to find which type of glaciation was required. |
| 4 | WOLF SPIDER – DIP< in FLOWERS*. |
| 12 | AMEBA – [s]AME BA[you]. |
| 13 | JACENT – JA + CENT. |
| 14 | SPUTTERY – UTTER in SPY. |
| 15 | SEBAT – B in SEAT. |
| 19 | HARISH – I in HARSH. |
| 20 | INFARCT – [ba]R[ry] in IN FACT. |
| 22 | ONE O’CLOCK – ON + Sebastian COE< + LOCK. |
| 23 | LINEAR A – NEAR in AIL<. |
| 24 | ON HAND – could be imagined to be the opposite of offhand, which would be uninterested. |
| 28 | SHOYU – HOY in US<. |
| 29 | HISTRION – (S + TRIO) in HIN. My Chambers doesn’t appear to have “hin” for “local chap”, but I can certainly believe it exists. |
| 30 | SEMEME – MEM in SEE. Not a word I ever came across despite an MA in Linguistics, but quite solvable even so. |
| 31 | ROOST – S in ROOT. |
| 32 | WEB SPINNER – WE + B[elieve] + SPINNER. A spinner is a type of fishing fly, I learn. |
| 33 | NAY – N[ot] A Y[es] &lit. Very nice – can’t believe I haven’t seen that done before! |
| Down | |
| 1 | GAS SHELL – (S + SHE) in GALL. |
| 2 | UMPH – U + MPH. |
| 3 | NEUTRON BOMB – (UNBORN + M + TO BE)*. |
| 5 | OATHS – H in OATS. |
| 6 | LEE SHORE – LEES + HOR[d]E. Here “mother” is in its other, far less common sense. |
| 7 | FORNICATION – O in (IRON IN FACT)*. Another rare alternative meaning, this time from botany |
| 8 | PAST – S in PAT. |
| 9 | ICE YACHT – I + C + (THE CAY)*. |
| 10 | DEBARKATION – (A KIND BOATER)*. |
| 11 | ENARCH – CRANE< + H. |
| 16 | NINE-EYES – [ocea]N + I + NÉ + YES. |
| 17 | UNLOOSEN – (ONE SOUL)* + [tribulatio]N. |
| 18 | STUDENTY – (U + DENT) in STY. |
| 21 | LICHEE – HE in LICE. |
| 25 | NITRE – TIN< + RE. |
| 26 | JUMP – J + UMP. |
| 27 | XOSA – OX< + SA. |
29ac: Chambers does give “hinny” as a Scottish/North of England variant of “honey”, and I’m sure I remember it being shortened to “hin” when I lived there in the sixties, but it was more a term of endearment by a man for a woman.
Ninas in Beelzebub aren’t common, and this isn’t a huge one, but the 24-hour clock, perhaps? After that I’ll leave you to find the Edinburgh, jazz and Russian literature references…
HISTRION – try TRIO in HIS’N
Aha, thanks. Yes, I remember getting quite a shock at 13:00 on Princes Street more than once during my years as a student up there, though I fear any Russian literature references will be entirely lost on me!