Perhaps it was just circumstances, but I found this to be a very challenging puzzle. Of course, that isn’t a complaint, it just means you lot have had to wait a bit longer for a post, and will have to explain a couple of things to me (23 across, 4 down).
Circumstances being that I took Beelzebub with me to Brussels while researching the other blog I type my incoherent nonsense into. Usually a couple of beers would tend to help with solving, but perhaps I underestimated the strength of the Belgian stuff.
Anyway, there’s a lot in there: trees, currencies, musical terms and at least a couple of Scots words. I enjoyed this one despite the struggle, and learned a thing or two along the way.
*=anagram, []=dropped, <=reversed. Hover to expand abbreviations.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | SHAHTOOSH – SHAH + TOO + SH. |
| 7 | LAMP – L + AMP, and a nice &lit. |
| 10 | PENAL – EN in PAL. |
| 11 | STEAMIE – (TEAM in IS<) + E. |
| 12 | REPORTAGE – RE + PORT + AGE. |
| 13 | CILICIOUS – C + I + [de]LICIOUS. As in a cilice, which was a hair undergarment worn by penitents. |
| 15 | TAILED – A in TILED, so under cover of a hat. |
| 16 | ISSEI – [tr]IES SI[ngapore]<. |
| 17 | ACCIDENT-PRONE – (PAIR CONNECTED)*. |
| 19 | TALMA – M’ in TALA. It took a while to see, but the M is “my” as in, for example, “m’lady” |
| 22 | YEEHAW – (HEE[d] in WAY)<. |
| 23 | AMERICANA – (IN A CAMERA)*. The anagram is clear, but how does the definition work? What’s fancy in a camera? Kodak will have it. |
| 25 | EBENACEAE – BEEN* + (EA in ACE). |
| 26 | SPOTTED – S + POTTED. |
| 27 | OUSEL – from LOUSE, with the L “kept back”. |
| 28 | SANS – SAN[d]S. |
| 29 | PENTAMERY – TAMER in (PEN + Y. |
| Down | |
| 1 | SPECTATRESS – (PEC in STAT) + [d]RESS. |
| 2 | HELIACAL – (I + AC + A) in HELL. |
| 3 | ANAL – [b]ANAL. |
| 4 | HABILIMENTS – ummm, not sure. Something in HABITS I guess. Clothing practices involving minimal stimulation? |
| 5 | OREIDE – ORE + IDE[a]. The currency in question is, I think, the Øre. |
| 6 | STOUP – U in POTS<. |
| 7 | LATUS RECTUM – (UTTER MUS[i]CAL)*. This is defined as “A focal chord parallel to the directrix of a conic”, so that’s that cleared up. |
| 8 | AMASS – MA[rines] in (A + SS). |
| 9 | PEELIE-WALLY – PEEL + IE + W + ALLY. |
| 11 | SPOON-FEED – SPOON + FEE + D. Here, FEE is used as a verb. The term may be hyphenated or not, take your pick. |
| 14 | MENANDER – MEN + [l]ANDER. A “lander” is a heavy blow, and Menander was this chap. |
| 18 | TYRANT – NARY< in [ba]TT[le]. |
| 20 | LIE ON – E in LION. |
| 21 | EMCEE – a nice &lit, but it took a while to see the wordplay. It’s the “introducing” letters of M[y] C[omedy] if you pronounce them, hence “on the radio”. |
| 24 | APSE – AP + S + E. |
4dn: LIMEN is in Chambers as a psychological term for the lower limit of a stimulus.
Can’t help with 23ac. I thought I had it at the time, but if I did I can’t remember it now.
Also didn’t understand 14dn, thanks for the explanation.
Thanks for the blog, Simon.
I can help with 4d – you’re correct in your parsing – it is LIMEN (in psychology the threshold below which stimuli are indistinguishable) in HABITS.
I, too, didn’t get the Kodak reference in 23a – I assumed there must be a Kodak Museum or something like that.