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11. German
area has a following, one of the rubberneck variety? GAUPER (gau + per; s.v. gawp) The
‘a’ means ‘per’ here, as in ‘two a penny’. How very appropriate.
12. Not at all religious by the sound of it. NONE (i.e. “nun”) ‘None’
is defined as an adverb: ‘not at all’. In the indication, ‘religious’ is used
as a noun in the sense of ‘a person bound by monastic vows’, as Chambers puts
it.
15. Wooden
spear made fun of, one character moving out of position. JEREED (jeered, one ‘e’ moved)
An amusing clue, except for the one out of line,
perhaps. ’E’ll know who ’e is, no doubt.
16. Beer
can pub kept within limit. TINNIE (inn
in tie1) ‘Tie’ is used as a noun in the
sense of ‘a restraint’.
19. Waterway
so lacking in moderation. REAN (rea(so)n;
s.v. rhine) The surface reading here suggests a context
having more to do with urination than with rural drainage.
20. Irrigation
supervisor – Jan being unusual there’s nothing around. ZANJERO (anag. in
zero) Our zanjero
is employed in South America where January has been an unusually wet summer
month.
25. Marque
propeller shorn of outer parts. OPEL (hidden) A reference to the marque of the German car
manufacturer.
34. Getting
drunk artist imbibes, missing company.
LONELY (on in Lely) An
odd reference to the portrait painter Sir Peter Lely, who was
actually very popular with the ladies as his wiki attests.
35. Northerner
maybe hitched round east? Lots quitting south. YANKEE-DOODLE (E in yanked + oodle(s))
Of the many meanings
listed of ‘to quit’ as a transitive verb, perhaps ‘to free’ best fits the
required indication here, that of ‘oodles’ expelling ‘s’.
2. SA
truck returns possibly, by the sound of it.
BAKKIE (i.e. “baccy”; s.v
return) The many meanings of ‘return’
listed as a noun include ‘(in pl) a light-coloured mild tobacco (orig refuse)’.
5. Crime zone involved in attack afflicting
brain and bones. TRAPEZIA (rape + z, all
in TIA) TIA, or ‘transient
ischaemic attack’ is rendered in this clue as ‘attack afflicting brain’. Our
solution, the plural of ‘trapezium’
is defined as ‘bones’, being the ‘bone(s) of the wrist articulating with the
thumb metacarpal’ in Chambers’ definition .
6. Pilgrimage:
if alien ––– initially it would turn to plane.
HADJ (i.e. if ET had ‘j’ initially
it would turn to ‘jet’)
This is a conditional
variant of the type of clue where scansion of the solution is required in order to understand how the clue works. They
are more commonly of the form A conjunction
B (say SORRY), or A preposition B
(EFFORT might do for that), and both types can be more difficult to spot than
the present example. Here the solver is drawn towards the blank and forced to
co nsider what word might form the condition that
would make sense of the clue’s surface.
7. Like
Oenone’s ‘mother’, one Danae
ruined? IDAEAN (i + anag.) Azed last visited Mount Ida in competition
puzzle 2096,
when the context for this solution was The Judgment of Paris.
This time he refers to the mountain nymph (specifically the Idaean Oread) Oenone
whose ‘mother’ is understood as being Mount Ida itself.
10. Old
Arden’s transformed with effort – it must make forest visit seem like
heaven! DENDROLATRY (anag. + try) There’s
not much left of the Forest
of Arden in Warwickshire, which
may explain the ironic surface.
11. Chatter,
tense over dissection of my torso in abdominal surgery. GASTROSTOMY (gas + t + anag.) The
speaker has Watson’s heartfelt sympathy.
18. Some
wine bottles captivated, being brought out again. REPRISED (épris in
red) Chambers does not authorise the
use of ‘captivate’ as an intransitive verb. One would like to know exactly who is being captivated here.
23. Am
cut from side - that hurts, penetrating - you got me there! TOUCHÉ (ouch! in te(am)) Azed has
achieved a surface with not a trace of sincerity in this brilliantly witty
clue. Yah-boo sucks!
27. Now
his kitchen is stocked with this … it has many uses there. WHISK (hidden) Dr
Watson uses a fork for whisking, and cannot vouch for the definition offered
here, but doubts whether it is true. By comparison, it is certain that forks
have many uses, some best left to the imagination.
Other solutions:
Across:
1. ABSINTHIATED (anag.) 13. GRADATES (ad. in
grates) 14. SKITE (i.e. skit ‘e’) 21. OSMOTIC (anag. + cito (rev.)) 28. KERRIA (ker(b) +
air (rev.)) 29. TOPHUS (H in anag.)
31. NEIST (i in nest) 32. THICKETY
(The competition word) 33. MISS (miss(ive))
Down: 3.
SURINAME (I in surname) 4. NEREID (i.e. (rev.) in nerd) 8.
ANTRA ((m)antra(p); s.v. antrum) 9. ENSEAR (ens + ear) 17. BACKVELD
(back + “felt”) 22. SCOTIA (anag.
+ ait1 (rev.)) 24. GENTOO (gent + 0,0) 26. EISELL (anag.)
30. SKYE (S + kye)