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Archive for August 17th, 2008

Azed 1889

Posted by petebiddlecombe on 17th August 2008

petebiddlecombe.

Solving time 43:08, Chambers used when grid about half full - but one probable wrong answer.

A fairly straightforward puzzle I think - took about half as long as Mephisto. In my current xwd-slowed post-operative condition this felt like a pretty good effort - and/or an easier puzzle. Wordplay query at 28, answer query at 18.

Across
1 ARB = arbitrageur - hidden in ‘bear, bull’
4 SCRUNCHIE - (chic nurse)*
11 BEER-HALL - here* in ball
13 SIDHA - hidden word
14 ME(AND)ER - as I guessed, meer is an alternative spelling for mere
16 STERN - 2 defs, ‘inflexible’ and ‘extremist gang’ - the Stern gang who wanted us out of Israel
17 NIGH,TATTIRE = tattier with last two letters swapped
19 TaRtUfE
21 GALL,US - gallus = a variant spelling of gallows = ‘tree’
22 MAN,EGE=gee*
23 EAST = (T,sae) rev.
24 DETER MINIS = ‘encourage larger cars’,M<
26 N,IFFY
30 DAREFUL = R in (feudal)*
31 SPU=(ups) rev.,R.N.
32 FRAUTAGE = (fear, a tug)*
33 DISDAINED - ‘in’ in daddies*
34 GOY - (synagogues - s a genus)*
 
Down
1 ABSENT-MINDED - sent=ecstatic in (Ben did MA)*
2 REIKI - (a tired skin - stand)*
3 BEDU (= bedouin) - hidden word
5 CHAN(ThAt)GE
6 R(AMP)AGE
7 ULE=crude rubber,X=wrong
8 CANTI(LE)NA
9 HIDE = heid with E moved to bottom
10 EARNEST-MONEY - (see men, notary)*
12 CEREUS - ere=’till once’ replacing the act in cactus
15 SHEET=these*,FEED=paid - note that ’supply’ is NOT a Times-style anag-indicator here.
18 “TAX-ISSUE” is what I put, equating tax with ‘covering’ by confusion with pay = cover with tar. But TAX-ISSUE is not in C, and neither is TAR-ISSUE. Short of cheating with the CD-Rom version, I’m stumped - the checked letters TA?I?SUE look bullet-proof.
20 RA,DIAL
21 GAMELAN - another hidden word
25 SORGO = (O,GROS(s)) rev.
27 FRIS(son) - the fats part of a Csardas
28 PURI -Indian fried bread (Prawn Puri is one of my favourite Indian restaurant starters), but I can’t see wordplay
29 QUA,G

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