Apart from a couple of stragglers at the end, I found this very much on the easy end of the Azed scale. As usual the precise clueing makes even the more obscure answers eminently gettable, sometimes with a bit of educated guesswork helped by several decades’ experience of these puzzles. Thanks as ever to Azed.
| Across | ||||||||
| 1. | SAFE | Peter, initially Simon, a symbol suggesting strength? (4) S[imon] + A + FE (chemical symbol for iron, which suggests strength). Peter is slang for a safe. |
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| 4. | STRESSOR | Factor causing mental pressure and some distress, ordinarily (8) Hidden in diSTRESS ORdinarily |
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| 11. | PILLIWINKS | Torturer’s instrument causing confusion, reversal of volition, and damaged skin (10) PI (confusion) + reverse of WILL + SKIN* – it’s a kind of thumbscrew |
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| 12. | ERUV | Sabbath relaxation, socially acceptable in lax rev (4) U (socially acceptable) in REV* |
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| 13. | SAKER | Highland search trapping adult falcon (5) A[dult] in SKER – see 29a for a strange duplication |
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| 14. | CURSENARY | Questionable reading (hasty perhaps), an oath, not dialectal (9) CURSE (oath) + NARY (not, in dialect) – cursenary (also seen as cursorary) is a questionable word in the original of Henry V, possibly intended to be “cursitory”=”cursory”=”hasty” |
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| 15. | TREMIE | Layer of e.g. bridge foundation, mass one encased in teak maybe (6) M 1 in TREE. A tremie lays – i.e. is a layer of – concrete |
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| 16. | KIEV | Fried meat dish, last piece dropped in large tub (4) KIEVE (a large tub) minus its last letter |
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| 18. | AEROSTAT | Balloon: one rotates up in the air (8) A + ROTATES* |
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| 22. | CALTRAPS | Obstacles to troop movement, see, as of old including snare (8) C + TRAP in ALS (old form of “as”) |
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| 24. | ETNA | A bit of a chanteuse, performing turn? I’m still active (4) Hidden in reverse of chANTEuse. Mount Etna last erupted in December 2018 |
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| 26. | DRY ROT | Party member, Communist (not English) returning, concealed decay (6, 2 words) Reverse of TORY RED, less E |
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| 27. | CHANTRIES | From church one hears chapels where mass is sung (9) CH + AN + TRIES (hears, as in court) |
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| 28. | OIDIA | Old, I’ll get help reversing fungal stages (5) O + I + reverse of AID |
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| 29. | SCUR | Dogs bringing up rear in Scottish hunt (4) CURS with the last letter moved to the front. This is a variant of SKER, as used in 13a |
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| 30. | ENGENDRURE | Former generation under regent mostly maltreated (10) Anagram of (UNDER REGEN[T]) |
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| 31. | EGRESSES | Ranks, first off, catching steamer departures (8) SS (steamer) in [D]EGREES |
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| 32. | FLED | Investigator about end of trail disappeared (4) [trai]L in FED (federal agent) |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 1. | SPECTATE | Watch muscle, getting into condition (8) PEC in STATE |
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| 2. | AIR‑BREATHING | Like jet engine, an article after breaking barrier mostly (12) Anagram of BARRIE[R] + THING (article) |
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| 3. | FLUTERS | Terribly restful members of the wind section (7) RESTFUL* |
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| 4. | SI QUIS | Public notice is put up – jokes following if page is missing (6, 2 words) Reverse of IS + QUIPS less P |
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| 5. | TWIRE | Woman in old dress causing old-fashioned look (5) W in TIRE (old form of “attire”) |
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| 6. | RIKSMÅL | Old Norwegian manuscript turning up, penned by ‘Karl’, I translated (7) Reverse of MS in (KARL I)*. It’s a written form of the Norwegian language, mostly superseded (as I understand it) by Bokmål |
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| 7. | ENSEW | The old follow European directions (a full set) (5) E + NSEW (all four of the cardinal points of the compass) – old form of “ensue” (follow) |
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| 8. | SKANKY | One accompanying king in blue, dirty and unattractive (6) AN + K in SKY |
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| 9. | OVEREXPOSURE | Too much publicity proves roué deviously circling former partner (12) EX in (PROVES ROUE)* |
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| 10. | RORY | Best on the pitch from international club? No thanks (4) ROTARY (club) less TA. Rory Best is a Rugby player from Northern Ireland, apparently not related to the footballer George |
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| 17. | VESTURED | Once dressed in suit I’ve changed I twice discarded colour (8) Anagram of SUIT I’VE, less both “I”s + RED |
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| 19. | TARRIES | Start of trouble with damaged Sierra causing delays (7) T + SIERRA* |
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| 20. | CARACUL | Scots miser, one copper brought in, sheepish creature (7) A CU in CARL (Scots miser) |
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| 21. | RANINE | Made rapid progress in English, regarding part of tongue (6) RAN IN E |
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| 23. | TREADS | Damage to these? Road test may reveal that (6) Composite anagram &lit: ROAD TEST is an anagram of TO TREADS |
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| 25. | STAGS | Dogs or deer (but not hens?) (5) Triple definition – the first is from “to follow,dog, shadow”, though I suspect this comes from deer-stalking, making it rather close to the second definition; the third is from stag and hen parties |
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| 26. | DIANE | It often accompanies steak, one served in feast? (5) A in DINE, referring to the dish Steak Diane, described by Wikipedia as having become “retro” |
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| 27. | COPE | Manage local exchange (4) Double definition – to manage, and a dialect word for “to barter or exchange” |
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Thank to Andrew as well as Azed – your introductory lines are just right. On 10d RORY: if (admittedly a big if) you leave aside the Rugby player’s surname, it could work for another Ulsterman, the golfer Rory McIlroy, a skilled player of pitch shots to the green, and, even better, for Rory Stewart, Secretary for International Development, and still busy last weekend in pitching his case for the leadership: sadly no longer.
Thanks Andrew. I was surprised to see Azed use WOMAN (singular) for W in 5d – as has been pointed out on 15^2 before, W stands for WOMEN (plural) but not the singular (at least in Chambers)
I’d have thought that in 10dn Azed was referring to Rory McIlroy. But I would say that, wouldn’t I, since I play golf. In my experience everyone refers to Rory McIlroy as Rory. Rory Best I’ve hardly heard of; is he known by rugby aficionados as Rory?
And calling Rory McIlroy ‘Best on the pitch’ is the sort of clever wordplay that Azed often has.
I live half the world away, have little interest in sport and none at all in politics. So RORY, although it was obviously correct, was one I put down as a headscratcher. I did a little investigation on the Internet. I discovered that “Rory” is a very rude word indeed. This certainly didn’t sound like Azed but he can surprise you. Was it in one of the more recent editions of Chambers but not in mine? I tried to bend the clue to fit my new word. Yes, it’s likely that Rory would have a pitch, like a very good salesman, if he was going to be successful in his endeavours with the young and sex-crazed. You could even say that he would be the “best on the pitch”.
But surely not. We’ll find out in a couple of weeks.
Stefan