Thank to IO for the pleasant challenge this morning!
An enjoyable challenge, with the level of complexity and vocabulary education to be expected from IO. Many thanks to the setter.
(CURIOUS UNTIL PHD)* (*despatched)
ELIA (lamb) providing new gown for [s]CHOLA[r] (academic)
Elia is the famous pen name used by English essayist Charles Lamb (1775–1834) to write his iconic Essays of Elia.
U[nited] S[tates] (first) + HER (lady’s)
REME< (engineers, <recessional) incorporating L[eonard] (overture from)
Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers
13/16/18. Late commentator often said it, with laugh about prop, to signal formal social situation (6,3,3,4,5)
W (with) + (HEHE (laugh) about REST (prop) + CUE (to signal) + BALL (formal social) + GOING (situation)
A catchphrase of commentator, John Virgo’s, when he covered the snooker
CON (fraud) originating with BA (airline)
Cryptic definition
ME and ANT: Might be a label in Dec’s photo album; Dec and Ant being a popular television duo
[scourg]E OF ED[itors]< (encapsulates this, <laid back)
HE (this guy) + ADS (notices)
The ‘head’ is a nautical toilet
[in]COM[e] [to]PLI[ne] CIT[izen’s] (triples in, identified)
TURNED IN (abandoned) + SIDE OUT (ten wickets lost, from cricket)
EP (recording) + HEBE (the cupbearer of Olympus)
(CHE (revolutionary) + MICA (mineral)) integral to ALL (every bit)
(L[i]ND[b]ER[g]H CI[a])* (*in trouble, having ignored A BIG)
I’LL (the writer is going to); WOW (impress) nurses
DANES (settlers in Copenhagen perhaps); SUE (apply for) houses
Double definition
H (husband) joining COL< (mountain pass, <to the north)
(I RUSE)< (I plan, <to get up) + TEN* (*about)
(IF PART OF CC (closed circuit))* (*fails)
(BOW* (*fizzing) + HOT (shot)) skewers BE (live)
CH (children, from 3 down) + INCHIN[g] (moving slowly, away from G (golf, Nato alphabet))
Cryptic definition
Mudslides tend to happen on western (windward) sides of mountains
[smokin]G (at its end) + AS PER (thanks to)
(E[a]S[t] G[er]MA[n]Y (characters in, bar AREN’T))* (*drunk)
E (base, mathematical) + STATE (say)
R (river) dividing ACE (one)
The expected level of difficulty from Io, not helped by not knowing the ‘Late commentator’ or his famous saying. In the end I managed to get everything after a long time, though EPHEBE was a semi-guess, I couldn’t parse the CHOLA bit of ECHOLALIA (liked the def) and missed the significance of ‘western faces’ in MUDSLIDES. I found BOBWHITE and ALCHEMICAL particularly tough.
There’s a bit extra in the grid – as in the centre, so in the corners (or maybe pockets).
Thanks to Oriel (we just assume this standard of our bloggers but it was an amazing effort to work all this out) and to Io
I have some thoughts (incomplete) about MUDSLIDE
MUDSLIDE
DUD (worthless) SLIME (runny filth)
Rolling D (bringing down D)–which D and
to which spot? Not clear to me from the clue.
Mountain’s western=M
M faces=M covers on the top
M faces in place of the D that faced in DUD SLIME?
Thanks Io and Oriel.
Superb puzzle and excellent blog.