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12. Oh-so-good football team, Roman, nets ball,
being slightly crazy PIXILATION (pi2
XI + O in Latin) This
is pi in the ironic sense of ‘sanctimonious’. The solution is an old US portmanteau
slang word, quite distinct from the term used in digital photography.
14. Comprehends page penned by German writer GRASPS
(p in Grass) The
author in question is Günter
Grass, of The Tin Drum fame, who
died in 2015.
17. Have trouble breathing when doctor comes
round GASP (as in GP) An exemplary clue that would grace any
standard of puzzle.
19. Fine old blade, fad rarer arena’s displayed
with a flourish ANDREA FERRARA (anag.) The solution is to be found under ‘Andrew
Ferrara’ in Chambers, the Scottish blade
being variously
attributed to an Italian and a local craftsman.
27. Loathe being taken in by backward
personality? Acts as ringleader FUGLES (ug
in self, rev.) ‘Ug’
is not a back-formation, but the archaic root of ‘ugly’, surviving only in
dialects. The verb ‘fugle’, however, is
a back-formation from fugleman, a soldier who sets the example in a drill.
30. E.g. raspberry feature some Manoir eaters
knocked back ETAERIO (hidden rev.) Azed’s Oxford base is within striking
distance of Raymond Blanc’s Michelin starred Le
Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, and he may or may not be familiar enough with it
to simply call it Manoir.
32. Dubious reading of Will’s English in
subject of inquiry CAESE (E in case) Nothing to do with caesium, the solution is
an alternative printing of the Bard’s ‘sessa’, of disputed meaning.
5. Guitar before start of liturgy, Dean’s
speciality? AXEL (axe + l) We must turn back the clock to 1984’s Winter
Olympics to find Christopher
Dean’s greatest moment on ice with Jayne Torvill, though his professional
career lasted many years beyond that. An axel is a skater’s spinning leap from
one foot to the other
6. Transfer to adjust balance giving the old
man energy VIRE (vir + e) Chambers
won’t help to explain the solution even after the long trawl starting at ‘air/aire’.
‘Vir’ may indicate ‘old man’ as the Latin for man, or alternatively as a legal
term meaning husband. The verb ‘vire’ is probably another back-formation, from ‘virement’,
a type of financial transfer.
8. —— hobo’s out of place in a bathroom – he
met his end in one MARAT (comp anag.) The
reference is to Jean-Paul
Marat, the French revolutionary murdered in his bath by Charlotte Corday in
1793 and immortalised by artist Jacques-Louis David. Dr Watson feels the clue strains
rather too hard for its semi-& lit. finish, and adding ‘Marat’ before ‘hobo’
makes no apparent surface sense.
10. Isis orants might have rattled these with
endless noise SISTRA (comp. anag. &
lit.) A much tidier comp.
anag. than 8 down, with all its elements relevant to the definition of the ancient
Egyptian ritual rattles.
21. What’s displaying form of rut with age? RUGATE (anag. & lit.) Azed finds a good &
lit. treatment for rugate, meaning creased. The word was set in competition
no 1615, and produced some fine clues (though not this one), including D.
Harrison’s ‘Possibly wicket is after a game!’ (RU gate, & lit.).
23. Bead fastener old James attached to one of
netsuke’s pair OJIME (o Jim + e) It doesn’t come immediately to mind that ‘netsuke’s
pair’ refers to the word’s two e’s.
26. Deserts, or nameless features thereof DUES (du(n)es) A lovely double-take on ‘deserts’.
28. Uxorious husbands abound there,
principally, abroad! UTAH (anag. of
initial letters, & lit.) Chambers
gives ‘uxorious’ as ‘excessively or submissively fond of a wife’, interpreted
here perhaps in the same sense as ‘fond’ of a drink (“I think I could manage
another one of those”). The practice
of polygamy in Utah doesn’t exactly abound, but is still venerated in some
branches of the Mormon Church.
Other solutions:
Across: 1. COWAL (w in coal); 8. MASAI (a in anag.); 13. CONSTER (conster(nation)); 15. POTTLE (TT in pole); 18. GUTTURAL (gut + anag.); 22. SARCOMAS (arco in anag.); 24. CHAT (H in cat); 29. REDUIT (anag. with t for n); 31. INGEMINATE (anag.); 33. ERNES (RN in see, rev.).
Down: 1. CACOGASTRIC; 2. OPOPANAX (pop in o/a + n + a X); 3. WINOS (win + so, rev.); 4. LITTLE (lit + anag.); 7. ALGATES (a L + (Bill) Gates); 9. ATAP (a tap); 11. INSULATIONS (anag.); 16. PARASITE (ras I in pate); 18. GAMETIC (cite mag, rev.); 20. DRUDGE (d in anag.); 25. HERON (anag. & lit.); 27. FENI (‘fenny’).