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12. Sleep that’s rapid coming upon the old SHUT-EYE (shute ye) A subtle switch of ‘rapid’
from adjective to noun in the cryptic reading provides a natural surface and
clever wordplay.
17. Intrinsic part of erotica, mainly? CAMA (hidden & lit.) Dr Watson was thinking of the Spanish for ‘bed’,
but Cama or Kama is of course also known for his
Sutra.
20. A pointilliste
may spatter tile with these
OIL PAINTS (comp anag. & lit.) Very satisfying to see a compounded
9-letter anagram with so little excess material. Dr Watson hasn’t seen any
pointilliste tile paintings, but no doubt they exist.
23. Sob freely, fit when interring one – in such … OBSEQUIAL (anag.
+ I in equal) The meat of the definition
lies just beyond the ellipsis, in the next clue.
26. … Funeral rites, led by
priest? Statistician’s unit PROBIT
(Pr obit) Sharing
material between clues can give the solver extra entertainment, but
creates a rather disconnected surface reading here.
30. Druggie’s back to front dodge
RUSE (r to front in user) Look, no hyphens: it’s
not ‘back-to-front’ but an instruction to move a letter from back to front.
2. Clip joint? Money raised before
installing one NITERIE (tin, rev. + I in ere) Azed hasn’t revived
any of the clues from competition
no. 1290, in which this word elicited ‘Dive made from upturned punts’ (Eire
tin, rev.) from R. J. Hooper. It would be ‘upturned euros’ nowadays – another topical reference, perhaps.
5. Small freshwater fish, otherwise found
under the sea MEDAKA
(Med + aka) A
simple but very nicely realised surface.
10. Foster-mother abroad, mobile, given rations
permit METAPELET (m + étape + let) This
is one of the words carefully highlighted as ‘interesting’ in Chambers’s 12th
edition and then carelessly omitted from the 13th. Its Hebrew plural
‘metaplot’ looks like it might offer even better
clue-writing possibilities.
24. Sharp turn fastening cable BITTER (2 mngs.) The second meaning of ‘bitter’,
and the source of ‘bitter end’, is a nautical term for a twist of rope round a bitt or fastening post.
31. Ballet character, cunning, escaping home of
fabled monster WILI
(wili(ness)) A
reference to the popular ballet Giselle (full title Giselle, ou les Wilis) in which the supernatural creatures dance their
victims to death.
Other solutions:
Across: 1. INTIMISTE (anag.
in in time); 11.
BIRSE (anag.); 13. STEAD (stead(y)); 14. PERIDOT (I do in pert); 18. TROIKA (oik in art, rev.); 19. RIP-RAP (rip + rap); 29. SUTTLE (2 mngs.);
32. ELASTIN (anag.); 33. TIMON (mo
in tin); 34. SEGMENT
(G-men in set); 35. CLINK (C + link); 35. TREPHINER (pert, rev. + in in her).
Down: 3. TREMOLO (REM in tool); 4. I SAY (is ay); 6. SHEERNESS (she
ernes S); 7. TURBIT
(turbi(d)
+ t); 8. CEDAR (C + anag.
of (g)arde(n)); 9.
MYOMA (hidden); 15.
STOP-PRESS (st! + oppress); 16. WAISTLINE; 21. VITAMIN (ta M1 in vin); 22. PALLONE (pal
lone); 25. QUATCH
((s)quat + Ch); 27. RULER (ule in (ca)rr(el)); 28. OSAGE ((d)osage).