EDIT thanks to jackkt below for coming up with a parsing for 12a, I would never have found that, and struggled to believe 1. It's a word 2. It means perfectionist! I think it means "a believer in Utopianism, an optimist".
| Across | |
| 1 | Protective cover Queen got from prime minister (6) |
| THATCH - remove ER (Queen) from Margaret Thatcher. | |
| 4 | Share mistake and initially even Wall Street stalls? (8) |
| PARTERRE - PART (share) ERR (mistake) E(ven). Apart from a formal garden, parterre can mean the ground floor or stalls of a theatre, I'm not sure if this is intended to refer to the trading floor (ground floor) of the WS exchange, and Wall Street is there to make the surface make some sort of sense. | |
| 10 | Concerned with small emergency arising once more (9) |
| RESURGENT - RE (concerned with) S (small) URGENT (emergency). | |
| 11 | Vouchsafed information about Roman square (5) |
| GIVEN - GEN (information) around IV (Roman four, 2 squared). | |
| 12 | Perfectionist maybe disposing of uranium to key operator (7) |
| PIANIST - I'm not sure how this works, although I like "key operator" for the definition. A perfectionist maybe a PURIST, remove Uranium = P RIST, how do we get to pianist from there? Must be another thing. When someone enlightens me, I'll edit the blog and I'll look a bit brighter. EDIT see jackkt below. If utopianist is a word, fair enough, but I think it's a poor synonym. |
|
| 13 | Concerned with component of blood containing iodine — that’s worrying (7) |
| SERIOUS - SEROUS means to do with (e.g. blood) serum, insert I chemical symbol for iodine. | |
| 14 | Country parrot seen round city (5) |
| KENYA - A KEA is a large parrot found in NZ, insert NY for New York. | |
| 15 | Trap surrounded by enchantment is irresistible (8) |
| MAGNETIC - insert NET into MAGIC. | |
| 18 | One imprisoned in lead alloy by English (8) |
| INTERNEE - IN, TERNE (alloy of 20% tin 80% lead), E for English. | |
| 20 | Volunteers express disapproval — that’s not acceptable (5) |
| TABOO - TA (volunteers) BOO (express disapproval). | |
| 23 | Garden flower that’s female outside, male inside (7) |
| VERBENA - BEN a male inside VERA a female. I thought there might be several possibilities for this, when I had **R*E*A, so waited until the V of 22d was making it less ambiguous. | |
| 25 | Little time before long trip, missing start for early contest (7) |
| TOURNEY - T for time before JOURNEY missing its J. | |
| 26 | Sound beginning when hummingbird is rapidly returning (5) |
| WHIRR - When Hummingbird Is Rapidly Returning. | |
| 27 | Is old feeling of delight not starting, being alone? (9) |
| ISOLATION - IS, O(ld), (E)LATION. | |
| 28 | Member got off by unknown feature of law (8) |
| LEGALITY - LEG (member, limb), ALIT (got off e.g. a train) Y (unknown). | |
| 29 | European power limited by genuine revocation (6) |
| REPEAL - insert E, P into REAL. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Where travellers pay to go and fish (8) |
| TURNPIKE - TURN (go, as in a game) PIKE (a fish). | |
| 2 | Refuse a black mark (7) |
| ABSTAIN - A, B for black, STAIN for mark. | |
| 3 | Skill I learnt initially in prison which some find hard to swallow (9) |
| CARTILAGE - ART (skill), I, L(earnt), inside CAGE. | |
| 5 | Convincing oneself car has motion (14) |
| AUTOSUGGESTION - AUTO = car, SUGGESTION = motion. | |
| 6 | Dynamic person is good in bank (5) |
| TIGER - insert G for good into TIER = bank. Mr Tiger Woods may not be so dynamic again, but I did find a few more slightly famous people called Tiger. | |
| 7 | Soft cases used by opera violinists (7) |
| RAVIOLI - hidden, see above. | |
| 8 | Chap from Eagle Street (6) |
| ERNEST - ERNE (poetic word for eagle) ST(reet). | |
| 9 | Soft-hearted person posted current crew thanks and tip (14) |
| SENTIMENTALIST - SENT (posted) I (current) MEN (crew) TA (thanks) LIST (tip). | |
| 16 | Company went without leader as old as you and I (9) |
| ENTOURAGE - (W)ENT, OUR AGE = as old as you and I. | |
| 17 | Royal Opera House deployed piano only, a real sleep inducer (8) |
| ROHYPNOL - R.O.H., (P ONLY)*. Flunitrazepam, used as a sedative and "date rape drug". | |
| 19 | Tending to race up and burst into song (7) |
| NURSING - RUN (race) reversed, SING. | |
| 21 | West African country introducing unknown energy fuel mixture (7) |
| BENZINE - BENIN is in West Africa, insert Z and add E. Not to be confused with benzene, which is a pure hydrocarbon, not a mixture. | |
| 22 | Rule first cells must be set up for admission (6) |
| AVOWAL - LAW (rule) OVA (first cells), all reversed. | |
| 24 | Record single up around number four in chart (5) |
| ENROL - LONE (single) reversed, insert R the 4th letter in chart. | |
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