Monthly Club Special 20,223: Don’t Know Much Biology

I very much enjoyed this but there was definitely some winceworthy vocabulary to contend with in here – I suppose I shouldn’t complain as while science may not really be my bag (baby), at least words rooted in Greek *look* right after I construct them laboriously from wordplay. I very much liked the RAKI REP a lot and learning a wonderful alternative meaning for the word IMPS. Thanks setter!

ACROSS
1 Gone in moments? Not from my recall! (9)
MNEMONIST – (IN MOMENTS*) [“gone”], semi-&lit

6 Hydrophobia clears pub and couples outside, as Perth’s wet (5)
DROOB – {hy}DRO{ph}OB{ia}. In Australia, an “ineffectual person”.

9 Leaf in pool: Olympics and even parts of archery spoiled (15)
MICROSPOROPHYLL – (POOL OLYMPICS {a}R{c}H{e}R{y}*) [“spoiled”]

10 Cutting from alstroemeria in large glass (6)
ROEMER – hidden in {alst}ROEMER{ia}. First one in.

11 Foreign elements in framework overturned vote for Houses of Parliament on core of Brexit (8)
XENOPHYA – reverse all of AY HP ON {br}EX{it}

13 Notably flipping round, I hobnob in Europe with cunning (10)
EXIMIOUSLY – reverse O I MIX [round | I | hobnob] inside EU [Europe], then add SLY [cunning]

14 For commentator, top-class rowers showing natural colour (4)
ECRU – sounds like A-CREW

16 Tree frog first excluded from major taxonomic groups (4)
HYLA – {p}HYLA

17 Turkish liquor seller sent over that old nuclear containment structure (10)
PERIKARYON – reverse RAKI REP [Turkish liquor seller] and add YON [that (old)]

19 Royal backing to arrest antiquer (8)
REGALIAN – reverse NAIL AGER [to arrest | antiquer]

20 Soothing voice’s last thing needed in veteran clown (6)
ANETIC – {voic}E in ANTIC [“veteran” clown]

23 Personnel wearing frilly waterproof shirt, ruined by one sweet wine (8,7)
LACHRYMA CHRISTI – HR [personnel] “wearing” LACY [frilly] + MAC [waterproof] + (SHIRT*) [“ruined”] by I [one]

24 Cheerful one leaves, returning provincial prepares for Thatcher (5)
YELMS – reversed SM{i}LEY [cheerful, that I = “one” leaves]

25 Bomb survivor greeting Azerbaijan city’s expression of triumph (9)
HIBAKUSHA – HI BAKU’S HA [greeting | Azerbaijan city’s | expression of triumph]

DOWN
1 Norse giant runs under noted TB-ridden sewer (5)
MIMIR – R [runs] under MIMI. “Noted” as in “musical”, “sewer” as in “embroiderer” – go look up the Wikipedia entry for Puccini’s La bohème, if you’re still at all confused.

2 Goon evacuated into nearby pub welcomes soldier concerned with church buildings? (15)
ECCLESIOLOGICAL – ECCLES [Goon] + I{nt}O + LOCAL [nearby pub] “welcomes” GI [soldier]

3 Making mountains of rice, go on boiling (8)
OROGENIC – (RICE, GO ON*) [“boiling”]

4 Current house-sitters making repairs (for a wing) (4)
IMPS – I [current] + MP’S [house-sitters, the House being parliament]. To “imp” is a wonderful word which means “to engraft a hawk or falcon’s wing or tail with new feathers in order to repair broken feathers or improve flight”. I do like the idea of just randomly souping up a perfectly good falcon.

5 Note echo reduced in check for top of rampart (10)
TERREPLEIN – TE [note] + REPL{y} [echo “reduced”] in REIN [check]

6 To cover hoop, mostly taking in silk fabric (6)
DUPION – to cover O [hoop], DUPIN{g} [“mostly” taking in]

7 Scandalous hypocrisy on cost for ingrowing toenail (15)
ONYCHOCRYPTOSIS – (HYPOCRISY ON COST*) [“scandalous”]

8 Plain Philippine president shortened ceremonial canopy (9)
BALDAQUIN – BALD [plain] + AQUIN{o} [Philippine president “shortened”]. Was it in the last Times Champs that we saw BALDACHIN?

12 Garden site authority constrained by Lutheran’s half-heartedness (10)
LUKEWARMTH – KEW ARM [garden site | authority] “constrained” by LUTH.

13 Record hourly limits to testify in old magistrate’s office (9)
EPHORALTY – EP HORAL [record | hourly] + T{estif}Y

15 Artist called up fine source for Götterdämmerung (8)
RAGNAROK – RA [artist] + reversed RANG [called] + OK [fine]

18 Group for rodents and lagomorphs needing pre-euro amounts in guineas (6)
GLIRES – LIRE [pre-euro amounts] in G’S [guineas]

21 Police Department catching villain at last with a Stinger (6)
CNIDA – CID [Police Department] “catching” {villai}N + A

22 Specifically muscle in to work when others are out (4)
SCAB – SC. AB [specifically | muscle]

2 comments on “Monthly Club Special 20,223: Don’t Know Much Biology”

  1. Thanks for your blog. Considering the effort needed to crack these crosswords you deserve some applause.
    1. hear, hear

      and please don’t get dispirited by the dearth of comments; I’m sure there are many, like me, who are content to lurk, read and enjoy without comment (who’s going to read them this late anyway?)

      jb

Comments are closed.