Spectator 2593 By Lavatch

[Matakari]

Good evening, I’m stumped by the following for which
I would appreciate answers with parsing. Thanks in advance!

4d Makes Greek coin with size I changed (9) : ??R?????S
9d Flower’s white round iceberg’s edge (6) : ?AR???
10d Volume in case upon switching periods in house? (10): ?C?????C??
15d Ruling party admitting king’s crime (10) : N?????T???
17d She inherits Scot’s land areas in segments (10) : T?????R???
31d Insects in north-east oddly flying (7) : ?O?????

[bobbinwales]

klaz... do you agree with VAE as the first 3 letters for 4d?
I was thinking VASE?

[bobbinwales]

or anagram of E VAT but maybe this os one where we got to ignore a word

[klazomaniac]

I also have VAE?
Cannot find a word with any letter from the alphabet in any of the references I have at my disposal.

[Matakari]

Klazo, I got Knee for 33a. And yes, 4d is a real headache!

[ProfessorMaisie]

15a 'criticised' = 'LAMB(as ted)' (minus 'as' + 'unruly youth'/ted) 'simple man' just about matches the def for LAMB ['piety' is extra].
4d (the 'vessel' = VAS) VAES alt sp. 'voes'/'sounds'/inlets/bays.

Wordplay-only clues are best tackled by looking for anagrams of countries in rows and columns in the completed grid.
'a' (2nd row down) is a 5 letter country, 'b' 5th row is 2 words 4,5
'c' is 7, 'd' is 7, 'e' is 7, 'f' is 5 (all six are symmetrically placed).

Hope you get a Chambers soon, klazomaniac (my copy's falling apart now}.

[ProfessorMaisie]

...yes, KNEE - 'saw' = KNE(w) [minus] 'w(ide') + (jo)E ['finally'] and the very wordy def refers to part of a plant root that ascends.

[klazomaniac]

Prof M. Which would you recommend ?
I've seen some say that older editions are better.

Interesting to see your parse for 15. Once I saw 'Lambasted' It fell into place (after I had already posted [ahem])
But I read Deity (not piety)
So can you recommend a good optometrist also ;-)

[ProfessorMaisie]

Sorry, klazomaniac - can no longer read the address of my optician.

I think it's got to be the 13th edition, but it's been around for so long now you'll probably buy it just when the new edition comes out (that's why I'm getting the cellotape out for mine).

[klazomaniac]

:-)

[klazomaniac]

Ps. Klaz or Klazo (save your fingertips) :-)

[ProfessorMaisie]

Thanks, klazo!

[klazomaniac]

Your Fingers have Fingertips,
But your Toes don't have Toetips.
Yet you can Tiptoe, But not Tipfinger !

(Known Author) HAWK :-)

[ProfessorMaisie]

Yes, Chambers confirms that.

[Matakari]

Thank you immensely, ProfessorMaisie, for the tremendous help you've lavished on us for this one! We cannot now throw in the sponge after so much has been done. The final hurdle seems to be the unravelling of the Word Play-Only clues for which you supplied enormous hints which I will work through tomorrow. Many thanks, again!

[Matakari]

Good morning, ProfessorMaisie and Klazo, after a good sleep, I’m fresh back at the monster! I’m looking at the second row down for an anagram of a country as suggested by ProfessorMaisie and if I go straight down the 2nd row from top to bottom, I can get ALAND. I’m not sure if I’m on the right track. Please enlighten me! Thanks in advance!

[klazomaniac]

Good morning Matakari. I haven't picked it up yet. I need my 2 cups of Yorkshire Tea first. I'll have a look in a short while. If I can help, I'll get back to you. :-)

[klazomaniac]

Row 5 East Timor. Once you have that, look for a symmetrical.

[klazomaniac]

row 2 Santiago, Chile for 8,5

[klazomaniac]

Correction. row 5 is 'Dili, East Timor'

[Matakari]

Thanks, Klazo, I've got it, I should be looking across the grid not down. I should get the rest now.