Eight more brain-curlers for you. These Times clues hide their secrets closely. While I can parse most in part, there remains some elements I'm still not grasping, needing your help to seal the deal.
What allusion has eluded me? Which nuance has missed my radar? And for those feeling extra-cluey, can you compile a rival clue for any of these eight solutions? Thanks in advance.
1. Fetch strong drink = DOUBLE [Times 11916]
2. Getting back, having left bed for cat = PUMA [same puzzle]
3. One shoe, not quite the pair, going with it = SABOT [11917]
4. Go off melon, maybe, unpleasant at first for the tongue = URDU [11940]
5. Do this after start to alarm and confuse = ADDLE
6. Statements to the press not allowed in Israel = HANDOUTS
7. Our lot, blue at the extremities, are freezing! = SUSPEND [11958]
8. In a sorry state, having failed to rise = SAD
SMARAGD [smah-RAG/d] - any trnaslucent green gem, especially the emerald. [From Greek smaragdos - emerald]. Dorothy, Toto and her three friends wended towards a city build of smaragd.
MOOREEFFOC - the act of seeing something dull or familiar with fresh eyes [Dickens' coinage based on the mirrored letters of COFFEEROOM.] Biographer GK Chesterton noted this 'mooreeffoc' moment in Dickens' diaries, claiming how Dickens had the knack for seeing London anew.
CREANCE [cree-ONZE] - lightweight leash used to restrain a hawk or falcon during a training flight. [From French for faith, a shortening of peu de créance (‘of little faith’, suggesting a bird which is yet to be reliable] No hawk is spared the master's creance in its pilot flights.
ESZETT [ess-ZAIRT] - the B-like symbol of German grammar - ß - that denotes a sharp-S in sound, as seen in Straße - otherwise strasse, or street. [Literally 'S-Z' in German, after its distinct sound] For an ach-hack, to create the eszett on the page, press the right 'alt' key and hit the s-key simultaneoußly.
KOTOV SYNDROME - when a [chess] player thinks for a long time, only to make a blunder at the last minute. [Named in honour of Soviet chess grandmaster Alexander Kotov (1913-81), pictured, who put opponents under immense pressure.] Unless you can combine poise with brainpower, then your solving is prone to the Kotov syndrome.
JUNOESQUE [jew-NO-esk] queenly; regal; of an elegant statue. [After Juno - the Roman god of marriage, and queen of the gods.] Parisian models will often stand Junoesque at the catwalk's extreme.
ARCHITOURIST - a traveller planning their itinerary around notable buildings and other structures [Hybrid of architecture and tourst] No architourist worth their salt would whine about an ABC tour of Europe: Another Bloody Cathedral.
OOBLECK - cornstarch-and-water mix used in chemistry classes to demonstrate the behaviour of non-Newtonian fluids. [Named after the sticky slime threatening the Kingdom of Didd in Dr Seuss's 1949 book, Bartholomew and the Oobleck.]
NEGRONI SBAGLIATO [nair-GROW-nee sbarg-LEE-ar-toh] - cocktail comprising Campari, sweet vermouth and prosecco [Literally 'wrong Negroni' in Italian after a Milan bar-owner added brut prosecco rather than gin to a client's Negroni.] Believe me, a Negroni sbagliato is a sippable piece of serendipity.
SABRAGE [SAY-bredge] - the act of opening a champagne bottle by quickly sliding a sword's dull edge down the neck [From German (dialect) Sabel - or sword] Who needs to pop a Veuve cork when sabrage is all the suaver?
ALPHONSE [al-FONCE] - the younger boyfriend of a wealthy or powerful older woman. [After the title character of Alexandre Dumas's 1872 novel, Monsieur Alphonse] One era's toyboy is another epoch's Alphonse.
MATEOTECHNY [MAT-ee-oh-TEK-nee] - a futile or unprofitable field of research [Greek: vain art/science] Cynics might view cryptic crosswords as mateotechny, failing to see how rewording they can be.
GREEBLE - elaborate details added to an object's surface so as to make it more visually intriguing - a common ruse applied to sci-fi props; also called a nurnie [Origin unknown] Lightsabres and spacecraft in the Star Wars films abound in greebles.
VINCULUM - horizontal line that divides a fraction; (in anatomy) any narrow structure joining two parts; a ligament [Latin: bond, from vincire to bind] Place numbers above and below a hyphen, and you make a vinculum.
THALWEG [TAHL-veg - or THARL-weg] - the line of fastest flow or deepest water along a river's course [From German valley-way] Along some riparian borders, a river's thalweg can determine which abutting nation owns what islands en route.
RANCIO [ran-SEE-oh] - nutty flavour peculiar to sherry and other fortified wines. [From Latin, rancidus - rancid, rotten] Next time you savour a Madeira, feel free to detect a rancio depth amid the leather and tobacco notes.
FLEHMEN [rhymes with 'stamen'] - response among male mammals when they detect particular female smells, typified by lip-curling and head-raising. [From Upper Saxony dialect, flemmen to look spiteful] A female pug's piddle will trigger a flehmen even within a male mastiff.
IRREDENTIST - person advocating the acquisition of territory that was once part of their own nation. [From Italian, irredentista, via the phrase 'Italia irredenta' - Italy unredeemed.] No surprise, given the historic scope of the Holy Roman Empire, that Italy is rife with irredentists.
CHADBAND - unctuous hypocrite [Named after the self-serving preacher of Dickens' Bleak House, 1853] Your typical yes-person is a latter-day chadband.
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