30-across イヤ
32-down ニクジャガ (it’s made with meat, potato, shirataki, spring onion, carrots et cetera, but it’s called “meat-potato”)
So I’m willing to commit to @Myria’s earlier guess of クモ for 33-across.
24-across マナジリ (turns out Japanese uses “crow’s feet” similar to English. Wonder if it’s borrowed)
23-across ハンニャ (it’s a scary mask)
That makes 36-across ヤモリ, which confuses me because it’s neither an amphibian nor an aphrodisiac. Nor does it start with イ (or did I misunderstand the clue?)
16-across ロウカ (Looking at clue 16-across immediately after looking at 23-down sparked a sudden connection: the anime cliche of school students being punished by having them hold buckets of water in the hallway)
Though that makes 23-down ハカマ, and I’m guessing there’s a cultural reference here I’m not getting
26-down ニグルマ
28-across マッスル (literally spelt out in the clue)
38-down プール
So 35-across is パー, which is apparently a sound effect of everything coming to nought
7-across ワザワイ
I want to say 18-across is ハシゴ, but that doesn’t fit with 18-down
30-across ホンネ? Maybe it’s more complicated than that…
9-down キン
10-down ジャガイモ?
Geh. I’m trying to work my way around the puzzle to get more clues for 11-across (what becomes a pillow when empty? I feel like I should know this), but I’ve just solved half the rest of the puzzle instead.
I’m not getting anywhere with a few I looked at that are left.
23 down
大根足が半分隠れる長さ (length to half-hide fat legs?) I’m guessing this is a sock height that goes to the knees or a capri trouser? or a compression sock?
starts with ミ
Yeah, that’s as far as I got too. Pondered if it was, like ミッド, as in mid-length sock, but that just a straight-up guess.
Coming at it from another angle, then, I actually read the clue for 31-down, and realised it’s a straight-up cultural thing, so I just googled it. Answer is 附子. Which is to say, ブス
24-across デイスイ
Aha, 23-down ミディ. Was thinking about it from the wrong direction.
So 14-across ニクタイビ (which I’d earlier considered, but wasn’t sufficiently confident in)
13-down タニン (水入らず means “with no outsiders present”, for some reason)
12-down ザル (says Google)
8-across セル
5-down ハチアワセ (because everyone’s looking up while running for the ball)
And I still haven’t managed to get any letters for 11-across.
I realised 5-across is another cultural reference, so I googled. It’s ハシ
6-across チョウ (which should’ve been obvious. Think I was trying to come up with a pun)
Guess 15-down is ウチワ
16-across チャンポン
So 20-down ヤイト
9-down バレイショ
3-across コバン, I guess, mostly because they’re thematically connected, but I don’t really understand.
1-down ブレイコウ
So 1-across ブキ (yeah, I guess I’ve heard that said, but I would never have thought of it)
And 4-across ウレ (Jisho says it’s archaic)
Finally got another letter for 11-across, but still drawing a blank.
The best I could come up with so far is something like a husk, you know, the bean has been removed, and husks are sometimes used as the filler for something like a pillow? But all the words I could find are too short
豆殻 まめがら
抜け殻 ぬけがら
even
括り枕 くくりまくら
32-down オサンドン. Them archaic words again. (I confess I was half worried it was gonna turn out to be オカアサン)
So 34-across ドマ
33-across サチ
37-down ヨイノクチ
So 31-across ブヨ
Literally just the centre of the puzzle left.
Had another look at this idea, along with what we’ve currently got of the super sekrit magic word, and perhaps 25-down is ゴウゴ (豪語 = Australian English. )
For 11-across, then, given the puzzle’s theme, it’s probably イッショウビン, though there’s evidently a cultural reference here that I’m missing. Guess it’s the stereotype of a drunk guy going to sleep while hugging a bottle.
Amusingly enough, running 一升瓶 枕 through Google yielded images of an actual pillow in the shape of an 一升瓶.
Good one! I remember reading a gloss somewhere (maybe on Satori, who knows) that there is a caricature of a drunk guy having empted an イッショウビン and falling asleep in a heap on it, especially in manga. So I guess that makes sense, the bottle is empty and has become a pillow!
I tried hard to contribute to this one but found it was a lot harder than the last one I took part in. Maybe that’s why there was a bit less activity on this one.
Excellent! Some new blood! Though oof, did I let this thread go idle again…
With that suggestion for 1-down, I reckon 1-across is サンカンシオン (三寒四温 - yojijukugo! Gotta watch for those. Reckon 11-across and 29-down are gonna be yojijukugo as well, for the symmetry)
9-down カケウドン
26-down ザシキ - learnt that one from reading Kiyo in Kyoto.
Which makes 26-across ザコ
I’m driving all day (well passengering) so if you post the next one I’m game!
(Plus, I’m not sure that potato chips are involved.)
