Independent 6757/Virgilius
Posted by neildubya on June 12th, 2008
The 2008 US Open Golf Championship starts today at the Torrey Pines course in San Diego, CA. Virgilius commemorates this fact in his usual inimitable style.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | S,T,N in ACE |
| 4 | (EGG IN BOY)* – BOGEYING. The surface reading is a bit odd but otherwise I think this is a really good clue, with a well-hidden definition, “Once too often, perhaps, putting” and a not-at-all obvious anagram. |
| 9 | (BLUNDER CU)* – UNDERCLUB. I think this basically means picking a club that does not give the enough distance for a given shot. |
| 11 | COLIN – a reference to the golfer COLIN Montgomerie (“full Monty”). Not sure how you’d get this if you’re not a golf watcher. Is he famous enough in his own right perhaps? |
| 12 | PA,R FOR THE COURSE |
| 13 | WATCH THE BIRDIE – “Get ready for shot” is nicely misleading. |
| 25 | ALBATROSS – in golf, this is a hole taken in 3 under par. So, as golf pars rarely (never?) exceed 5, “one or two shots” is spot on. |
| 27 | W,EDGES |
| Down | |
| 1 | STUMPS – a whole new ball game here. Close of play in cricket is called STUMPS. |
| 2 | ANDORRA – the tiny principality in the eastern Pyrenees, hence “highly circumscribed”. |
| 3 | (O I C U R)* – CURIO. Cleverly done. |
| 5 | B in (ROME)* – OMBRE. |
| 6 | (LONG SINCE)* – ENCLOSING. I think “privatising” here just means “making private”, although at the time of solving I thought it had a bit more significance. |
| 7 | I’LL,B,RED – another good’un. |
| 8 | GEN,R in DEED |
| 15 | EWE LAMB = EWE sounds like “you” and Charles LAMB is the writer. |
| 16 | RID in HAYES – last one in for me. Rutherford B HAYES was the 19th US president, which I didn’t know, so it was lucky that I had heard of HAYRIDES. |
| 22 | hidden in “keNYA LArgely” |
| 23 | CUT,IE – in golf, the CUT occurs after the second (out of four) day’s play. |
June 12th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Pah, that anagram at 4A beat me, even with all the checking letters and knowing it had to be a golf reference. A classic case of being soundly beaten by the setter there!
Otherwise, I enjoyed this one a lot, especially UNDERCLUB, STUMPS and CUTIE.
June 12th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
Magnificent as usual with every across answer thematic. ROYAL AND ANCIENT was really good. Familiar with the terms of golf so I found it easy enough though was not aware that tournament was starting – I had wondered why Virgilius was on a Thursday.
June 12th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
Nice. All pretty enjoyable and doable. Finished (bar 4 and 16) during halftime in the football. Please explain the RID in 16 though – is this some wagon ride I should know?
June 12th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
RID = free, I think. Skilfully buried in a super surface reading by the master
June 13th, 2008 at 9:48 am
Duh. Idiocy from me. Cheers.