Across
1 TARIFF – RA(<) in tiff.
4 AT RANDOM – Rand in atom.  Thank god for an accurate definition “indiscriminately”. My current peeve of the month is people wh;ve started using the word “random” to mean unexpected or surprising.
9 ICEBOX – I + EB in cox. I wasn’t familiar with the abbreviation EB (for Epstein-Barr).  So much more genteel than Herpes 4!
10 MONARCH – on in march +[part]y
11 POLONY – polo +n[eatl]y; which I take to be a variation on the theme of baloney(/bologna).
12 PATIENCE – (tie + [salesma]n) in pace.  I liked the surface here.
13 WAN – w+a+[cor]n[ish].
14  PINTER – hidden
17 RUBELLA – b in Rue + all(rev)
21 MIDDEN – (I +d+d) in men (=”primates”!).
25 ETA – in “fElT sAd”
26 AYRSHIRE – homophone of “air shyer”.
27 SCYTHE – SC (special const.) +they*.
28 ARCADIAN – (cad + I) in Aran (jumpers).
29 ADROIT – oi[l] in dart*
30 DOWNSIZE – (in SW)* in doze.  An ugly word, per se,  and not particularly redeemed here by a slightly awkward clue.
31 STATUE – tat in Sue

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An interesting theme today, I quite like having unclued elements when it’s clear which clues they apply to!  The old crossword staple of flower=river is used to good effect too.

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I found this one a pretty tough challenge, but was very pleased to get there in the end after a slow start. There are some really nice clueing devices here, though a few may need some clarification.

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I found this much harder than usual from Quixote, with some less familiar words, solving time, 29 mins.

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Monday Prize Crossword on 5 October 2009
dd = double definition
cd = cryptic definition
rev = reversed or reversal
ins = insertion
cha = charade
ha = hidden answer
*(fodder) = anagram

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Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of October 3
I don’t recall any compiler using clues for split-word answers (such as 11 and 9 across) as much as Cinephile. He has 4 in this puzzle!

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