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. |
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.
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.
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?
RID = free, I think. Skilfully buried in a super surface reading by the master
Duh. Idiocy from me. Cheers.