Common abbreviations used
dd = double definition
cd = cryptic definition
rev = reversed or reversal
ins = insertion
cha = charade
* = anagram
A soft start to the week but fun and amusing. As usual, you cannot but help being awed by Rufus’s ability to make his clues read so smoothly.
8 WAR PAINT An amusing cd
9 HUSHED cd
10 SKIT Removal of R from SKIRT. A skit is a satirical sketch or a take off
11 DUMBWAITER Cha
12 SHOCKS Ins of HOCK (wine) in SS. What a smooth surface!
14 EYELINER
15 SPANISH This *(ships an) borders on an &lit
17 INITIAL My clue of the day and the last one to be filled in.
Very clever word play that foxed me for a while
20 STAIR ROD cd for a rod for holding a stair carpet in place.
22 PEACHY dd
23 WATER WHEEL The answer was simple enough given the crossing letters but only a visit to Chambers fully explained the wordplay…
race = a channel bringing water to or from a millwheel
24 FILM A dd which Cyclops would be proud of
25 TOPEKA Ins of OP in TEKA *(take) for the capital city of Kansas, USA
26 DERANGED Ins of RANG in DEED; barking mad
Down
1 TALK SHOP Cha of TALKS (gossips) HOP (dance)
2 SPOT Rev of TOPS. A top is a golfing boo-boo where the club only makes contact with the upper part of the ball. Did you see Tiger Woods’s 12-foot putt on the 18th to force a play-off ? Superb stuff !
3 HINDUS ha
4 STUMPED Stump is a cricketing term meaning to dismiss by breaking the wicket when the striker is out of his ground
5 CHOW MEIN Another smoothie anagram clue that Rufus is famous for; and this time, delicious, too
6 ASPIDISTRA *(past is said)
7 RECEDE Cha of RE (Royal Engineers or soldiers) CEDE (give up)
13 CANTILEVER Can’t I (may I not) LEVER (rev of revel). Cantilever is an engineering structure of a beam fixed at one end and free at the other, usually like a horizontal projection in the air
16 STRAW HAT *(war that’s) How does Rufus dream up these gems?
18 ACHILLES Ins of HILL in ACES
19 ADDENDA add-end-a
21 TEAPOT Another clever cd misleading us to think of those brewers in Scotland producing those lovely single malts
22 PALTRY pal-try (go)
24 FIND FI (e) ND
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