Another themed classic from Virgilius. Every across answer is thematic. So are almost all the clues, which as usual are superb. Some unusual words were forced in by the thematic requirements and Virgilius gave very straightforward clues to these. Solving time, 19 mins – it does not have to be super-hard to be good.
Many solvers will know, but for others, I will explain that the Six Nations Rugby Union tournament is held over seven weeks each spring with England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, France and Italy each playing each other once. In the tournament just finished Ireland not only won the title but beat all the other teams for the first time since 1948 and so achieved was is known as 20 across. I think Virgilius would have celebrated this achievement.
* = anagram < = reversed
1 IRISH TERRIERS As in the other cases, a phrase is used with an adjective describing the country first. 24 is SIX NATIONS
9 BOD As well as meaning a bloke this refers to the nickname of the Irish centre and captain, Brian O’Driscoll, who was voted player of the tournament. From first letters, and leading to such phrases as ‘In BOD we trust’
10 WELSH RABBIT Wales won the tournament the previous year also with a Grand Slam. This means the same as ‘Welsh rarebit’
11 SCOTCH CAPS caps also = international players and Scotland play in blue.
14 GO A L (last letter of successful) and also &lit as in RU, a goal is 7 points, where a try (5) is followed by a successful conversion (2).
16 ENGLISH ROSES Emblem that appears on England’s jerseys.
20 THE GRAND SLAM The term is taken from bridge (i.e. not missing a trick)
21 PACK a brilliant double definition with thematic reference (my favourite clue). ‘pack’ are the forwards in RU.
24 SIX NATIONS
27 FRENCH TOAST England beat France by a wide margin in this year’s tournament.
30 TRY See the explanation at 14!
31 ITALIAN SONNET (internationals)* less r (last letter of fervour).
DOWN
2 RED – HOT (tho)*
3 SAW Double definition
4 TELIC Hidden reversal
5 RAH (har(m))<
6 I VAN The Terrible (Tsar of Russia) front row = part of rugby pack
7 RIB ROAST
8 STYLISH (this sly)*
9 BEST double definition
12 CENTRE (recent)* centre = back, 9 across for example
13 POSTS double definition
15 ERRANT hidden
17 LUNG I
18 S TOP OFF
19 SEA CHEST (the cases)* Jack = sailor
21 FOOT I.E.
22 ES PY First and last letters
25 NEARS hidden
26 ACYL ditto
29 TEA leaves Cryptic definition
29 TEN score = twenty of which ten is half (net)<
Concur with you all the way NMS; far superior to the parochial bullshit served up by Araucaria today.
Lovely puzzle though once I had WELSH RABBIT I twigged the theme and filled in the nation answers pretty quickly. SCOTTISH ??? would have been neater than SCOTCH ??? but I guess scope was limited.
Thanks for explaining BOD, I’m not enough of a fan to know his name was shortened that way.
Although this is not the place to discuss the Araucaria puzzle I didn’t feel it was anymore parochial than this one. THE SIX NATIONS is pretty much a UK and Irish thing (as far as English-language crosswords go). I reserve any further comment for the comments thread “over there” when it the blog is up.
Stunning puzzle – I loved ‘bod’ in particular. Thanks for the blog.
I loved this puzzle – but what a pity that “Terriers” rather than “Setters” had to appear across the top of the grid, given Virgilius’s Irish roots!
Paul B
I think the discussion should continue in public so I have created a new post in the chat room (Site Related Issues) and have moved the relevant comments there. I will reply to you in that post.