I’m afraid I’m under thesis deadline pressure this week, but my partner very kindly offered to write notes on this one, so I’m just reposting what she wrote…
[Links to the puzzle as HTML, PDF and Java Applet]
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 5. | BONSAI | Cryptic definition |
| 6. | SLIP UP | PUPILS = “students”, reversed |
| 9. | AGHAST | HAS = “swindles” in (TAG)* |
| 10. | RETURNED | Double definition |
| 11. | WING | Double definition |
| 12. | PEA SHOOTER | A great cryptic definition |
| 13. | TEA INTERVAL | (ALTERNATIVE)* |
| 18. | FLIGHT DECK | FLIGHT = “stairs” + DECK = “decorate” |
| 21. | LAID | L + AID |
| 22. | GARDENIA | (DRAINAGE)*; “proper” being the anagram indicator |
| 23. | WAIVER | I’VE in WAR |
| 24. | ENVIED | VIE = “to compete” in END = “final” |
| 25. | TOP HAT | Another excellent cryptic definition |
| Down | ||
| 1. | ENTANGLE | (TEN)* + ANGLE = “fish” |
| 2. | LAPTOP | APT = “likely” in LOP = “cut” |
| 3. | FLETCHER | Cryptic definition |
| 4. | OPORTO | PORT = “side at sea” in OO = “scoreless draw” |
| 5. | BIGWIG | Double definition; WIG can mean “to scold” |
| 7. | PREFER | P = “quietly” + REFER = “mention” |
| 8. | BREAK THE LAW | |
| 14. | INTENDED | Double definition |
| 15. | ALL RIGHT | Double definition |
| 16. | ALSACE | Cryptic definition, as in the area of France next to Lorraine |
| 17. | DIRECT | Double definition |
| 19. | GODIVA | Cryptic definition |
| 20. | KOWTOW | WOK reversed + TOW = “tug” |
8d. If you break (i.e. make an anagram) of “the law” you make wealth.
Thanks, Gazza – I’ve updated the post.
Many thanks, mhl
Rather more challenging than usual for a Monday offering, I thought, but all the clues were perfectly fair and none of the solutions was obscure.
Very enjoyable.
Thanks, Rufus
Thanks mhl (and partner). I also found this quite hard for Monday, and for Rufus, but the usual good surfaces. 12ac was funny.
Is 5ac really a cd? I thought this was a double def., as bonsai is the bowl that the trees (woods indoor) get their name from?
Nick
Nick, you’re right. Cmambers gives:- ETYMOLOGY: 1920s: Japanese, from bon tray or bowl + sai cultivation.
Thanks, both, for the blog.
I missed PEA SHOOTER on the first run-through, and initially put in PRAISE for 7dn, which just about works, but held things up for a minute or two. [I wasn’t really happy with ‘praise = favour’ – but then ‘refer’ really needs ‘to’ to mean ‘mention’, which can = ‘raise’].
Favourite clues: 12ac,8dn and 19dn.
Good grief – finished Rufus on my own! Anyone help me with 24ac though? Can’t make envy equal begrudge no matter how I stretch it.
William
It’s VIE within END.
Therefore ENVIED = Begrudge.
QED
William – well done! One of the definitions of “begrudge” as a transitive verb in Chambers is “to envy the possession of”. I think they are substitutable in sentences, e.g. “to envy someone something” and “to begrudge someone something”… Was that what you meant?
8 Down
Simply brilliant.
Though I didn’t get it!
I loved PEA SHOOTER, TEA INTERVAL and TOP HAT. Thanks for the blog mhl, especially BONSAI (I’d put in ‘binbag’ for reasons I can’t now remember or explain).
Is a pea-shooter really a weapon? “Toy” would have worked better in the clue.
Thank you mhl & Bryan – I had the word play, and I now see the definition. I would simply never use ‘begrudge’ in that way. I begrudge politicians and bankers their outrageous perks, but I certainly don’t envy them – as in ‘wish them for myself’. Hey-ho, thanks to you both.
I agree regarding the begrudge / envy difference, whatever Chambers might say. Benighted publication that it is.
Wish I hadn’t developed a fixation re ‘banyan’ rather than pressing on for ‘bonsai’.
Very much liked ‘break the law’.
Liked peashooter, godiva, and break the law!
In 24A, I can’t see the need for “round”. If compete=vie, then we have two containment indicators: in and round.