Another one of Cinephile’s ‘X has the same meaning …..’, this time it was ‘P’ for ‘peaks’, made easier for me having climbed all but one of them in my youth.
Some typical Cinephile liberties (eg ‘steamboat, ‘eating place for students’ giving CAFELL and E[l]VIS) but also some smiles along the way (eg 10a) and something new learnt (30a).
Across
1 UNWEPT PEW (seat) reversed in *(NUT)
4 BEN NEVIS BENN (Labour politician) E[l]VIS (left off the King)
10 GHERKIN cd
12 LONE L (50) ONE (1)
13 FLY SWATTER FLY (leave) SWAT (part of Pakistan) TER[rorist]
15 TRIPOD TR[acks] I-POD (where many [tracks] can be stored)
16 GENAPPE A PP (a very soft) in GENE (heredity factor)
20 GENTILE GEN (information) TILE (hat)
21 CORNEA N (new) in CORE (heart) A
24 HERB ROBERT ROB (steal) in HERBERT (poet called George) – George Herbert (1593-1633), a Welsh poet, orator and priest
28 SNOWDON SNOW (cocaine) DON (fellow)
29,3 SCAFELL PIKE CAFE (eating place) LL (students) in SPIKE (Milligan)
30 SUSPENSE SPENS (Sir Patrick) in SUE (girl) – The Child Ballads No. 58: Sir Patrick Spens or former politician Sir Patrick Spens who later became the 1st Baron Spens
31 SKETCH S (prow of steam) KETCH (boat)
Down
1 UNGULATE GNU (wildebeest) reversed U (turn) LATE (after time)
2 WHERNSIDE HERNS (old waders, herons) in WIDE (extensive)
5 EMBOSSED ME (setter) reversed BOSSED (being dominated)
6 NORMA MAJOR NORMA (opera) MAJOR (chief)
7 VAULT dd
8 SPHERE hidden in ‘wasP HER Empire’
9,11 INGLEBOROUGH INGLE (fire) BOROUGH (town)
14 FOOTBRIDGE FOOT (Labour politician) BRIDGE (game) – Michael Foot, leader of the Labour Party 1980-1983
17 PEN-Y-GHENT PEN (writer) Y (unknown) GHENT (Belgian city)
18 OLD BONES O (love) *(BLONDES)
19 RANDOLPH RAN (fled) DOLPH[in] (swimmer not at home) – the name of Sir Winston Churchill’s father and son
22 THESIS THE (article) SIS (relative)
23,25 GRASS ROOTS GRASS (cannabis) ROOTS (cheers)
27,26 PACKAGED PACK (wolves) AGED (long in the tooth)
The theme is even more tightly defined than just peaks. The three across answers and the three down answers are each collectively know as the Three Peaks.
The across ones are the three highest peaks in England, Scotland and Wales. This set of Three Peaks is often done as a charity challenge with the walkers being driven between them. It’s normally a 24 hour hour challenge. There is also a Three Peaks race that involves sailing beween the harbours closest to the peaks, cycling to the peaks and then running up and down. It takes a few days!
The down ones are the Yorkshire Three Peaks. These are the venue to a fell race and a cyclocross race. Both races are usually won by Rob Jebb.