Kruger has been setting EV puzzles for over ten years, with a puzzle every four or five months, and the occasional Inquisitor for good measure. I have always found his crosswords fair, but quite taxing, and covering a wide range of themes. This puzzle proved fairly tough, especially my last clue, 3dn! This necessitated a correction in the following week’s paper.
The original clue “Teacher keeps family nurse (6)” led to SISTER [STE(M) in SIR, with the (M) being the extra letter in the wordplay]. This needed to be entered in jumbled form, but I had T.T..R as three definite letters. I, and many others probably, didn’t consider that the clue was to the wrong word, and it would be interesting to know how the mistake crept in. The correct clue was “Model teacher embraces abstainer and me (6)“.
The extra letters in the subsidiary indications spelt out words from The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark: “One’s prime is elusive. You … must be on the alert.” Consequently, entries for clue numbers which are prime were entered in jumbled form.
Listener 4026 Elitism by Zero also used Miss Jean Brodie as a theme, and great fun that one was.
Solving time: about 3½ hours (plus ages trying to resolve the original 3dn clue). My EV solving times seem to have been creeping up recently!
Legend:
ABC* = anagram
ABC< = reversal
abCDef = hidden
X = extra letters in wordplay
| ACROSS | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | O | POLITBURO | committee: POLIT(E) (mostly refned) + BUROO (office in Ireland dispensing Jobseeker’s Allowance) |
| 7 | TOSS entered as OSTS |
throw up: SOTS* | |
| 11 | N | RIALS ARILS |
coins: URINALS (sanitary fittings) – U (acceptable) |
| 13 | E | TINKER NKRITE |
bungler: INK (coloured liquid) in TEER (plaster) |
| 15 | S | ATAP | palm: PASTA*; is it possible that this was originally ASAP fitting with SISTER at 3dn? |
| 16 | ULNARE | bone: U (university) + L (lecturer) + NA (not available) + R (take) + E (skelEton’s fifth) | |
| 17 | P | TIMETABLE MAETIBLTE |
plan: MIT< (German for ‘with’) + PET (Peter, abbr for Letters of Peter in the bible) + ABLE (clever) |
| 18 | R | ETNA | vessel: ETA (menial worker in Japan) capturing R (royal) N (navy); I suspect this should have been RN as I don’t think that the extra letter in the wordplay should refer to a complete element of the wordplay (if you see what I mean, and that’s just my opinion!) |
| 19 | I | PAPERBOY BEPARPYO |
Express (as in the Daily Express) deliverer: PER (person) BIO (life story) in PA (past) Y (year) |
| 20 | M | NAGARI | Hindi script: MAG (short magazine) in IRAN< (country) |
| 23 | E | NEAR AERN |
stingy: RANEE* |
| 25 | I | NON-INVASIVE | not penetrating: N (nationalist) + (NAIVE VISION)* |
| 28 | CYST | membrane: in pregnanCY STretched | |
| 30 | S | LUNULA | gold ornament: [(U)NUSUALL(Y)]* |
| 32 | E | UPROOTAL | destruction: PERU* + O (nothing) + TOTAL (complete) – T (time, initially referring to the first T) |
| 34 | L | LAER | like-minded people drawn together: LLA< + ER (centre of ibERia) |
| 37 | U | LANCASTER TASERALNC |
house: LA (Louisiana) N (new) CUSTER (Indian fighter) taking possession of A |
| 38 | S | ALBION | Great Britain: A (Australian) + L (last to kilL) + BISON (European wild ox) |
| 39 | I | SAUT | Scottish wit: A (absent) in UIST* |
| 40 | ALONSO | F1 driver: in riOS NO LAter< | |
| 41 | V | HOUSE OUHSE |
inn: US (American) in HOVE (south coast resort) |
| 42 | E | SUED | legally claimed: SUEDE (leather) |
| 43 | Y | TREATMENT ETREMTATN |
management: TREATY (formal agreement) + MEN (workers) + T (balloT finally) |
| DOWN | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | O | PAYMENT | punishment: PAY (smear) + ME (Kruger, the setter) + NOT |
| 2 | U | ALIEN LIAEN |
foreign: LIEU (place) in AN (Angola) |
| 3 | M | SITTER TSTIER |
model: SIR (teacher) embracing TT (abstainer) ME |
| 4 | BLABBING | 2 meanings: revealing secret & swelling | |
| 5 | U | LINE-UP UNPLEI |
queue: [LEU IN PUB – B (British)]*; I’m not sure about the anagram indicator in this clue (“Queue and use leu in pub (not British!)”) |
| 6 | S | ORLEANS | fabric: [REASONS L (Lambert)]* |
| 8 | T | STAR | attract attention: START (beginning) |
| 9 | TERRY | 2 meanings: little boy & nappy | |
| 10 | B | STEP ON | crush: (STOP BEN)* |
| 12 | E | RHATANY | plant: EARTH* + ANY (some) |
| 14 | O | INGRAIN | dye: INGO (reveal, Scottish) + RAIN (water) |
| 21 | N | ANTONIO | trader in Venice: (R)ANT (angry tirade, not starting) + ONION |
| 22 | T | MALLEATE | hammer: MATE (plumber’s assistant) keeping TALL E (electronic) |
| 24 | RELENTS | softens: [SCRAP + RN (iRoN evenly)]* | |
| 26 | H | ISOTONE | nuclide: IS + HOT (dangerously charged) + ONE |
| 27 | MARCHEN | story: MEN (soldiers) take in ARCH (cunning) | |
| 28 | E | CUBANS | residents of Guantanamo possibly: CUE (signal) + BAN (curse) + S (special) |
| 29 | A | ACROSS CASSOR |
this clue isn’t (ie it’s a down one): ACRO- (denoting tip) + ASS (idiot) |
| 31 | L | QUORUM UQRUOM |
those required to do business: QU (question) + OUR* + LM (Lord Mayor) |
| 33 | E | PILAU | dish: PILE (coins arranged vertically) + AU (gold) |
| 35 | R | ALOHA | greetings: AL (Albania) + OR + H (Hungary) + A (Austria) |
| 36 | T | ABLE | havinf enough strength: TABLE (board) |