I came to this EV tired and jaded after a long weekend away golfing and drinking…(or was that the other way around?)…not having done a crossword of any form for 4 days – and was a little slow getting my head round the preamble, let alone the theme…I certainly didn’t expect the Spanish Inquisition!
The preamble referred to 9 thematic clues, without definitions, to be jumbled before entry – and linked to an unclued thematic entry. The other two unclued thematic entries were to lead to the ‘group’ responsible, and extra letters in the wordplay of normal clues would give all but one member of the group, who was to be written below the grid. Phew – pass the Alka-Seltzer…
Given that two of the unclued entries were the full-width top and bottom rows, 1a and 37a, the logical thing to do would have been to attack the Down clues, to find some crossing letters – an approach I did, eventually, take – but not until I had hacked randomly into the rough, and come across TREK as an undefined entry. This led me off on a tangent into the next fairway, looking up the members of the Star Trek crew/group. However, TREK was soon followed by FOOT, PACE and STEP, making my Trekkie diversion ‘not entirely logical, Captain’.
Working through the down clues, I had 1a taking shape with MON?Y… (money?) and 37a starting with F and ending C???US – it was staring me in the face, but not clicking. The clincher was the third unclued entry, 20a, as M?NI?T??. Maybe MINISTER, to go with the PRIME of the title? But no, of course – the MINISTRY of Silly Walks, by Monty P’s Flying Circus – and it all fell into place, with the extra letters spelling out all but the elastically long-legged JC, the PRIME MOVER in the classic Silly Walk sketch, and the undefined clues all giving variations of ‘walks’, entered sillily (yes, that is the adverbial form of ‘silly’ – but I had to check!…)
I have to admit to having to (e-)look up some of the more obscure (to me) words like ‘nilpotent’, ‘latakia’, ‘meranti’ and ‘whipstall’ but, thankfully, there didn’t seem to be any of the recent Ralphs/gremlins in this week’s EV publication.
All in all, eventually, a relatively gentle EV (a short-ish par 3, compared to the previous week’s 500-yard par 5 slog!), and one that was particularly pleasing to me, as it combined two of my formative obsessions, crosswords and Monty Python. And I should really have taken inspiration from my weekend’s sporting activity: Didn’t Mark Twain (or, rather, Samuel Langhorne Clemens) once say that ‘Golf is a good walk spoiled’?
FORE!
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Length | Extra Letter | Entry | Clue / Logic |
| 1A | (12) | (unclued) | MONTY PYTHON’S | Unclued / to be deduced |
| 10A | (4) | G | AFAR | A fine pike, at a distance / A + F (fine) + GAR (PIKE) |
| 11A | (7) | I | MERANTI | Almost desert worker inside wood / MERI (almost ‘merit’, or desert) with ANT (worker) + I (inside) |
| 12A | (4) | (‘silly’ walk) | FTOO | Plead with fellow for money / MOOT (plead) with F (fellow) for M (money) = FOOT |
| 13A | (6) | L | GRILLE | Screen young salmon with lines – not us / GRILSE (young salmon) with LL (lines) for S (shortened form of ‘us’) |
| 14A | (7, hyphenated) | L | TWIN-TUB | Blunt wit aggravated washer / anag (i.e. aggravated) BLUNT WIT |
| 16A | (4) | (‘silly’ walk) | OLPE | Bow is missing / SLOPE (bow) with S (shortened form of ‘is’) ‘missing’ = LOPE |
| 17A | (6) | I | THOLOI | Missing knight, despoiled endless monolithic tombs / anag (i.e. despoiled) of MO(N)OLITHI(C) – endless, and without N (knight) |
| 20A | (8) | (unclued) | MINISTRY | Unclued / to be deduced |
| 22A | (4) | (‘silly’ walk) | KRTE | Turkey pecks every now and then / TR (Intl Vehicle Reg’n of Turkey) + pEcKs ‘every now and then’ = TREK |
| 23A | (4) | (‘silly’ walk) | APCE | Power unit / P (power) + ACE (unit) = PACE |
| 25A | (8) | A | TRASHMEN | Harass stingy junk collectors / TRASH (harass) + MEAN (stingy) |
| 28A | (6) | M | SERRAE | Press close to soul more than one saw? / SERR (to press closely) + ÂME (soul) |
| 30A | (4) | (‘silly’ walk) | OTTS | Lodge with missing tenor / STO(W) (lodge, W (with), missing) + T (tenor) = STOT |
| 31A | (7) | I | BASALTS | Retreating sailor navigates around the rocks / AB (sailor) retreating + SAILS (navigates) around T (the) |
| 32A | (6) | D | LAHORE | City boy lands when ship goes / LAD (boy) + (S)HORE(S) (lands without SS – ship) |
| 33A | (4) | (‘silly’ walk) | SPET | Soak all but the middle / STEEP (soak) without (all but) the middle = STEP |
| 35A | (7) | L | LATAKIA | Volunteers are overcome by revolting alkali tobacco / TA (volunteers) surrounded (overcome) by anag (i.e. revolting) of ALKALI |
| 36A | (4) | E | TIAN | Inmate, not married, cooked vegetable dish / anag (i.e. cooked) of INMATE less M (married) |
| 37A | (12) | (unclued) | FLYING CIRCUS | Unclued / to be deduced |
| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Length | Extra Letter | Entry | Clue / Logic |
| 1D | (8, 3 words) | J | MAN TO MAN | Confidentially mark gown on top in January / MANTO (gown) on top of M (mark) in JAN |
| 2D | (3) | O | OFF | Money once, farthing’s no longer available / OOF (old slang for money) + F (farthing) |
| 3D | (6) | N | NATION | Company leaves union people / CONNATION (union) less CO (company) |
| 4D | (5, hyphenated) | E | Y-MOTH | Parent nearly following unknown insect / MOTHE(R) (nearly parent) after Y (unknown) |
| 5D | (6) | S | PEQUOT | Native American copies a lost quotation / (A)PES (copies) without A plus QUOT (abbrev for quotation) |
| 6D | (7) | C | TARBOYS | Shearer’s assistants to bottle his finishing? / T (to) + CARBOY (bottle) + S (end of ‘his’) |
| 7D | (6) | (‘silly’ walk) | OTLLSR | Section wag / S (section) + TROLL (wag – the tongue) = STROLL |
| 8D | (9) | H | NILPOTENT | In confusion, leave at first then opt in – there’s nothing when it’s squared? / anag (i.e. confusion) of L (first of leave) + THEN OPT IN |
| 9D | (4) | A | SMEE | Duck upset seamer lacking runs / anag (i.e. upset) of SEAME(R) without R (runs) |
| 15D | (9) | P | WHIPSTALL | With height, foils remarkable aeronautic manoeuvre / W (with) + H (height) + PIPS (foils) + TALL (remarkable) |
| 17D | (4) | M | TIES | Newspaper unites / double defn TIMES (newspaper) and TIES (unites) |
| 18D | (4) | (‘silly’ walk) | IKHE | Start to hate little laughing boy / H (start to hate) + IKE (Hebrew: Isaac, or Ike – laughing one) = HIKE |
| 19D | (8) | A | BENISONS | Head is against Sabbath blessings / BEAN (head) + IS + ON (aganst) + S (Sabbath) |
| 21D | (7) | (‘silly’ walk) | STEURAN | Has historical adventure / S (contraction of has) + AUNTER (obsolete word for adventure) = SAUNTER |
| 24D | (6) | N | CATHAY | Tackle heroin with vote against China / CAT (tackle) + H (heroin) + NAY (vote aganst) |
| 26D | (6) | P | ARABIC | Almost fanatic about following America plan relating to part of the Middle East / AP (American plan) followed by RABI(D) (almost rabid/fanatic) + C (about) |
| 27D | (6) | A | MALEIC | Mineral overwhelms beer: like a salt got from apples / MICA (mineral) around (i.e. overwhelms) ALE (beer) |
| 29D | (5) | L | ASSAI | Attack fruit / double defn ASSAIL (attack) and ASSAI (frit) |
| 30D | (4) | I | OLAF | Old die backing Norwegian King / O (old) + FAIL (die) backing (up) |
| 34D | (3) | N | TAU | Cross upset aunt / anag (i.e. upset) of AUNT |
A fine puzzle – didn’t need ’em, but it provoked me to revisit the 2-volume set of Monry Python’s Flying Circus Just the Words (Methuen 1989).
Great fun!