Prize Puzzle of Monday 14 February
Many clever clues from Crux, including one which is too clever for me: 26 down. Among my favourites were those with well disguised definitions: 9 across and 6 down.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | DOWNPOUR *(POUND ROW) |
| 5 | AMULET A MULE (slipper) T (end of “midnight”) |
| 9 | OUTRIGHT d&cd; the definition is “utter” (nicely disguised) and the slogan is “OUT RIGHT!” |
| 10 | FRUGAL FR[om] + *(GAUL) |
| 12 | STONECROP *(SPORT ONCE) |
| 13 | ACRES hidden in reverse in loSER CAn’t; this was hard to spot, for me |
| 14, 30 | NAME DROPPERS d&cd |
| 16 | CHICAGO A in CHIC (smart) GO (move) |
| 19 | U-SHAPED dd |
| 21 | SEEK homophone of SIKH (Indian) |
| 24 | PETER PET (favourite) ER (the Queen) |
| 25 | KICK START KICKS (thrills) TART (girl, commonly) |
| 27 | ADONIS ADO (trouble) + SIN (lust, say) reversed |
| 28 | DREADING D[aughter] READING (at university) |
| 29 | KIMONO *(MONK + IO) |
| Down | |
| 1 | DROWSY D (“dwarf”‘s first) ROW (quarrel) S[ill]Y (extremely silly) |
| 2 | WATSON WAITS ON (works as a waiter) minus I (one) |
| 3 | PRIDE cd; “prelapsarian’ means before the Fall (of Adam and Eve from grace), and Proverbs 16:18 tells us that “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall,” a verse commonly collapsed into “pride goeth before a fall.” |
| 4 | UNHORSE A cd, I guess, unless there is something more I’m not seeing. |
| 6 | MARGARINE *(GRAIN) in MARE (horse) |
| 7 | LEG BREAK L (“Labour” leader) EG (say) BREAK (recess) |
| 8 | TALK SHOW TALKS (lectures) + HOW |
| 11 | EPIC *(PIEC[e]) |
| 15 | ASPERSION AS (when) + I (one) in PERSON |
| 17 | HUMPBACK dd |
| 18 | CHAT ROOM CHARTROOM (map store) minus R[ight] |
| 20 | DUKE K[ing] in DUE (outstanding) |
| 21 | SECURER EC (the City) in SURER (safer) |
| 22 | MARINE This answer, “catching” GAR (fish), would yield 6 down, MARGARINE |
| 23 | STAGES dd |
| 26 | SCAMP Surely “little devil” = SCAMP, but I can’t work out the wordplay. |
Hi Agentzero,
Just a quick note about 26d before I go to sleep:
SCAM =’fiddle’ + P = ‘player starts’.
Quite a clever clue!
I arrived at 10A with “coins from Gaul” doing double duty to FR(ancs)
Got about half out,heavily concentrated in the bottom half.
5a Mule =slipper eluded me
9a very clever
12a Spotted the anagram but didn’t know the flower
14/30 Given that I had for 30 ?r?p?e?s, disappointed not to get this.
28a Would be interested to know how our non UK solvers got on with this.
2d I would have thought that doctor would be sufficient to clue watson.
4d I was thinking about chessboards here.
2d Aaarg -insufficient