Monday Prize Crossword/Jan 16
A fine offering from Crux. The level of difficulty just right ‘for a Monday puzzle’, but, having said that, no hint of routine cluing. A crossword full of elegant surfaces. My PinC’s verdict when I showed her the puzzle after completion: “this setter’s got finesse”. I totally agree!
| Across | ||
| 1 | EXTENSION LEADS | They should add to current output |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 10 | TENET | Either way, you may believe in it |
| A palindrome (‘either way’) | ||
| 11 | AMSTERDAM | Stream diverted by blockage in the city |
| (STREAM)* + DAM (blockage) | ||
| 12 | EXPLAIN | Account for small European vote – simple! |
| E X (European (E) vote (X), indeed in its simplistic version) + PLAIN (simple) | ||
| 13 | SCRUPLE | Reservation that doesn’t carry much weight |
| Double definition | ||
| A ‘scruple’is a unit of weight equal to 20 grains, used by apothecaries. | ||
| 14 | TWINS | Sign time conquers all |
| T (time) + WINS (conquers all) , with ‘Sign’ as in sign of the Zodiac (Gemini) | ||
| 16 | TRIBUNALS | Troubles keep follower of Chelsea in the courts |
| TRIALS (troubles) around BUN (which may follow ‘Chelsea’ to become a ‘Chelsea Bun’) | ||
| 19 | PIECRUSTS | Part almost goes stale like pastry toppings |
| PIEC[e] (part, almost) + RUSTS (goes stale) | ||
| 20 | DEPTH | Measure hospital department put first |
| DEPT (department) placed before H (hospital) | ||
| No ENT this time for ‘hospital department’, but a nice and original twist from Crux. | ||
| 22 | REDCAPS | MPs’ reckless capers involve old money |
| (CAPERS)* around D (old money) | ||
| MPs should be seen as the plural of MP (Military Police). No Members of Parliament, no Monty Python either. | ||
| 25 | LOWBROW | Violent blow ends in fight – so uncultivated |
| (BLOW)* leading to (ends in) ROW (fight) | ||
| Initially, I was rather confused by the meaning of ‘ends’ here. It could have pointed in the direction of TW (ends of ‘Violent blow’) or TO (ends of ‘fight so’) or BW (both ends of ‘blow’) or … | ||
| 27 | INTUITION | In teaching, women are known for it |
| IN TUITION (teaching) | ||
| Certainly not the first time we had this in a crossword. And it won’t be the last time either, I presume. | ||
| 28 | OGIVE | There’s nothing to collapse in a Gothic arch |
| O (nothing) + GIVE ((to) collapse) | ||
| 29 | SHOTGUN WEDDING | Armed alliance one member wishes to escape! |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | XENOPHILE | Foreign lover |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 3 | EXTRA | Possibly a bad ball to boot |
| Double definition | ||
| 4 | STAGNATES | Brown, retiring in stages, becomes inactive |
| NAT (reversal of ‘tan’ (brown)) inside STAGES | ||
| One of two clues [the other one being 18d] in which a complete word reappears in the solution. Normally, not always a plus, but here it suits the surface very well. | ||
| 5 | OUSTS | Replaces leader dropped from knightly tournaments |
| [j]OUSTS | ||
| 6 | LIE AROUND | Tell stories about what the idlers do |
| LIE (tell stories) + AROUND (about) | ||
| 7 | ADD UP | Do sums make sense? |
| Double definition | ||
| 8 | SIMMERS | Cooks need dieters to lose pounds |
| SLIMMERS (dieters) minus L (pounds) | ||
| Another nice surface. | ||
| 9 | ATTEST | Swear while watching cricket? |
| When you’re watching cricket, you might be AT [a] TEST [match] | ||
| Perhaps, this has been done before, but I liked the whacky surface. | ||
| 15 | STREAMING | Way of classifying the children of emigrants, perhaps |
| (EMIGRANTS)* | ||
| Simple anagram, but – again – a surface that links construction and definition beautifully. | ||
| 17 | INSOLENCE | Lines once correctly translated show a certain freshness |
| (LINES ONCE)* | ||
| 18 | ASPERSION | When one appears in person to expose slander |
| AS (when) + {I (one) inside PERSON} | ||
| When the surface is so natural, I don’t mind to see ‘person’ reappear in the solution. | ||
| 19 | PARTIES | They may be thrown by pirates at sea |
| (PIRATES)* | ||
| I could write here the same thing as I did at 15d. | ||
| 21 | HAWKER | Chapman wants her to take a week |
| HER around A WK (week) | ||
| 23 | DITTO | Some joined it together just the same |
| Hidden solution: [joine]D IT TO[gether] | ||
| I didn’t spot this rightaway, so it was probably well hidden. | ||
| 24 | SCION | Branch of science once half ignored |
| SCI (short for ‘science’) + ON[ce] | ||
| 26 | WOOED | What suitor did – and hopefully did about two loves! |
| WED (what our suitor hopefully did) around OO two ‘loves’, each of them being O | ||