Monday Prize Crossword/Mar 12
An enjoyable prize puzzle by Mudd which I didn’t find very hard. If I remember well, I found it even a bit blandish during solving – but that said, when writing the blog I was impressed by the variety (and cleverness) of the cluing.
| Across | ||
| 1 | SLAPDASH | Careless hit and run |
| SLAP (hit) + DASH (run) | ||
| 5 | ASHORE | Unprocessed metal behind tree on the beach |
| ORE(unprocessed metal) coming behind ASH (tree) | ||
| 10 | MILKSOP | Weak type manipulates work |
| MILKS (manipulates) OP (work, opus) | ||
| 11 | UKULELE | One’s played with Duke, Lulu and Madeleine’s hearts |
| [d]UK[e] + [l]UL[u] + [mad]ELE[ine] | ||
| 12 | RANGE | Cooker in sight |
| Double definition | ||
| 13 | RED CARPET | Ferrari typically leading favourite, those privileged enough to step on it? |
| RED CAR (Ferrari, typically) + PET (favourite) – this is, in my opinion, an ambiguous definition, but apparently it is just the ‘it’ bit that we need here | ||
| 14 | CASTLE HOWARD | King, say, welcomes moving to a Welsh country house |
| CARD (King, say) around (TO A WELSH)* | ||
| 18 | NINE OUT OF TEN | One unit failing regularly – given this high score? |
| (ONE UNIT)* + OFTEN (regularly) | ||
| 21 | MISERABLE | Being sad, reveals retreating into the distance |
| SERAB (reversal of BARES (reveals)) inside MILE ((the) distance) | ||
| 23 | SUEDE | Fabric affected when pronounced |
| Homophone of SWAYED (affected) [with thanks to Wanderer] | ||
| 24 | TOASTIE | Warm snack required, having to drink last of coffee |
| TO + ASTI(drink) + [coffe]E | ||
| 25 | VAGRANT | Bum elderly relative squeezed into barrel |
| GRAN (elderly) inside VAT (barrel) | ||
| 26 | RED HOT | Sexy queen put back on short loincloth |
| RE (reversal of ER (Queen)) + DHOT[i] (‘dhoti’ (loincloth), short of its last letter) | ||
| 27 | ESOTERIC | Nothing in secret, I suspect, is secret! |
| O (nothing) inside (SECRET I)* | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | SOMBRE | Grey hat, a quarter sliced off |
| SOMBRE[ro] (‘sombrero’ (hat) minus a quarter of it) | ||
| 2 | ASLANT | The Lion King, tale’s introduction at a particular angle |
| ASLAN (The Lion King, ie The Great Lion in C.S. Lewis’ Narnia series) + T[ale] | ||
| 3 | DESPERADO | Border guards peer suspiciously round back of lorries, seeing criminal |
| DADO (border) around (PEER)* which in itself goes around [lorrie]S | ||
| 4 | SEPARATE TABLES | Beastly accommodation hosting a repeat, awful theatrical work |
| STABLES (beastly accommodation) around (A REPEAT)* – a play by Sir Terence Rattigan | ||
| 6 | SOUSA | Composer from America, hence that country? |
| SO (hence) +USA(that country,America) – John Philip Sousa, best known (but not only) for his march The Stars And Stripes Forever | ||
| 7 | OPEN-PLAN | How the office set out golfing strategy, perhaps? |
| Double definition, I guess, the second one being cryptic | ||
| 8 | EVENTIDE | Competition I’d entered, only beginning at the end of the day |
| EVENT (competition) + I’D + E[ntered] | ||
| 9 | BUNDLE OF NERVES | Wreck observed with funnel cracked |
| (OBSERVED + FUNNEL)* | ||
| 15 | OVERSIGHT | Shrug one’s shoulders through obvious mistake |
| 16 | ANIMATOR | Film maker shifting main schedule up |
| (MAIN)* + ATOR (reversal of ROTA (schedule)) | ||
| 17 | INKSTAND | Stink bombs accompanying writer’s assistant |
| (STINK)* + AND (accompanying) | ||
| 19 | REPAIR | Fix on brace |
| RE (on) + PAIR (brace) | ||
| 20 | HECTIC | Very busy time’s ending in long climbing campaign, for a start |
| [tim]E inside HCTI (reversal of ITCH (long)) + C[ampaign] | ||
| 22 | RETRO | Reliving the past, drink lifted, though not the first! |
| RETRO[p] (reversal of PORTER (drink)) | ||
Hi Sil, I enjoyed this puzzle but failed to understand the wordplay of 24A. Thanks for the explanation. I am not happy with the definition in 13A.
Pete
Hi Sil
I communicated with Pete, who will be blogging the other MUDD for the week, on this one because I couldn’t get 2D (didn’t know Aslan),24A and for a while 17D. So thanks also for the wordplay on 24A which I couldn’t see. Dreadful word though, eh? TOASTIE. I see google has it everywhere but I had never heard of it in my life. Even us Australians who shorten everything and then put “ee” on the end say “Toasted sandwich”.
Thanks also for the explanation of 13A. But as Pete says it still doesn’t work. Surely the comma should be a “for” or an “of”?
I thought 14A and 18A were excellent clues.
John
I agree that this was at the easier end of the scale for Mudd/Paul, but an enjoyable crossword nonetheless. Also agree that the definition for RED CARPET seemed a little loose. Ticks for SOUSA, CASTLE HOWARD and NINE OUT OF TEN.
Two small points: 23, SUEDE, I read as a homophone of SWAYED. And 15, OVERSIGHT, I read as SIGH (shrug one’s shoulders) contained by (through) OVERT (obvious). So: OVER(SIGH)T with mistake on its own as the def.
Many thanks to Mudd and Sil.
Thanks folks, for your comments and not liking the definition of 13ac. There is somewhat more I would like to say about this clue (in relation to Mudd’s other disguises) but I am not allowed to do so yet.
Another thing that I didn’t mention was the fact that Mr H is apparently in a “I suspect” mood recently because it cropped up [thanks Boatman :)] in a recent Punk too, and in a Paul that still has to be blogged.
Special thanks to Wanderer.
You’re absolutely right about SUEDE and OVERSIGHT [one that I couldn’t really parse and thereafter ‘binned’ as a double definition].