Monday Prize Crossword/May 14
It looks like Falcon is going to join Dante and Crux more regularly on the Monday spot. A well-constructed crossword that was very much on the easy side.
After the top half was more or less a write-in (which does not mean that the clueing wasn’t sound), I subsequently came to a kind of standstill for the bottom half. In hindsight, there was no reason for that at all but, at least, it made that I was able to enjoy this puzzle somewhat longer than I initially feared. Quite remarkable that we had only one Double definition (in 25d) and zero Cryptic ones [or does 18ac, which I couldn’t fully parse, contain a cryptic element?].
Definitions are underlined in the clues.
| Across | ||
| 1 | VENUS DE MILO | In dome, unveils new statue |
| (IN DOME UNVEILS)* | ||
| 7 | NIL | There’s nothing in prison I like |
| Hidden solution: [priso]N I L[ike] | ||
| Very nice surface, not the only one in this puzzle! | ||
| 9 | LEG IT | Run away on one heading for Tokyo |
| LEG (on) + I (one) + T[okyo] | ||
| 10 | ENCHANTED | Break dance, then, delighted |
| (DANCE THEN)* | ||
| 11 | ALTERNATE | Substitute to change number towards end of tie |
| ALTER (change) + N (number) + AT (towards) + [ti]E | ||
| 12 | GLOVE | Item of wear girl’s beginning to be very fond of |
| G[irl] + LOVE (to be very fond of) | ||
| 13 | REVERED | With no end of exertion, man of the cloth worshipped |
| REVEREND (man of the cloth) minus [exertio]N | ||
| Nothing wrong with the clue as such, but for me personally the solution and ‘reverend’ are too close. | ||
| 15 | KITE | Equipment placed next to English aircraft |
| KIT (equipment) + E (English) | ||
| 18 | ONUS | Burden borne by America? |
| ON (borne by) + US (America) | ||
| Not sure whether I parsed this right. Any other suggestion more than welcome. | ||
| 20 | MANDATE | A charge – chap gets time |
| MAN (chap) + DATE (time) | ||
| 23 | ALAMO | Area hit hard round historical Franciscan mission |
| A (area) + LAM (hit hard) + O (round) | ||
| This is, of course, about the Battle of Alamo, but where does ‘Franciscan’ comes in? Thought it was a clash between Mexicans and Texans. Many thanks to Mike04 @1 who provided a link that explains it all. | ||
| 24 | OWNERSHIP | Title of different wine shop is about right |
| (WINE SHOP)* around R (right) | ||
| 26 | PASSENGER | Commuter’s ticket – green, possibly |
| PASS (ticket) + (GREEN)* | ||
| 27 | ALLOA | Each and every adult touring old Scottish town |
| {ALL (each and every) + A (adult)} around O (old) | ||
| 28 | WIT | Hold back discarding a joker |
| WAIT (hold back) minus A | ||
| 29 | DEPTH CHARGE | Department’s demand involving hydrogen bomb |
| {DEPT (department) + CHARGE (demand)} around H (hydrogen) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | VOLTAIRE | French writer displaying anger after dance |
| VOLTA (dance) + IRE (anger) | ||
| 2 | NEGATIVE | Denying, say, being caught in local |
| EG (say) inside NATIVE (local) | ||
| 3 | SATYR | Greek god – son joining a Norse god |
| S (son) + A + TYR (Norse god) | ||
| Satyrs are forest gods, and Tyr is apparently the God of War, son of Odin. Tuesday is named after this Scandinavian god, not to be confused with Thor (the God of Thunder) who gave Thursday its name. | ||
| 4 | EMERALD | Stone me! Messenger’s topless outside |
| [h]ERALD (messenger, ‘topless’) around ME | ||
| 5 | IN CHECK | Under control at home, central European, reportedly |
| IN (at home) + CHECK (homophone of CZECH (European)) | ||
| 6 | ORANG-UTAN | Primate telephoned, absorbed by published article |
| RANG (telephoned) inside OUT (published) + AN (article) | ||
| 7 | NOTION | Idea unacceptable about island |
| NOT ON (unacceptable) around I (island) | ||
| 8 | LADDER | Large snake makes one run |
| L (large) + ADDER (snake) | ||
| 14 | RUN TO SEED | Lose vigour – manage to consult foremost of doctors |
| RUN (manage) + TO SEE (to consult) + D[octors] | ||
| 16 | BACHELOR | Unmarried man, composer, character upset |
| BACH (composer) + ELOR (reversal of ROLE (character)) | ||
| 17 | KEEPSAKE | Hold on to Japanese drink as a memento |
| KEEP (hold on to) + SAKE (Japanese drink) | ||
| 19 | STOPGAP | Check opening for caretaker |
| STOP (check) + GAP (opening) | ||
| 20 | MONARCH | Head of state needs month to carry on |
| MARCH (month) around ON | ||
| 21 | PAWPAW | Hand hand fruit |
| PAW (hand) + PAW (hand) | ||
| 22 | BASSET | Dog wager – fool collected! |
| BET (wager) around ASS (fool) | ||
| 25 | REACH | Come to a stretch of open water |
| Double definition | ||
Thanks Sil. As you say, an easy one.
I parsed ONUS in the same way as you. This clue’s been around for a while!
ON is being used as the ON in “The drinks are on me”. (That would good sometime!)
The Alamo was a Franciscan Mission in San Antonio, Texas:
http://www.history.com/topics/alamo, for example.
Mike
I couldn’t for the life of me get 3d not helped by son being sone in the online version when I printed it out .Sone “A subjective unit of loudness, as perceived by a person with normal hearing, equal to the loudness of a pure tone having a frequency of 1,000 hertz at 40 decibels.”
Thanks, Sil. I solved 3d, I knew of TYR, but, like Bamberger, I was completely bemused by the word ‘sone’ in the clue!
Yes, Bamberger and Jan, ‘sone’ was clearly a typo.
I thought solvers would see that, so I didn’t make much of a fuss about it.
Therefore I corrected it in my blog.
In yesterday’s excellent Monk the FT had even two typos (internittedly/intermittedly and deciptated/decapitated) – let’s blame it on the weather …. 🙂