When I opened my paper this morning to find Brendan’s name on this puzzle, rather than the expected Rufus, with a fair number of inter-connected clues, I wondered whether I was in for my third stiff blogging challenge in just over a week. [Actually, perhaps I shouldn’t have been so surprised, because I find that this is the seventh time in a row that the non-Rufus Monday has fallen on my blogging day, and each time it has been a Brendan puzzle. I’m still not complaining!]
It’s rather daunting to discover that the key clue, as 15,22 here, is itself dependent on a number of other clues. I ignored it for the time being and concentrated on solving as much of the rest of the puzzle as possible. By the time I went back to it, I had CROP, INNER, GREAT and SOCIAL, all of which could be followed by CIRCLE, and PLAZA, which is a SQUARE, and from then things started to fall nicely into place.
Not that it was a complete doddle: there was enough neat cluing in the rest of the answers, as well as the theme, to keep the interest going and I found it a most enjoyable solve. Many thanks to Brendan for a pleasant start to the week.
Across
9 Part of target some attain nervelessly
INNER
hidden in attaIN NERvelessly
10 Run in front of a flag at sea secured by sailor in naval battle
TRAFALGAR
R [run] before anagram [at sea] of A FLAG in [secured by] TAR [sailor] for this famous naval battle
11 Cheese, one of ER’s favourites
LEICESTER
double definition: the famous Red Leicester cheese and Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, one of the favourites of ER, Queen Elizabeth I [plus a name-check for my home town]
12 Nincompoop that writes in ridiculous prose, initially
TWIRP
initial letters of That Writes In Ridiculous Prose – which took longer to see than it should have, as I’ve only ever seen it spelt with an E
13 Understood? May doubt, if it’s not pronounced quite right
MADE OUT
sounds like [if it’s not pronounced quite right] ‘May doubt’ – but they both sound exactly the same to me!
15,22 With 20, 26 across and 26 down and things that may be 8, 9, 17, or 24 repeatedly does the impossible?
SQUARES CIRCLES
17 Big jar, say
GREAT
sounds like [say] GRATE [jar]
18 Service in some games of tennis
SET
double definition, service as in a dinner / tea set
20 In open space most of drama is about extreme characters
PLAZA
most of PLA[y] [drama] round AZ [first and last letters [extreme] of the alphabet]
25 Ideal as some 15 are, such as 9 and 16
PERFECT
no cross-referencing of clues here: 9 and 16 are mathematical perfect squares
26 Confuse extremely elderly old conservative
FOGEY
FOG [confuse] + EY [first and last letters of ElderlY – and a fogey, old or young, is a square
27 Punitive person is more restrained outside
CHASTISER
CHASTER [more restrained] round [outside] IS
30 Educational establishment about to raise national standard
UNION JACK
UNI [educational establishment + ON [about] + JACK [raise] – a nice surface
31 Increase interest in security against debt very shortly introduced
LIVEN
V [Very shortly] in [introduced] LIEN [security against debt]
Down
1 Female coming to harm with Jack
JILL
not very cryptic definition for the girl who tumbled down the hill after Jack Edit: as pointed out by Rick @4, it’s J [jack – in cards – + ILL [harm] – which makes it & lit
2 Section of womenkind leaders get fired up
ENKINDLE
hidden in womEN KIND LEaders
3 Torture restricted to odd positions? Right
TRUE
odd letters of ToRtUrE
4 Laws in parts of US covering organisation of workers
STATUTES
STATES [parts of US] round [covering] TU [Trade Union – organisation of workers]
5 Dramas broadcast in Indian city recalled
MADRAS
anagram [broadcast] of MADRAS [Indian city, ‘recalled’ because its present name is Chennai]
6 Work of Da Vinci remains superior
LAST SUPPER
LASTS [remains] UPPER [superior]
7 Girl EU treated in a way that’s not so fair
UGLIER
anagram [treated] of GIRL EU
8 Whip ringleader held by officer
CROP
R [ring leader] in [held by] COP [officer]
13 Like a lot of 15 and one amongst 22 — marvellous!
MAGIC
there are many magic squares [Maths again] and one Magic Circle
14 Excelling on court, given latitude in trip
OUTPLAYING
PLAY [latitude] in OUTING [trip]
16 Hardly any conform to metric system on weight, ultimately
SCANT
SCAN [conform to metric system] + last letter of weighT
19 As for pupils, notice put up about book
TOP MARKS
reversal [put up] of SPOT [notice] round MARK [second book of the New Testament]
Grade As are top marks – my favourite clue, I think
21 Putting off claims I have reduced
AVERSIVE
AVERS [claims] + I’VE [abbreviation – reduced – of I have]
23 Get back area in African country after rising
REGAIN
A [area] in reversal [rising] of NIGER [African country]
24 Gregarious like this — unlike ministers, turned up
SOCIAL
SO [like this] + reversal [turned up] of LAIC [not like ministers]
26 Announced warning after mistake on course for crew
FOUR
sounds like [announced] FORE [warning]: I don’t understand ‘after mistake on course’, as I thought it was simply a warning from a golfer about to make a shot – and I don’t know why ‘four’ is specifically a crew, which, in crosswords is usually eight: however, 4 is a square!
28 Put down 15, say, as piece in game
TILE
double definition, referring to Scrabble tiles
29 Something shaped like 22 for lover or 15 for fighter
RING
double definition: a ring given to a lover would be circular but a boxing ring is square
Comments are closed.