Monday Prize Crossword/Apr 8
While I was expecting a Crux puzzle, I got an Armonie instead. Some think he is too easy and/or really worth a Monday, but I think differently. Despite the fact that nothing is too tricky, Armonie (just like Chifonie at another place) is Mr Smooth himself. Perhaps this was a five-minute-affair for some of ye, for me it wasn’t plain sailing at all. Good crossword.
Definitions are underlined wherever possible and /or appropriate.
| Across | ||
| 1 | PARODY | Earnings keeping staff? That’s a travesty! (6) |
| PAY (earnings) around ROD (staff) | ||
| 4 | ESSENE | Ascetic character’s not cold (6) |
| ESSENCE (character) minus C (cold) | ||
| 8 | FORCEPS | Penny is in the Army & Navy getting surgical equipment (7) |
| P (penny) inside FORCES (The Army & Navy) | ||
| 9 | HEN COOP | Circle contains enclosure where birds are kept (3,4) |
| HOOP (circle) around ENC (enclosure) | ||
| 11 | FOR THE CHOP | About to get fired? Away and ring the president! (3,3,4) |
| FORTH (away) + ECHO (ring) + P (president) | ||
| The only dictionary that I don’t have is Collins. Perhaps, they can tell me why P = President. | ||
| 12 | RELY | Be sure! Run and see (4) |
| R (run) + ELY (see, a cathedral city) | ||
| 13 | CHAPS | Leggings for men (5) |
| Double definition | ||
| CHAPS is short for ‘chaparajos’, leather riding leggings for a cowboy. | ||
| 14 | NO MATTER | Rattle on about award? That’s insignificant! (2,6) |
| NATTER (rattle on) around OM (award, Order of Merit) | ||
| 16 | SHERIDAN | Dramatist sees woman free a nationalist (8) |
| SHE (woman) + RID (free) + A + N (nationalist) | ||
| Richard (Brinsley) Sheridan, 1751-1816. | ||
| 18 | DRIFT | Dutch break the bank (5) |
| D (Dutch) + RIFT (break, as in a heap) | ||
| 20 | TRAP | Carriage in ambush (4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 21 | SHOPLIFTER | Thief pilfers hot stew (10) |
| (PILFERS HOT)* | ||
| 23 | UNDOING | Ruin a French execution (7) |
| UN (a, French) + DOING (execution) | ||
| 24 | WINDBAG | Turn crone into prattler (7) |
| WIND (turn) + BAG (crone, a not so very nice word for some kind of woman) | ||
| 25 | ENTAIL | Involve opponents with private eye (6) |
| E,N (East and North, opponents in bridge) + TAIL (private eye) | ||
| 26 | OTELLO | Count wears spectacles in opera (6) |
| TELL (count) inside OO (spectacles, ie the visualisation of them) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | PHOTO | Jerry hides stolen picture (5) |
| PO (jerry, a chamberpot) around HOT (stolen) | ||
| 2 | RICOTTA | Abstainer in Cairo cooked cheese (7) |
| TT (abstainer, teetotaller) inside (CAIRO)* | ||
| 3 | DEPRESSED | Poverty-stricken journalists going into action (9) |
| PRESS (journalists) inside DEED (action) | ||
| 5 | SWEEP | Keen to support Saturday lottery (5) |
| S (Saturday) supported by WEEP (keen, as a verb) | ||
| 6 | EXCERPT | Passage leads right into bar (7) |
| R (right) inside EXCEPT (bar) | ||
| 7 | EMOLLIENT | Men let oil reform as a cream (9) |
| (MEN LET OIL)* | ||
| 10 | THIN ON TOP | Slim and winning but losing one’s hair (4,2,3) |
| SLIM (thin) + ON TOP (winning) | ||
| 13 | COHERENCE | One crèche managed consistency (9) |
| (ONE CRECHE)* | ||
| 15 | MEDALLIST | Prize-winner introduces director to food programme (9) |
| D (director) inside {MEAL (food) + LIST (programme)} | ||
| 17 | RAPPORT | Blame drink for relationship (7) |
| RAP (blame) + PORT (drink) | ||
| 19 | INFIDEL | Popular communist leader is heathen (7) |
| IN (popular) + FIDEL (communist, Castro) | ||
| 21 | SINAI | Go astray on main road in Egypt (5) |
| SIN (go astray) + AI (main road, the A1) | ||
| 22 | ERATO | Patron of the arts in danger at Olympiad (5) |
| Hidden solution: [dang]ER AT O[lympiad] | ||
Struggled with this but after reading through your excellent blog I cannot see why.
Re 18a I cannot see the connection between ‘drift’ and ‘the bank’. Can you help me please?
TonyP – ‘drift’ as in ‘snow-drift’, a bank of snow.