Monday Prize Crossword/May 6
Armonie may not be the hardest of setters, his clues however are consistently concise and elegant. Nice and gentle crossword.
Definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.
| Across | ||
| 1 | MEAGRE | A German entering pool is skinny (6) |
| {A G (German)} inside MERE (pool) | ||
| 4 | COLD FEET | Apprehension of Old Bill in court (4,4) |
| {OLD + FEE (bill, lower case)} inside CT (court) | ||
| Cold Feet was a fantastic TV series that made me fall in love with Helen Baxendale. I wasn’t the only one, I guess. | ||
| 10 | SPEARMINT | Plant making weapon takes a lot of money (9) |
| SPEAR (weapon) + MINT (a lot of money, “he made a mint on the stock market”) | ||
| 11 | NORMA | Roman dancing girl (5) |
| (ROMAN)* | ||
| 12 | RATE | Judge to hold forth after scratching head (4) |
| ORATE (to hold forth) minus its first letter (‘scratching head’) | ||
| 13 | EGOCENTRIC | Selfish lad about to withdraw money (10) |
| ERIC (lad) around {GO (to withdraw) + CENT (money)} | ||
| 15 | ABUSIVE | A coach I have becomes scathing (7) |
| A + BUS (coach) + I’VE (I have) | ||
| 16 | LARKIN | Poet playin’ a prank (6) |
| LARKING (playing a prank) minus its last letter | ||
| The poet is Philip Arthur Larkin (1922-1985). | ||
| 19 | SKILLS | Society destroys facilities (6) |
| S (society) + KILLS (destroys) | ||
| 21 | ROOSTER | Toreros in disarray get the bird (7) |
| (TOREROS)* | ||
| 23 | TARANTELLA | Reservists went to announce a dance (10) |
| TA (reservists, Territorial Army) + RAN (went) + TELL ((to) announce) + A | ||
| 25 | PAWN | Piece of work boards vessel (4) |
| W[ork] inside PAN (vessel) | ||
| This was my last entry. I fear that W literally stands for a (very tiny) piece of work. I cannot find W = work as such in the dictionaries. The definition is ‘(chess) piece’. If all this is the case, I do not like the double duty of ‘piece’. | ||
| 27 | BATCH | It’s cold in the tub for this lot (5) |
| C (cold) inside BATH ((the) tub) | ||
| 28 | BATTERSEA | Whack pithy American in London (9) |
| BAT (whack) + TERSE (pithy) + A (American) | ||
| Some people do understand definitions like ‘in London’, yet do not like them. I am one of those. | ||
| 29 | ENORMITY | Evil and hatred consuming other ranks (8) |
| ENMITY (hatred) around OR (other ranks) | ||
| 30 | PAST IT | Wine stored in port and aged (4,2) |
| ASTI (wine) inside PT (port) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | MISTREAT | I met star – terrible bully (8) |
| (I MET STAR)* | ||
| 2 | AWESTRUCK | Fearful player in a scrum (9) |
| WEST (player, as in bridge) inside {A RUCK (scrum)} | ||
| 3 | RARE | Bloody unusual (4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 5 | OPTICAL | Prefer one state of light (7) |
| OPT (prefer) + I (one) + CAL (state, California) | ||
| 6 | DINING ROOM | Uproar popular with union member creates a mess (6,4) |
| DIN (uproar) + IN (popular) + GROOM (union member) | ||
| This was my favourite clue today! Great surface. | ||
| 7 | ERROR | Blunder has rascal guillotined (5) |
| TERROR (rascal) minus its first letter (‘guillotined’) | ||
| How many variations on the theme of [t]error are there? | ||
| 8 | TRANCE | Suspicion about player’s dazed state (6) |
| TRACE (suspicion) around N (player, North in bridge (again!)) | ||
| 9 | NIGGLE | Horse in river causes worry (6) |
| GG (horse) inside NILE (river) | ||
| 14 | GILLINGHAM | Cloth worn by unfortunate in Kent (10) |
| ILL (unfortunate) with around it (‘worn by’) GINGHAM (cloth) | ||
| After 28ac, here is another one: ‘in Kent’ ….. | ||
| 17 | IN TRANSIT | Isn’t train moving? It’s on it’s way! (2,7) |
| (ISN’T TRAIN)* | ||
| I have seen this before but it remains a very fine anagram. | ||
| 18 | TRANSACT | Manage brief response in leaflet (8) |
| ANS (brief response, ie ANS[WER]) inside TRACT (leaflet) | ||
| 20 | SHERBET | Natural flavouring put in plonk or fruit drink (7) |
| HERB (natural flavouring) inside SET (plonk) | ||
| Does SET equal ‘plonk’? I think ‘plonk’ is more ‘set down’. | ||
| 21 | RELATE | Tell of soldier getting fresh (6) |
| RE (soldier, Royal Engineer(s)) + LATE (fresh) | ||
| 22 | STABLE | Bishop enters antiquated firm (6) |
| B (bishop) inside STALE (antiquated) | ||
| 24 | RATIO | Proportion of a square in South American city (5) |
| {A T (square)} inside RIO (South American city) | ||
| 26 | FETA | Wife tastes portion of cheese (4) |
| Hidden solution: [wi]FE TA[stes] | ||
I got nowhere near finishing this
2d I’m not sure I’ve ever come across awestruck . In any case a scrum is certainly not a ruck (or a maul). Player =west is tough in my book.
12a Too hard for me
19a Again I don’t think I’ve come across skills =facilities. The hotel has all sorts of facilities does not equal the hotel has all sorts of skills.
23a Complete unknown
29a Couldn’t get it
14d I only had ?i????h?? and that wasn’t enough even to have a stab
20d I have always associated sherbet as being one of those powdery things in a yellow tube with a bit of liquorice that makes you feel sick -though I have been asked if a fancied “a few sherbets” and fruit drinks were not the objective.
25a Couldn’t get it even with ?a?n. I guess I ran through the alphabet but must have rejected it .
Thanks for the blog, Sil. In 20d, I also had my doubts about plonk = SET. As for 25a, I have no problems with W = work; it’s a common enough abbreviation in physics, e.g., W = F * d.
Bamberger @1: Re 19a, if a person has a facility for doing cryptic crosswords, he has a skill for that activity.