Monday Prize Crossword/May 27
Gentle, trouble-free start of the week with this Dante puzzle – for which once more many thanks to the setter.
Definitions are underlined wherever appropriate and/or possible.
| Across | ||
| 1 | SUPERB | Splendid Slav round-up (6) |
| SERB (Slav) (a)round UP | ||
| One has to split ‘round-up’ into device and fodder, something that has become common ground in especially the Guardian. | ||
| 4 | ESCHEWED | Middle West ground to be avoided (8) |
| [w]ES[t] + CHEWED (ground) | ||
| 10 | ARISTOTLE | Totaliser beaten by great logician (9) |
| (TOTALISER)* | ||
| 11 | RANGE | Row in the kitchen (5) |
| Double definition, the second one being ‘something in the kitchen’ | ||
| 12 | DIET | Health food council (4) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 13 | ABOVE BOARD | Honest description of the company chairman’s position (5,5) |
| The position of the company chairman can be described as being ABOVE the BOARD. By the way, Chambers has this word hyphenated. | ||
| 15 | SEIZURE | Sudden attack leads to capture (7) |
| Double definition | ||
| 16 | SWITCH | Flicker of an electric light? (6) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| I’ll leave this one to one’s imagination. | ||
| 19 | STUMPS | Must replace rider’s wooden legs (6) |
| (MUST)* + PS (rider, postscript) | ||
| 21 | EXECUTE | Finish off the job (7) |
| Double definition | ||
| One definition is just ‘finish off’ (as in ‘kill’), the other one is the clue as a whole. | ||
| 23 | REFUSE TIPS | Where dustmen work but decline gratuities? (6,4) |
| REFUSE (decline) + TIPS (gratuities) | ||
| 25 | ABLE | Qualified, the Spanish scholar returned (4) |
| Reversal of {EL (the, Spanish) + BA (scholar)} | ||
| 27 | CORGI | Choice of two keys I found in the kennels (5) |
| C OR G (choice between two musical keys) + I | ||
| 28 | OUT OF MIND | Mad at being forgotten? (3,2,4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 29 | RESONANT | Like a shattering snore by a worker? (8) |
| (SNORE)* + ANT (a worker) – perhaps (an attempt to) a semi &lit | ||
| 30 | FORGER | Blacksmith who makes money illegally? (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | SLAPDASH | In second part of race, sprint recklessly (8) |
| S (second) + LAP (part of race) + DASH (sprint) | ||
| I have seen this word clued many times before, but this one has a particularly nice surface. | ||
| 2 | PRICE LIST | Bill is brought to heel by what things cost (5,4) |
| PRICE (what things cost) + LIST (heel) | ||
| 3 | RATE | Think highly of degree (4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 5 | SHEAVES | They are bound to be shocks (7) |
| Double definition | ||
| ‘Shocks’ can be a number of sheaves of grain stacked upright in a field for drying. They are probably bound too, so perhaps for some not much of a double definition. That said, other items bound together may also be called a sheaf. | ||
| 6 | HARD-BOILED | Too tough for soldiers to penetrate? (4-6) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| ‘Soldiers’ meaning here bread or toast for dipping into a soft-boiled egg. | ||
| 7 | WANDA | At break of dawn, a girl appears (5) |
| (DAWN)* + A | ||
| 8 | DREADS | Flinches from an adder’s movement (6) |
| (ADDER’S)* | ||
| 9 | STABLE | Wound up the Spanish firm (6) |
| STAB (wound) + LE (reversal of EL (the, Spanish)) | ||
| 14 | SUBMISSION | Surrender of U-boat on an assignment (10) |
| SUB (U-boat) + MISSION (an assignment) | ||
| 17 | CRUMBLING | Breaking bread over fish (9) |
| CRUMB (bread) + LING (fish) | ||
| Another nice surface. | ||
| 18 | DEFENDER | Challenged champion’s delay about the final (8) |
| DEFER (delay) around END (the final) | ||
| Only a day after this crossword was published, Armonie had the same word (with a similar construction) on exactly the same spot in the grid. | ||
| 20 | SET DOWN | Placed in a losing position in tennis (3,4) |
| When you are a SET DOWN in tennis, you are in a losing position | ||
| 21 | EXPATS | Unusually apt sex for exiles? (6) |
| (APT SEX)* | ||
| 22 | TRACER | Missile makes a terrible crater (6) |
| (CRATER)* | ||
| 24 | FARES | Gets on with the passengers (5) |
| Double definition | ||
| 26 | AFRO | Hair-style for a transformation? (4) |
| (FOR A)* | ||