Monday Prize Crossword/Jun 17
One always knows what to expect when an Armonie crossword is on the menu. Well-written surfaces, relatively simple constructions, average level of difficulty. This puzzle was no exception even if I have this time two or three minor quibbles.
Definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.
| Across | ||
| 1 | ESPRESSO | Bridge opponents demand order for coffee (8) |
| E,S (bridge opponents, East and South) + PRESS (demand) + O (order) | ||
| As part of e.g. OBE the letter O stands for ‘order’ but I don’t think it is a valid stand-alone abbreviation. None of my dictionaries offers support. | ||
| 5 | ICICLE | This eavesdropper will run away if the situation hots up (6) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| This was my last one in. Armonie never does cryptic definitions and therefore I was looking for a construction (which there wasn’t). Luckily, that very same day Rufus had a cd for the same word. It was my eavesdropping moment ….. 🙂 | ||
| 9 | EXPLICIT | Former president’s authorised to be outspoken (8) |
| EX (former) + P (president) + LICIT (authorised) | ||
| 10 | INSECT | Six-footer in religious faction (6) |
| IN + SECT (religious faction) | ||
| 12 | EXERT | Work very hard for penniless authority (5) |
| EXPERT (authority) ‘penniless’ i.e. without P (penny) | ||
| 13 | TREATMENT | Action to help mate floundering in river (9) |
| (MATE)* inside TRENT (river) | ||
| 14 | HEATED | Abhorred keeping Ethiopian leader angry (6) |
| HATED (abhorred) around E[thiopean] | ||
| 16 | FABERGE | Jeweller replaced bag free (7) |
| (BAG FREE)* | ||
| Peter Carl Fabergé (1846-1920) was a Russian goldsmith, most famous for the enameled Easter eggs he provided for the aristocracy. More about him here. And what a coincidence: this week BBC4 showed a programme (The Genius of Carl Fabergé: the World’s Most Beautiful Eggs) exploring the life and work of the jeweller. Still available on the iPlayer until mid next week, I presume. | ||
| 19 | PORTRAY | Present wine with fish (7) |
| PORT (wine) + RAY (fish) | ||
| 21 | CREDIT | Believe in direct production (6) |
| (DIRECT)* | ||
| 23 | SMELL A RAT | Become suspicious when Pasternak heroine tucks into fish (5,1,3) |
| LARA (Pasternak heroine) inside SMELT (fish) | ||
| Doctor Zhivago is a novel by Boris Pasternak published in 1957. Lara is The Doctor’s great love. | ||
| 25 | SOFIA | One sinks into seat? That’s capital! (5) |
| I (one) inside SOFA (seat) | ||
| 26 | LAGOON | The French behave in the water (6) |
| LA (the, French) + GO ON (behave) | ||
| 27 | TRIAL RUN | Turn liar out of rehearsal (5,3) |
| (TURN LIAR)* | ||
| 28 | SCREED | Mortar used for levelling a long passage (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| 29 | CHAMBERS | Cleaners accepting decoration in judge’s room (8) |
| CHARS (cleaners) around MBE (decoration) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | ELEVEN | The Spanish nonetheless produce a cricket team (6) |
| EL (the, Spanish) + EVEN (nonetheless) | ||
| 2 | PUPPETEER | Aristocrat keeps riding with favourite entertainer (9) |
| PEER (aristocrat) around {UP (riding) + PET (favourite)} | ||
| 3 | EVICT | Throw out 6 in 13 (5) |
| VI (6) inside ECT ((kind of) ‘treatment’, the answer to 13 – electroconvulsive therapy) | ||
| 4 | STILTED | Old Bob’s inclined to be pompous (7) |
| S (old bob, shilling) + TILTED (inclined) | ||
| 6 | CONSTABLE | One opposed to well-established painter (9) |
| CON (one opposed (to)) + STABLE (well-established) | ||
| 7 | CRETE | Half-heartedly set up in the Mediterranean (5) |
| CREATE (set up) with its heart (EA) reduced to E (‘half-heartedly’) | ||
| This clue’s construction can just as easily lead to CRATE because Armonie doesn’t tell us which part of the heart to delete. But, of course, CRATE isn’t something in the Mediterrean. Bit of loose definition anyway. | ||
| 8 | ENTITLED | Let it end with development being authorised (8) |
| (LET IT END)* | ||
| 11 | PELF | Money from chapel funds (4) |
| Hidden solution: [cha]PEL F[unds] | ||
| 15 | TURN LOOSE | Unrest developed when keeping toilet free (4,5) |
| (UNREST)* around LOO (toilet) | ||
| 17 | REINFORCE | Strengthen and control troops (9) |
| REIN (control) + FORCE (troops) | ||
| 18 | APOSTLES | Evangelists in employment? Drinks all round! (8) |
| POST (employment) with ALES (drinks) all around it | ||
| 20 | YARD | Cart turned up in enclosure (4) |
| Reversal (‘turned up’) of DRAY (cart) | ||
| 21 | CATARRH | Sign of cold makes sailor stay in car that’s hot (7) |
| TAR (sailor) inside CAR + H (hot) | ||
| 22 | HAUNTS | Frequently visits hotel with relatives (6) |
| H (hotel) + AUNTS (relatives) | ||
| 24 | ELGAR | The 18 creator upset student in frenzy (5) |
| Reversal (‘upset’) of {L (student) inside RAGE (frenzy)} | ||
| ‘The Apostles’ (referring to 18d) is an, at least to me, lesser-known work by one of Britain’s great composers, Sir Edward Elgar. | ||
| 25 | SWARM | Pole fighting man in crowd (5) |
| S (pole, South) + WAR (fighting) + M (man) | ||
| Now here is another abbreviation that may seem tempting (M=man) but it is not supported by any of my dictionaries. Unlike M=male and M=Monsieur. | ||
I too had misgivings about the O and M abbreviations.
(My Bloomsbury Concise Dictionary does however give o for order).
Thanks Sil.
I had blanks all over the place and thought this was the hardest Monday for a long time
I would never have got 5a,7d ,18d,20d, 28a . Some of the others missing I might have got on another day.
Glad it was you and not me tasked with having to solve this.