Monday Prize Crossword/Jan 6
Gaff is almost synonymous with topical themed crosswords and this one was no exception: “Ds down today”.
Being a non-traditionalist, I had at first no clue what this was all about. Until my solving partner broke the ice: the day of publication (January 6) was the twelfth day of Christmas, the day the Decorations should be taken down. This didn’t mean that from that moment on it was all plain sailing. We needed a couple of sessions to finish the lot. As ever with Gaff, some very inventive cluing but also a few things that raised my eyebrows. I think I am not completely on this setter’s wavelength, sometimes I find him really clever, sometimes Araucarian (which is a compliment!), sometimes a bit weird. That said, this was a good and more than average challenge for a Monday for which many thanks.
ps, “Ds down today” also meant that the Ds were all to be found in the down clues. A nice touch!
In the blog below D stands for “DECORATION” throughout.
Definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.
| Across | ||
| 1 | ABED | Lying about Balotelli ever doing headers (4) |
| Starting letters (‘headers’): A[bout] B[alotelli] E[ver] D[oing] | ||
| 4 | INCISIVELY | Small US company cut short visit, returning to small UK city with cutting edge (10) |
| INC (small US company, short for Incorporated) + ISIV (reversal (‘returning’) of VISI[t] (visit, cut short)) + ELY (small UK city) | ||
| 9 | INFERIOR TO | Not as good as intelligence trapping violent rioter (8,2) |
| INFO (intelligence) around (RIOTER)* | ||
| 10 | INNS | Fashionable pair of locals (4) |
| IN (fashionable) + N,S (pair, in bridge) | ||
| Just ‘pair’ decribing bridge partners I found a bit minimalistic but my solving partner was OK with it. | ||
| 11 | RISSOLES | Dish gives return address to singles (8) |
| RIS (reversal (‘return’) of SIR (address)) + SOLES (singles, crosswordic plural of ‘sole’) | ||
| 12 | KEEPER | Guardian stockist (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| 13 | UGLI | A lot of regular cudgelling bears fruit (4) |
| A regular choice of [c]U[d]G[e]L[l]I[N[g] would be UGLIN, then take ‘a lot’ of it: UGLI[n] | ||
| 14 | MONUMENT | Could be column of importance describing Greek character (8) |
| MOMENT (importance) around MU (Greek character) | ||
| 17 | REASSESS | Form new opinion about stupid woman? (8) |
| RE (about) + ASSESS (stupid woman, feminised version of ‘ass’) | ||
| 19 | SOFA | Notes run-down Chesterfield, maybe (4) |
| SO and FA are two consecutive notes (‘notes run-down’) | ||
| 22 | ORDAIN | Establish record Aintree entry (6) |
| Hidden solution (‘entry’): [rec]ORD AIN[tree] | ||
| 24 | IN A FLASH | Half a sin corrupted instantly (2,1,5) |
| (HALF A SIN)* | ||
| 25 | SUNG | Turn animals performed (4) |
| Reversal (‘turn’) of GNUS (animals) | ||
| 26 | EXHIBITION | Withstands show of salesmen (10) |
| Kind of cryptic definition – ‘withstands’ has to be seen as ‘with stands’ | ||
| 27 | EFFLORESCE | Forces feel sorry for flower (10) |
| (FORCES FEEL)* | ||
| 28 | ERNE | Inverness flier (4) |
| Hidden solution, one has to split In/verness: [v]ERNE[ss] | ||
| One more what I call a Guardianism, the other one occurring two clues earlier. | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | BUNTING | Singer swallows ground nut in street D (7) |
| BING (singer, Bing Crosby) around (NUT)* | ||
| 3 | DRESS TIES | I stressed about Ds with tails maybe (5,4) |
| (I STRESSED)* | ||
| 4 | ICICLE | Tree D is the point of cold water (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| 5 | CHRISTMAS LIGHTS | Temperamental D – its charms sort of border on insult (9,6) |
| (IT’S CHARMS)* around SLIGHT (insult) | ||
| Clever, I thought. | ||
| 6 | STOCKING | Holding fireside D (8) |
| Double definition | ||
| 7 | VOILE | Material used for D-day ending war about fuel (5) |
| VE ( (D-)day ending war, Victory in Europe) around OIL (fuel) – see ernie’s comment @1 who saw D as part of the definition | ||
| 8 | LANTERN | Communication with bird outside D (7) |
| LAN (communication, Local Area Network) + TERN (bird) | ||
| Just ‘communication’ for LAN I find hardly acceptable but it was clear enough what Gaff meant. | ||
| 15 | MISTLETOE | D overlooking show of affection (9) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 16 | REINDEER | D–Dancer, perhaps (8) |
| Double definition – Dancer is one of Father Christmas’s reindeers | ||
| Quite amusing, we thought (well, my solving partner more than the grumpy old man that’s sometimes me) | ||
| 18 | EARMUFF | Listener’s coverage of each mile in old D (7) |
| EA (each) + {M (mile) in RUFF (old D(ecoration)) | ||
| 20 | FESTOON | Onset of terrible hanging D (7) |
| (ONSET OF)* | ||
| 21 | BAUBLE | Singer holds a worthless D (6) |
| BUBLE (singer, Michael Bublé of “(I just) Haven’t met you yet” fame) around A | ||
| This Canadian artist is not the first singer who springs to mind but, OK, the solution couldn’t be anything else. | ||
| 23 | ANGEL | Top D for messenger (5) |
| Double definition | ||
I had an alternative parsing of 7 down as follows:
definition: material used in D(as with the theme)
with oil inside VE (day ending war)
Thanks to Sil and Gaff
Thanks, ernie, I prefer your reading to mine.
I am sure this is what Gaff meant.
I will adjust the blog.
Araucarian, eh? Well even if you only meant that some of the clues bent the rules a bit, that is indeed a compliment. And I hope there’s room for a bit of weird occasionally, too! Glad you liked it.
Yes, I indeed liked it and, to be honest, increasingly so.
Meanwhile, I am a bit surprised by the lack of comments on such an unusual (if that’s the word) Monday puzzle.