Monday Prize Crossword/Feb 3
A fairly typical Dante puzzle, pleasant and smooth – nothing too taxing (apart from 1ac, perhaps – well, for me it was).
Definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.
| Across | ||
| 1 | TICTAC | Signing for course (6) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| TICTAC (sometimes hyphenated) is a system of signalling by hand signs used by book makers at racetracks. Well, that’s what I read somewhere. Never heard of it, so my Last One In. | ||
| 4 | OTTAWA | Outrageous articles about Western capital (6) |
| OTT (outrageous, over the top) + {AA (articles, a and another a ) around W (Western)} | ||
| 8 | PRECEDE | Quietly withdraw and go before the others (7) |
| P (quietly) + RECEDE ( withdraw) | ||
| 9 | CAPTIVE | Prisoner active when out, quiet when locked in (7) |
| (ACTIVE)* around P (quiet) | ||
| We just had P for ‘quiet(ly)’ and then Dante presents us here another one. Nice surface, it must be said! | ||
| 11 | KEEP MOVING | Order one still refuses to obey (4,6) |
| Cryptic definition, punning on different meanings of ‘still’ | ||
| 12 | AWRY | Wary about appearing crooked (4) |
| (WARY)* | ||
| 13 | FATAL | Sort of mistake that could make one late (5) |
| Cryptic/Double definition | ||
| 14 | PLANTAIN | Flat round insect that’s a nuisance on the lawn (8) |
| PLAIN (flat) around ANT (insect) | ||
| 16 | PROPOSER | For a difficult problem he asks for a hand (8) |
| PRO (for) + POSER ( a difficult problem) | ||
| 18 | OH BOY | Expression of pleasure for wild all-out ballyhoo (2,3) |
| (B[all]YHOO)* with ‘all-out’ indicating to remove ‘all’ before taking the anagram | ||
| 20 | ASTI | It’s a rum drink (4) |
| (IT’S A)* | ||
| 21 | RUGBY UNION | Game for an old school get-together (5,5) |
| RUGBY (an old school) + UNION (get-together) | ||
| 23 | BANANAS | Prohibit article when nutty (7) |
| BAN (prohibit) + AN (article) + AS (when) | ||
| 24 | PURITAN | Strait-laced girl entertained by joke (7) |
| RITA (girl) inside PUN ( joke) | ||
| 25 | LIEDER | Songs the first violinist heard? (6) |
| Homeophone (‘heard’) of : LEADER (first violinist) | ||
| 26 | STAGES | Stations, or just platforms (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | THREE | As many as there can be (5) |
| (THERE)* – perhaps, the clue as a whole is the definition | ||
| 2 | COCKPIT | Where feathers used to fly, and [where] pilots still do [fly] (7) |
| Double definition | ||
| 3 | ANDROCLES | He played a lion-tamer, plus about 100 parts (9) |
| AND (plus) + {ROLES (parts) around C(100)} | ||
| 5 | TWANG | Pluck shown when one has the final piece of meat to eat up (5) |
| [mea]T + WANG (reversal (‘up’) of GNAW (eat)) | ||
| 6 | ATTRACT | Appeal when vehicle overturns in a race (7) |
| Reversal of CART (vehicle) inside A TT (a race) | ||
| 7 | ADVERSITY | Set back – very sad to get upset about it (9) |
| (VERY SAD)* around IT | ||
| 10 | DISPARAGE | Grasp idea incorrectly and belittle it (9) |
| (GRASP IDEA)* | ||
| 13 | FORESTALL | Thwart made of wood, entirely (9) |
| FOREST (wood) + ALL (entirely) | ||
| 15 | AGONY AUNT | Suffering with a relative? Write to her for advice (5,4) |
| AGONY (suffering) + AUNT (a relative) | ||
| 17 | PRIVATE | His life in the army is usually anything but (7) |
| Double definition – difficult to underline the definitions as they are a bit mixed together | ||
| 19 | BINDING | Mandatory work for a bookmaker (7) |
| Double definition | ||
| 21 | READE | English novelist to peruse soundly (5) |
| Homophone (‘soundly’) of READ (to peruse) | ||
| Charles Reade (1814-1884). | ||
| 22 | OPALS | Love slap-up jewellery (5) |
| O (love) + PALS (reversal (‘up’) of SLAP) | ||
Thanks Dante and Sil
Only started doing the FT crossword just recently and thought that this was one of the best puzzles by Mr Squires in either of his setting gigs. This is the ideal type of puzzle for a less experienced solver to cut there teeth on – not so many cd’s or dd’s as I’ve seen in his Rufus role.
TICTAC was also my last one in … and only remembered the term again when I’d looked up it’s meaning in the dictionary. Liked the other bookmaker clue as well.
Look forward to more Dantes of this standard.