Monday Prize Crossword/Mar 17
Yes, the first word of the first clue was “Bottom” but other than that this was a smutfree crossword by one of the UK’s favourite setters.
I often find that Mudd, unlike his alter egos, uses too many double definitions (in a way, lazy cluing, isn’t it?) but in this puzzle it was not that bad. That said, the more or less consecutive triple at 17d, 20d and 21d did annoy me. But apart from that and the IMHO under par 19ac, an inspired crossword.
Definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.
| Across | ||
| 1 | FRUMPISH | Bottom pinched by swimmer, dowdy (8) |
| RUMP (bottom) inside FISH (swimmer) | ||
| 5 | STUPID | Good to punch boss, as moronic (6) |
| PI (good) inside STUD (boss) | ||
| 9 | ARTISTRY | Playing sitar, go for creativity (8) |
| (SITAR)* + TRY (go) | ||
| 10 | PRELIM | Athlete back on prozac at first, for preparatory examination (6) |
| P[rozac] + RELIM (reversal (‘back’) of MILER (athlete)) | ||
| 12 | BELL TOWER | One roaring round town primarily to see campanile (4,5) |
| BELLOWER (one roaring) around T[own] | ||
| 13 | PROXY | Setter finally invested in lousy agent (5) |
| [sette]R inside POXY (lousy) | ||
| 14 | ITCH | Little fellow scratching head – because of this? (4) |
| TITCH (little fellow, ie a short person) minus the first letter (‘scratching head’) | ||
| 16 | PARVENU | Upstart with average beauty detailed (7) |
| PAR (average) + VENU[s] (beauty, Venus, minus the last letter) | ||
| 19 | CAR PARK | Spaces here in Noah’s aquarium? (3,4) |
| Noah’s aquarium might perhaps be a CARP ARK? | ||
| This clue might raise a smile for some solvers but it didn’t work for me. The weakest of today’s set. | ||
| 21 | GOYA | Artist unknown in part of India (4) |
| Y (unknown) inside GOA (part of India) | ||
| 24 | DRAKE | Duck introduction to debt collector (5) |
| D[ebt] + RAKE (collector, of anything – leaves, grass, money) | ||
| 25 | CANDLELIT | Romantic lad going out with client (9) |
| (LAD + CLIENT)* | ||
| 27 | MOHAIR | Second musical yarn (6) |
| MO (second) + HAIR (musical) | ||
| 28 | TROPICAL | Hot April, October briefly changeable (8) |
| (APRIL + OCT[ober])* | ||
| 29 | CORONA | Something painful afoot about orchestra leader with a trumpet (6) |
| {CORN (something painful afoot) around O[rchestra]} + A | ||
| 30 | SLAPHEAD | S for Savalas? (8) |
| S is the first letter of ‘slap’ hence SLAPHEAD | ||
| And the great late Telly Savalas didn’t have much hair, did he? A typical Mudd/Paul/Punk clue. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | FLABBY | More than ample babe regularly appearing in strip (6) |
| FLAY (strip) around B[a]B[e] | ||
| 2 | UNTOLD | Story yet to be read is thus beyond description? (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| 3 | POSIT | Suppose letters must include the ninth of them? (5) |
| POST (letters) around I (the ninth of them, ie the ninth letter) | ||
| Clever. | ||
| 4 | STREWTH | Oath required to spread article that’s unfinished (7) |
| STREW (spread) + TH (THE (article) minus the last letter) | ||
| 6 | TORY PARTY | The right people portray reforms in extremes of tyranny (4,5) |
| (PORTRAY) * inside T[yrann]Y | ||
| 7 | PULLOVER | Top stop? (8) |
| To PULL OVER may be ‘to stop’ | ||
| 8 | DUMMY RUN | Rehearsal – game over for Spooner? (5,3) |
| Spoonerism of: RUMMY (game) DONE (over) | ||
| 11 | TRAP | Mouth bit pulled up (4) |
| Reversal of PART (bit) | ||
| 15 | TRAGEDIAN | Actor reading a script, ultimately perplexed (9) |
| (READING A [scrip]T)* | ||
| 17 | ACADEMIC | Scholar of no importance (8) |
| Double definition | ||
| 18 | BREATHER | Break loveless dullard, heartbroken? (8) |
| BRE (BORE (dullard) without O (love), loveless) + (HEART)* | ||
| 20 | KICK | A thrill to put the boot in? (4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 21 | GENERAL | Catholic officer (7) |
| Double definition | ||
| 22 | CLICHÉ | Head of Christian Church involved in story? I’ve heard it all before! (6) |
| C[hristian] + {CH (Church) inside LIE (story)} | ||
| 23 | STOLID | Temperature in neither liquid nor gas, cool (6) |
| T (temperature) inside SOLID (neither liquid nor gas) | ||
| 26 | LAP UP | Greatly enjoy winning motor race by some distance? (3,2) |
| When you are a LAP UP, you’re on the point of winning a motor race by some distance (indeed, a lap, one round) | ||
I found this very hard and got nothing on the Nw and only 3 in the SW.
Didn’t get 30a but brilliant clue
I hadn’t heard of tragedian,