Monday Prize Crossword/Jun 9
Another Dante puzzle that will not change the world but one that was enjoyable enough, for which thanks to the setter.
Definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.
| Across | ||
| 1 | LAVISH | It’s pointlessly subject to being extravagant (6) |
| SLAVISH (subject to) without the S (point, South) | ||
| The S at the beginning should be deleted but Dante doesn’t actually tell us that by just saying ‘pointlessly’. | ||
| 4 | BRIGANDS | Pirates on land and in ships (8) |
| AND inside BRIGS (ships) | ||
| 10 | FIREPROOF | Not to be made light of (9) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 11 | NIGEL | He’ll give support in return (5) |
| Reversal (‘return’) of: LEG (support) + IN | ||
| 12 | LAIR | Rail put about animal’s den (4) |
| (RAIL)* | ||
| 13 | BILLPOSTER | One who sticks at his job and mails his account? (10) |
| One who mails (POSTER) his account (BILL) may be called a BILLPOSTER – the definition in the first part of the clue is slightly cryptic | ||
| 15 | SHINDIG | Dishing out for a party (7) |
| (DISHING)* | ||
| 16 | SLIP UP | Recalling students by mistake (4,2) |
| Reversal (‘recalling’) of: PUPILS (students) – due to the lack of a hyphen in the solution ‘mistake’ must be seen as a verb | ||
| 19 | ARDENT | Full of zeal for a new trend (6) |
| A + (TREND)* | ||
| 21 | DERRICK | Richard admits blunder with crane (7) |
| DICK (Richard) around ERR (blunder) | ||
| 23 | DISQUALIFY | Exclude underworld leader with pass (10) |
| DIS (underworld leader) + QUALIFY (pass) | ||
| 25 | SNAP | Break a spell (4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 27 | TORSO | Elephant’s tail, something like the trunk (5) |
| [elephan]T + OR SO (something like) | ||
| 28 | ALLEVIATE | A novice gets priest at end of service to moderate (9) |
| A + L (novice, learner) + LEVI (priest) + AT + [servic]E | ||
| 29 | DEMURRED | Violently murdered having refused consent (8) |
| (MURDERED)* | ||
| 30 | FLUKES | They are lucky most anchors have more than one (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | LIFELESS | Without vigour of late? (8) |
| Double / Cryptic definition | ||
| 2 | VERSIFIER | A fiver rise for the linesman (9) |
| (FIVER RISE)* | ||
| The anagram indicator here must be “A …. for” but I’m afraid I don’t like it. | ||
| 3 | SAPS | Pass around the mugs (4) |
| (PASS)* | ||
| 5 | RAFFLES | Gentleman burglar held to raise money (7) |
| Double definition | ||
| The gentleman burglar is Arthur J. Raffles, main character in a series of stories by E.W. Hornung. | ||
| 6 | GONDOLIERS | Craftsmen do in G & S role perhaps (10) |
| (DO IN G[&] S ROLE)* | ||
| Nice nod to the Gilbert & Sullivan opera The Gondoliers. | ||
| 7 | NIGHT | Almost terrified, initially, of the dark (5) |
| NIGH (almost) + T[errified] | ||
| 8 | SALARY | Sadly, elevated railway provides payment only for non-manual workers (6) |
| SALA (reversal (‘elevated’) of: ALAS (sadly)) + RY (railway) | ||
| 9 | COPING | Contending successfully with the top course (6) |
| Double / Cryptic definition | ||
| New to me: COPING = ‘the covering course of masonry of a wall’. | ||
| 14 | IDLE RUMOUR | Groundless gossip that there’s unemployment? (4,6) |
| Double / Cryptic definition | ||
| 17 | UNION JACK | Marriage, with something to raise the standard (5,4) |
| UNION (marriage) + JACK (something to raise, a device for raising heavy weights) | ||
| 18 | SKIPPERS | Masters taking PE? (8) |
| PE is part of the word SKIPPERS (masters) – that’s all there is to it, I fear. But not in the view of LesT @2: Double definition? | ||
| 20 | TILLAGE | Cultivation that’s up to date (7) |
| TILL (up to) + AGE (date) | ||
| 21 | DEFILE | Corrupt passage (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| 22 | EDITED | Revised diet arranged with Edward (6) |
| (DIET)* + ED (Edward) | ||
| 24 | STRUM | Plays guitar with spirit on the street (5) |
| ST (street) + RUM (spirit) – the definition must surely be ‘Play guitar’ without the ‘s’? | ||
| 26 | EVIL | I’ve turned left – it’s not right (4) |
| (I’VE)* + L (left) | ||
| I’ve seen many clues for EVIL but I thought this one is one of the best so far. | ||
Thanks for the blog Sil.
I parsed 23ac as DIS, short for Dis Pater, Roman god of the underworld and therefore termed as “underworld leader”.
18d Double Definition
Skippers (with boats) skippers (with ropes)… taking PE
Quite a few missing for me.
4a I never knew that brigs were ships, I thought it was a ship’s prison “throw him in the brig”.
I had idle banter for 14d which meant I had wrong letters for 23a and 27a
21d I’ve never come across defile meaning passage.