Monday Prize Crossword/Jul 28
There was a lot to admire in this elegant Crux puzzle which, in my perception, was significantly harder than usual for this setter. I know, everything’s relative but for me it added to the fun.
While I’ll tackle any grid without much complaint – as a blogger, I haven’t come across this impressive grid. It has either short words (4 or 5 letters) or long ones (at least 9 letters) but nothing in between. A good challenge (for which thanks to Crux) despite one or two critical notes in the blog below.
Definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.
| Across | ||
| 1 | SMOKING GUN | Convincing evidence of a bad habit, possible killer (7,3) |
| SMOKING (a bad habit) + GUN (possible killer) | ||
| 6 | LONG | Pine wood with name inscribed (4) |
| N (name) inside LOG (wood) | ||
| 9 | SHATTERING | Straighten out with distressing consequences (10) |
| (STRAIGHTEN)* | ||
| The first of only three clues in which an anagram was used (which is quite exceptional, isn’t it?). This one is a nice but familiar one. | ||
| 10 | BYRE | One pays cash, say, for farm building (4) |
| Homophone (‘say’) of: BUYER (one pays cash) | ||
| New word to me. A byre is a barn for cows, a word mainly used in Scotland. A buyer doesn’t have to pay cash, so perhaps ‘say’ is doing double duty? | ||
| 12 | BELOW THE BELT | It’s not cricket to hit here (5,3 4) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 15 | OUTFITTER | Old-fashioned, more suitable tailor (9) |
| OUT (old-fashioned) + FITTER (more suitable) | ||
| 17 | EXTRA | More like one of the crowd (5) |
| Double definition | ||
| I think ‘like’ is a link word here. If so, not one of the best available. | ||
| 18 | BEGET | Have children, for example, protected by British and French (5) |
| EG (for example) inside {B (British) ET (and, French)} | ||
| I liked the use of ‘and’ in this clue. | ||
| 19 | ALL AT ONCE | Suddenly total a hundred? Extremely close (3,2,4) |
| ALL (total) + A TON (a hundred) + C[los]E | ||
| 20 | SECURITY RISK | US trickery is deployed to expose suspect terrorist (8,4) |
| (US TRICKERY IS)* | ||
| Perhaps the definition (as per example) needs a question mark. | ||
| 24 | CHAT | Rabbit or bird (4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 25 | OBITUARIES | We never read our own at the end! (10) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 26 | SOHO | London district’s heads of security overcome huge odds (4) |
| First letters (‘heads’) of: S[ecurity] O[vercome] H[uge] O[dds] | ||
| 27 | SECOND RATE | Doesn’t care about being poor (6,4) |
| (DOESN’T CARE)* | ||
| The third anagram in this crossword, not as familiar as 9ac but also one in the category “I’ve seen this before”. Nonetheless, a nice one. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | SASH | Medusa’s head has a decorative ribbon (4) |
| Hidden solution (‘has’): [medu]SA’S H[ead] | ||
| 2 | ORAL | Test for a listener to take in (4) |
| Or do I have to swap the fodder and the indicator? | ||
| 3 | IN THE PICTURE | Well informed, as was . . . . (2,3,7) |
| Double definition | ||
| On the dots one should read Greta Garbo, the solution to the next clue. Picture means film here. | ||
| 4 | GARBO | . . . . Hollywood legend spotted in dress circle (5) |
| GARB (dress) + O (circle) | ||
| Clever ellipsis! | ||
| 5 | UNNATURAL | A foreign note, possibly false (9) |
| UN (a, foreign, ie French) + NATURAL (note, a tone that is neither sharp nor flat (Chambers)) | ||
| 7 | OXYGEN TENT | Camping gas available here? (6,4) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| As one will know I am not a fan of (Crux’s) cryptic definitions [because I can’t write them myself], yet this is a really good one, methinks! | ||
| 8 | GREAT LAKES | Superior being . . . . one of five (5,5) |
| Lake Superior is one of the five GREAT LAKES | ||
| Deceptive (and effective) use of the dots. It suggests ‘being’ being a noun within the surface while, in fact, we should just ignore the dots. | ||
| 11 | DESERT ISLAND | Abandon one’s country for Golding’s novel setting (6,6) |
| DESERT (abandon) + I’S (one’s) + LAND (country) | ||
| Sir William Golding (1911-1983) wrote Lord of the Flies which was set on a desert island. | ||
| 13 | BOBBY SOCKS | They contain two feet of copper hose (5,5) |
| BOBBY (copper, policeman) + SOCKS (hose) | ||
| 1985, Eurovision Song Contest : La Det Swinge. | ||
| 14 | STAGECOACH | Sounds like a drama teacher’s old vehicle (10) |
| Cryptic / Double definition | ||
| I can see a stage coach as a drama teacher but I cannot see why Crux says “sounds like”. | ||
| 16 | TRACTABLE | Obedient dog cut down on food (9) |
| TRAC[k] (dog, cut down) + TABLE (food) | ||
| 21 | RATIO | He informs on No 10’s correspondence (5) |
| RAT (he informs) + IO (No.10) | ||
| Dubious definition, in my opinion. | ||
| 22 | VISA | Pass is required in eastern state (4) |
| IS inside VA (Virginia, eastern state) | ||
| 23 | ISLE | Part of way to the altar, an inch, perhaps (4) |
| [a]ISLE (way to the altar, part of) | ||
| It’s a big part of that way, isn’t it? An inch can be a Scottish (or Irish) island. That said, a nice surface. | ||
Thanks Sil
I had a different parsing for 2dn: hidden in (to take in) ‘fOR A Listener’.
Thanks Gaufrid, that’s surely it.
That said, looking at what’s possible here I would say: quite an interesting clue.
Thanks Crux and Sil
Found this to be quite straightforward. Had parsed 2d the same as Gaufrid.
Had originally written in OXYGEN TANK as an unsatisfactory more or less straight clue … but on reflection the camping bit made sense and could enjoy it for the clever clue that it was !
Did not parse SMOKING GUN … and I don’t understand why not ^^.
Re 13D I did not see any reference to the Eurovision singers, only ankle socks popular in years gone by.
Thanks to Sil and Crux
Well, ernie, there is no connection whatsoever.
It’s just me thinking of them always when I hear or see “Bobby Socks”. 🙂
[the tune’s still in my head so it must have been a well-deserved winner]