For anyone who wasn’t there last Saturday at the brilliant S&B event in York (and for the ones that lost their hard-copy of this puzzle), Windsurfer’s contribution can be found here: Windsurfer @ York. Don’t read any further if you still want to tackle this crossword.
Eight solutions refer to the beautiful city where it all took place. These solutions are the ones in RED.
Many thanks to Robi (as Windsurfer is known at Fifteensquared) for an enjoyable workout.
Definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.
| Across | ||
| 1 | UNIVERSITY | In short, you might say not quite everything leads to regret when leadership abandoned (10) |
| UNIVERS[e] (everything, not quite) + [p]ITY (regret, without its ‘leading’ letter) | ||
| York is a university city, and a nice one too. The definition is a clue on its own: University, in short, might be U (homophone of ‘you’). | ||
| 6 | HVAC | In abbreviated form, it’s all that you need to stop the rot (4) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| New to me – Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning. | ||
| 10 | INPUT | Almost the end of a hole, say. On the contrary, facts and figures (5) |
| PUT[t] IN (almost the end of a hole, say), then inversing it (‘on the contrary’) : INPUT | ||
| As a non-golfer I hope I parsed this clue correctly. | ||
| 11 | ONION-SKIN | Paper that might easily produce tears (5- 4) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 12 | ANTIPASTO | It starts like the present, love! (9) |
| ANTI-PAST (“like the present”) + O (love) | ||
| 13 | OWNER | Master‘s depression, missing daughter (5) |
| DOWNER (depression) minus D (daughter) | ||
| 14 | MINSTER | I left to care for one reformed perhaps (7) |
| MINISTER (to care for) minus I | ||
| York Minster. | ||
| 16 | YORK | Dog that is not seen in the city (4) |
| YORKIE (dog, Yorkshire terrier) minus IE (that is) | ||
| York, where it all happened. | ||
| 19 | FOSS | Initially, lazybone’s forgotten to clean his teeth in running water (4) |
| FLOSS (to clean (his) teeth) minus L[azybone] | ||
| The answer is the river Foss which runs through York. | ||
| 21 | MINICAB | Tiny space in flat bed that is for paying customers? (7) |
| A ‘flatbed’ [one word!] is a kind of lorry as is CAB. If there’s only ‘tiny space’ in it, one can say it’s a MINI-CAB | ||
| Another one of which I hope my explanation is correct. | ||
| 24 | See 21 Down | |
| 25 | PUSHCHAIR | Minor transportation (9) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 27 | EXTIRPATE | Former head receiving note given by reactionary leader – cut it out! (9) |
| {EX (former) + PATE (head)} around {TI (note) + R[evolutionary]} | ||
| 28 | ILIAC | From hip Swahili actor’s part (5) |
| Hidden solution (‘part’): [swah]ILI AC[tor] | ||
| 29 | DEEM | Old reward returned to judge (4) |
| Reversal (‘returned’) of: MEED (old reward, i.e. an archaic word for a person’s deserved share of praise, honour etc (Oxford)) | ||
| 30 | MOLYBDENUM | Periodically at 42, my old bum half seen in bustle (10) |
| Anagram (‘in bustle’) of: MY OLD BUM [se]EN | ||
| Element 42 in the periodic table (Mo). | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | UP IN ARMS | Annoyed when baby’s not lying down (2,2,4) |
| Double / Cryptic definition | ||
| 2 | IMPOTENT | Setter’s powerful ……. or maybe not (8) |
| I’M (setter’s) + POTENT (powerful) | ||
| 3 | EAT UP | Tae preoccupy? (3,2) |
| Reverse device, indicated by the question mark: EAT, written UPwards, would give us ‘Tae’ | ||
| 4 | SPONSOR | One gives a hand to rectify Spooner’s lack of energy (7) |
| Anagram (‘to rectify’) of: SPOON[e]R’S, with the deleted E being ‘energy’ | ||
| 5 | TRILOGY | Attempt to introduce preposterous game element into stories (7) |
| TRY (attempt) around a reversal (‘preposterous’) of {GO (game) + LI (element, Lithium)} | ||
| LI for ‘element’ might not be to everyone’s taste but it is undoubtedly an ‘element’ (like 30ac is one). | ||
| 7,8 | VIKING CENTRE | Clue to location of K1, a tourist attraction? (6,6) |
| KI (1=I) is at the centre of the VIKING | ||
| See: http://jorvik-viking-centre.co.uk/ | ||
| 9 | ANDORRAN | European republican with gold executed (8) |
| AND (with) + OR (gold) + RAN (executed) | ||
| 15 | TROUSERS | Steals bags (8) |
| Double definition | ||
| 17 | OCCASION | Cause affair (8) |
| Double definition | ||
| 18 | EBORACUM | Almost mess up a dress in old city (8) |
| Reversal (‘up’) of: MUC[k] (mess up, almost) + A ROBE (a dress) | ||
| Am I right that ‘up’, perhaps a bit ill-positioned, is doing double duty here? The solution is the Roman name for York. | ||
| 20 | SOPRANO | TV gangster at the top of her profession (7) |
| Double / Cryptic definition | ||
| 21,24 | MYSTERY PLAYS | Desperate army-style spy reveals secret sketches (7,5) |
| Anagram (‘desperate’) of: ARMY-STYLE SPY | ||
| See: http://www.yorkmysteryplays.co.uk/ | ||
| 22 | SPREAD | Special book cover (6) |
| SP (special) + READ (book) | ||
| 23 | CASTLE | Man that exchanges places (6) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| Think Chess, and for the solution see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/York_Castle | ||
| 26 | CHILD | Cool that the French ignored issue (5) |
| CHILLED (cool) minus LE (the, French) | ||
Even after Enigmatist today, this is too hard, especially without the York hint, too many woolly cryptic defs and frankly undefinifed answers. As for tae* the least said the better. Sorry needs work.
Well I quite enjoyed this but have to admit that HVAC defeated me. I agree with flashling that some of them could have done with clearer definitions. Having done Windsurfers’s Derby puzzle (which was easier) I was expecting the York theme.
Many thanks guys for spending your time on this and to Sil for the blog.
I realise that this would have been very difficult without the YORK context, but I thought the picture on the puzzle and the insertion of YORK as an answer at 16a would provide the necessary clue.
flashling, 3 is not really tae* but EAT UP as it says in the answer. This was rated as one of the favourite clues by the test solver, so I guess it’s horses for courses. I think/hope the only undefined answers are the cds. The definition in 1a was a bit naughty but I thought the ‘in short’ would suffice to indicate that ‘U’ was the abbreviated definition.
Any further thoughts would be appreciated.
Actually it’s just not really that it’s tae* but the word doesn’t work in normal English, it shouts out look at me as fodder. Sorry Robi, I’d had a bad day doing Enigmatist 🙂 I’ll have another look on a better day to give it a better criticism.
PS I forgot to mention the SPONSOR clue which I liked for its avoidance of Spoonerisms. EAT UP was my first in, but having an easyish entry point shouldn’t be a criticism, so thanks Windsurfer/Robi (and sorry I didn’t get round to talking to you in York).
Thanks beery hiker; I was a bit unsociable at the meeting due to marvelling at the brains on my table solving the Elgar, Dalibor and this, as well as getting most of the quiz.
I’m still amazed that folks go to an S&B do and solve crosswords. Surely it’s just an excuse for a few drinks with friends 🙂