[If you’re attending York S&B please see comments 32&33] - here
Monday Prize Crossword/Nov 10
Very straightforward puzzle by Falcon, ideal for the less experienced but none the worse for that.
I am afraid I have hardly anything to say about this crossword. Only in 7d and in 17d I put a question mark that may need some further explanation.
Definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.
| Across | ||
| 1 | AT NO TIME | Cook into meat? Never! (2,2,4) |
| (INTO MEAT)* [* = cook] | ||
| 5 | EARFUL | Inclined to cry? Not the first to get a lengthy scolding (6) |
| TEARFUL (inclined to cry) minus ‘the first’ T | ||
| 9 | IN THE END | Mean to apprehend ambassador, eventually (2,3,3) |
| INTEND (mean) around HE (ambassador, His Excellency) | ||
| 10 | TO BOOT | Closed trunk as well (2,4) |
| TO (closed) + BOOT (trunk) | ||
| 12 | HAUNT | Frequent search across area (5) |
| HUNT (search) around A (area) | ||
| 13 | OLD MASTER | Pole received by more mature artist (3,6) |
| MAST (pole) inside OLDER (more mature) | ||
| 14 | SHOGUN | Military commander to avoid admitting own goal (6) |
| SHUN (to avoid) around OG (own goal) | ||
| 16 | SKIPPER | Singular cure for captain (7) |
| S (singular) + KIPPER (cure) | ||
| 18 | TROWELS | We sort out about 50 gardening tools (7) |
| (WE SORT)* around L (50) [* = out] | ||
| 20 | SENIOR | First one to interrupt the Spanish gentleman (6) |
| I (one) inside SENOR (the Spanish gentleman) | ||
| 22 | LYONNAISE | Is anyone poorly after having starter of lamb cooked with onions? (9) |
| (IS ANYONE)* coming after L[amb] [* = poorly] | ||
| 23 | FIONA | Girl from fine Hebridean island (5) |
| F (fine) + IONA (Hebridean island) | ||
| 24 | TAKE ON | Accept a challenge from recruit (4,2) |
| Double definition | ||
| 25 | ATHLETIC | Strong and lithe, cat springing (8) |
| (LITHE + CAT)* [* = springing] | ||
| 26 | OUTING | Trip away in heart of Niger (6) |
| OUT (away) + IN + [ni]G[er] | ||
| 27 | TRANSMIT | Male in carriage, forward (8) |
| M (male) inside TRANSIT (carriage) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | ALIGHT | Burning land (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| 2 | NOT MUCH TO LOOK AT | What one with just one video has is plain? (3,4,2,4,2) |
| Double / Cryptic definition | ||
| 3 | THEFT | Fraud – article by newspaper (5) |
| THE (article) + FT (newspaper) | ||
| 4 | MONSOON | Male working just now in heavy rain (7) |
| M (male, again!) + ON (working) + SOON (just now) | ||
| 6 | ADORATION | A speech about daughter’s love (9) |
| {A + ORATION (speech)} around D (daughter) | ||
| 7 | FROM TOP TO BOTTOM | With spinner, against weaver, throughout (4,3,2,6) |
| FROM (with?) + TOP (spinner) + TO (against) + BOTTOM (weaver, Nick Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream) | ||
| 8 | LITERARY | Rarely worried about it, being bookish (8) |
| (RARELY)* about IT [* = worried] | ||
| 11 | ODDS | Chances drop of Scotch after rum (4) |
| S[cotch] (drop of Scotch) coming after ODD (rum) | ||
| 15 | GREENHORN | One learning new musical instrument (9) |
| GREEN (new) + HORN (musical instrument) | ||
| 17 | STILETTO | Settled up in the course of argument, weapon being produced (8) |
| TIL (reversal (‘up’) of LIT (settled?)) inside SET-TO (argument) | ||
| 19 | SKID | Small child’s slide (4) |
| S (small) + KID (child) | ||
| 20 | SWEATER | Set wear, relaxing? (7) |
| (SET WEAR)* [* = relaxing] – let’s call this an &lit | ||
| 21 | FAT CAT | Wealthy and powerful person in rhyme (3,3) |
| FAT and CAT rhyme – that’s it | ||
| 23 | FELON | Criminal following the Spanish about (5) |
| F (following) + EL (the, Spanish) + ON (about) | ||
17d Lit – past tense of ‘to light’ for which Chambers gives ‘to alight or settle’.
Thanks to Sil and Falcon
I got 17d and got the set to but couldn’t see why lit meant settle. I can see it now-the fly lit upon the doughnut.
Couldn’t get 15d even with g?e?n?o?n. I thought it must be an obscure musical instrument -never thought about green for new.
Thanks Falcon and Sil
Pretty straightforward although a little time was required to break into the SW corner – last in was SHOGUN.
Had the same reservation regarding ‘with’ = FROM – could see the sense if something was being passed to BOTTOM ( ie it was with TOP … and was going from it to Bottom) – but that is not the context here.
Hadn’t heard of Lyonnaise as cooked with onions before.
Did like TO BOOT and GREENHORN.