Monday Prize Crossword/Dec 1
Despite some very easy clues (16ac, 6d, 21d, 25d) I must say that I found this quite a difficult puzzle that took me much longer than the average Dante/Rufus. If others have a different experience it might well be that I suffered from an (I hope, temporary) solver’s block.
Lots of cryptic definitions, often used as one half of a double definition, to make life harder. Also a few clues with rather clever wordplay like e.g. 7d.
Definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.
| Across | ||
| 1 | MASTERPIECES | What musicians should do before playing them (12) |
| Musicians should MASTER their PIECES before playing them | ||
| 10 | ENABLED | Allowed to be clever in the dénouement (7) |
| ABLE (clever) inside END (dénouement) | ||
| 11 | TRAINEE | One under instruction to make a stand about wet weather (7) |
| TEE (a stand) around RAIN (wet weather) | ||
| Very nice: “to make a stand” leading to TEE (instead of the usual ‘supporter’). | ||
| 12 | ORALS | Tests for which there is something to be said (5) |
| Definition plus a Cryptic extension | ||
| 13 | AGGRIEVE | In time, a possible giver of torment (8) |
| (GIVER)* inside AGE (time) [* = a possible] | ||
| 15 | EXTRAMURAL | The kind of learning that is beyond the pale (10) |
| Double / Cryptic definition | ||
| Extramural courses are for people who are not full-time members of their educational institute. They do it literally outside the walls. From there, it is only one step to turn that into: outside the boundaries, beyond the limits, beyond the pale. But it took a while to parse it, also because I wasn’t familiar with the educational use of the solution. | ||
| 16 | LEFT | Abandoned? That’s not right (4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 18 | HOPE | A man without work should strive not to lose it (4) |
| HE (a man) around OP (work) | ||
| Nice clue. | ||
| 20 | GIVE RISE TO | Bring about a wage increase for someone? (4,4,2) |
| Definition (underlined) as part of a second definition i.e. the clue as a whole | ||
| 22 | NEW DELHI | Reviews we held in capital (3,5) |
| (WE HELD IN)* [* = reviews] | ||
| 24 | ICE UP | Winter cover raised in freeze (3,2) |
| ICE (winter cover) + UP (raised) | ||
| 26 | ISOLATE | Keep away from others (7) |
| (Not so) Cryptic definition | ||
| 27 | DRAGOON | Conscript cavalryman (7) |
| Double definition | ||
| 28 | SHORT SLEEVES | Features of tunic worn in a display of arms (5,7) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| It took me a while to get this. The ‘arms’ are body parts here, not weapons. | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | ADAMANT | First male worker in hard stone (7) |
| ADAM (first male) + ANT (worker) | ||
| I didn’t know that ‘adamant’ was also a kind of hard rock, with fabulous properties (as Chambers tells us). | ||
| 3 | TALISMAN | The charm of a Scott novel (8) |
| Double definition | ||
| As my knowledge of Sir Walter Scott doesn’t go beyond Ivanhoe, I had to wait until I had most of the crossing letters (especially the T at the front). | ||
| 4 | RIDE | Being taken for one may have dire consequences (4) |
| (DIRE)* [* = may have … consequences] | ||
| 5 | INTEGRATES | Makes whole – or gets near it, perhaps (10) |
| (GETS NEAR IT)* [* = perhaps] | ||
| Good clue, fine surface. | ||
| 6 | CHAIR | Seat of learning (5) |
| Double definition, the underlined word and the clue as a whole | ||
| 7 | SINCERE | Frank seeing that there’s a final note (7) |
| SINCE (seeing that) + RE (note) | ||
| Brilliant use of ‘seeing that’, very well embedded in the surface. | ||
| 8 | GET ONE’S HAND IN | Practice how to be a pickpocket (3,4,4,2) |
| Double / Cryptic definition | ||
| 9 | SELECT COMPANY | Elite advice to potential investors in equities (6,7) |
| Double / Cryptic definition | ||
| One of my last entries, not being familiar with this expression. Had to wait once more for crossing letters. | ||
| 14 | PUNISHMENT | Dostoyevsky’s partner in crime (10) |
| Dostoyevski wrote “Crime and Punishment” | ||
| 17 | MITIGATE | I’m about to draw gun in temper (8) |
| MI (reversal (‘about’) of I’M) + {TIE (draw) with GAT (gun) inside} | ||
| 19 | POWWOWS | Brave exchanges of ideas (7) |
| A powwow is a conference or meeting for discussion, originally held by North American natives (indeed, powwows) – hence the cryptic extension ‘brave’ | ||
| 21 | EYESORE | Poor Eeyore’s not a pretty sight (7) |
| (EEYORE’S)* [* = poor] | ||
| 23 | ERATO | Time to inspire poets perhaps (5) |
| ERA (time) + TO | ||
| The use of ‘inspire’ doesn’t feel right here. I have underlined what might be the intended definition but I don’t like it: ERATO inspires poets perhaps, the words “Time” and “to” indeed inspire something. Feels like a conflict between wordplay and surface. And because of this, I never thought of taking ‘to’ as part of the construction. Initially, I entered EPOCH (poetical word for ‘time’), even thought of an (impossible) anagram of ‘poets’. Hence, my SW corner with the difficult and incomplete 19d and 26ac became a mess. | ||
| 25 | IDOL | Hero I’d look up to (4) |
| I’D + OL (reversal (‘up’) | ||
Thanks Dante and Sil
Had a similar experience as you, inasmuch as there was certainly more grist in the puzzle than normal. SELECT COMPANY was my last one in and took a long time to make sense of the second half of the clue.
This was Mr Squires at his most elegant with a number of clues here (1a, 28a, 7d, 9d, 14d, 17d) and his ability to find a very unusual meaning of a very common word (ADAMANT). There were some seriously trivial ones as well (26a, 6d, 21d and 25d).
I read the wiki article on ERATO and it seems that she was an inspiration to Plato in his “Phaedras” and to Virgil in his “Aeneid” – might have to defer to Dante here.