Monday Prize Crossword / Aug 10, 2015
Nice to have Mudd (at another place much appreciated as Paul) instead of the familiar Monday faces (Dante, Falcon, Crux).
Impeccable clueing from perhaps the UK’s best-loved setter (in various guises).
Definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.
| Across | ||
| 1 | PAPACY |
Catholic office better put back in the money (6)
PAC (which is a reversal (‘put back’) of CAP (better)) inside PAY ((the) money) |
| 4 | SHUT UP |
Front of shirt with Rwandan zip only closing – button it! (4,2)
S[hirt] + HUTU (Rwandan) + [zi]P |
| 8 | MONOCLE |
U-turn of Tory seen through spy lens (7)
NOC (which is a reversal (‘U-turn’) of CON (Tory)) inside MOLE (spy) |
| 9 | STUMPED |
Thrown out (7)
Double definition For once, I thought this was quite a good double definition clue. |
| 11 | HONEYBUNCH |
Darling, sweet thing given some flowers (10)
HONEY (sweet thing) + BUNCH (some flowers) |
| 12 | AXIS |
Central line where a figure pivots (4)
A + XIS (which is a reversal (indicated by ‘pivots’) of SIX (figure)) |
| 13 | GORSE |
Try thorny flower, nothing less, as prickly plant (5)
GO (try) + R[o]SE (flower, minius O (nothing)) |
| 14 | VIRGINAL |
Pure alcoholic drink circulating quickly around (8)
VIRAL (circulating quickly) around GIN (alcoholic drink) |
| 16 | CAMELEER |
Turmoil in vehicle for African driver (8)
MELEE (turmoil) inside CAR (vehicle) |
| 18 | GABLE |
Old actress? That’s not right – an old actor (5)
(Betty) GRABLE (old actress, 1916-1973) minus R (right), giving us (Clark) GABLE (1901-1960) |
| 20 | EDGE |
Advantage from deuce achieved, serving ace, by all conclusions (4)
Last letters of (‘by all conclusions’): [deuc]E [achieve]D [servin]G [ac]E |
| 21 | LIGHTERAGE |
Loading of barges, eight large orders (10)
(EIGHT LARGE)* [* = orders] |
| 23 | FOREIGN |
Extraneous rule written by extremists in fiasco (7)
F[iasc]O + REIGN (rule) |
| 24 | DIGITAL |
Enjoy every bit, mostly computerised (7)
DIG IT AL(L) (enjoy every bit, mostly) |
| 25 | ENTIRE |
Whole passage of statement I retracted (6)
Hidden solution (‘passage of’): [statem]ENT I RE[tracted] |
| 26 | AGREED |
Old houses are needing no introduction, it’s concurred (6)
AGED (old) around [a]RE |
| Down | ||
| 1 | PHOTO |
Mail company retaining sexy image (5)
PO (mail company, Post Office) around HOT (sexy) |
| 2 | PIONEER |
Adventurer, one occupying stretcher in Southend? (7)
ONE inside PIER (stretcher in Southend?, cryptically speaking)
|
| 3 | CALABRESE |
Italian lace designed to cover a European up (9)
(LACE)* around {A + BRES (which is a reversal (‘up’) of SERB (European)} [* = designed] Calabria is a southern part of Italy. ‘Calabrese’ is also a kind of broccoli, not here though. |
| 5 | HITCH |
Couple in difficulty (5)
Double definition |
| 6 | TIMPANI |
Not entirely quiet, about to criticise percussion (7)
TIMI[d] (quiet, not entirely) around PAN ((to) criticise) |
| 7 | PREDICATE |
Imply the existence of power I created is crooked (9)
P (power) + (I CREATED)* [* = (is) crooked] |
| 10 | ON AVERAGE |
Typically, Eliot’s fourth, ‘Murder in the Cathedral’, perhaps? (2,7)
[eli]O[t] + NAVE RAGE (‘Murder in the Cathedral’, perhaps) Cryptically, perhaps a bit loose but I can see the twinkles in Mr Halpern’s eyes when he wrote this clue. Murder in the Cathedral is indeed a drama wriiten by T.S. Eliot. |
| 13 | GRANDIOSE |
Relative measure taken to shackle Italian leader, as pompous (9)
GRAN (relative) + {DOSE (measure taken) around I[talian]} |
| 15 | RIGHT-WING |
Conservative moral victory beginning to grate (5-4)
RIGHT (moral) + WIN (victory) + G[rate] |
| 17 | ELEMENT |
Water, perhaps, something heated in a kettle (7)
Double definition |
| 19 | BAR LINE |
Nothing arising, cutting plain scored mark (3,4)
LIN (reversal (‘arising’) of NIL (nothing)) inside BARE (plain) |
| 21 | LAGER |
August coming up, get cold drink (5)
Reversal (‘coming up’) of REGAL (august) |
| 22 | GRAND |
A thousand pounds, good money in Africa (5)
G (good) + RAND (money in Africa, South Africa that is) |
Thanks Sil and Mudd.
Impeccably clued and over all too quickly with only BAR LINE, GABLE, and MONOCLE making it past lights out (and they all came to me within the blink of an eye).
I very much liked the idea of NAVE RAGE in a brilliant surface, so thanks again.
I had not heard of bar line as scored Mark before so I ended up with bar code!! Enjoyed it though so than you.
Thanks Mudd and Sil
A backlog crossword and a typically enjoyable offering from Mudd. Pretty straightforward but made a little harder than it should have been for a while by initially entering SUGAR BUNCH at 11 and AXLE at 12 – only a temporary hurdle though !
Agree that the very clever surface reading of the clue for ON AVERAGE can certainly justify the tenuous cryptic wordplay – lost a little bit on me, not being all of that familiar with the works of T S Eliot. Was also unfamiliar with the BAR LINE musical term.
Finished with the grid-interlinked PIONEER, GORSE and GRANDIOSE.