Monday Prize Crossword / Sep 21, 2015
It’s been a while since we had a Crux crossword but here he is again, with the inclusion of quite a few cryptic definitions.
In my opinion, this device is not Crux’s forte – so perhaps Hamish may find me grumpy again.
I couldn’t parse 18ac, therefore any help is much appreciated.
Definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.
| Across | ||
| 1 | DANGER SIGNAL |
Red alert heard when landing gear’s faulty (6,6)
(LANDING GEAR’S)* [* = faulty] |
| 10 | ANAGRAM |
There can be one of three (7)
THERE can be an anagram of THREE. |
| 11 | DILEMMA |
Cover over Miss Woodhouse’s predicament (7)
DIL (reversal, indicated by ‘over’, of LID (cover)) + EMMA (Miss Woodhouse, think: Jane Austen) |
| 12 | IRENE |
Wire netting used to create a Greek goddess (5)
Hidden solution, indicated by ‘used to create’: [w]IRE NE[tting] |
| 13 | BARN DOOR |
You could hardly miss it on the farm! (4,4)
Double definition |
| 15 | ABSTINENCE |
During leave the money goes fast (10)
TIN ((the) money) inside ABSENCE (leave) |
| 16 | SLUR |
Slight speech impediment . . .. (4)
Double definition |
| 18 | LISP |
. . . . and another, making you sound “’stupid” not “unwell”! (4)
I’m afraid I cannot explain this one but I’m sure that someone will come up with something brilliant See comment 1. |
| 20 | ASTRINGENT |
Inert gas, not explosive without oxygen, is harsh (10)
(INERT GAS N[o]T)* , the deleted letter being O for ‘oxygen’ [* = explosive] |
| 22 | TRICKERY |
Funny business that may leave one feeling abused, not amused (8)
Cryptic definition |
| 24 | NOBEL |
Sort of prizes the good French sent back (5)
Reversal, indicated by ‘sent back’, of: LE BON (the good, in French) |
| 26 | EARBASH |
Rabbit down under (7)
Cryptic definition |
| 27 | LEG-IRON |
Run in the army? Not wearing this! (3-4)
R (run) inside LEGION ((the) army) |
| 28 | POLE POSITION |
East European place much preferred by drivers (4,8)
POLE (East European) + POSITION (place) |
| Down | ||
| 2 | AWAKENS |
Comes round in the morning, normally (7)
Cryptic / Double definition |
| 3 | GARDENIA |
Flower in appropriate place, excellent for mounting (8)
GARDEN (appropriate place, for a flower) + IA (reversal, indicated by ‘mounting’, of A1 (excellent)) |
| 4 | ROMP |
Child’s play leads to row over missing props (4)
Starting letters, indicated by ‘leads to’, of: R[ow] O[ver] M[issing] P[rops] |
| 5 | INDIAN CORN |
Iron, acid and double nitrogen found in maize (6,4)
(IRON + ACID + N,N (nitrogen, twice))* [* = found (in)] |
| 6 | NYLON |
Material only manufactured with needles, originally (5)
(ONLY + N[eedles])* [* = manufactured] |
| 7 | LAMP OIL |
Nightingale’s nightly fuel requirement, presumably (4,3)
Cryptic definition |
| 8 | CAPITAL LETTER |
What prisoners require starting sentence (7,6)
Cryptic definition |
| 9 | SABRE-RATTLING |
Threatening noises made by angry bears? (5-8)
Reverse anagram: with ‘rattling’ as the indicator to tell us that SABRE can become BEARS – no need for ‘angry’ though |
| 14 | CENSORSHIP |
Doubly appropriate name for a cutter, say (10)
Kind of reverse double definition: a CENSOR can be seen as ‘a cutter’ while ‘a cutter’ is also a SHIP |
| 17 | ONE-NIGHT |
A single chessman (not the King) can make such a stand (3- 5)
ONE ((a) single) + NIGHT (i.e. KNIGHT (chessman) minus K (King)) |
| 19 | STIRRUP |
Mix is about right in this kind of cup (7)
STIR UP (mix) around R (right) |
| 21 | EMBARGO |
Trade stoppage, therefore must hide a degree of business (7)
ERGO (therefore) around MBA (a degree) |
| 23 | KRAAL |
A bottomless lake and river development in South Africa (5)
(A + LAK[e] + R (river))* [* = development] |
| 25 | ALAS |
Article upset Sarah, sadly (4)
A (article) + LAS (reversal, indicated by ‘upset’, of SAL (Sarah)) |
Thanks Sil and Crux.
18ac A LISP would make you say “thick”(stupid) for “sick”(unwell).
Thanks Sil and Crux – and to scchua for explaining LISP which was beyond me.
I’m feeling a bit grumpy about many of the clues here. BARN DOOR, TRICKERY, and AWAKENS all seemed a bit weak and I got, but still don’t know why prisoners require a CAPITAL LETTER.
Nothing wrong with being a grump – especially when you’re standing on a train spreading your man flu around!
Hamish, 8D is presumably a reference to a prisoner receiving a capital punishment.
Regarding 8d the word ‘prisoners’ starting a sentence would require a capital letter! Not a bad clue in my opinion.
On the whole,I enjoyed this puzzle, 26 ac (earbash) being my only real complaint, as it requires you to know that this use of the word is an ‘Australianism’! Thanks Crux.
I agree Hamish. Struggled with lots of the CDs. Rabbit meaning earbash in Australia I had to Google to see if my guess was correct. Still I finally finished it, so thanks Sil and Crux.
Thanks Crux and Sil
Completed this one on Saturday and noticed the unusually large number of cryptic definitions with it. Now that Musca@4 has explained CAPITAL LETTER and scchua has cleared up LISP, I appreciate both of those clues a lot more than when I solved them.
Found it generally pretty straightforward going and although it was one of the later clues to be solved, EARBASH was naturally a gimme of a definition for me.
Last one in was KRAAL which took quite a while to understand why it was the answer.
I agree with you, Hamish.