[If you’re attending York S&B please see comments 32&33] - here
Monday Prize Crossword / Dec 28, 2015
Wow, if I’m right, this was my first Cincinnus (elsewhere known as Orlando) and how delightful it was!
For the Guardian, as Orlando, Michael Curl writes Quiptics that are the best around in this low level entry field.
In the daily Guardian, his puzzles are two levels up and somewhere in the middle there is Cincinnus.
But not today, I’m afraid.
Elegant as ever with everything that we want in a good crossword, this was one of the harder Monday Prizes this year (read: last year).
It took me a while to fathom the bottom half. Got it all. More of this, please. Sheer delight!
Have a good 2016, everyone!
Definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.
| Across | ||
| 1 | BUMBLE |
Character created by Boz – weightless like Uriah Heep (6)
B (Boz, weightless – i.e. minus oz (weight, ounce)) + UMBLE (like Uriah Heep, ‘umble) Mr Bumble is a character from Oliver Twist, as one knows written by Charles Dickens who sometimes used the pseudonym Boz. I do not like ‘double duty’ but here it works fine for me. |
| 4 | HAPPIEST |
Epitaphs composed for the most fortunate (8)
(EPITAPHS)* [* = composed] |
| 10 | SNOWDONIA |
Mountainous region today with dead end stopping girl (9)
NOW (today) and D (dead), together inside SONIA (girl) |
| 11 | CHIDE |
Censure comic’s front cover (5)
C[omic] + HIDE (cover) |
| 12 | OGRE |
Monster undergoes partial reversal (4)
Hidden, indicated by ‘partial’, in: [und]ERGO[es] – then reversed, indicated by ‘reversal’ |
| 13 | CONSULTANT |
Doctor finding new ruler in bed (10)
{N (new) + SULTAN (ruler)} inside COT (bed) |
| 15 | AWKWARD |
Ungainly Oscar, say, coming round with king (7)
AWARD (Oscar, for example) around {W (with) + K (king)} |
| 16 | DETEST |
Can’t stand in odd parts of deep river (6)
D[e]E[p] + TEST (river) |
| 19 | BREEZE |
Task easily accomplished in cooler? (6)
Double definition |
| 21 | BLOWOUT |
Buffet revealed for lavish meal (7)
BLOW (buffet) + OUT (revealed) |
| 23 | BOTTOMLESS |
A Midsummer Night’s Dream isn’t so unfathomable (10)
Double definition Bottom is one of the characters in AMND. |
| 25 | ACID |
Police following a tart (4)
A + CID (police) |
| 27 | ARIEL |
Sharon’s Shakespearean spirit (5)
Double definition Ariel Sharon (1928-2014), Prime Minister of Israel. |
| 28 | REDUCTION |
Row about limited edition – from nine to five, say? (9)
RUCTION (row) around ED (edition, in limited form) Brilliantly disguised definition, in my opinion. |
| 29 | DISORDER |
Range riders do create confusion (8)
(RIDERS DO)* [* = range] |
| 30 | IMAGES |
Pictures seen one million times (6)
I (one) + M (million) + AGES (times) |
| Down | ||
| 1 | BESTOWAL |
Cream tea finally swallowed by bird for presentation (8)
{BEST (cream) + {[te]A inside OWL (bird)} |
| 2 | MOONRAKER |
Sail on ark with more at sea (9)
(ON ARK + MORE)* [* = at sea] |
| 3 | LEDA |
Helen’s mother in Swaledale (4)
Hidden solution, just indicated by ‘in’: [swa]LEDA[le] Leda was the mother of Helen of Troy. After being raped, that is …. |
| 5 | AMASSED |
A religious service English divines originally put together (7)
A + MASS (religious service) + E (English) + D[ivines] |
| 6 | PECULATION |
Criminal activity could be unpoetical (10)
(UNPOETICAL)* [* = could be] |
| 7 | ERICA |
Plant seen in New World, but not before noon (5)
AMERICA (New World) minus AM (before noon) |
| 8 | TREATY |
Handle termination of voluntary agreement (6)
TREAT (handle) + [voluntar]Y |
| 9 | ENFOLD |
English knight with fine former shroud (6)
E (English)+ N (knight) + F (fine) + OLD (former) |
| 14 | PACE BOWLER |
Cricketer with top hat under pressure (4,6)
P (pressure) + ACE (top) + BOWLER (hat) |
| 17 | SCOTCHING |
Putting the lid on a drink, getting home before midnight (9)
SCOTCH (a drink) + IN (home) + [ni]G[ht] (midnight) |
| 18 | STUDENTS |
Sixty per cent of stuff makes an impression on pupils (8)
STU[ff] + DENTS (makes an impression on) |
| 20 | ENLARGE |
Swell General Assembly (7)
(GENERAL)* [* = assembly] |
| 21 | BESIDE |
Bordering on ecstasy in less important recording (6)
E (ecstacy) inside B SIDE (less important recording) |
| 22 | ABOARD |
On a governing body (6)
A + BOARD (governing body) |
| 24 | TRIES |
Conservatives rejecting old essays (5)
TORIES (Conservatives) minus O (old) |
| 26 | SCAM |
Fiddle with small flower (4)
S (small) + CAM (flower, i.e. river – ‘my’ river!) |
Thanks Cincinnus and Sil.
Happy new year to you.
I found this at the easier and of the range and 19’d through it.
All very precisely clued with some good attempts at misdirection – especially Sharon in 27ac.
Cincinnus remains one of my favourite FT setters.
Thanks, Sil.
I agree entirely with your preamble. The brilliant 1ac set the tone for another of Cincinnus’ delights.
Many thanks, as ever, to him.
Thanks Cincinnus and Sil
A nice surprise to see this setter in the final Monday Prize slot of 2015. I actually did this one on the day, but still only got around to checking it off today.
Elegant and unambiguous clues that were mostly straightforward with a couple of new terms – BLOWOUT (as a large party) and BUMBLE (the character from Oliver Twist – was many years ago when I read it and he didn’t stand out).
Prior to this puzzle, I hadn’t realised that they had switched off the life support of ARIEL Sharon a couple of years ago.
Finished by getting BESIDE which fixed up an erroneous entry for BLOWOUT (can’t decipher what was originally written in as the answer now) and the minor Dickensian character, BUMBLE, last in.