Anax. A name that spells a rough ride for a solver – this solver.
I saw a tweet from him recently under #CrosswordPetHates : Day 1) 25 clues written. Day 2) Remaining 3 written.
Maybe he understands how us solvers feel too – except our list often extends to Day 3, 4, 5 …
(especially when you are down to doing the blog)
How did this go: Day 1) 12 clues answered. Day 2) 5 clues answered. Day 3 and on) Couple of clues answered before using any tools necessary to get the answers to the remaining blanks (about half the puzzle).
Day 7) Look at the clues and answers and wonder why it was such a struggle
I’m sure there’s at least a couple of wordplays that need resolving.
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | MOBY | Doctor X, musician (4) MO (doctor) BY (times) Famous Vegan musician wiki link |
| 3 | APPRECIATE | See increase (10) Double Def. Seems obvious now but one of the last I got. |
| 9 | NEXUS | New and old American series (5) N[ew] EX (old) US (American) Clearly clued but I didn’t know the meaning tallied with “series” so another of the many “one of the last I got” |
| 11 | RED ENSIGN | Update about new flag (3,6) REDESIGN (update) around N[ew]. One of the “should have got it earlier” bunch |
| 12 | TOLERANCE | Give a cheer in rapture (9) OLÉ (cheer) in TRANCE (rapture). |
| 13 | BALTI | Swinging pots key for this sort of cookery (5) I put this one in from the definition and was flummoxed for wordplay till reviewing this blog just before it was published when I saw ALT as the key (as on a standard keyboard by the spacebar) then saw it is inside BI from swinging as in sexually active in both orientations |
| 14 | REVEALINGLY | Gary Neville wants training, so showing off? (11) (GARY NEVILLE)* AInd: wants training. First one in. After scoring a blank up to this point I thought it worth concentrating on the potential anagram that seemed clearly signalled except for my disbelief that there could be an 11 letter anagram of Gary Neville . But there it was! Magic. |
| 16 | GIG | Soldier first to get job (3) GI (soldier) G[et] A gig is Anax’s kind of job |
| 17 | COR | My band on the radio (3) Last one in. From the def. Clearly, this is a homophone of something that means “band” or “banned” but I cannot think what that is. Of the middle letter vowel possibilities Cor! is the only one that means “My!” |
| 18 | INCOMPETENT | Rival in tavern finally shot cowboy (11) COMPETE (rival) inside INN (tavern), [sho]T. |
| 20 | TWANG | John Thomas on the northern accent (5) T’ (the, northern) WANG (JT) |
| 22 | SUNDOWNER | Separate bottles to hold drink (9) OWN (hold) inside SUNDER (separate). Separate is apparently the most commonly misspelled word – not among crossworders |
| 23 | APOLOGIST | A sport’s meaning for defender (9) A POLO (a sport) GIST (meaning) |
| 24 | EVADE | Notice boards still unfinished, duck (5) A D (notice) inside (boards) EVE[n] |
| 25 | SPEED CHESS | Short game? (5,5) CD ref. to Nigel Short GB’s top grand master for as long as I can remember. Only tentatively put in at first – Is he particularly known for SPEED Chess? The first word is only in from crossing letter confirmation |
| 26 | PERT | Cocky, for a time (4) PER (for a) T[ime] |
| Down | ||
| 1 | MONITOR | Police car keeps circling home (7) IN< inside MOTOR |
| 2 | BOX CLEVER | After chest cold, handle manoeuvre (3,6) BOX (chest) C[old] LEVER (handle). Manoeuvre is another commonly misspelled word. (Actually I think it is always misspelled and the dictionary elves are having a laugh) |
| 4 | PARANOIAC | Deluded old man with raincoat, mostly drunk (9) PA (old man, dad) (RAINCOA[t])* AInd: drunk |
| 5 | RIDGE | Hills to cross, head off (5) [b]RIDGE (should-a-got-it-earlier) |
| 6 | CAN’T BUY ME LOVE | Money doesn’t work – I’m single (4,3,2,4) CD and Def. Youtube video I see that Macca has gifted the royalties from this song to PETA – Vegans are everywhere – we will stage a coup soon – a gentle one. |
| 7 | ARIAL | The face of sharia law (5) Hidden in shARIA Law That sort of face: a typeface |
| 8 | EANLING | Lamb‘s tendency to get left in the middle (7) LEANING (tendency) with the L (left) shifted to the middle Another new word (or rather, unknown obsolete word) for me it’s a young lamb or kid |
| 10 | STREAMING COLD | Reason for strong medical preparation? (9,4) (STRONG MEDICAL)* AInd: Preparation. &Lit |
| 15 | GEMINATES | Doubles as artist in abstract stage (9) [Tracy] EMIN inside GATES (anag. of STAGE, AInd: abstract) Get-able from the crossers and twin/Gemini but not a word I knew (dictionary link) |
| 16 | GREENGAGE | Odd bits of garden attract fruit (9) G[a]R[d]E[n] ENGAGE (attact) Underrated fruit IMO |
| 17 | CUTLASS | Steel of high quality, but not initially slicing (7) [b]UT inside CLASS (high quality) |
| 19 | TORMENT | People entering wrong hell? (7) MEN inside TORT. Why the “?” ? |
| 21 | AWOKE | Came to wonder about fine (5) AWE (wonder) about OK (fine) |
| 22 | SWISH | Classy soprano’s aspiration (5) S[oprano] WISH (aspiration) |
17, corps. Thanks for the rest.
17 homophone of corps for band. Thanks beermagnet for the ‘my’ bit.
oops, should have refreshed
Pretty mighty puzzle-thanks for blog.
lovely puzzle, thanks to Anax and beermagnet.
I’d love to know how many attempts Anax had at writing the wordplay for 14 before hitting upon something fit for publication!
Superb puzzle. My heart sank when I saw the Gary Neville anagram as I’ve had the clue, “In a way that’s telling Gary Neville to “get lost”, on my list of clues waiting for a puzzle for a while.
One of those puzzles where you struggle for ages and then wonder why because everything’s so obvious.
Re 13ac: Grrr! Missed the significance of ‘key’ yet again!
Thanks, Anax and beermagnet.
Wonderful puzzle, contained many varieties of clue, word play, clever phrasing, took umpteen visits to finish, but that makes it all the more pleasing to solve; even then could not see wordplay for COR.
Big thank you to Anax and to beermagnet,
I’m afraid this was too much of a 19d to be enjoyable for me. Only about 3 answers in after an hour, and things didn’t speed up too much from then on. The anagrams were tough too. Still, there were some great clues including BOX CLEVER, CAN’T BUY ME LOVE, BALTI and SUNDOWNER, as well as a few new words such as EANLING and GEMINATES.
Thanks to Anax and beermagnet.
Nothing much to add to the above but it’s nice to be in time to join in, which only happens on those rare occasions when I get a full week to fully solve the puzzle. During the week the room is empty by the time I arrive. I too was quaking in my fingers when I saw it was Anax, but on this occasion everything fell into place without too much of a struggle and no queries with the parsing. Thanks Anax and Beermagnet.
That’s for the triff blog, beermagnet, and to all for your comments.
Hope London attendees enjoyed themselves yesterday. I wanted to come down but, perversely, had a ‘good news’ reason for being unable to. My daughter’s new asthma consultant identified a chest infection, originally missed on X-rays, responsible for some recent nasty attacks. The meds she’s now taking will be of huge benefit… but they have to kept refrigerated, so we were somewhat tied to home in case of sudden requirement.