I have in my hand a piece of paper…and unfortunately this is the last time I will be able to say that about a newsprint copy of an Indy Prize Cryptic (;+<)
(My understanding is that this Saturday’s puzzle – in the last ever printed Indy, on March 26th – will not be a prize puzzle, so it falls to me to perform the last rites…. )
I suspect neither the editor nor Donk were aware of the impending demise of the prize puzzle series when this was set/scheduled, as I can’t see any special valedictory theme or Nina, apart from maybe ‘LORN’ across the middle row. Chambers has this as “lorn (archaic) adj lost; forsaken“, which pretty much sums up how I will feel on a Saturday morning, without my Prize Cryptic, Inquisitor, Jumbo General Knowledge or Super Sudoku. There is also OBIT at 11A, which could be a coincidence, or deliberate – alas poor Indy, I knew it well…?
Anyway, this is supposed to be about the puzzle…which I found an enjoyable, but not too taxing, solve. Some excellent surface readings – I’m not sure how ‘attentive’ you would want a urologist to be (20A), for example!? I enjoyed 15A, with the doorknob providing a means of escape from a sex-starved revolutionary, and the poor teacher in 3D with just a few, broken, short bits of chalk to ply his trade…
At one point – with DOORKNOB, ELOQUENT and SKYSCRAPER it looked like we might be heading for a pangram, but I think it is short by J, V, X and Z.
At 16D, this was the second time recently that I have seen RHS clued as ‘gardeners’ – a recent Grauniad maybe? – but I was a bit wary of putting RHODES in straight away as I think of Rhodes as an island, more than a city…but it turns out the main city on Rhodes is called…Rhodes!
LOI was 10A SHANDYGAFF – a new word to me which needed a quick check. I spent a while trying to make this something like ‘SHANDYHALF’ – S (small) + HANDY (close by) + H (house) + something meaning ALF! So there we have it – learning something new right down to the last clue standing…
Not a lot else to say, except many thanks to Donk, for this puzzle, and to all the setters and editors over the years. I hope the online Indy will continue to provide an outlet for your puzzles going forward.
I shall miss the Indy (and Sindy) – not just for the puzzles but as newspapers as well. I have been lucky enough to win a fair number of prize puzzles over the years – it always seemed a bit ‘coals to Newcastle’ to give a crossword prize winner a dictionary, as they are more likely than most to have a few already?! However, they have made excellent birthday and Xmas presents, and several have been donated to local schools. I still have a bottle of prosecco from a recent Inquisitor win – maybe I will crack that open on Saturday afternoon to toast farewell to an old friend…
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 1A | STAINPROOF | Pairs of pants, not individually wrapped, can’t be dirty (10) | can’t be dirty / S(T)AI(N)PR(O)OF – anag (i.e. pants) of PAIRS OF, with the letters of N-O-T individually wrapped |
|
| 8A | SITUATED | Put satisfied tours in the upgrades, originally (8) | put / S_ATED (satisfied) around (touring) ITU (original letters of ‘In The Upgrades’) |
|
| 9A | ENTRÉE | Dish: how it’s served to the audience? (6) | dish / homophone (i.e. to the audience) – pronounced the French way (is there any other?) ‘ENTRÉE’ sounds like ‘ON TRAY’, which might be how it is served |
|
| 10A | SHANDYGAFF | Small close by house is lighter option for drinking (10) | lighter option for drinking / S (small) + HANDY (close by) + GAFF (house) |
|
| 11A | OBIT | Late report as nothing took effect (4) | late report / O (zero, nothing) + BIT (took effect) |
|
| 12A | CEREAL | Deviant relaces, not beginning to sow one’s oats (6) | one’s oats / anag (i.e. deviant) of RELACE(S) – without S – the beginning letter of Sow |
|
| 14A | ELECTION | Exchanging tips on Labour, building vote (8) | vote / E( |
|
| 15A | DOORKNOB | Have sex with cross revolutionary and need to escape! (8) | need(ed) to escape! / BONK (have sex with) + ROOD (cross) – all revolutionary, or reversed |
|
| 18A | ANGLED | Did fish set position (6) | double defn / ANGLE can mean to fish, or to position something |
|
| 20A | EURO | Mark’s replacement admitted by attentive urologist (4) | (former German currency) mark’s replacement / hidden word (i.e. admitted by) ‘attentivE UROlogist’ |
|
| 21A | CONFORMITY | Sparkling urban hosts in agreement (10) | agreement / C_ITY (urban) around (hosting) ON FORM (sparkling) |
|
| 23A | ANGELA | Change lanes, overtaking woman (6) | woman / hidden word (i.e. overtaking) in ‘chANGE LAnes’ |
|
| 24A | NIHILIST | Turning in targets for assassin (no. 3 killed) who’s very sceptical (8) | (one) who’s very sceptical / NI (in, turning) + HI(T)LIST (an assassin’s targets, with 3rd letter ‘killed’) |
|
| 25A | SKYSCRAPER | Cissy regularly finds space again outside revolving tower (10) | tower / REPAR_KS (finds a space again) around CSY (regular letters of CiSsY) – all revolving |
|
| Down | ||||
| Clue No | Solution | Clue | Definition (with occasional embellishments) / Logic/parsing |
|
| 1D | SWISH | Fancy Bob Hope (5) | fancy / S (shilling, bob, in old money) + WISH (hope) |
|
| 2D | ALUMNAE | Graduates from a smoker – Scot’s certainly not (7) | graduates / A + LUM (chimney, or smoker) + NAE (Scottish for no) |
|
| 3D | NOT BY A LONG CHALK | Nowhere near where undersupplied teacher stands (3,2,1,4,5) | Nowhere near / Pseudo double defn.? An undersupplied teacher might not have any long chalk, so couldn’t stand by it! |
|
| 4D | RED TAPE | Say Anfield Rap is industry’s problem (3,4) | industry’s problem / RED (Anfield – Liverpool play in red so Anfield is a generic reference to ‘red’) + TAPE (homophone of RAP, ‘say’ WRAP, or tape) |
|
| 5D | ONE AFTER ANOTHER | Possible object of unrequited love in series (3,5,7) | in series / another ‘pseudo’ double definition? ‘one’ after ‘another’ could be a case of unrequited love? |
|
| 6D | ATE OUT | Didn’t get takeaway for tea? (3,3) | didn’t get takeaway / reverse anagram indicator – TEA could be ATE ‘out’ |
|
| 7D | SEMITONE | Difference between pitches rejected by United (8) | difference between (musical) pitches / SEMIT (TIMES, or ‘by’, rejected) + ONE (united) |
|
| 13D | ELOQUENT | Let one horribly round queen articulate (8) | articulate / ELO_ENT (anag, i.e. horribly, of LET ONE) around QU (queen) |
|
| 16D | RHODES | Gardeners planted around lines in city (6) | city / RH_S (Royal Horticultural Society, hence gardeners) ‘planted’ around ODE (poem, or lines) |
|
| 17D | BANANAS | Hand round the twist (7) | double defn. / BANANAS (the fruit) come in ‘hands’; and to go BANANAS can be to be a bit crazy, or round the twist |
|
| 19D | GYMSLIP | Uniform simply resewn by girl in front (7) | (school) uniform / G (front letter of girl) + YMSLIP (anag, i.e. resewn, of SIMPLY) |
|
| 22D | TASER | Had another chance to pass over arm (5) | arm (weapon) / RE-SAT (had another chance to pass exam) ‘over’ |
|
I have rewritten this several times.
Best I can say is it wasn’t a very good puzzle.
Thanks mc_rapper67
Sorry Donk.
At least there will be fewer water pollution from the paper making.
I’ve got to disagree with sidey #1 – I found it an enjoyable challenge with some real gems in there. I particularly enjoyed 1D and 7D, though I’m still unsure about the clue for 4D – RED TAPE. 15A was resplendent with different possibilities.
OP@2: I think mc has gotten his homophones and synonyms confused. TAPE is a synonym of “wrap” which is a homophone of “rap”. 🙂
Apart from that, I have as usual no memory of this puzzle except I’m sure I completed it. As I’m away this weekend I don’t even have the completed puzzle in front of me.
Dormouse, yes, that’s how I read it, and presumably how mc intended, but it seemed a bit contorted to me. Rap = TAP looked more promising, but there’s an extra E needed if so.
It’s a different puzzle by MONK in my printed newspaper
Re #5, the Monk one is 9188 (today’s i.e. 26 March), while the blog is on last week’s 9182.
Thanks Donk and mcr
4dn: I took “Say” as indicating a definition by example.
Is anyone blogging today’s Monk #9188?
Hi Grant @8
Yes,#9188 will be blogged but, in fairness to those who only access the Indy on-line, the post will not be published until the puzzle is on-line next Saturday.