Monday Prize Crossword / Mar 28, 2016
Dante and so no surprises at the beginning of another FT week.
Definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.
| Across | ||
| 1 | MILLET | The grain being bad, had a meeting about it (6) |
| ILL (bad) with MET (had a meeting) around it | ||
| 4 | TWO-TIMER | Double-crosser, jailed more than once? (3-5) |
| Double / Cryptic definition | ||
| 9 | LICHEN | Plant put right outside the church (6) |
| LIEN (right) around CH ((the) church) | ||
| 10 | SCARCITY | Shortage of transport in southern metropolis (8) |
| CAR (transport) inside {S (southern) + CITY (metropolis)} | ||
| 12 | RARE | It’s unusual to return right on time (4) |
| Reversal, indicated by ‘to return’, of: ERA (time) + R (right) | ||
| 13 | THIEF | What he does is appropriate (5) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 14 | DEAL | Kent port trade (4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 17 | CAT’S WHISKERS | The best parts of old wireless sets (4,8) |
| Double definition I couldn’t find this in Chambers but Collins has both of them. The first definition as ‘a person or thing that is excellent or superior’ (slang), the second one as ‘a pointed wire used to make contact with the crystal in a crystal radio receiver’. See also: Cat’s whisker detector . |
||
| 20 | PLASTERBOARD | Dressing table used to cover a rough wall? (12) |
| PLASTER (dressing) + BOARD (table) | ||
| 23 | EROS | Wild rose – the symbol of love (4) |
| (ROSE)* [* = wild] | ||
| 24 | COWER | A hundred and one in debt shrink in fear (5) |
| C (a hundred) + OWER (one in debt) | ||
| 25 | IGOR | I depart right after the operatic prince (4) |
| I + GO (depart) with R (right) placed after it Prince Igor is an opera by Alexander Borodin. |
||
| 28 | BIN-LINER | Rubbish holder in container- ship? (3-5) |
| BIN (container) + LINER (ship) | ||
| 29 | AMENDS | Corrects the final part in a script (6) |
| END (the final part) inside A MS (script, manuscript) | ||
| 30 | ASTERISK | Star skater is knocked out (8) |
| (SKATER IS)* [* = knocked out] | ||
| 31 | EMPLOY | Take on recruit (6) |
| Double definition Very close, these two – aren’t they? |
||
| Down | ||
| 1 | MILLRACE | Factory people currently employed (8) |
| MILL (factory) + RACE (people) A millrace is a stream of water (current) that makes the wheel turn around. So, the definition is meant to be cryptic. It’s also only a half-definition as what I underlined has the wrong part of speech. |
||
| 2 | LACERATE | Slash dead tree at the core (8) |
| ACER (tree) in the middle of LATE (dead) | ||
| 3 | EYES | They look and sound agreeable (4) |
| Homophone, indicated by ‘(they) sound’, of: AYES The ayes have it, they agree. |
||
| 5 | WICKET-KEEPER | Put a foot wrong and his job is to bail you out (6-6) |
| Cryptic definition I hardly know anything about cricket (and I would like to leave it that way), so this clue was wasted on me. Easy to get, though. |
||
| 6 | TERM | A word or a sentence (4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 7 | MAIDEN | A girl gets assistance when males are around (6) |
| AID (assistance) inside MEN (males) | ||
| 8 | ROYALS | On first of September put up wager with gold sovereigns (6) |
| Reversal, indicated by ‘put up’, of LAY (wager) + OR (gold), together on top of S[eptember] | ||
| 11 | CHAIN-SMOKERS | They don’t seem to mind life being a continuous drag (5-7) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 15 | TWILL | Time to leave the cloth? (5) |
| T (time) + WILL (leave) | ||
| 16 | PROBE | Be under professional scrutiny (5) |
| PRO (professional) + BE | ||
| 18 | MARGINAL | On the verge of alarming changes (8) |
| (ALARMING)* [* =changes] | ||
| 19 | I DARE SAY | Possibly, I am not afraid to speak (1,4,3) |
| I DARE (I am not afraid) SAY ((to) speak) | ||
| 21 | SERBIA | Country where rabies is unusual (6) |
| (RABIES)* [* = unusual] | ||
| 22 | CORNET | One may play it – and one may get licked (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| 26 | TIER | One who draws level? (4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 27 | IMAM | I’m a leader of Muslims (4) |
| I’M A M[uslims] And the chestnut among all chestnuts, to finish with. |
||
*anagram
Thanks Sil and Dante (yes it is he!)
I thought that this was Dante in good form. OK, so there are a few old chestnuts. But there were some rather clever clues too – LACERATED was well crafted and WICKET KEEPER (despite your personal reservations about the game) was nicely clued too.
This being Dante, there was at least one solution which I didn’t enter till I was sure if all the crossers. In this case 13ac could have been BUYER. On seeing that it had to be THIEF, I did wonder:
Appropriation is not necessarily inappropriate!
Thanks Dante and Sil
Exactly what we’ve come to expect from Dante. I did this one today (Friday) and also did the Bradman from today. A couple of observations – this took me longer than the Bradman (surprisingly) and they both featured the CAT’S WHISKERS with almost identical clues.
I read 31a as purely a cryptic definition – then didn’t have to worry about having two close double definitions.
Finished in the centre with CAT’S WHISKERS and THIEF as the last couple in.