Monday Prize Crossword / May 16, 2016
I usually solve the crosswords that I’ll have to blog on my own but for this one I needed help from my beloved PinC.
I am afraid that there are still some clues that I cannot fully explain.
Perhaps, others can look inside Crux’ head where I cannot?
Definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.
| Across | ||
| 1, 11 | STRAIT-LACED | Unusual deal with a strict Victorian perhaps (6-5) |
| (DEAL + A STRICT)* [* = unusual] | ||
| 4 | ARMAGNAC | Spirit that’s cold (solve anagram first!) (8) |
| C (cold) preceded by (ANAGRAM)* [* = solve] | ||
| 10 | LAND OF NOD | Where Cain finally went to sleep? (4,2,3) |
| Cryptic / Double definition | ||
| 11 | See 1 across | |
| 12 | TREK | Journey ends in disappointment for simple folk (4) |
| End letters: [disappointmen]T [fo]R [simpl]E [fol]K | ||
| 13 | TRIATHLETE | Possible 3 man in 3 events (10) |
| The answer is surely right but I cannot really parse this clue. Many thanks to Muffyword @1. I would never have thought of that. |
||
| 15 | ROSEHIP | Fruit came up by boat, mostly (7) |
| ROSE (came up) + [s]HIP (boat, mostly) | ||
| 16 | SPRUCE | Trim a tree for Christmas (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| 19 | OPENER | Batsman in demand at picnics (6) |
| Double definition, the second one being somewhat cryptic (‘bottle opener’, I guess) | ||
| 21 | PEGASUS | Little Margaret, like us, gets a fabulous horse (7) |
| PEG (Margaret, as some call her) + AS (like) + US | ||
| 23 | TICKET TOUT | Petty profiteer requires credit . .. . and everything French (6,4) |
| TICK (credit) + ET TOUT (and everything, in French) | ||
| 25 | RASH | Premature spots (4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 27, 30 | TOTAL RECALL | Perfect memory for sums? (5,6) |
| Definition with a cryptic extension | ||
| 28 | RECTIFIED | Put right what sounds partly ruined (9) |
| Part of the solution is a homophone of WRECKED (ruined) | ||
| 29 | HUNDREDS | Many seen in Catholic church of Roman origin (8) |
| I am open to suggestions here. Yes, it’s surely CC. I am more with Muffyword @1 here than with Hamish @3: [catholi]C C[hurch] seems to be what Crux meant. |
||
| 30 | See 27 | |
| Down | ||
| 1 | SALUTARY | Unit trust divides up regular payment – good for you! (8) |
| UT (unit trust) inside SALARY (regular payment) Or is it TU inside SALARY (otherwise I do not see a reason to include ‘up’). |
||
| 2 | RUNNERS-UP | They never win as fell-racers? (7-2) |
| Double / Cryptic definition Not sure whether they will never win – maybe next time? |
||
| 3, 14 | IRON CHANCELLOR | Bismarck’s opportunity to join club register is overturned (4,10) |
| IRON (club) + CHANCE (opportunity) + LLOR (reversal of ROLL, indicated by ‘overturned’) | ||
| 5 | REDCAPS | Sums up “arresting” day for the military police (7) |
| RECAPS (sums up) around D (day) | ||
| 6 | ALL THE RAGE | Chic yet ridiculously lethal gear (3,3,4) |
| (LETHAL GEAR)* [* = ridiculously] | ||
| 7 | NICHE | Kind of market in Ulster – revolutionary (5) |
| NI (Ulster, Northern Ireland – don’t start me talking!) + CHE (revolutionary) | ||
| 8 | CADRES | Military units running scared (6) |
| (SCARED)* [* = running] | ||
| 9 | ENTRAP | Seduce a backward colleague? Not right! (6) |
| Reversal, indicated by ‘backward’, of PARTNER minus R (right, the one at the end) | ||
| 14 | See 3 | |
| 17 | COSTA RICA | FA republic’s expense on the continent (not France) (5,4) |
| COST (expense) + A[f]RICA (continent, minus F (France)) What I’ve underlined must be the full definition but I do not get the FA bit. After seven comments I am (read: we are) still puzzled. |
||
| 18 | ASPHODEL | Abandoned old heaps found in a bog – very pretty! (8) |
| (OLD HEAPS)* [* = abandoned] | ||
| 20 | RETIRED | About ready to drop so stopped work (7) |
| RE (about) + TIRED (ready to drop) | ||
| 21 | PAUNCH | One with clout in the corporation (6) |
| A inside PUNCH (clout) Is there anything that tells me to put one inside the other? ‘With’ is not enough for me. If there is any insertion then it looks like PUNCH is going inside A. That can, of course, not be the case. |
||
| 22 | STITCH | Without one you’re naked, with one, in pain! (6) |
| Double /Cryptic definition | ||
| 24 | CUT IN | Copper can make dangerous driving manoeuvre (3,2) |
| CU (copper) + TIN (can) | ||
| 26 | TIDE | It comes in regularly with equal points, we’re told (4) |
| Homophone (‘we’re told’) of TIED (with equal points) | ||
*anagram
Thanks Sil and Crux,
13ac – The first 3 refers to IRON from 3d. An iron man event is a form of triathlon.
29ac – CatholiC Church – two cs straddling these two words.
I couldn’t parse 28a either. I can get the rect bit but not the ified.
I didn’t know 18d
For 25a I had acne until 17d scuppered that. I don’t think you need a rash before getting spots.
For 27,30 I can get the perfect memory part but I don’t see that sums =total recall. Sums =total perhaps but the recall doesn’t work for me.
17a I think is a reference to Football Association -though other than Costa Rica playing football I can’t get further than that . Every country on the planet plays football.
Not the best Crux ever I thought.
Thanks Sil and Crux.
I think that 29 is more precisely the Cs at the start of both Catholic Church – “of Roman origin”.
Bamberger, for 27,30 I think that the charade is simply “total” = “sum(s)” and “recall = memory” with “memory” doing double duty.
For 21dn I just concluded that the inclusion indicator “in” was poorly placed.
I’m also at a loss as to FA in 17dn.
Sil, you have a Y instead of a U in the solution to 21ac. This was one of those clues where I’d solved it before even getting to the definition.
I* agree with all of you — and I’m still mystified. Come on, Crux, give us a clue.
Thanks Crux and Sil
This was different !! Not sure if they were loosely clued, too clever or just presenting a purposefully unusual approach to the puzzle – whatever it was I struggled more than usual with many of the ones that I could understand and had similar clues that I just didn’t see.
Didn’t pick up the CC at 29a, but that looks like the correct parsing. Thought the ‘iron man’ definition was clever – we run many triathlons down here – consisting of a swim, cycling and a run to finish – they are called iron man competitions.
With COSTA RICA, i was able to find FA=Frente Ampiro which is a left wing political party – only a minor one. though – so doubtful if that was the meaning. I’m thinking that it is more likely a typo with it supposed to be CA (Central America) – the F and C are close by on the keyboard. (some of our Guardian contributors might claim that Hugh was relieving in the editing spot at the FT if it was).
Finished in the NE corner with ROSEHIPS, the clever IRON CHANCELLOR and SALUTARY as the last few in.
Some very nice clues but a curate’s egg for me !
Plenty of good clues here I thought. Only real ‘error’ surely was a typo with CA being the intended abbreviation; as brucew points out F and C are adjacent on the keyboard. As for Paunch, Sil, presumably ‘with’ is meant to indicate ‘inside’. After all a purse with gold has got gold in it!
Thanks Crux and Sil
Thought this was an awful crossword! Even now I do not understand a lot of the clues 13a, 29a, 2d, 17d. Still I got some right. Thanks