Monday Prize Crossword / May 30, 2016
Gentle, familiar stuff from Falcon.
Definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.
| Across | ||
| 1 | MAKES A MOVE | Sets off and reaches, in the morning, centre of Cinque Port (5,1,4) |
| MAKES (reaches) + AM (in the morning) + [d]OVE[r] (centre of Cinque Port, i.e. Dover) Dover is one of the original Cinque Ports, the others being Hastings, New Romney, Sandwich and Hythe: indeed, five ports. However, to call one of them a Cinque Port feels a bit odd. |
||
| 6 | APED | Copied notice about gym (4) |
| AD (notice) around PE (gym) | ||
| 9 | CHERRY RIPE | Millais painting of fruit ready to be eaten (6,4) |
| CHERRY (fruit) + RIPE (ready to be eaten) The solution is a painting by John Everett Millais from 1879, not on display in any museum. Here it is:  |
||
| 10 | TOUR | Go round most of French city (4) |
| TOURS (French city) minus the last letter | ||
| 12 | MASTERSTROKE | Achievement demonstrating skill of expert oarsman (12) |
| MASTER (expert) + STROKE (oarsman) | ||
| 15 | REMINDERS | Hints about bodyguards (9) |
| RE (about) + MINDERS (bodyguards) | ||
| 17 | RATEL | Carnivore later let loose (5) |
| (LATER)* [* = let loose] | ||
| 18 | EPSOM | Racecourse out of step, so modernising (5) |
| Hidden solution [out of]: [st]EP SO M[odernising] | ||
| 19 | TURNS DOWN | Spurns county on occasions (5,4) |
| TURNS (occasions) + DOWN (county) | ||
| 20 | SKATEBOARDER | Ray, pupil staying at a school, is one who has fun riding on wheels? (12) |
| SKATE (ray, a fish) + BOARDER (pupil staying at a school) | ||
| 24 | AXIS | Boundary taken back by a military alliance (4) |
| A + XIS (reversal [taken back] of SIX (boundary, think cricket)) | ||
| 25 | BELONGINGS | Individuals storing extensive possessions (10) |
| BEINGS (individuals) around LONG (extensive) | ||
| 26 | DISH | Ruin aerial (4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 27 | STRATHSPEY | Dance waving pretty sash (10) |
| (PRETTY SASH)* [* = waving] | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | MACE | Club’s male champion (4) |
| M (male) + ACE (champion) | ||
| 2 | KEEP | Hold the fort? (4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 3 | SERIAL NUMBER | This may be used to identify eg Neighbours tune (6,6) |
| SERIAL (eg Neighbours, TV series) + NUMBER (tune) | ||
| 4 | MERIT | What movement of timer may be worth (5) |
| (TIMER)* [* = movement of] | ||
| 5 | VAPORISER | Is over par, surprisingly – electronic cigarette required (9) |
| (IS OVER PAR)* [* = surprisingly] | ||
| 7 | PROPORTION | Correspondence with leader of party prior to moving on (10) |
| P[arty] + (PRIOR TO)* + ON [* = moving] | ||
| 8 | DARJEELING | US lawyer staggering – judge inside gets black tea (10) |
| DA (US lawyer) + {J (judge) inside REELING (staggering)} | ||
| 11 | AT ARM’S LENGTH | Eventually storing weapons some distance away (2,4,6) |
| AT LENGTH (eventually) around ARMS (weapons) | ||
| 13 | GREENSWARD | Grass-covered ground? Environmentalists’ department (10) |
| GREENS (environmentalists) + WARD (department) | ||
| 14 | EMISSARIES | Envoys, English, fail to see sign (10) |
| E (English) + MISS (fail to see) + ARIES (sign, of the Zodiac) | ||
| 16 | EXTROVERT | Outgoing type, former scout, entering IOM races (9) |
| EX (former) + {ROVER (scout) inside TT (IOM races, i.e. Tourist Trophy, motor races)} | ||
| 21 | RIOJA | Jar I smashed containing last of prosecco wine (5) |
| (JAR + I)* around [prosecc]O [* = smashed] | ||
| 22 | SNAP | Spades on top of pile in game (4) |
| S (spades) + NAP (pile, as in the nap of a carpet) | ||
| 23 | I-SPY | Agent following current game (1-3) |
| SPY (agent) coming after I (current) | ||
*anagram
Thanks Sil and Falcon.
None too taxing. I had to double check the Millais painting – well done for adding the picture Sil – but otherwise complete unaided.
The early agony of being taught Scottish Country Dancing finally proved of use for 27ac.
Thanks Falcon and Sil
It was a fairly straightforward solve but interesting in the lesser expected (to me anyway) definitions of the charade words.
Didn’t know the painting and was always surprised at how successful that Australian soapie was over there !!!
Finished with DISH (which I hadn’t heard of in the context of ‘ruin’) and the Scottish dance as the last one in.
4.5 short of a full house.
7d , 17a -naturally the coin came down on retal ,13d -couldn’t get the ward bit and never heard of a greensward, 24a, 27a-even with ?t?a?h?p?y couldn’t fill in the blanks.