Monday Prize Crossword / Aug 22, 2016
Once again, a Dante puzzle that wasn’t a write-in and one that took me significantly longer than the Rufus of that day.
The grid is one that we don’t see very often (although only three says later Dogberry used it too).
Where the latter wittily linked the four 3-letter words around the centre, Dante came up with a couple of cryptic definitions there that didn’t make life easier for me.
And these were not the only cryptic definitions today: I counted about 10 of them!
This crossword was clearly divided in four mini puzzles – with only 6- and 8-letter words! – of which I found the SE the hardest to crack (although, initially, I also messed up the SW by entering the wrong solution at 24d).
So no, not an easy grid, but hey, I cannot be bothered too much about grids (unlike some other solvers).
I just take it as it comes, and I got there in the end.
Definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.
| Across | ||
| 1 | LANDAU | Gold added to state carriage (6) |
| LAND (state) + AU (gold) | ||
| 4 | FRIED EGG | Breakfast ingredient fresh from fridge, for example (5,3) |
| (FRIDGE + E.G. (for example))* [* = fresh from] | ||
| 9 | NOVENA | Nave tidied up following a number of days of prayer (6) |
| (NAVE)* coming after NO ((a) number, numero) [* = tidied up] | ||
| 10 | NO-GO AREA | Exclusive neighbourhood (2-2,4) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 11 | AT LAST | Where the cobbler may be found, after some delay (2,4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 12 | BEDSTEAD | Support for one who is lying (8) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 13 | ERR | Slip of a girl losing head on river (3) |
| [h]ER (of a girl, losing the first letter) + R (river) | ||
| 14 | MYSTIC | Section of the army stick together in a mysterious way (6) |
| Hidden solution [section of]: [the ar]MY STIC[k] | ||
| 17 | COWSLIP | Primrose makes a neat petticoat (7) |
| COW (neat) + SLIP (petticoat) | ||
| 21 | PARISH | Fairly average kind of district (6) |
| PAR is ‘average’, so PARish may be ‘fairly average’ | ||
| 25 | BEE | Comb manufacturer (3) |
| Cryptic definition, think: honeycomb | ||
| 26 | KNOCK-OUT | A stunning performance (5-3) |
| Cryptic / Double / Straightforward definition – take your pick | ||
| 27 | ASLEEP | As yet unalarmed? (6) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 28 | METALLIC | Encountered everyone in charge of minerals (8) |
| MET (encountered) + ALL (everyone) + IC (in charge) | ||
| 29 | IODINE | I get nothing to eat from the medicine chest (6) |
| I + O (nothing) + DINE (to eat) Just ‘from the medicine chest’ as the definition is rather meagre. The clue starts with ‘I’ which is the chemical symbol for Iodine. Perhaps, Dante was thinking of that too (even if ‘I’ is doing double duty then). Some setters (and solvers, too) do not like or even accept ‘get’ as it should be ‘gets’, in their opinion. They usually find a way around it by using ‘must get’, ‘will get’, ‘should get’ or similar. |
||
| 30 | OBEISANT | After an order, is the worker showing respect? (8) |
| OBE (order) + IS + ANT (worker) | ||
| 31 | STAKES | Race bets (6) |
| Cryptic / Straightforward definition – take your pick, once more | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | LAND ARMY | Women who saw wartime service in the field (4,4) |
| Straightforward definition, not really cryptic The Women’s Land Army (WLA) was a British civilian organisation created during the First and Second World Wars so women could work in agriculture, replacing men called up to the military. |
||
| 2 | NAVY LIST | Ships of the fleet heel over (4,4) |
| NAVY (fleet) + LIST (heel over) | ||
| 3 | AGNOSTIC | Terrible acting, so lacking in belief (8) |
| (ACTING + SO)* [* = terrible] | ||
| 5 | ROOFER | One often out on the tiles (6) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 6 | EGOIST | It goes amiss to be a selfish type (6) |
| (IT GOES)* [* = amiss] | ||
| 7 | EARNER | Head left student to get a good job (6) |
| LEARNER (student) minus its first letter | ||
| 8 | GUARDS | Regiment in the van (6) |
| GUARDS ‘in the van’ may be called ‘vanguards’ i.e. the foremost of an army Of course, Dante is punning on soldiers sitting in a vehicle [that kind of van]. |
||
| 12 | BRISKET | Risk taking a chance about meat on the bone (7) |
| RISK with BET (a chance) around it | ||
| 15 | COX | One over the eight (3) |
| Cryptic definition A nice misdirection and one of my last ones in. We have to think of rowing boats rather than booze. |
||
| 16 | NIP | Drink with a bite (3) |
| Double definition | ||
| 18 | PASSPORT | Narrow defile left for getting from one country to another (8) |
| PASS (narrow defile) + PORT (left) | ||
| 19 | SIDEKICK | Partner in team given the boot (8) |
| SIDE (team) + KICK (boot) | ||
| 20 | WHIPPETS | Dogs sulk with cats around (8) |
| WHIPS (cats) around PET (sulk) | ||
| 22 | AKIMBO | A disposition of arms (6) |
| (Not so) Cryptic definition | ||
| 23 | GOETHE | The ego-trip of a German writer (6) |
| (THE EGO)* [* = trip] | ||
| 24 | SKULLS | Nut-cases? (6) |
| Cryptic definition Here I entered SHELLS which I think is alright (but perhaps less cryptic than the actual solution). |
||
| 25 | BUNION | Footsore British group of workers (6) |
| B (British) + UNION (group of workers) | ||
*anagram
Thanks Sil and Dante.
I agree that KNOCK-OUT and STAKES aren’t really cryptic at all. And what is “performance” doing in the clue for the former? Really?
But then both 21ac and 20dn were excellent, even in-Danteish, clues.
I suspect that the I at the start of the clue for 29 was only meant as single duty. But serendipitous.
I guessed bedsheet for 12a which mucked up my chances of getting 8d.
I couldn’t see 22d -I quickly discounted any word beginning ak.
I deny ever coming across 30a
27a was too cryptic and finally I couldn’t get 20d
I thought Dante was supposed to be easier than this.
Thanks Dante and Sil
Good to do a Dante puzzle again which I found pretty straightforward although I made things a little more difficult by initially writing in GOETHE at 22 instead of 23, ADVENT in at 9, BEDSHEET in at 12 and thought SHELLS would go in 24 (but didn’t write it in).
Know that it’s too late to really matter but think that STAKES is more a double definition – a stakes race is where part of the prize is put up by the owners of the horses in it (we have a $4 million Everest Stakes here run in Sydney where it costs a bomb to get a horse into the race) and stakes also is a verb for bets.
Agree with Hamish that the I would be a single use letter, rather than anything to do with the chemical symbol for iodine in this instance. Thought that KNOCK-OUT would have been the cryptic definition for the act in a boxing ring where it would really be ‘a stunning performance’ in the extreme.
Finished with GUARDS as the last in and thought that it was a dinky clue with it meaning the regiment of the household troops acting as the officials who used to ride in the rear van of a train.