Monday Prize Crossword / Aug 29, 2016
Crux at his best? Mmm, I wouldn’t say that this time.
Some nice ones but also some very unsatisfying clues, even one that I didn’t get (3d).
But it’s that which annoys me.
Definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.
| Across | ||
| 1 | STEALTH | What burglars use as the last resort (7) |
| (THE LAST)* [* = resort] | ||
| 5 | OPAQUE | Some pop a question that’s not clear (6) |
| Hidden solution [some]: pOP A QUEstion | ||
| 8 | REMARRIED | Demonstrated nuptially the triumph of hope over experience? (9) |
| Cryptic definition This clue quotes Samuel Johnson (1791) and if you’re familiar with the expression, it is hardly a cryptic clue. |
||
| 9 | DRILL | Boring bit of exercise (5) |
| Double definition | ||
| 11 | NOSEY | Negative and affirmative backing is most curious (5) |
| NO (negative) + a reversal [backing] of YES (affirmative) | ||
| 12 | POISONOUS | French peas we arranged around duck – very nasty! (9) |
| POIS + NOUS (French words for ‘peas’ and ‘we’), together around O (duck) | ||
| 13 | CHEYENNE | Timid queen said to be associated with 19 (8) |
| Homophone [said] of: SHY (timid) ANNE (queen) The Comanche (19ac) and the Cheyenne are roughly from the same part of the USA, the South West. No idea how one is or was associated with the other. |
||
| 15 | LEAN-TO | Shed a pound at one work-out (4-2) |
| L (a pound) + (AT ONE)* [* = work-out] | ||
| 17 | ICE AGE | One almost impatient to catch cold in this period (3,3) |
| I (one) + EAGE[r] (impatient, almost) around C (cold) | ||
| 19 | COMANCHE | Indian love story about hospital with Charlie as Romeo (8) |
| ROMANCE (love story) with R (Romeo) replaced by C (Charlie), then taken around H (hospital) | ||
| 22 | KIDNAPPED | A child dozed off in this Highland odyssey (9) |
| KID (a child) + NAPPED (dozed off) Of course, Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel from 1886. |
||
| 23 | DOYEN | Respected leader of party with money abroad (5) |
| DO (party) + YEN (money, from Japan) | ||
| 24 | NOMAD | A traveller starts to notice our manners are different (5) |
| Starting letters of: Notice Our Manners Are Different | ||
| 25 | LEICESTER | Queen’s favourite cheese (9) |
| Double definition | ||
| 26 | SCARES | Men in black have trouble with spooks (6) |
| SS (men in black, Hitler’s bodyguards) around CARE (trouble) | ||
| 27 | EARACHE | A race he organised would keep you awake (7) |
| (A RACE HE)* [* = organised] There’s actually a lot that might keep me awake, not a satisfying definition. |
||
| Down | ||
| 1 | SPRING CHICKEN | A young bird that’s . . . well . . . yellow! (6,7) |
| SPRING (well) + CHICKEN (yellow) | ||
| 2 | EN MASSE | “All together” possibly means the Home Counties (2,5) |
| (MEANS)* + SE (Home Counties, the South East) [* = possibly] | ||
| 3 | LARRY | Does he set the standard for happiness? (5) |
| Larry? Leroy? Lordy? … no idea, I’m afraid – over to you. Of course, ‘as happy as Larry’ (thanks Oldham @4). And to be even more grumpy than Hamish already thinks I am, for me another poor clue. |
||
| 4 | HAIRPINS | Sharp turns needed to secure locks (8) |
| Double definition | ||
| 5 | ORDAIN | Admit to being a priest (6) |
| Cryptic / Straightforward definition | ||
| 6 | ANDROMEDA | Beautiful virgin of myth also roamed freely (9) |
| AND (also) + (ROAMED)* [* = freely] | ||
| 7 | UNICORN | Sinister supporter of royal escutcheon (7) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 10 | LOSE ONE’S NERVE | Get cold feet having no bottle (4,4,5) |
| Double definition (or perhaps not but what it is then, I don’t know) | ||
| 14 | ENGLANDER | A little one may have voted for Brexit (9) |
| Cryptic definition I can appreciate a good Brexit clue but this one is exceptionally weak, in my opinion. Unless I miss the point (what in the case of Brexit I do anyway). |
||
| 16 | POND LIFE | Mere existence, of interest to anglers naturally (4,4) |
| POND (mere) + LIFE (existence) Another somewhat strange definition, even if you would take the clue as a whole. |
||
| 18 | ENDEMIC | Medicine prepared without one for such diseases (7) |
| (MEDICINE minus I (one))* [* = prepared] | ||
| 20 | CRYPTIC | Appropriate kind of clue for this answer? (7) |
| An appropriate kind of clue for any answer, I would say! | ||
| 21 | SPELLS | What orthographer does for short intervals (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| 23 | DREAR | Dismal day on train (5) |
| D (day) + REAR (train, to bring up) | ||
*anagram
just dont get the “little one” part of the Englander clue ..
‘Little Englander’ is a term I have come across before. It means “an English person who believes the best interests of Britain are served by attention to Britain itself”. I think such a person is most likely to have voted for Brexit.
Thanks Sil and Crux.
It seems like you’re unduly grumpy this morning Sil. Were you kept awake with earache?
I took the association between 13 and 19 as just that they’re Native American tribes. The fact that they both ended up in the Dakotas may not be particularly relevant. Weren’t most east coast tribes relocated to make way for European plantations anyway?
I am in two minds about 10dn. What seems to be a fairly poor double definition is wrapped up in a very nice surface.
As for 20dn, it was barely – um – cryptic!
I thought POND LIFE an excellent clue.
Re 3d–quite a common expression “as happy as Larry” meaning very happy.
10d works for me, but I don’t think it’s a double definition.
Solved all bar 5d which I just could not get .
I was Larry with 3d .
Thanks Crux, for the most entertaining solve I’ve had in the FT for months.
It made me very happy. I’m sorry it didn’t make you happy too, Sil.
Thanks Crux and Sil
I have to go back two years in the same week to have a Crux-Sil-Bruce discussion. This time, I’m pretty much in agreement with you – thinking that there were some pretty tenuous clues used here, with EARACHE and CRYPTIC particularly so.
Had no idea on the parsing of SCARES, so thanks for that.
No real favourites – started with ICE AGE and finished some 40 minutes later with that SCARES as my last (and more hopeful than knowing for sure that it was right!)