S & B York – puzzle by Exit

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Exit’s crossword can be found here:   Exit @ York 2016
Click on the link and do not read any further yet if you still like to tackle this puzzle.


Exit’s first puzzle appeared at the most recent S & B in Derby (in May of this year).
Today, like in several other crosswords for the day, Exit takes us by the hand for a trip through the beautiful City of York.
Where clues are about York, the blog will show that in environmental-friendly green.

Interesting to read something of the setter’s background in 8, 29, 23.

At the very end the completed grid is added, highlighting these special entries.

Definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.

Across
6   See 30
7 GATE Scandal indicated at entrance to Downing Street? (4)
Double / Cryptic definition
The clue refers to “plebgate” involving a Government minister and a policeman at, appropriately, the GATE to Downing Street in 2012.
Put after 6ac it gives us ‘Petergate’, a well-known street in the city of York.
8,29,23 HAM AND EGGS Poor actor with what might be thrown at him makes a meal of it (3,3,4)
HAM (poor actor) + AND (with) + EGGS (what might be thrown at the poor actor)
“The York” is the quitessential English Ham.
Scott’s of Petergate (see 6,7ac) which was opened in the 1880s by Exit’s very own great-grandfather was one place in York where York ham was sold.
Sadly, it is closed now.
10 NATIONAL Austrian in atonal muddle? (8)
(IN ATONAL)*    [* = muddle]
‘Austrian’ is a definition by example (hence the question mark).
There is, however, an extra layer in this clue as atonal music was pioneered by Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) who was Austrian.
11 NAMELY Len and Amy entangled, that is to say… (6)
(LEN + AMY)*    [* = entangled]
12 WED … got married – in midweek? (3)
Double definition
13 ALOE VERA Was St-Malo ever acknowledged as source of medicinal plant? (4,4)
Hidden solution [as source of]:   “Was St-Malo ever acknowledged”
14 OH DEAR Bother! A request to analyse substance may follow… (2,4)
The second part of the clue refers to the nursery rhyme / song  Oh Dear, What Can The Matter Be? .
15 ATONE … opera company, volunteers, coming back to make amends for… (5)
ENO (opera company, i.e. English National Opera) + TA (volunteers, i.e. Territorial Army), together reversed [coming back]
17 STASH … drugs hoard in “stone tree” (5)
ST (stone) + ASH (tree)
22 MUSEUM Guggenheim’s mother in employment? On the contrary … (6)
USE (employment) inside MUM (mother), instead of the other way round
Guggenheim museums can be found in New York, Bilbao and Venice.
24 EMPHASIS … stress she is a PM seeking reforms (8)
(SHE IS A PM)*    [* = seeking reforms]
Is she?
26 EAT Consume high tea (3)
(TEA)*    [* = high]
27 ALEGAR Elgar’s out of tune after a beer that’s gone sour (6)
A + (ELGAR)*    [* = out of tune]
28 ROSEBUSH Rambler, maybe, got up before president (8)
ROSE (got up) + BUSH (president)
29   See 8
30,6 BLUE PETER Flag up when existence of previous manufacture might be indicated? (4,5)
Definition plus a cryptic extension
In the children’s TV programme of the same name a presenter showing how to make something, would come up with a completed example with the words “Here’s one I made earlier”.
As a non-Brit I didn’t know that but as a Blackadder adept I learnt something new about The Cavalier Years today!
31 REEVE Tree very good cover for pilgrim in Tabard (5)
Hidden solution [good cover for]:  “Tree very”
The Reeve was one of the pilgrims in the Canterbury Tales who assembled at the Tabard Inn.
Down
1 SPRAWLS Lies about saints embracing war back in Poland (7)
S,S (saints) around {reversal [back] of WAR inside PL (Poland)}
2 STRIDENT Urgent walk by conservationists (8)
STRIDE (walk) + NT (conservationists, i.e. National Trust)
3 BRONZE Third place gets, NB, zero – upset (6)
(NB + ZERO)*    [* = upset]
4 STAND OUT Dan touts dodgy project (5,3)
(DAN TOUTS)*    [* = dodgy]
5 RAILWAY Means of transport – yawl (northbound following air movement) (7)
(AIR)* + reversal [northbound] of YAWL
Together with 10ac and 22ac this give us: National Railway Museum .
7 GALWAY See: not in SW Scotland, found in Ireland (6)
GALLOWAY (SW Scotland) minus LO (see)
Galway is a city (and county) in Ireland.
Coincidentally it is also a Diocese (‘See’), so ‘See’ might do double duty here which means I should perhaps have underlined it.
9 AMID More than half of pyramid is in the middle (4)
[pyr]AMID
16 NUMERALS Short of time, learnt sum incorrectly with these? (8)
(LEARN[t] SUM)*    [* = incorrectly]
The clue as a whole can be seen as the definition.
18 SHAMBLES Fake baron leads man into a mess (8)
SHAM (fake) + B (baron) + LES (man)
The Shambles is perhaps the best-known street in York.
19 BUS LANE British and American way that favours public transport (3,4)
B (British) + US (American) + LANE (way)
20 RETREE Dead tree version defective – call to regenerate forest (6)
Double / Cryptic definition
Chambers gives for RETREE: “slightly damaged paper”.
And if you wish to ‘regenerate forest’, you might RE-TREE it.
21 MINSTER Mist envelops northern queen somewhere in Kent (7)
MIST around N (northern), + ER (queen)
Minster on Sea is a village on the northern coast of Kent, and a location mentioned in Dickens’ The Old Curiosity Shop.
Obviously, Minster also refers to York’s famous landmark.
23   See 8
25 PASTRY Cornish speciality has recipe inside for its outside (6)
R (recipe) inside PASTY (Cornish speciality)

grid-exit

 

5 comments on “S & B York – puzzle by Exit”

  1. Re 24ac, the clue wasn’t an intentional misdirection towards a certain T May; I’d been working on this crossword sporadically since before the June referendum and the fallout from it, so the possible extra layer in the clue was a chance bonus.

    Thanks, Sil, for the blog, especially for working my footnotes into the main part of it.

  2. Thanks Exit and Sil – good to see you both in York

    I enjoyed this on the train today, though I did have a minor headscratch over 12. It’s clear enough, but there doesn’t seem to be an anagrind for the ‘midweek’ bit. I’m not sure what I’m missing here.

  3. Simon@2: Glad you enjoyed the puzzle. I think you’re trying to read too much into the clue for 12ac; it’s simply a double definition – WED (in the past tense sense) for ‘got married’ and as the abbreviation for Wednesday, i.e. ‘midweek’.

  4. Thanks Exit. I blame too much cruciverbal conversation over the weekend, hence the determination to find something that wasn’t there 🙂

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