Monday Prize Crossword / Jun 5, 2017
Not the hardest puzzle on the Ironbridge Scale, even if the NW took slightly longer than the rest of it.
In the Down clues we’ll find a string of 8 clues containing no less than 6 cryptic definitions!
I also have the feeling that I had to write the word ‘reversal’ quite a few times.
An enjoyable crossword nevertheless.
Definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.
| Across | ||
| 1 | ASSEMBLE | Bless me! A strange get-together (8) |
| (BLESS ME A)* [* = strange] | ||
| 5 | IMPALA | Almost transfix an antelope (6) |
| IMPAL[e] (transfix, almost) + A (an) I know it’s not wrong but I cannot say that I find ‘a’=’an’ very elegant. |
||
| 10 | DOGGO | Still one way to lie (5) |
| As in ‘to lie doggo’ | ||
| 11 | RECOVERED | Felt better and got dressed again (9) |
| Double definition | ||
| 12 | EXCULPATE | Sign once left by Irishman inside, free of charge (9) |
| EX-CUE (sign, once) around {L (left) + PAT (Irishman)} | ||
| 13 | NONET | Lack of practice for players in group (5) |
| NO NET, in which NET means: a practice session on a cricket pitch which is surrounded by nets | ||
| 14 | TOUGHS | Sought out hooligans (6) |
| (SOUGHT)* [* = out] | ||
| 15 | DESPAIR | Aspired to become a literary giant (7) |
| (ASPIRED)* [* = to become …] The giant Despair is a character in The Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan. |
||
| 18 | ROSETTA | The stone archaeologists treat so cryptically (7) |
| (TREAT SO)* [* = cryptically] The famous Rosetta Stone was found in Egypt in 1799 and provided the key to the decipherment of ancient Egyptian texts. One could read the clue as a whole as some sort of definition. |
||
| 20 | UGANDA | Not all snug and appreciative of the country (6) |
| Hidden solution [not all]: snug and appreciative | ||
| 22 | ERATO | Are back to provide inspiration for poets (5) |
| Reversal [back] of ARE, + TO | ||
| 24 | ABHORRENT | Those that do this may have a mortgage, though it’s unpleasant (9) |
| Those who ABHOR RENT may prefer a mortgage, perhaps | ||
| 25 | TAKE AFTER | Accept later that you are a chip of the old block (4,5) |
| TAKE (accept) + AFTER (later) Not sure whether the definition has the right part of speech. [I actually don’t think so] |
||
| 26 | ARSON | Painter upset with issue that gives offence (5) |
| Reversal [upset] of RA (painter), + SON (issue) | ||
| 27 | DEWLAP | Two mates returned, hanging by the neck (6) |
| Reversal [returned] of PAL (mate, a friend) + WED (mate, to marry) | ||
| 28 | IDLENESS | Lazy head? May result in unemployment (8) |
| IDLE (lazy) + NESS (head) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | ADDLED | Bad tot given guidance (6) |
| ADD (tot) + LED (given guidance) | ||
| 2 | SAGACIOUS | A word for the wise (9) |
| Cryptic definition, even if ‘the’ is somewhat dubious | ||
| 3 | MOONLIGHT SONATA | Noted example of inspired lunacy? (9,6) |
| Cryptic definition The Moonlight Sonata is piano sonata no 14 (Quasi Una Fantasia), completed by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1801. |
||
| 4 | LARIATS | They’re not often miscast in Westerns (7) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 6 | MOVING STAIRCASE | Non-stop passenger-carrying flight (6,9) |
| Cryptic definition This must be a record, even for Dante/Rufus, four in a row! |
||
| 7 | AARON | A body of gunmen turned on him (5) |
| A + reversal [turned] of RA (gunmen, Royal Artillery) + ON | ||
| 8 | AUDITORS | They check the accuracy of others’ accounts (8) |
| (Not so) Cryptic definition | ||
| 9 | SCREED | It smoothly finishes off a long passage (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| 16 | ADDRESSEE | Person who should get what’s coming to him (9) |
| (Not so) Cryptic definition | ||
| 17 | ARRESTED | Stopped and taken into custody (8) |
| Double definition | ||
| 19 | ADAPTS | Fashions suitable to be shown in commercials (6) |
| APT (suitable) inside ADS (commercials) | ||
| 20 | USHERED | Nothing new about her being shown out (7) |
| USED (nothing new) around HER | ||
| 21 | STANDS | What an MP does before he takes his seat (6) |
| Don’t know how to classify this. There are two interpretations of the clue (as a whole) which lead to an identical answer in two distinct ways. Not difficult to find the solution but quite clever, in my opinion (for the reason given). |
||
| 23 | ASKEW | Request we turn crooked? (5) |
| ASK (request) + reversal [turn] of WE | ||
*anagram
Thanks Sil and Dante.
Like you say Sil.
3dn could have as easily been Moonlight Shadow but this being Dante I knew to pencil it in till I had all the crossers.
Plenty of frustrations but then a little gem at 21dn makes up for it.
Thanks Dante & Sil.
Having misspelt lariats I was unable to solve 12 across, but I doubt if I would have understood “sign once” as EX-CUE.
I think that 8 down is one of those Dante clues that seem obvious but have extra depth. It could be regarded as a double definition in which, as well as the financial interpretation, “auditors” are listeners to other people’s stories. At the very least that would reduce the number of (not so) cryptic definitions!
Thanks Dante and Sil
Not too hard although the second long down clue at 6 took a while to crack. Writing LASSOES at 4 also slowed things momentarily in the NW but it was still the first quadrant finished.
The literary giant, DESPAIR, and SCREED were the last two in. Agree that 21d was the clue of the day.