Monday Prize Crossword / Jul 3, 2017
Dante in a very friendly mood, in my opinion.
Not that many cryptic definitions this time.
Definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.
| Across | ||
| 1 | SADDEN | Gloomy study to get one down (6) |
| SAD (gloomy) + DEN (study) ‘Sad’ and ‘sadden’ are a bit close, aren’t they? |
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| 4 | PARTAKEN | Shared a good round of golf? (8) |
| When you ‘take a par’ in golf, that is apparently quite good. I’m not a golfer and I would like to keep it that way. |
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| 9 | NANSEN | Anne’s going out with North Polar explorer (6) |
| (ANNE’S + N (North))* [* = going out (with)] Fridtjof Nansen (1861-1930), Norwegian explorer of the Arctic. He was also director of the League of Nations relief program for refugees of WW I. Nothing has changed, it seems. |
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| 10 | CHAMPION | Support excellent hero (8) |
| Triple definition | ||
| 12 | UP TO | So far fit for the job (2,2) |
| Double definition | ||
| 13 | SLYLY | Some found needlessly lying in a cunning way (5) |
| Hidden answer [some (found)]: needlessly lying It’s up to to solver to decide whether ‘found’ should be part of the fodder or not. Doesn’t really make any difference. |
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| 14 | CHAT | Talk of Tom in Paris (4) |
| Double definition ‘Tom’ is a male cat and ‘chat’ is the French word for ‘cat’. |
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| 17 | ATOMIC ENERGY | Geometry I can make a source of power (6,6) |
| (GEOMETRY I CAN)* [* = make] | ||
| 20 | FRENCH POLISH | Sleek coat shows Parisian chic (6,6) |
| FRENCH (Parisian) + POLISH (chic, as a noun, in the sense of ‘refinement’) | ||
| 23 | ECHO | A resounding come back (4) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 24 | STEER | A good man always in control (5) |
| ST (a good man, Saint) + E’ER (always) | ||
| 25 | WERE | We are – or used to be (4) |
| WE’RE (we are) Quite a nice find, typical Dante. |
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| 28 | CASANOVA | Italian man of affairs (8) |
| Cryptic definition Casanova’s real name was Giovanni Jacopo (1725-1798). |
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| 29 | REJECT | Refuse to accept an imperfect article (6) |
| Double definition The same word but pronounced differently. |
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| 30 | ESCAPISM | Dunce’s cap is maybe part of break with reality (8) |
| Hidden answer [part (of)]: Dunce’s cap is maybe | ||
| 31 | ARISEN | Up and about when a siren has been set off (6) |
| A + (SIREN)* [* = set off] | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | SINGULAR | Altering a ruling’s exceptional (8) |
| (A RULING’S)* [* = altering] For a while, I was focused on ‘altering’ as the definition and ‘exceptional’ as the anagram indicator. |
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| 2 | DONATION | Gift to people after a party (8) |
| NATION (people) coming after DO (a party) | ||
| 3 | EVER | It’s always right to follow the first mate (4) |
| R (right) following EVE (the first mate) | ||
| 5 | ACHILLES HEEL | Vulnerable spot targeted by Paris (8,4) |
| (Sort of) Cryptic definition Collins gives us a summary of events: Achilles was a Greek hero, the son of Peleus and the sea goddess Thetis: in the Iliad the foremost of the Greek warriors at the siege of Troy. While he was a baby his mother plunged him into the river Styx making his body invulnerable except for the heel by which she held him. After slaying Hector, he was killed by Paris who wounded him in the heel. |
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| 6 | TIME | Set up issue of US magazine (4) |
| Reversal [set up] of EMIT (issue) | ||
| 7 | KNIGHT | Champion one may play with on board (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| 8 | NINETY | A number smash up the inn, yet set free (6) |
| (INN)* + (YET)** [* = smash up] [** = set free] | ||
| 11 | ALTERNATIVES | What missionaries tried to do in other ways? (12) |
| That’s what missionaries do, don’t they, ALTER NATIVES? I quite liked this one. |
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| 15 | FIBRE | Thread starts to burn in the flames (5) |
| B[urn] in side FIRE (the flames) I am not happy with ‘starts‘ to burn’ for B. |
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| 16 | IGLOO | I note and see love in the home (5) |
| I + G (note) + LO (see) + O (love) | ||
| 18 | TIMELESS | Eternal description of the unwatched? (8) |
| No watch on your wrist? Then you won’t know the time! | ||
| 19 | THREATEN | Changes in heat and rent are imminent (8) |
| (HEAT + RENT)* [* = changes (in)] | ||
| 21 | RESCUE | Possibly secure and free from danger (6) |
| (SECURE)* [* = possibly] | ||
| 22 | PHYSIC | In radiography sickness has a cure (6) |
| Hidden answer [in]: radiography sickness | ||
| 26 | SNIP | Cut price bargain (4) |
| Double definition Perhaps even a triple definition like psmith @1 suggests. |
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| 27 | FEAR | Dread a change in the fare (4) |
| (FARE)* [* = change (in)] | ||
*anagram
Thanks Dante & Sil.
Except in CDs the definition is usually the first or last word or phrase of the clue. In 3 down the first phrase (IT’S ALWAYS) literally defines the solution (EVER). The first word could have been omitted but helps the flow of the surface reading.
I think that 7 down is a CD rather than a DD.
In 26 down I wondered if there is a triple definition. SNIP is an informal word for a bargain. Some but not all bargains are described as cut-price. So the definitions could be CUT; CUT-PRICE BARGAIN; and BARGAIN.
psmith @1:
I just saw that I did not underline ‘always’ (in 3d) while I should’ve – will do now.
As to KNIGHT (7d), I still think it is a DD.
The second part of the clue is about chess, and the first part is justified by Collins: “A heroic champion of a lady or of a cause or principle” (def.#4)
Just like you I wondered about 26d and, yes, you may be right.
In 7 down I understood both definitions but thought that the second was not grammatically correct for a noun.
Thanks Dante and Sil
Nothing too special about this one – thought the same with regard to the closeness of definition at 1a. I’d marked 7d as a double definition. Would you classify 26d as a double definition &lit ?
ALTERNATIVES and TIMELESS were cause for a smile in what I generally found a pretty bland exercise.