Monday Prize Crossword / Aug 21, 2017
Very nice crossword from Falcon, full of history & culture.
This was not a difficult puzzle, Falcon hardly ever stretches the brain cells too far.
A few lessons in history and, as in his best Everyman days, quite some cultural references (music, theatre and film, in particular) gave this crossword the extra gloss.
I liked this puzzle (even if it didn’t take much longer than my Monday breakfast).
Definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.
| Across | ||
| 1 | SUNSET BOULEVARD | A way that may get one into Hollywood film (6,9) |
| Double definition Although the film is obviously named after the road. This film from a long long time ago: Sunset Boulevard . |
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| 9 | OUTPLAY | Defeat (not in sport) (7) |
| OUT (not in) + PLAY (sport) | ||
| 10 | TEST BAN | Key article on experimental weapons agreement (4,3) |
| TEST (experimental) + B (key, music) + AN (article) Clearly not everyone in the world ‘agrees’ nowadays! |
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| 11 | TALON | The Claw in short story being broadcast (5) |
| TAL[e] (story, shortened) + ON (being broadcast) I don’t know who or what Falcon had in mind when (falsely) capitalising The Claw. However, psmith @1 knows (and tells you). A talon is a hooked claw, especially of birds of prey. |
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| 12 | RUNNYMEDE | Flowing by medieval English place of historical importance (9) |
| RUNNY (flowing) + MED (medieval, abbreviated [in Chambers, not in Collins]) + E (English) Yes, one may indeed say that Runnymede is a place of historical importance, see: Runnymede . |
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| 13 | ROAST LAMB | Something to eat in bar, almost rare (5,4) |
| (BAR + ALMOST)* [* = rare] | ||
| 15 | INTRO | Start of number penned by jazzy trio? (5) |
| N (number) inside (TRIO)* [* = jazzy] | ||
| 16 | MEGAN | Intend to protect good girl (5) |
| MEAN (intend) around G (good) The first of three females Falcon used for his clues today. |
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| 18 | SHED TEARS | Cry as a result of rows heard by outhouse (4,5) |
| SHED (outhouse) + homophone [heard] of TIERS (rows) | ||
| 20 | HEADFIRST | Senior teacher leading without thinking (9) |
| HEAD (senior teacher) + FIRST (leading) | ||
| 23 | RATIO | Relationship held in admiration (5) |
| Hidden answer [held in] : admiration | ||
| 24 | HAIR OIL | Musical – Grease – or something from The Barber? (4,3) |
| HAIR (musical) + OIL (grease) | ||
| 25 | MALISON | Curse married woman (7) |
| M (married) + ALISON (woman) | ||
| 26 | PERSONAL TRAINER | Who could advise a sprinter on real running? (8,7) |
| (A SPRINTER ON REAL)* [* = running] I am happy to extend the definition to the clue as a whole. |
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| Down | ||
| 1 | SHOOT FROM THE HIP | Speak bluntly, as gunslingers do in westerns? (5,4,3,3) |
| Double definition | ||
| 2 | NATALIA | Girl hammered at a nail (7) |
| (AT A NAIL)* [* = hammered] | ||
| 3 | ELLINGTON | Duke? Duke wife ignored (9) |
| WELLINGTON (The Duke of …) minus W (wife) Duke Ellington (1899-1974) . |
||
| 4 | BUYER | One purchasing extra round university close to Manchester (5) |
| BYE (extra, in cricket) around U (university) + [Mancheste]R | ||
| 5 | UNTENABLE | Let a nun be put out? That’s indefensible (9) |
| (LET A NUN BE)* [* = put out] | ||
| 6 | ESSAY | Dissertation from Arafat, unfinished, turned up (5) |
| YASSE[r] (Arafat, minus its last letter), then reversed [turned up] Remember PLO leader Yasser Arafat (1929-2004) ? |
||
| 7 | AMBIENT | A male criminal I nicked, going round (7) |
| A + M (male) + BENT (criminal) around I For me, a word more or less synonymous to ‘ambient music’ and Brian Eno, in particular. |
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| 8 | DANGEROUS CORNER | Play in nasty joint (9,6) |
| DANGEROUS (nasty) + CORNER (joint) More culture. The first play written by J.B.Priestley, premiered in May 1932 in London. A film version followed two years later. |
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| 14 | AUSTRALIA | Film of Capone in European country (9) |
| AL (Capone) inside AUSTRIA (European country) I wouldn’t immediately think of a film when seeing the answer ‘Australia’. However, there were even three of them. Jean-Jacques Andrien’s 1989 production is surely the one Falcon refers to – a film featuring Fanny Ardant and Jeremy Irons. Or is it the one that Bruce mentions @2, the 2008 one with Nicole Kidman? |
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| 15 | INTER ALIA | Bury one in a US city among other things (5,4) |
| INTER (bury) + {I (one) inside A LA (US city)} | ||
| 17 | GLAZIER | Tradesman less inclined to work after onset of gale (7) |
| G[ale] + LAZIER (less inclined to work) | ||
| 19 | ARTISAN | Misguidedly train as a mechanic (7) |
| (TRAIN AS A)* [* = misguidedly] | ||
| 21 | FRODO | Father round to prepare hobbit (5) |
| FR (Father, abbreviated) + O (round) + DO (prepare) Frodo Baggins, fictional character in Tolkien’s Lords of the Rings cycle. |
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| 22 | TEMPT | Lure one from agency over time (5) |
| TEMP (one from agency, employee on a temporary basis) + T (time) | ||
*anagram
Thanks Falcon & Sil.
In 11 across “The Claw” was a short story published in Doctor Who Annual 1973.
Thanks Falcon and Sil
Continue to enjoy the puzzles of this fellow even when they don’t last as long as other setters. There is still some good thinking required to work out many of the clues.
I only knew of the later version of AUSTRALIA that had Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman – it was one of the gimmes.
Finished in the NE corner with AMBIENT, DANGEROUS CORNERS (which I didn’t know – interesting play after reading the synopsis of it) and TEST BAN as the last one in.