Monday Prize Crossword / Sep 25, 2017
After two Dantes in a row, it was no surprise to meet Falcon.
A setter never at the harder end of the spectrum but, having said that, this was surely not a write-in.
For me, that is, of course.
It might be that I was too tired after a long (and sunny) walk in the Essex countryside.
My first one in was 15ac, the type of easy but oh so elegant clue that makes my heart beat faster.
The start of a good crossword (no pangram this time)!
I don’t care much about grids because I think it’s all about the clueing.
However, quite a few solvers seem to think that ‘no grid is better than a bad grid’.
This one wasn’t ‘bad’ but coincidentally exactly the same as the one used in the previous FT puzzle, set by Redshank (and, today, blogged by Pete MacLean).
Definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.
| Across | ||
| 1 | PAST MASTER | Expert history teacher? (4,6) |
| Double / Cryptic definition | ||
| 7 | RAGE | To tease head of exchange is madness (4) |
| RAG ((to) tease) + E[xchange] | ||
| 9 | STAB | Go crazy in retirement (4) |
| Reversal [in retirement] of BATS (crazy) Thank you Falcon, for a brilliant advice! |
||
| 10 | SNEAK THIEF | Call him this if he’s taken surreptitiously? (5,5) |
| (IF HE’S TAKEN)* [* = surreptitiously] Is ‘surreptitiously‘ really a good anagram indicator? I can, of course, see why Falcon used it. The clue as a whole should be seen as the definition (but it’s not an &lit). |
||
| 11 | DEFECT | Want to change sides (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| 12 | OBSTACLE | Old boy’s yarn about Camra’s first bar (8) |
| OB (Old Boy) + TALE (yarn) around C[amra] | ||
| 13 | APOSTATE | A number of letters worried one forsaking party? (8) |
| A + POST (number of letters) + ATE (worried) | ||
| 15 | SEND | Forward, first to score goal (4) |
| S[core] + END (goal) Excellent! |
||
| 17 | FOAL | Young animal starts to feed on acacia leaves (4) |
| Starting letters [starts to] of: feed on acacia leaves | ||
| 19 | SOUND OFF | Well away, speak angrily (5,3) |
| SOUND (well) + OFF (away) | ||
| 22 | DIETRICH | Slim well-to-do actress (8) |
| DIET (slim) + RICH (well-to-do) The third time in recent weeks that Marlene Dietrich (1901-1992) cropped up. But, yes, true, the other puzzles were Guardian ones. |
||
| 23 | BETRAY | Live close to upmarket fish shop (6) |
| BE (live) + [upmarke]T + RAY (fish) Another very good clue with a superb surface. |
||
| 25 | FILIBUSTER | Prolonged speech in the House? Fibs rule it out of order (10) |
| (FIBS RULE IT)* [* = out of order] | ||
| 26 | BUFF | Polish fan (4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 27 | FREE | Price about right for sovereign (4) |
| FEE (price) around R (right) | ||
| 28 | EVENTUALLY | In the end, level with trade union associate (10) |
| EVEN (level) + TU (trade union) + ALLY (associate) | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | ANTWERP | European port: new part busy (7) |
| (NEW PART)* [* = busy] | ||
| 3 | TABLE | Lie about book in chart (5) |
| TALE (lie) around B (book) | ||
| 4 | ALSATIAN | Dog, a large devil I kept inside (8) |
| A + L (large) + SATAN (devil) around I | ||
| 5 | THE POWERS THAT BE | He bet H. Potter was upset with those in authority (3,6,4,2) |
| (HE BET H POTTER WAS)* [* = upset] | ||
| 6 | RAKISH | Dissolute king, one covered in spots? (6) |
| K (king) + I (one), together inside RASH (spots) | ||
| 7 | REHEARSED | Practised getting tries in game set up (9) |
| HEARS (tries) inside a reversal [set up] of DEER (game) | ||
| 8 | GREMLIN | Gross Welshman, reportedly a troublemaker (7) |
| GR (gross) + homophone of EMLYN (Welshman) Apparently, Emlyn can be both a boy’s and a girl’s name. There’s a website, Nameberry, that tells us that on the day this puzzle was published, the popularity of male Emlyns had gone down by 46% while the girlies went up by 5%. |
||
| 14 | SOLITAIRE | Father takes hold of precocious young girl blowing top in game (9) |
| SIRE (Father) around {LOLITA (precocious young girl) minus the L at the start} Lolita is a character created by Vladimir Nabokov in his eponymous novel from 1955. |
||
| 16 | OUTBURST | Unrestrained expression of emotion, but unseemly in our street (8) |
| (BUT)* inside OUR ST (street) [* = unseemly] | ||
| 18 | OLIVIER | Shakespearean actor I cast in musical (7) |
| I inside OLIVER (musical) Bit of a sneaky use of ‘cast’ as it’s usually more than just a link word. |
||
| 20 | FEARFUL | Timorous, female ahead of strong reprimand (7) |
| F (female) + EARFUL (strong reprimand) | ||
| 21 | FIGURE | Work out price (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| 24 | TIBIA | I chewed up a bone (5) |
| Reversal [up] of I BIT (chewed), then + A | ||
*anagram
Thanks Falcon and Sil
Another good Monday puzzle from Falcon which did take up most of an hour last Saturday lunch time. No real holdups apart from the Welsh name in 8d, which I needed to come here to see. Had seen the word FILIBUSTER before but didn’t actually know that it meant to obstruct legislation through parliament.
A couple of neat new type clues mixed with other old chestnuts. Finished on the left hand side with that GREMLIN and SEND the last couple in.