A super puzzle. Hats off to those that didn’t need a dictionary! Thank you Gozo.
The theme is currency, the undefined answers are all either notes, coins or names of currencies.
| Across | ||
| 1 | BAWBEE | Nuisance heard of at competition (6) |
| BAW sounds like (heard of) “bore” (nuisance) then BEE (competition) – an old Scottish coin of little value | ||
| 4 | DOUBLOON | Manx impersonator with nothing on (8) |
| DOUBLe (impersonator) missing last letter (like a Manx cat, missing tail) with O (nothing) and ON | ||
| 9 | OBOLUS | Round, large pill (6) |
| O (something round) then BOLUS (a large pill) – an ancient Greek silver coin | ||
| 10 | SHILLING | Sir Rowland’s in prison. Not half! (8) |
| HILL (Sir Rowland Hill, inventor of the postage stamp) in SING (half of Sing Sing, a prison in USA) | ||
| 12 | SESTERCE | Deconsecrates? No can do, sadly (8) |
| anagram (sadly) of dEConSEcRaTES missing CAN DO – an ancient Roman coin | ||
| 13 | FORINT | Supporting trendy leading team (6) |
| FOR (supporting) IN (trendy) Team (leading letter of) – currency of Hungary | ||
| 15 | REAL | Rehearsal outside – in pairs! (4) |
| REhearsAL (first and last pairs of letters) – Brazilian currency | ||
| 16 | SOVEREIGNS | Pointers about deliveries to earl (10) |
| SIGNS (pointers) containing (about) OVER (six deliveries, in cricket) with E (earl) | ||
| 19 | TEN BOB NOTE | Twice bet on changes (3,3,4) |
| anagram (changes) of BET ON BET ON (twice) – an old UK bank note | ||
| 20 | CENT | Church and some of its books (4) |
| CE (Church of England) and NT (New Testament, its books) | ||
| 23 | RUPIAH | Ruffle hair up (6) |
| anagram (ruffle) of HAIR UP – Indonesian currency | ||
| 25 | STOTINKI | Toddlers returned, looking very black, we’re told (8) |
| TOTS (toddlers) reversed (returned) then INKI sounds like (we’re told) inky (very black) – Bulgarian cents | ||
| 27 | DENARIUS | Reform of trade union’s not missing (8) |
| anagram (reform) of tRADE UNIonS missing NOT – an ancient Roman silver coin | ||
| 28 | RUPEES | Takes pity on taking exercise inside (6) |
| RUES (takes pity on) containing PE (exercise) | ||
| 29 | STERLING | Ten girls dancing (8) |
| anagram (dancing) of TEN GIRLS | ||
| 30 | LEPTON | Parking permit outside – that’s feasible! (6) |
| P (parking) inside (with…outside) LET (permit) with (that has) ON (feasible) – the Greek cent | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | BROWSER | Computing software for the casual reader (7) |
| double definition | ||
| 2 | WOOD-STAIN | Clubs ain’t preparing varnish (4- 5) |
| WOODS (clubs) anagram (preparing) of AIN’T | ||
| 3 | ETUDES | Compositions – last of Faure’s duets arranged (6) |
| faurE (last letter of) then anagram (arranged) of DUETS | ||
| 5 | OCHE | From where to throw sport in the East End (4) |
| sounds like (as spoken in the Easy End) ‘ockey (hockey, sport) – the line form which darts are thrown | ||
| 6 | BALLOTED | Voted to assign shares in plot (8) |
| ALLOT (to assign shares) in BED (plot) | ||
| 7 | ORIBI | One pen erected for antelope (5) |
| I (one) BIRO (pen) all reversed (erected) | ||
| 8 | NEGATES | Cancels out name on electronic entrances (7) |
| N (name) on E (electronic) GATES (entrances) | ||
| 11 | ACCOUNT | Report a n-nobleman (7) |
| A C-COUNT (n-nobleman) | ||
| 14 | TESTATE | Having a will with notes on gallery (7) |
| TES (te, note in music, plural) with TATE (gallery) | ||
| 17 | GREEN BELT | Fourth grade judo award which will not attract development (5,4) |
| double definition | ||
| 18 | MONAURAL | Half of the painting on mountains using one channel (8) |
| MONA lisa (painting, half of) then URAL (mountains) | ||
| 19 | TIRADES | Siamese attacks reported, bringing strings of invectives (7) |
| sounds like (reported) “Thai raids” (Siamese attacks) | ||
| 21 | TRIES ON | Uses the fitting room in store, maybe (5,2) |
| anagram (maybe) of IN STORE – a apt anagram | ||
| 22 | ATTUNE | Acclimatise to one-time melody (6) |
| A (one) T (time) then TUNE (melody) | ||
| 24 | PENCE | Third variable article removed from Cornish town (5) |
| PENzanCE missing Z (a variable, in equations) and AN (indefinite article) – unit of currency | ||
| 26 | YUAN | Odd letters from your aunt (4) |
| YoUr AuNt (the odd letters) – the unit of Chinese currency | ||
definitions are underlined
I write these posts to help people get started with cryptic crosswords. If there is something here you do not understand ask a question; there are probably others wondering the same thing.
I enjoyed thsi too and surprised myself by knowing nearly all the coins, notes and currencies.
I wasted a lot of time trying to make an anagram out of ‘clubs aint’ in 2d before the penny (sic) dropped.
In 19 across we need to have both ‘bet’ and ‘on’ twice.
Thanks Gozo and TL.
Thanks PeeDee. This was good fun: I was lucky to get the theme straight off by solving the easy 26d, and I knew (or half-knew) all the thematic answers, though BAWBEE, my LOI, took a while to dredge up.
A couple of minor nitpicks: I thought OCHE should have been indicated as a homophone rather than just a cockneyism – “as heard in the East End”, or something; and I wasn’t happy with plural mountains = singular URAL.
Small typo – in 25a you should have TOTS, not TOTES.
Andrew – I wondered if the cockneyism needed a homophone indicator too, but would anyone ever write English that way? It has to be spoken or it doesn’t make sense.
Well, if you were quoting a cockney you might write “I ‘ad a game of ‘ockey last night”. As I said. it’s just a minor quibble.
Well then you’d be quoting someone speaking wouldn’t you? It has to be spoken.
Intrigued by PeeDee’s intro, so determined not to look any up. Just failed at the end (I suppose it would be at the end) with BAWBEE (had the BAW bit, couldn’t think of BEE, not heard of the solution) and OBOLUS (should have got it, but wanted to put an L for large where the B goes). Pretty clear, helpful cluing in general – I liked DOUBLOON and TEN BOB NOTE, not so keen on WOOD-STAIN, thought OCHE was fair enough.
Thanks Gozo, PeeDee
I too caught a glimpse of the ‘dictionary challenge’ when I came here earlier to look at the Nutmeg blog and I’m delighted to report that no dictionaries were used in the solving of this crossword. You don’t realise how much ‘staff’ is lurking in the back of your memory which turns up when required
Thanks to Gozo for the tour of currencies of the world and to PeeDee for the blog
I thought this was awful. Once I’d worked out that the theme was the names of coins I’ve never heard of, I didn’t waste any more time on it.
…also, wood-stain is not synonymous with varnish…
“What’s the difference between a wood stain and a varnish? Wood stains are absorbed by the wood and mimic the color of a particular species of wood. … Varnish is a clear, transparent coating that lays on top of the wood.”
Sorry (aptly named it seems) Grumpy. One man’s meat……..
I thought this was delightful, as are all of Gozo’s puzzles. crypticsue is right, all that stuff is lurking somewhere in the recesses of what is left of the brain.
Since Grumpy is a pal of Snow White, maybe I could announce the working title of my autobiography: Guilty, the Eighth Dwarf
Thanks to Gozo and PeeDee. I started with STERLING, my first one in, so I caught on quickly to the theme. I also had some success with the down clues, including YUAN and PENCE and from some long ago reading dredged up DENARIUS and SESTERCE. I finally remembered STOTINKI (and OCHE) from previous puzzles and figured out LEPTON, REAL, RUPEES, FORINT, and RUPIAH from the clues (though did resort to Google to make sure), but BAWBEE (my LOI) arrived only after much searching and TEN BOB NOTE was new to me. A challenge, but I enjoyed it.
Thanks Gozo and PeeDee
I really enjoyed this, though I had a DNF as I put the puzzle down, and forgot to pick it up again before coming here.
Grumpy @ 9: for several decades you have been able to buy coloured varnishes, and woodstains that have similar colours to paints, so stains and varnishes have converged in that time. They may not be absolutely synonymous, but they’re close enough to fool a layman.
Make no mistake, I did enjoy this crossword, seeing the theme almost straightaway (YUAN and CENT).
However, there was some googling needed as was probably the case for most solvers, I assume. And that is exactly the reason why I had my doubts about your preamble, PeeDee. A super puzzle. Hats off to those that didn’t need a dictionary!
It feels a bit like a contradictio in terminis, as I think a ‘super puzzle’ should ideally need no googling at all.
Anyway, many thanks to solver & setter.
Each to his own Sil. I find learning new stuff one of the most enjoyable aspects of croswords. How would you learn anything new if you only want to read what you already know? That way lies ignorance.
I did this one after work a couple of days ago and enjoyed it a lot. Did confirm a couple using Google but still thought it was impressive to get so many familiar ones in. Like others YUAN got me to the theme very early. STOTINKA/I is becoming surprisingly popular in crosswords since I first met it in one of Picaroon’s early puzzles.
Thanks to Gozo and PeeDee
Thanks Gozo and PeeDee
Did this on the day and found it a tad easier than his normal puzzles notwithstanding having to check on three unheard coins – OBOLUS (rather than OBOL), LEPTON (second last in) and BAWBEE (my last). Also had to chase up the large pill used by vets and the father of the postal service.
My entry to the theme was the same as others with YUAN (my first in) and quickly confirmed with STERLING (my second).
Some good learning in an entertaining puzzle.