A stellar performance from Monk today. Thank you Monk.
Hidden in the grid are the names of four stars, three of them making up Orion’s Belt.
| Across | ||
| 8 | DORIAN | Perform display around north of ancient Greece? (6) |
| DO (perform) then AIR (display) reversed (around) and N (north) | ||
| 9 | AQUARIUM | Sign almost marks where submerged activity may be seen (8) |
| AQUARIUs (sign of the zodiac, almost) then M (marks) | ||
| 10 | OVERLOAD | Tax charge on deliveries (8) |
| LOAD (charge) following (on) OVER (six deliveries, in Cricket) | ||
| 11 | ALPINI | ID carried by former fighter in high-up troops (6) |
| PIN (personal identification number, id) inside (carried by) ALI (Muhammad Ali, former fighter) – Italian mountain troops | ||
| 12 | GREENE | Young English Catholic novelist (6) |
| GREEN (young) and E (English) – author Graham Greene | ||
| 13 | KLANSMAN | Supremacist response curtailed in airline article (8) |
| ANS (answer, response curtailed=abbreviation) in KLM (airline) AN (article) | ||
| 14 | SEEDING | Daughter stops dating, sorting out better players (7) |
| D (daughter) inside (stops, like a cork) SEEING (dating, seeing someone) | ||
| 16 | MAILLOT | Using post, distribute tights (7) |
| MAIL (post) LOT (distribute) | ||
| 20 | THROTTLE | Valve that’s half dry in part (8) |
| THat (half of) TT (teetotal, dry) in ROLE (part) | ||
| 23 | ALEXIA | Inability to read law stopping excellent start for 17 (6) |
| LEX (law) inside (stopping, like a cork) AI (A1, excellent) then … | ||
| 25 | ALPHAS | Dominant group in area left stage briefly (6) |
| A (area) L (left) by PHASe (stage, briefly) | ||
| 26 | GREAT AUK | Said dismal king trapping foreign character, one who was grounded (5,3) |
| GREA sounds like (said) “dismal” K (king) contains (trapping) TAU (foreign character) – an extinct flightless (grounded) bird | ||
| 27 | ROADKILL | Scoff on the way (8) |
| cryptic definition – something to eat found on the road (way) | ||
| 28 | IMPALA | The beast of Blenheim Palace? (6) |
| found inside blenheIM PALAce | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | CONVERGE | Approach criminal on the brink (8) |
| CON (criminal) on VERGE (the brink) | ||
| 2 | FIERCE | Savage, caustic old author taking new lead (6) |
| BIERCE (Ambrose Bierce, caustic satirical US writer) with a new first letter (F replaces B) | ||
| 3 | UNSOLEMN | Lacking gravity, funny man regularly touring alone (8) |
| every other letter (regularly) of fUnNy MaN contains (touring) SOLE. “touring” as a containment indicator again, one of my pet dislikes | ||
| 4 | VANDYKE | Warhol sunk, finally arrested by extremely vindictive sort of fuzz? (7) |
| ANDY (Andy Warhol) and sunK (final letter of) inside (arrested by) VindictivE (outside letters, extremes of) – a sort of beard (fuzz) | ||
| 5 | GUYANA | Republic overturned denial in one month (6) |
| NAY (denial) in AUG (one month) all reversed (overturned) | ||
| 6 | PROPOSAL | Criminal also undermining support plan (8) |
| anagram (criminal) of ALSO following (undermining, in the grid) PROP (support) | ||
| 7 | DUENNA | Governess expected girl to turn up (6) |
| DUE (expected) then ANN (girl) reversed (to turn up) | ||
| 15 | DROGHEDA | Heard dog barking in a port (8) |
| anagram (barking, mad) of HEARD DOG – a port in Ireland | ||
| 17 | ACADEMIC | Don’s half cutting bills (8) |
| DEMI (half) inside (cutting) AC AC (account, bill, twice) | ||
| 18 | ODIOUSLY | You and I sold out in a hateful way (8) |
| anagram (out) of YOU and I SOLD | ||
| 19 | PERGOLA | For each climbing record, a climber may climb this (7) |
| PER (for each) then LOG (record) reversed (climbing) and A – a frame for climbing plants | ||
| 21 | HOLLOW | Hungry hippo, extremely large and depressed (6) |
| HippO (outer letters, extremely) L (large) and LOW (depressed) | ||
| 22 | TESTIS | Kids regularly chasing match ball (6) |
| very other letter (regularly) of kIdS following (chasing) TEST (match) | ||
| 24 | ESTOPS | Legally precludes unnamed stepson for beating (6) |
| anagram (for beating) of STEPSOn missing N (name, so un-named) | ||
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.
Stellar indeed and another hard one for today after Brummie in the Guardian. Not many easy clues, but repaid a bit of persistence, and in the end nothing too obscure or unfair. I spent ages on MAILLOT, my last in, which fitted the def, but I wasn’t familiar with ‘lot’ (rather than ‘allot’) as a verb.
Saw the star in the first column of unches and guessed the one in the last but had no idea about the others. To be filed away for future use, along with GREAT AUK, a flightless bird I hadn’t heard of before.
Time for a break.
Thanks to Monk and PeeDee
Phew! Tough I thought, even by Monk’s standards.
I should have spent a bit longer as I didnt get MAILLOT, probably wrote MAILBOX and I should have seen DOGSTAR but was unfamiliar with the rest.
A mighty puzzle-pleaased I came near, even.
Thanks PeeDee and Monk.
Nowhere near finishing. Brain’s fried, I think. Eg, for ALPINI, saw ALI, saw PIN, wrote in alpine and thought it was a duff definition. How come MAILLOT is tights and maillot jaune is yellow jersey? Stars? Way over my head.
Heard the one about the Wilde lecture? It was a 8 26.
thanks Monk, PeeDee
Well, I did finish this one, apart from using a word fit for MAILLOT, one of several unknown words to me but managed to work out all the others. Better than the previous Monk which I utterly failed.
Thanks to Monk and to PeeDee and to James for his ‘way over my head’ and ‘Dorian Great Auk’ quips. Wish I’d spotted the latter.
Thanks Monk and PeeDee.
A stellar crossword in every sense. Finished it with a little wordsearch help. Saw DOGSTAR but did not see the the other stars. A great feeling of satisfaction when finished, albeit with a tiny bit of electronic help.
Thanks to Monk and PeeDee. Very tough going for me. I finally got DROGHEDA (new to me) that gave me the SW corner and UNSOLEMN but I failed with MAILLOT (my guess too was Mailbox) and GREAT AUK.
Just finished after an interim following the racing. Thought this very fine for the most part. Needless to say did not spot the hidden liights. Must try harder.
How obscure can the references in a cryptic crossword become before it becomes impossible to solve?
It’s not big, and it’s not clever, Monk.
Thanks Monk and Peedee
Found this one pretty tough, taking well over the hour to get it out. Only one new term for me (didn’t know the Irish town of DROGHEDA), although there were a number of others that were right on the periphery of knowledge. A good mix of word play devices to keep one honest for the duration.
Finished in the NE corner with the unusual UNSOLEMN, GREENE (which should have gone in much earlier) and FIERCE (surprisingly stubborn to get and one that I was unable to parse).
Seeing DOGSTAR down the left hand side triggered the theme for me with the other three stars that were completely unknown to me.