Radian’s puzzles appear once a month, and we hadn’t blogged one for some time, until last month – so it’s two in a row now – lucky us!
We like themed puzzles and Radian can be relied upon to come up with something interesting (or occasionally something fairly obscure).
In this case, we tumbled to the Money theme fairly quickly, but that didn’t spoil the enjoyment – as expected, the clues are all well constructed with good surfaces.
All good Tuesday fun in these very strange times.
We hope everyone is staying safe and relishing the fact that the virus can’t stop us enjoying crossword puzzles.
An anagram of ARTICLE (anagrind is ‘foreign’) round CU (copper)
C (first letter or ‘start’ of cultivate) ROWaN (mountain ash) without the letter ‘a’
SURE (reliable) R (Republican) in or ‘probing’ US (American)
OP (work) LENT (fast) round or ‘impressing’ U (posh)
Double definition – the ‘reverse’ of a coin being ‘tails’ – ‘heads’ is the ‘obverse’
SINGS (tweets) round HILL (rise)
An anagram of EMPLOYER OF DONOR – anagrind is ‘disputed’
D (duke) InSTANTLY (quickly) without or ‘releasing’ the first ‘n’ (note)
SELL (market) round or ‘restricting’ H (hotel)
An anagram of CAN I (anagrind is ‘spread’) round HEN (chicken)
Hidden (‘some’) and reversed (‘backing’) in ArabiaN OIL LIMits
STEINway (piano) without ‘way’ – a reference to Rick Stein, the chef
An anagram of SENTENCE (anagrind is ‘redraft’) round P (piano)
ACCUSED (person in dock) round or ‘trapping’ TOM (‘Queen fan’ – as in a female cat)
FREUNd (German for friend) without the last letter or ‘briefly’ round or ‘accepting’ a reversal (up) of AID (help)
SEER (Sybil) reversed or ‘upset’ round UP (more expensive)
W (with) ADS (bills)
REP (salesman) O (old) + I (one) in STORY (fiction)
S (southern) CRU (vineyard) P (penny) LED (managed)
bOtTlE (alternate or ‘regular’ letters) in or ‘hidden by’ PEN (writer)
TIN (can) U (bend) reversed or ‘vertically’
LIST (lean) in SHORTS (sportswear)
LINES (crocodiles) in S (small) TEES (river)
EARNING (making) with Y (yen) first
ONCE (formerly) round or ‘covering’ E (European) PIE (bird)
SHELl (case) without the last letter or ‘brief’ (‘lift and separate’) round or ‘impressing’ E (English) K (king)
An anagram of LIVES (anagrind is ‘awfully’) R (river) – a reference to the Lone Ranger’s horse
AS (Roman coin) in CH (Switzerland)
MI (note) NT (New Testament – books)
Nicely done. After two recent Tees cryptics, he appears again in 15d.
Had to check a few things. Wasn’t sure “scruple” could be a verb; that “rowan” was the “mountain ash” and “Chennai” for “Madras”. Still not sure that “accustomed” can be “used” as opposed to “used to”.
Favourites include: UNIT, STEELINESS and even ACCUSTOMED despite my reservations on the definition.
Thanks to Radian and Bertandjoyce.
Thanks for the comment Hovis. We checked Chambers Thesaurus – ‘used’ is there as a synonym for ‘accustomed’.
Thanks B and J – yes, lucky you. 😉
I love Radian’s literary puzzles – and thought there might be another one for this day when I saw his name – but this was equally interesting and, as usual, he’s squeezed an impressive number of theme words into the grid. [I wondered about including USURERS when I was counting them.]
My favourites were MONEY FOR OLD ROPE, CHENNAI, STEIN, RUPEES, WADS and SILVER.
Hovis @1 – I’m not used / accustomed to solving the Indy puzzle before the Guardian but I did today. Now for Vlad – we’re being spoilt.
I too thought Usurers could be part of the theme, also Circulate, Opulent and Million at a stretch. Thanks Radian and B&J.
Eileen @3. That was really what I was thinking but, on reflection, I meant “accustomed to” = “used to” and it is the removal of “to” that concerned me. I take Bertandjoyce’s point though. Didn’t check my thesaurus which I should have. Ah well.
This was worthy of a pint of Guineas.
We too spotted the theme early on, which helped us finish. And, as well as Tatrasman’s Circulate, Opulent and Million, we thought SHELL could be part of the theme since shells were (are?) used as money in some civilisations.
Favourite, though, was STEELINESS for the surface. We also liked the two ‘lift and separate’ clues, for SHEKEL and MINT.
Thanks, Radian and B&J