The puzzle may be found at https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/29999.
Imogen has provided us with a crossword made up of basic clue types (plenty of envelopes) but still manages to be interresting and rewarding. If this is not enough for you, there also appeared today on the Guardian website an ancient crossword from Crispa, numbered 20,001. This one has the right number 29,999 for the current sequence, and appeared at midnight UK time. Who will get the honours of the milestone 30,000 tomorrow?
I have just been forwarded an email of Guardian 20,000, which is an Araucaria in the form of a poem with a clue embedded in each line.
| ACROSS | ||
| 8 | JEWELLER |
Rock purveyor we will make rude noises about (8)
|
| An envelope (‘about’) of WE’LL (‘we will’) in JEER (‘make rude noises’). | ||
| 9 | U BOLT |
Sprinter in bar bent back to grasp nuts (1,4)
|
| A charade of U (‘bar bent back’) plus BOLT (‘to grasp nuts’ – “I woiuld forget my head if it were not bolted on”). Mr. Bolt’s first name is Usain. | ||
| 10 | KENT |
Scots knew England’s garden? (4)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 11 | CHESTERTON |
Author as boxer, could one say – heavyweight (10)
|
| A charade of CHESTER (‘boxer, could one say’ – a boxt is a chest, more or less, so, whimsically. a ‘boxer’ ….) plus TON (‘heavyweight’). | ||
| 12 | KIDULT |
Childish type, endlessly dim, breaking equipment (6)
|
| An envelope (‘breaking’) of DUL[l] (‘dim’) minus its last letter (‘endlessly’) in KIT (‘equipment’). | ||
| 14 | TAKE A PEW |
Invite to relax and steal from church? (4,1,3)
|
| Definition and literal interpretation. | ||
| 15 | SHADOWY |
Indistinct notice with garish border (7)
|
| An envelope (‘with … border’) of AD (advertisement, ‘notice’) in SHOWY (‘garish’). | ||
| 17 | ASPERSE |
Slander, heartlessly audacious in itself (7)
|
| A charade of AS (‘heartlessly AudaciouS‘) plus PER SE (‘in itself’). | ||
| 20 | CHARTRES |
Cathedral search resolved: it’s right in the centre (8)
|
| An envelope (‘in the centre’) of RT (‘right’) in CHARES, an anagram (‘resolved’) of ‘search’. | ||
| 22 | SATURN |
God posed with big pot of tea (6)
|
| I think this is a Reubens in the National Gallery. A charade of SAT (‘posed’) plus URN (‘big pot of tea’). | ||
| 23 | CINEMAGOER |
Screen addict perhaps, one contorted with grimace (10)
|
| An anagram (‘contorted’) of ‘one’ plus ‘grimace’. | ||
| 24 | BOON |
Youngster spends year on benefit (4)
|
| A charade of BO[y] (‘youngster’) minus (‘spends’) the Y (‘year’); plus ‘on’. | ||
| 25 | HIT ON |
Suddenly discover hotel is losing pounds (3,2)
|
| A subtraction: HI[l]TON (‘hotel’) minus the L (‘losing pounds’). | ||
| 26 | NOCTURNE |
Short walk in once moving moonlit scene (8)
|
| An envelope (‘in’) of TURN (‘short walk’) in NOCE, an anagram (‘moving’) of ‘once’. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | NEHEMIAH |
One hard man, he was involved with Ezra initially (8)
|
| An anagram (‘was involved’) of I (‘one’) plus H (‘hard’) plus ‘man he’ plus E (‘Ezra initially’), with an &lit definition. | ||
| 2 | FELT |
Considered a soft fabric (4)
|
| Double definition. | ||
| 3 | PLACET |
Dwelling on tense vote in favour (6)
|
| A charade of PLACE (‘dwelling’ – “your place or mine?”) plus T (‘tense’) | ||
| 4 | TRIESTE |
Sad that Spain has invaded a foreign port (7)
|
| An envelope (‘has invaded’) of E (IVR, ‘Spain’) in TRISTE (‘sad’). | ||
| 5 | OUT-TAKES |
They don’t make the film, dates having been switched (3-5)
|
| TAKES OUT (‘dates’) with the two words ‘switched[‘. | ||
| 6 | TOURNAMENT |
What we are called in explosive competition (10)
|
| An envelope (‘in’) of OUR NAME (‘what we are called’) in TNT (‘explosive’). | ||
| 7 | STOOGE |
Time goose should be cooked in foil (6)
|
| An anagram (‘should be cooked’) of T (‘time’) plus ‘goose’. The definition is a straight man who feeds lines to a comedian. | ||
| 13 | UNDERNEATH |
Hunt neared ground, positioned for concealment? (10)
|
| An anagram (‘ground’) of ‘hunt neared’. | ||
| 16 | WAR PAINT |
Distortion isn’t commonly cosmetic (3,5)
|
| A charade of WARP (‘distortion’) plus AIN’T (‘isn’t commonly’). | ||
| 18 | SORBONNE |
Aching to suppress German city university (8)
|
| An envelope (‘to suppress’) of BONN (‘German city’) in SORE (‘aching’). | ||
| 19 | ASTOUND |
Stagger about, ‘run out’ replaced by ‘stumped’ (7)
|
| AROUND (‘about’) with the RO (‘run out’) replaced by ST (‘stumped’). | ||
| 21 | HEIGHT |
The peak hour, dinner time? (6)
|
| A charade of H (‘hour’) plus EIGHT (‘dinner time?’ – at least according to the play by George S Kaufman, and its film adaptation, Dinner at Eight). | ||
| 22 | STRICT |
Uncompromising boss ultimately deceived on Radio 4 (6)
|
| A charade of S (‘bosS ultimately’) plus TRICT, sounding like (‘on Radio 4’ – the ‘4’ is unnecessary but does no damage) TRICKED (‘deceived’). | ||
| 24 | BOUT |
Start to bash away in contest (4)
|
| A charade of B (‘start to Bash’) plus OUT (‘away’). |
Not the hardest of Imogens., though needed help to finish off the last ones (PLACET and KIDULT)
Thanks PeterO for the explanations to PLACET and ASTOUND
Thanks Imogen, too.