Monday Prize Crossword / Nov 21, 2016
With Falcon you know what to expect: mostly easy clues with smooth surfaces ….
…. and perhaps the odd one out that makes one think – this time it was 19ac.
Definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.
| Across | ||
| 1 | FEATHERBED | Pamper priest passing over English border (10) |
| {FATHER (priest) around E (English)} + BED (border) | ||
| 7 | SKIP | Miss sleep after onset of storm (4) |
| S[torm] + KIP (sleep) | ||
| 9 | MEAN | Soldiers circling a base (4) |
| MEN (soldiers) around A | ||
| 10 | APOSTROPHE | Punctuation mark, perhaps too misused (10) |
| (PERHAPS TOO)* [* = misused] | ||
| 11 | AT BEST | A B in examination, taking the most optimistic view (2,4) |
| A + {B inside TEST (examination)} | ||
| 12 | DOGBERRY | Foolish constable found in nasty bog in part of Ulster (8) |
| (BOG)* inside DERRY (part of Ulster) [* = nasty] Character from Much Ado About Nothing: Dogberry, also the name of a setter in this paper. |
||
| 13 | LAND CRAB | Crustacean in catch caught by seaman crossing river (4,4) |
| LAND (catch, as a verb) + C (caught) + AB (seaman), together around R (river) | ||
| 15 | INTO | Enthusiastic about batting against spinner? No end (4) |
| IN (batting) + {TOP (spinner) minus the last letter P} | ||
| 17 | SPIN | Run out from square leg (4) |
| S (square) + PIN (leg) More cricket and I guess the definition is just “run” and not “run out”? |
||
| 19 | MOOSE JAW | Lecture on the American elk in a Canadian city (5,3) |
| MOOSE ((the) American elk) + JAW (lecture, as in ‘to criticise severely’) My last one in. “Moose” was clear but “Jaw” needed confirmation. Where Moose Jaw is? In Saskatchewan:  |
||
| 22 | INFAMOUS | Notorious home recognised by many (8) |
| IN (home) + FAMOUS (recognised by many) | ||
| 23 | GROUSE | Game bird and beef (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| 25 | SCREEN TEST | Cover international actor’s trial (6,4) |
| SCREEN (cover) + TEST (international) Even more cricket. |
||
| 26 | DRUM | Departs with strange revolving cylinder (4) |
| D (departs) + RUM (strange) | ||
| 27 | BASS | Fish, black when small (4) |
| B (black) + AS (when) + S (small) | ||
| 28 | OBLITERATE | Destroy old book, well-read (10) |
| O (old) + B (book) + LITERATE (well-read) | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | ELECTRA | Choose artist to portray Agamemnon’s daughter (7) |
| ELECT (choose) + RA (artist) | ||
| 3 | TENSE | A number seem oddly on edge (5) |
| TEN (a number) + the odd letters of “seem” | ||
| 4 | EXACTORS | Former players, demanding types (8) |
| EX (former) + ACTORS (players) | ||
| 5 | BLONDE BOMBSHELL | Explosive beauty, like Marilyn Monroe? (6,9) |
| BOMBSHELL (explosive) that is BLONDE (like Marilyn Monroe) Feel free to add “like Marilyn Monroe?” to the definition. |
||
| 6 | DOTAGE | State of senile decay demonstrated by magistrate imprisoning volunteers (6) |
| DOGE (magistrate, especially one in Venice) around TA (volunteers) | ||
| 7 | SCORELINE | Result of match has cronies going wild about the Spanish (9) |
| (CRONIES)* around EL (the, in Spanish) [* = going wild] I always thought the “scoreline” reflects the process that leads to the final result of a match. Perhaps I’m wrong. |
||
| 8 | INHERIT | Trendy? That girl has to be with it to take over (7) |
| IN (trendy) + HER (that girl) + IT | ||
| 14 | DUNGAREES | Overalls with muck on are, and sleeveless vest (9) |
| DUNG (muck) placed above ARE + [v]ES[t] | ||
| 16 | FORGET IT | You’re quite mistaken to overlook Italian (6,2) |
| FORGET ((to) overlook) + IT (Italian) | ||
| 18 | PANACEA | Criticise expert before a remedy for all is produced (7) |
| PAN (criticise) + ACE (expert) + A | ||
| 20 | ASSAULT | Reportedly, a sailor can be offensive (7) |
| Homophone [reportedly] of: A SALT (a sailor) | ||
| 21 | BORNEO | Carried round large island (6) |
| BORNE (carried) + O (round) | ||
| 24 | ORDER | Discipline in class (5) |
| Double definition | ||
*anagram
Thanks Falcon and Sil
There must have been a lot of recent activity around the Greek family of Agamemnon as 1d was a write-in as my first entry. Found the rest of the puzzle very straightforward as is normal with this setter.
Didn’t know the Canadian town of MOOSE JAW (thanks for the map, I didn’t bother looking it up but did read a little about it) and had trouble equating SPIN to ‘run out’ – eventually assumed that it had something to do with running out rope. Finished in the SE corner with FORGET IT, GROUSE and that Canadian town the last one in.
Rugby Union also refer to international matches as TESTS.
Down here, SCORELINE does refer to the final score of a match:
e.g. The final scoreline of the 2016 AFL grand final was Western Bulldogs 13-11-89 to Sydney Swans 10-7-67