Monday Prize Crossword / Mar 27, 2017
After Gaff’s impressive Vera Lynn Experience we are back in Dante’s playing area.
Nothing to be afraid of, some really nice clues, some ordinary ones, all at a level that serves the beginner (and me, too) well.
Definitions are, as always, underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.
| Across | ||
| 1 | COBALT | Very blue swan with a high voice (6) |
| COB (swan) + ALT (a high voice) ‘Alt’ for a high pitched voiced initially confused me. In my native language ‘alt’ stands for the lowest female voice (for Brits, that is contralto). However, in the English speaking world an ‘alt’ is the highest male voice (i.e. countertenor). To make it even more complicated, both ‘alt’ and ‘contralto’ can also be called ‘alto’! |
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| 4 | SHOEHORN | Oxford difficult to get into? Try this (8) |
| Cryptic definition, or a straightforward one when making the ‘Oxford’=’shoe’ connection | ||
| 9 | PESETA | Old foreign coin embedded in a vegetable (6) |
| SET (embedded) inside PEA (a vegetable) | ||
| 10 | ALLIANCE | League match (8) |
| Double definition | ||
| 12 | BACHELOR | Composer has part played back for a single-minded man (8) |
| BACH (composer) + a reversal [played back] of ROLE | ||
| 13 | LAUREL | Shrub that’s evergreen – but not hardy we hear! (6) |
| Kind of double definition If Dante’s means ‘Hardy’ sounds like ‘hardy’, then he is very precise. Stan Laurel’s mate Hardy must be written with a capital H. Dante doesn’t do false decapitalisation and rightly so. |
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| 15 | EXIT | Finish playing one’s part (4) |
| Cryptic definition, referring to actors on stage | ||
| 16 | ANTITHESIS | Is the Saint perplexed? Quite the opposite! (10) |
| (IS THE SAINT)* [* = perplexed] We are already in double figures (i.e. clue numbers) and here’s only the first anagram. |
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| 19 | SANATORIUM | Maybe Rumania’s about to become a health resort (10) |
| (RUMANIA’S)* around TO [* = maybe] Not for Brits in the near future ….. |
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| 20 | ULNA | Part of the arm that is somewhat painful, naturally (4) |
| Hidden solution [somewhat] in: painful naturally For those who don’t know, it’s the larger of the two bones in the forearm. |
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| 23 | NOT BAD | Fair comment? (3,3) |
| Cryptic definition Typical Dante, in all its simplicity. |
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| 25 | GUERNSEY | Source of milk may provide us with energy (8) |
| (US + ENERGY)* [* = may provide] ‘Guernsey’ this time being the breed of cattle from the Channel Islands. |
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| 27 | ANATHEMA | Article probing song on a curse (8) |
| A (article) inside ANTHEM (song), then + A | ||
| 28 | STOOLS | Seats lost so need to be replaced (6) |
| (LOST SO)* [* = need to be replaced] | ||
| 29 | SLAPDASH | Negligent hit-and-run? (8) |
| SLAP (hit) + DASH (run) | ||
| 30 | SLOTHS | Beastly slow Holst’s composition? (6) |
| (HOLST’S)* [* = composition] Very loose definition, if at all. It’s clear what Dante means, though. |
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| Down | ||
| 1 | CAPABLE | Sailor in unusual place is effective (7) |
| AB (sailor) inside (PLACE)* [* = unusual] | ||
| 2 | BISECTION | Once bit is broken, it makes two pieces (9) |
| (ONCE BIT IS)* [* = broken] | ||
| 3 | LETTER | A character in literature? (6) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 5 | HOLY | Horribly heartless, yet pure in heart (4) |
| ‘Horribly’ with its heart, or at least part of it, removed: ho[rrib]ly | ||
| 6 | EPITAPHS | Inscriptions not the happiest – yet they could be (8) |
| (HAPPIEST)* [* = they could be] Double duty for ‘happiest’ to make it work optimally. |
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| 7 | OWNER | One has to be what one is (5) |
| Double definition, although not with much distinction This was my last one in and, actually, I quite liked it. Perhaps, others consider this clue to be a cryptic definition. |
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| 8 | NEEDLES | Unnecessary loss of a point irritates (7) |
| NEEDLESS (unnecessary) with the loss of S (a point) There are a lot more points in the word ‘needless’. |
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| 11 | COUNTRY | Nobleman takes the railway out of town (7) |
| COUNT (nobleman) + RY (railway) | ||
| 14 | LIQUEUR | Fifty-one line up endlessly on right for a drink (7) |
| LI (fifty-one, in Roman numerals) + QUEU[e] (line up, minus the last letter [endlessly]) + R (right) | ||
| 17 | SPLASH OUT | Hold forth about strike and be extravagant (6,3) |
| SPOUT (hold forth) around LASH (strike) | ||
| 18 | ATTACHED | Joined a non-drinker and suffered for it (8) |
| A + TT (non-drinker, i.e. teetotaller) + ACHED (suffered) I think the clue could have done without ‘for it’. |
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| 19 | SANDALS | Model lass and her footwear? (7) |
| (LASS + AND)* [* = model] | ||
| 21 | ABYSSES | Beasts of burden going round by deep gorges (7) |
| ASSES (beasts of burden) around BY | ||
| 22 | BRUTAL | Blurt out about article being vicious (6) |
| (BLURT)* around A (article) [* = out] | ||
| 24 | TIARA | It is up to a painter to provide jewellery (5) |
| Reversal [up] of IT, then + A + RA (painter) | ||
| 26 | IMPS | Military policeman is about to get mischief-makers (4) |
| IS going around MP (military policeman) | ||
*anagram
Thanks Dante and Sil
I found this one of the more difficult puzzles that I have done by Dante – taking well over an hour and a few sittings to get it out – maybe I was missing his normal quota of double and cryptic definitions – the crossword was made up of mainly clever anagrams and charades. I did raise the eyebrows at the loose-ish definition of SLOTHS.
Ended up in the NE corner with ALLIANCE, HOLY (took a while to mean that the heart removal wasn’t the entire centre letters – but rather leaving two at each end) and OWNER as the last one in.
I thought this was excellent. If only more setters were as punctilious as Dante is here at 13a.
Thanks to both setter and blogger.