Monday Prize Crossword / May 22, 2017
The fourth Dante within the last five weeks.
Is the FT following The Guardian?
This crossword was quite a relief after last week’s (rather unusual) struggle with the same setter.
No surprises this time, although am I the only one missing something in 25d?
Definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.
| Across | ||
| 1 | CLIENT | Customer with a legal right in court (6) |
| LIEN (a legal right) inside CT (court) | ||
| 4 | ALSO-RANS | They set off, but get no place (4-4) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 9 | IN TIME | Mint that is replanted eventually? (2,4) |
| (MINT + I.E. (that is))* [* = replanted] | ||
| 10 | FAST FOOD | What we eat during Lent? (4,4) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 11 | DREARY | Gloomy doctor having a bad year (6) |
| DR (doctor) + (YEAR)* [* = bad] | ||
| 12 | DELICATE | Liable to get broken English with unusual dialect (8) |
| (DIALECT)* + E (English) [* = unusual] | ||
| 13 | BAR | Advocates prohibition (3) |
| Double definition | ||
| 14 | EDIBLE | Stay around with the French in order to eat (6) |
| Reversal [around] of BIDE (stay) + LE (the, in French) | ||
| 17 | SALLIES | Jokes with southern friends (7) |
| S (southern) + ALLIES (friends) | ||
| 21 | NEGATE | Agent gets upset with point in dispute (6) |
| (AGENT)* + E (point, East) [* = gets upset] | ||
| 25 | BEG | Be a self-employed solicitor? (3) |
| Cryptic definition My LOI (and I had to think very deeply, even with 2/3 of the letters known!). |
||
| 26 | AIRLINES | Transport systems essential to divers (8) |
| Double / Cryptic definition | ||
| 27 | OFFICE | Firm base? (6) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 28 | APPLE PIE | For dessert an order can’t be bettered (5,3) |
| ‘Apple-pie order’ means ‘perfect order or condition’. | ||
| 29 | ERRATA | Mistakes are holding sailor back (6) |
| ARE around TAR (sailor), then reversed [back] | ||
| 30 | DILATING | What a pupil may be doing to understand about a classical language (8) |
| DIG (understand) around LATIN (a classical language) ‘Pupil’ as in part of the eye. |
||
| 31 | CHASTE | Virtuous, but cheats badly (6) |
| (CHEATS)* [* = badly] | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | CHILDREN | Issue needing to be raised (8) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 2 | IN THE AIR | Unsettled on a flight (2,3,3) |
| Double definition | ||
| 3 | NUMERALS | Could be ten and more rules man has broken (8) |
| (RULES MAN)* [* = has broken] | ||
| 5 | LEADER | He has the people behind him (6) |
| (Not so very) Cryptic definition But at least the L helped me (together with the next entry’s O) to find 4ac. |
||
| 6 | OBTAIN | Get on a bit better (6) |
| (ON A BIT)* [* = better] | ||
| 7 | ANORAK | Habit of a socially inept person (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| 8 | SYDNEY | A man’s calling for Australian port (6) |
| Homophone [‘s calling] of SIDNEY (a man) The clue can also lead to ‘Sidney’, I think, but I prefer this. |
||
| 12 | DALLIES | Takes one’s time with a number of friends (7) |
| D (a number (of), 500) + ALLIES (friends) Well well, more ‘friends. See 17ac. |
||
| 15 | EAR | Listener in tears (3) |
| Hidden solution [in]: tears | ||
| 16 | YEN | Longing for money from abroad (3) |
| Double definition | ||
| 18 | SET FORTH | Embark on an expedition – or an explanation (3,5) |
| Double definition | ||
| 19 | CAPITALS | Head south for the main cities (8) |
| CAPITAL (head) + S (south) | ||
| 20 | BEVERAGE | Bachelor always on time for a drink (8) |
| B (bachelor) + EVER (always) + AGE (time) | ||
| 22 | HAZARD | A leader of Zulus in tough venture (6) |
| A Z[ulus] inside HARD (tough) | ||
| 23 | PROPEL | Support the Spanish cast (6) |
| PROP (support) + EL (the, in Spanish) | ||
| 24 | DIRECT | Immediate aim (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| 25 | BENIGN | Happen to have one over the eight, we hear (6) |
| BE (happen) + a homophone [we hear] of NINE (one over the eight) And the definition is ?? |
||
*anagram
Thanks for the blog Sil. Typical Dante mix of good and weak clues with 25d the bottom of the list. I also fail to see any definition here.
Thanks Sil for 25a, I can see it now, but didn’t at the time and thanks for 30a explanation. Did fill it in, but didn’t realise the ‘eye’ aspect. Thanks to Dante and Sil.
Thanks Dante & Sil.
25 down can be solved as “to have one over the eight, we hear”. The definition is then “happen”. Benign is not an obvious meaning of happen, but there may be an implication that something that is benign just occurs without a specific cause.
Well, psmith, I considered something like that.
But I do not see how an adjective (‘benign’) can be defined by a verb (‘happen’).
And if this is what Dante means it is pretty poor, isn’t it?
Thanks Dante and Sil
It was back to normal after his ‘toughie’ last week.
Maybe when Dante ‘has had one over the eight’ he does become gentle, harmless and kindly – BENIGN.
Perhaps the first word of the clue was meant to be “happy”.
That’s a thought!