Monday Prize Crossword / May 29, 2017
Falcon knows what many Monday solvers want, a nice and easy puzzle.
No problems whatsoever here in Cambridgeshire, UK.
Definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.
| Across | ||
| 1 | TIP OFF | Warn upper-class type about parking next to one (3,3) |
| I (one) + P (parking), together inside TOFF (upper-class type) | ||
| 4 | HERCULES | Exceptionally powerful man: the man controls boxing clubs (8) |
| HE (the man) + RULES (controls) around C (clubs) | ||
| 9 | PRIORY | It dropped from highest place in monastery (6) |
| PRIORITY (highest place) minus IT | ||
| 10 | ESOTERIC | English boozer used by man full of mystery (8) |
| E (English) + SOT (boozer) + ERIC (man) | ||
| 12 | ON THE NOSE | Honest one managed to win (2,3,4) |
| (HONEST ONE)* [* = managed] psmith (@2) is surely right about betting on horses – which is not really my cup of tea. I could have looked in Chambers, though: ‘(in horse-race betting) to win only (not to come second or third)’. |
||
| 13 | ETHER | Number in Somerset he rang? (5) |
| Hidden solution [in]: Somerset he rang | ||
| 14 | CORNISH RIVIERA | Special choir arrives in the coastal area surrounding Falmouth (7,7) |
| (CHOIR ARRIVES IN)* [* = special] | ||
| 17 | NATIONAL VELVET | Playing valet, Valentino in film (8,6) |
| (VALET + VALENTINO)* [* = playing] I got this from the anagram but I’d never heard of the movie. In 1944 I wasn’t born yet: National Velvet [1944]. There was a sequel in 1978 called International Velvet. Twenty years later Welsh band Catatonia (fronted by Cerys Matthews) released a breakthrough album of the same name. Remember Mulder and Scully and Road Rage? Now, at last, I understand why the sleeve has horses on it! |
||
| 21 | GOING | One wearing medal is leaving (5) |
| I (one) inside GONG (medal) | ||
| 22 | DANDELION | Ground in lane with odd weed (9) |
| (IN LANE + ODD)* [* = ground] | ||
| 24 | EGOMANIA | English turn on chap at one area showing obsessive self-interest (8) |
| E (English) + GO (turn) + MAN (chap) + I (one) + A (area) | ||
| 25 | CAREER | Rush job (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| 26 | DRESSAGE | Groom ahead of time in equestrian event (8) |
| DRESS (groom) + AGE (time) | ||
| 27 | SENTRY | Guard’s second appearance (6) |
| S (second) + ENTRY (appearance) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | TOP-NOTCH | Leading score is excellent (3-5) |
| TOP (leading) + NOTCH (score) | ||
| 2 | POINTER | Dog shower? (7) |
| Double definition | ||
| 3 | FORCE | Influence in favour of church (5) |
| FOR (in favour of) + CE (church, Church of England) | ||
| 5 | EASTER ISLAND | Statues here in sand – earliest, possibly (6,6) |
| (SAND + EARLIEST)* [* = possibly] | ||
| 6 | CATHERINE | Girl jazz fan at home, in her element initially (9) |
| CAT (jazz fan) + IN inside HER + E[lement], taken together | ||
| 7 | LURCHER | Dog taken from pitch, about to be brought over (7) |
| LURCH (pitch) + reversal [brought over] of RE (about) | ||
| 8 | SECURE | Visit’s about aggressive mongrel in stable (6) |
| SEE (visit) around CUR (aggressive mongrel) I hope he’s strong too! |
||
| 11 | NOTHING DOING | By no means love performing (7,5) |
| NOTHING (love, zero) + DOING (performing) | ||
| 15 | ISINGLASS | A powder: one in tumbler son swallowed? (9) |
| I (one) + IN + GLASS (tumbler), together around S (son) | ||
| 16 | STINGRAY | Mean to consume mostly raw fish (8) |
| STINGY (mean) around RA[w] | ||
| 18 | ADIPOSE | Fat duke and I entertained by a model (7) |
| D (duke) + I, together inside A POSE (model) | ||
| 19 | VAINEST | Most conceited, leading character wearing crop top outside? (7) |
| A (leading character, in the alphabet) + IN (wearing), with VEST (crop top) around it | ||
| 20 | AGREED | You’re on a Greek river that’s rising (6) |
| A + GR (Greek) + reversal [rising] of DEE (river) This was perhaps the clue I like most because of the fine definition. |
||
| 23 | ERASE | Delete some letters stored in computer as evidence (5) |
| Hidden solution [some letters stored in]: computer as evidence I think this was the third time in recent days that we had (in various newspapers) this solution clued by the same device, a hidden. |
||
*anagram
Thanks Falcon & Sil. Quite agree, I’m a Monday solver (sometimes).
In 12 across, ON THE NOSE signifies a bet that pays out only if the horse wins, as distinct from an each way bet that succeeds if it wins or gains a place.
Thanks Falcon and Sil
Quite straightforward puzzle that was completed over three short sessions during the day. ON THE NOSE and NATIONAL VELVET were both early gets for me but had not heard of the CORNISH RIVIERA before.
Finished in the SW corner with ISINGLASS (which I didn’t relate to powder initially) and GOING the last couple in. Also thought that the definition for AGREED was very neat.
A nice horse racing theme going on here, with Tip-off, On the nose, National Velvet, Going and Dressage, all Across clues.