Monday prize Crossword / Nov 20, 2017
Dante and Falcon may be the perfect Monday setters, Armonie could be one too.
Accessible, relatively easy and consistent.
No tricks, all very straightforward using the standard devices.
For some solvers perhaps not challenging enough but Armonie does what he does well.
Definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.
| Across | ||
| 1 | BUCHAN | Author has a pastry while eating tea (6) |
| BUN (a pastry) around CHA (tea) John Buchan , who is perhaps most famous for The Thirty-Nine Steps. |
||
| 4 | AT HAND | Hadn’t a doctor nearby (2,4) |
| (HADN’T A)* [* = doctor] I am not a great fan of an indicator like ‘doctor’ put behind the fodder. |
||
| 8 | REMOVAL | Ejection from cricket ground after touching member (7) |
| RE (touching) + M (member), together preceding OVAL (cricket ground) | ||
| 9 | CORSETS | Escorts wanton and stays (7) |
| (ESCORTS)* [* = wanton] | ||
| 11 | ORDINATION | Uproar during address for investiture (10) |
| DIN (uproar) inside ORATION (address) | ||
| 12 | LURE | Entice student to the river (4) |
| L (student) + URE (river) | ||
| 13 | SPROG | Child appearing in Pilgrim’s Progress (5) |
| Hidden answer [appearing in]: Pilgrim’s Progress | ||
| 14 | MASSENET | Service electronic network for composer (8) |
| MASS (service) + E (electronic) + NET (network) Jules Massenet (1842-1912) |
||
| 16 | KNICKERS | What’s new in footballers’ underwear? (8) |
| N (new) inside KICKERS (footballers) | ||
| 18 | NIGHT | Period when a champion loses his head (5) |
| KNIGHT (a champion) minus the first letter K | ||
| 20 | SPUR | Endlessly reject encouragement (4) |
| SPURN (reject) minus the last letter N | ||
| 21 | SMALL PRINT | Tear round shopping centre for conditions of sale (5,5) |
| SPRINT (tear) around MALL (shopping centre) | ||
| 23 | OPPOSED | Operator sat against it (7) |
| OP (operator) + POSED (sat) | ||
| 24 | UTENSIL | Tool somehow let us in (7) |
| (LET US IN)* [* = somehow] | ||
| 25 | RESULT | Posh student staying in holiday development (6) |
| U (posh) + L (student, again!), together inside REST (holiday) | ||
| 26 | SNEERS | Is scornful of man taken in by prophets (6) |
| N (man, a chess piece, short for Knight) inside SEERS (prophets) I am not keen on ‘man’ = N but I’ve seen Armonie (or Chifonie) using it before – it is somewhat indirect, isn’t it? Having said that, what is actually the difference with ‘men’ = OR, RE etc? Years ago there was a discussion at this site that the implication might be that ‘man’ can stand for almost any letter of the alphabet. |
||
| Down | ||
| 1 | BLEAR | Dim British king (5) |
| B (British) + LEAR (king) | ||
| 2 | CROSIER | Crook finds Tories more encouraging (7) |
| C (Tories, Conservative) + ROSIER (more encouraging) | ||
| 3 | AT AN ANGLE | A brown fish appearing obliquely (2,2,5) |
| A + TAN (brown) + ANGLE (fish) | ||
| 5 | THORN | Time on instrument is a source of irritation (5) |
| T (time) + HORN (instrument) | ||
| 6 | ABSOLVE | Forgive a boy getting crack (7) |
| A + B (boy) + SOLVE (crack) | ||
| 7 | DETERGENT | Stop fellow getting cleaner (9) |
| DETER (stop) + GENT (fellow) | ||
| 10 | DISMISSAL | Notice society girl wearing ring (9) |
| S (society) + MISS (girl), together inside DIAL (ring) | ||
| 13 | SANDPAPER | Student leader with essay that’s abrasive (9) |
| S[tudent] + AND (with) + PAPER (essay) | ||
| 15 | SINGLETON | Carol spilled the beans all by herself (9) |
| SING (carol) + LET ON (spilled the beans) Not fully sure about the definition. |
||
| 17 | CURIOUS | Rogue gets debts sustaining a lot of interest (7) |
| CUR (rogue) + IOUS (debts) | ||
| 19 | GIRONDE | Ignored exotic French region (7) |
| (IGNORED)* [* = exotic] | ||
| 21 | SWELL | Merchandise keeps wife smart (5) |
| SELL (merchandise) around W (wife) | ||
| 22 | NAILS | Norwegian leader hurt by small claws (5) |
| N[orwegian] + AIL (hurt) + S (small) | ||
*anagram
Thanks Armonie and Sil
Didn’t find this one as straightforward as I normally do with this setter – taking almost twice as long as normal to get it done.
Have seen his use of man to generate a chess abbreviation of a chess piece, but it is always a penny dropping moment in the parsing each time that I see it – almost can condone it on continued precedence from Armonie anyway. Had come across the French composer at 14 before quite recently but had to check him again.
Liked his clue for AT AN ANGLE and finished with BUCHAN and RESULT.
Thanks Armonie and Sil.
Chess pieces seem to be quite popular with setters. In FT 15,710 blogged next by Pete McLean, Mudd uses “king, perhaps” to indicate MAN.