Today is Tuesday, 5th November. I wonder what theme Madcap might have brought along with today’s crossword.
Today’s ghost theme is Bonfire Night, with the clues (15, 20, 26, 27 …) and the completed grid (6, 8 (as in Roman candles), 18 (as in Catherine Wheel), 23, 30, being littered with references to the Gunpowder Plot, fireworks and the like. As with all successful ghost theme, a successful solver of the puzzle could be completely oblivious to it. I spotted it, however, as I was looking out for it, and it certainly heightened my overall enjoyment of the puzzle.
I think that I am now happy with my parsing, although I only made sense of the definition at 6 when I was finishing this blog; I would, however, appreciate confirmation of my parsing at 10. I also needed Chambers to verify “squib” at 13 and “disarray” at 15. My favourite clues today were 1, 2 and 7, for smoothness of surface; 2 and 6, for their deceptive definitions; and 28, for the misdirection around “joint”.
I hope fellow solvers have a more enjoyable 5th of November than the one described at 27!
*(…) indicates an anagram; definitions are italicised; // separates definitions in multiple-definition clues
| Across | ||
| 07 | ALCOHOL | Perhaps Bacardi and cola mixed before short break
*(COLA) + HOL (=break, i.e. holiday; “short” implies abbreviation); “mixed” is anagram indicator |
| 08 | CANDLES | Wax sticks and runs until hot becomes cold
HANDLES (=runs, manages); “until hot (=H) becomes cold (=C)” means letter “h” becomes “c” |
| 09 | IN KEEPING | What the landlord does reportedly is acceptable
Homophone (“reportedly”) of “innkeeping (=what the landlord does)” |
| 11 | MINE | Setter’s well?
MINE (=setter’s, i.e. belonging to Madcap); a well is a source, a mine |
| 12 | ESOTERIC | Mysterious secret inscrutable and occult primarily
*(SECRET + I<nscrutable> + O<ccult>); “primarily” means first letters only are used in anagram, indicated by “mysterious” which does double duty; & lit. |
| 14 | ROTOR | What goes around comes around
Whimsical definition: a rotor is a rotating part and the word is also a palindrome |
| 16 | FUND | Kitty’s play date
FUN (=play, enjoyment) + D (=date) |
| 18 | WHEEL | Heard wound is result of saint’s torture instrument
Homophone (“heard”) of “weal (=streak left on skin by blow, wound)” |
| 20 | RIFE | Fireworks spread widely
*(FIRE); “works” is anagram indicator; a rife disease has spread widely |
| 21 | BURST | Back massage on street leads to rupture
BUR (RUB=massage; “back” indicates reversal) + ST (=street); a burst spleen is ruptured |
| 23 | SPARKLER | According to Spooner, delphinium is little gem
Spoonerism of “larkspur (=delphinium, i.e. genus)” |
| 25 | EARN | Receive wage and discover it’s a pound missing
<l>EARN (=discover, find out; “a pound (=L, as in LSD) missing” means letter “l” is dropped)” |
| 27 | MISSHAPEN | Fifth of November is pigsty, full of messy ash – grotesque
*(ASH) in [<nove>M<ber> (“fifth of” means first letter only) + IS + PEN (=pigsty)] |
| 29 | WHISTLE | Erstwhile queen lost crumpled suit in the East End
*(<er>STWHILE); “queen (=ER, for Elizabeth Regina) lost” means letters “er” are dropped from anagram, indicated by “crumpled”; a whistle and flute is Cockney rhyming slang for a suit! |
| 30 | CRACKER | There’s a joke in here – it’s a good one!
Double definition: a Christmas cracker contains a joke AND a cracker is an exceptionally good example of something, as in She’s a cracker! |
| Down | ||
| 01 | ALDI | Shop lifting, a feature of rabid lawlessness
Reversed (“lifting”) and hidden (“a feature of”) in “rabID LAwlessness” |
| 02 | ROCKET | Leaves Egypt after shock
ROCK (=shock, upset) + ET (=Egypt, in IVR); rocket is a salad plant |
| 03 | HOMEBREW | Duff beer drunk by Simpson, 40% cut with domestic concoction
HOM<er> (=Simpson, from TV show; “40% cut” means 2 of 5 letters are lost) + *(BEER) + W (=with); “duff” is anagram indicator |
| 04 | BANGER | Type of road rage evident in decrepit car
B (=type of road) + ANGER (=rage) |
| 05 | ODOMETER | A measure of how far writer’s in love with lover?
ME (=writer, i.e. Madcap!) in [O (=love, i.e. zero score) + DOTER (=lover, one who adores)] |
| 06 | BEAN | Can this possibly prohibit injecting drug?
E (=drug, i.e. Ecstasy) in BAN (=prohibit); beans can be canned, i.e. a can of beans! |
| 10 | INCREASES | Laughing escalates
Cryptically, if you are creased with laughter, you might be described as being “in creases” |
| 13 | SQUIB | Old drip’s a washout if it’s damp
SQUIB (=drip, paltry fellow; “old” indicates archaic usage) |
| 15 | RIFLE | Initially, Fawkes in anger causes disarray
F<awkes> (“initially” means first letter only) in RILE (=anger, as verb, irk); to rifle is to ransack, pillage, hence “(to) disarray”, throw into disorder |
| 17 | DARKNESS | Night boat involved in nasty end, colliding with ship
[ARK (=boat, built by Noah in OT) + *(END)] + SS (=ship, i.e. steamship); “nasty” is anagram indicator |
| 19 | LEATHERY | Rough meadow by the railway
LEA (=meadow) + THE + RY (=railway); a leathery complexion would be rough, not smooth |
| 22 | TUMBLE | Trip (not the second trip)
<s>TUMBLE (=trip (up); “not the second (=S)” means letter “s” is dropped) |
| 24 | KOPECK | Knockout kiss for a bit of money
KO (=knockout) + PECK (=kiss) |
| 26 | ACHE | Guy, following extremely anarchic desire, …
A<narchi>C (“extremely” means first and last letters only are used) + HE (=guy) |
| 28 | NEED | .. must have made joint attack to depose king
<k>NEED (=made “joint” attack, i.e. struck with knee (=joint); “to depose king (=K, in cards and chess)” means letter “k” is dropped |
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