Italicus provides our Thursday challenge.
An enjoyable puzzle, especially for those who appreciate well-crafted and plausible surfaces. I’m not sure about 10a, as noted below, but someone may be able to explain it. The definition at 4a and the abbreviation in 28a were unfamiliar, but easy enough to guess and check. Thanks Italicus for the fun.
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | MONKEY |
Grand in cash, say, for mischievous child (6)
|
| K (grand = slang for £1000 or $1000) in MONEY (perhaps cash).
As in “you little monkey!” = slang for a misbehaving child. |
||
| 4 | HEADBAND |
Part of book principal reportedly proscribed (8)
|
| HEAD (principal, as in head teacher) + sound-alike (reportedly) of BANNED (proscribed).
The cord-like band, often made of decorative thread, at the top of the spine of a hardback book (just inside the cover). |
||
| 10 | UNVEILING |
Terribly evil nun excited about one German’s revelation (9)
|
| Anagram (terribly / exciting) of EVIL NUN around I (one in Roman numerals), then G (abbreviation for German). I can’t see why we need both “terribly” and “exciting” to indicate the anagram; it doesn’t work as two separate anagrams, because then “about” is needed to put UNN around VEIL and can’t also work as the containment indicator for I. Any ideas? | ||
| 11 | MAGIC |
Yours truly featured in publication about dark arts (5)
|
| I (yours truly = introduction to a signature on a letter, and hence a somewhat pompous way of saying “I” or “me”), inserted into MAG (short for magazine = publication) + C (abbreviation for Latin circa = about = approximately). | ||
| 12 | TACT |
Some devout Catholics backed diplomacy (4)
|
| Hidden answer (some . . .), reversed (backed), in [devou]T CAT[holics]. | ||
| 13 | ASTRINGENT |
Bitter struggle to take out a cracking spy (10)
|
| STR[a]IN (struggle), taking out the A, inserted into (cracking) AGENT (as in “secret agent” = spy). | ||
| 15 | INANITY |
Madness appearing without Suggs’s ultimate folly (7)
|
| IN[s]ANITY (madness) without the last letter (ultimate) of [sugg]S. For the surface, Suggs is the stage name of Graham McPherson, lead singer of the band Madness. | ||
| 16 | STAIRS |
Famous actors catching international flight? (6)
|
| STARS (famous actors: the question mark indicates a definition by example, because people in other professions may also be called stars), containing (catching) I (abbreviation for international).
As in “a flight of stairs” = a series of steps in a continuous line. |
||
| 19 | WEIGHT |
Significance of pause in speech (6)
|
| Sound-alike (in speech) of WAIT (pause).
As in “the weight of expectation” = the understanding that something is important. |
||
| 21 | PEACHES |
Pains after exercise? Fruit is the answer! (7)
|
| ACHES (pains) after PE (abbreviation for physical exercise). | ||
| 23 | CASTIGATOR |
Fierce critic got a racist sacked (10)
|
| Anagram (sacked = destroyed, as in “the sack of Troy”) of GOT A RACIST. | ||
| 25 | RAKE |
Degenerate artist meets knave on vacation (4)
|
| RA (abbreviation for Royal Academician = artist) + K[nav]E (on vacation = after emptying out the inner letters).
Degenerate, as a noun = rake = a disreputable man. |
||
| 27 | TONGA |
Island nation taking part in assault on Gallipoli (5)
|
| Hidden answer (taking part . . .) in [assaul]T ON GA[llipoli]. | ||
| 28 | APPRAISES |
Armenia’s foremost priest brings up Judges (9)
|
| First (foremost) letter of A[rmenia] + PP (abbreviation for parish priest: not one I’m familiar with but the dictionaries support it) + RAISES (brings up). | ||
| 29 | HAY FEVER |
Complaint clergyman withdraws following oddly heady offer (3,5)
|
| REV (abbreviation for Reverend = title for a clergyman) reversed (withdrawing), after the odd-numbered letters of H[e]A[d]Y [o]F[f]E[r].
Complaint = symptoms of an illness or medical condition, such as hay fever. |
||
| 30 | BENDER |
Binge drink around centre of London (6)
|
| BEER (a drink) around the centre letters of [lo]ND[on].
Binge = bender = an extended drinking session. |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | MOUNTAIN |
Horse starts to amble into northern part of range (8)
|
| MOUNT (a horse used for riding) + starting letters of A[mble] I[nto] N[orthern]. | ||
| 2 | NOVICIATE |
Trainee accountant discontentedly checking suspect invoice (9)
|
| A[ccountan]T (dis-contentedly = without the content = inner letters removed), inserted into (checking) an anagram (suspect) of INVOICE.
Also spelled novitiate, or more simply novice = trainee. |
||
| 3 | EPIC |
Portray nude on a grand scale (4)
|
| [d]EPIC[t] (portray) with the outer letters stripped off (nude). | ||
| 5 | ENGIRDS |
English erected sign incorporating extremely refined circles (7)
|
| E (abbreviation for English), then SIGN reversed (erected = upwards in a down clue), containing the end letters (extremes) of R[efine]D.
Engird = circle, as a verb = to surround. |
||
| 6 | DEMONIACAL |
Diabolic comedian fluffed a line (10)
|
| Anagram (fluffed = performed wrongly, especially of an actor getting a speech wrong) of COMEDIAN, then A + L (abbreviation for line). | ||
| 7 | ARGUE |
Assert old medical condition limits resistance (5)
|
| AGUE (an old word for illness characterised by fever, chills and shivering = old medical condition) containing (limiting) R (scientific abbreviation for electrical resistance). | ||
| 8 | DUCATS |
Old money essentially funding upper-class jazzmen (6)
|
| Middle letter (essentially) of [fun]D[ing] + U (slang for upper-class, as in “U and non-U”) + CATS (slang for jazz musicians or those who enjoy listening to them).
Coins used for trading in Europe during the 12th – 19th centuries; there are several references to them in Shakespeare plays. |
||
| 9 | PIGSTY |
Shame to keep case of Glenfarclas in farm outbuilding (6)
|
| PITY (shame = a matter for regret, as in “it’s a pity” or “it’s a shame”) containing (to keep) the outer letters (case) of G[lenfarcla]S. (A Speyside malt whisky, though we don’t need to know that for the clue.) | ||
| 14 | PILGRIMAGE |
Detective left picture taken after Greek expedition (10)
|
| PI (abbreviation for private investigator = detective) + L (abbreviation for left), then IMAGE (picture) after GR (abbreviation for Greek).
I don’t think pilgrimage and expedition are quite the same thing, but either word can be used loosely to mean a long and difficult journey. |
||
| 17 | REHEARSED |
Ran through part of funeral cortège wearing scarlet (9)
|
| HEARSE (part of a funeral cortège), surrounded by (wearing) RED (scarlet). | ||
| 18 | ASSESSOR |
Dunces love interrupting senior examiner (8)
|
| ASSES (dunces = fools), then O (zero = love, in tennis scoring) inserted into SR (abbreviation for senior). | ||
| 20 | TEACAKE |
Capture entertaining ace sporting bun (7)
|
| TAKE (capture), containing (entertaining) an anagram (sporting = energetic) of ACE. | ||
| 21 | PROMPT |
Swift pint at end of esplanade (6)
|
| PT (abbreviation for pint) at the end of PROM (short for promenade = esplanade = pedestrian area in a seaside resort). | ||
| 22 | SCOTCH |
Extinguish national spirit (6)
|
| Double definition. As in “to scotch a rumour” = to end it by disproving it; or short for Scotch whisky, a spirit (distilled alcoholic drink) from the nation of Scotland. | ||
| 24 | SANDY |
Light-brown sweets son brought in for Charlie (5)
|
| [c]ANDY (sweets), with S (abbreviation for son) replacing the C (Charlie in the radio alphabet). | ||
| 26 | SAGE |
Wind up European man of wisdom (4)
|
| GAS (wind = air or gas in the digestive system causing discomfort after eating) reversed (up, in a down clue), then E (abbreviation for European). |
The puzzle seemed to me relatively mild but very carefully clued, such that I felt, more often than usually, that I am constructing the answers from the clues rather than getting them from the definitions and only then working out the parsing. My favourites were ENGIRDS, MOUNTAIN, PILGRIMAGE, ASSESSOR, HAY FEVER, APPRAISES.
I would say that SCOTCH may also be viewed as a triple definition: it may mean “Scottish” i.e. “national” (although it is old use). Thanks a lot Italicus and Quirister!
Can’t fault Quirister’s analysis of 10a. Omitting “Terribly” leaves a clue that is straightforward and sound (though not very flattering to nuns). Thanks for puzzle and blog.
Comment #3
PROMPT was my favourite, for both the surface and the nostalgia it induced. I wondered about the triple definition for SCOTCH but I was taught that it was wrong to describe the nation as anything but Scouts or Scottish.
Sorry I missed the edit. Scots not Scouts. The autocorrect is clearly Scotophobe.
10a (again): “Terribly evil nun, one excited about German’s revelation” would work [anag. of NUN I containing (about) anag. of EVIL, + G (= German)]. But the parsing is more convoluted, and some might object to substituting I for ” one” in the anagram fodder.
I think the nature of this crossword is IRREPRESSIBLE! 🙂
Hi all, many thanks to Quirister for the highly detailed blog. I like the fact that you give extra information that would help those less familiar with cryptics. And well done to Mev for spotting my hidden theme. It was really just for my own entertainment, but delighted to see at least one other person remembers the series.
As for the terribly evil nun, that was an editing error on my part. I must have changed the clue at some point and neglected to take ‘terribly’ out. Apologies to all. Hope it didn’t detract too much from the overall solve. Until next time
For the unaware…
SANDY, a RAKE-wielding PIGS[t]Y, and a DEMONIACAL MONKEY in a MAGIC HEADBAND accompany a SAGE NOVICIATE on an EPIC PILGRIMAGE. I think some PEACHES were eaten somewhere along the way, and the MOUNTAIN may well come into it too, but my memories are hazy. Oh, and Tripitaka feels compelled to be MONKEY’s CASTIGATOR when he causes trouble. (ARGUE[s]?)
That brings back vague memories now. I think it was something my children watched. Well spotted Mev.