My second Coot blog in a couple of weeks, after I met him in the Independent recently.
An enjoyable puzzle with good surfaces: I liked the “frisky ponies”, and couldn’t help laughing at 21a. I’ll pick 13a and 16d as my joint favourites for the combination of a clever anagram with an apposite surface. But is it time to suggest that “army type” (or variations thereof) might have become a bit hackneyed? Thanks Coot for the fun (again).
Definitions are underlined; BOLD UPPERCASE indicates letters used in the wordplay; square brackets [ ] indicate omitted letters.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | PREP |
Pages packed with religious education homework (4)
|
| PP (pp = abbreviation for pages, especially in cross-references), containing RE (abbreviation for Religious Education).
Another name for school homework, especially in private schools. |
||
| 3 | ATTRACTIVE |
Pretty busy cooking tart’s filling (10)
|
| ACTIVE (busy), with an anagram (cooking) of TART inserted (. . . is filling). | ||
| 10 | ANTIPASTO |
Some piquant IPA stocked for start of meal (9)
|
| Hidden answer (some . . .) in [piqu]ANT IPA STO[cked].
Probably more common in the plural antipasti: Italian word for a dish served as the first course in a meal, usually consisting of cold meats and/or vegetables. |
||
| 11 | NUDGE |
Encourage German to get naked outside (5)
|
| G (abbreviation for German) with NUDE (naked) around the outside. | ||
| 12 | CLASSIFY |
College girl provided with library’s final pigeonhole (8)
|
| C (abbreviation for college) + LASS (girl) + IF (provided = on the condition that) + final letter of [librar]Y.
Pigeonhole, as a verb = classify = assign to a specific category. |
||
| 13 | DETOUR |
Unexpectedly routed a longer way? (6)
|
| Anagram (unexpectedly) of ROUTED.
A non-standard (usually longer) route to a destination, for example because of road closures or to visit somewhere else on the way. |
||
| 14 | IN GEAR |
Dressed and ready to go (2,4)
|
| Double definition. Gear = slang for clothing, so dressed = wearing clothing = IN GEAR; or descriptive of a car with the clutch engaged and ready to drive. | ||
| 16 | DATA SET |
Postgraduates at Addenbrookes recalled nursing information (4,3)
|
| Hidden answer (. . . nursing = holding), reversed (recalled), in [postgradua]TES AS AD[denbrookes]. For the surface, Addenbrooke’s Hospital is a teaching hospital in Cambridge. | ||
| 18 | CRU |
Staff gathered in French vineyard (3)
|
| Sound-alike (gathered = heard) of CREW (staff = employees, especially on a ship). As always, the two words may not sound alike for some speakers, especially those who aim for the French pronunciation of cru. | ||
| 19 | TRAMPLE |
Public transport sufficient with only one morning crush (7)
|
| TRAM (a form of public transport) + AMPLE (sufficient or more than sufficient), with the two words overlapping so that AM (am = abbreviation for morning, from Latin ante meridiem = before noon) appears only once. | ||
| 21 | NUDIST |
Detectives stopping eccentric man with eye-catching tackle on beach? (6)
|
| DIS (plural of DI = abbreviation for Detective Inspector), inserted into (stopping) NUT (eccentric = an unconventional person).
I think Coot is suggesting that a man on a nudist beach would have his tackle on view to catch your eye. |
||
| 24 | RED HOT |
Really fancied friend who regularly read books (3,3)
|
| Alternate letters (regularly) from [f]R[i]E[n]D [w]H[o], then OT (abbreviation for Old Testament = a collection of books).
As in “red hot favourite” = a competitor strongly expected to win = fancied, in betting terms. |
||
| 25 | MADHOUSE |
Spooner’s eaten rodent in crazy scene (8)
|
| Spoonerism for HAD MOUSE (eaten rodent). | ||
| 28 | HENNA |
Variety of brown fowl last seen in Latin America (5)
|
| HEN (domesticated fowl) + last letters of [lati]N [americ]A.
Reddish-brown dye. |
||
| 29 | OPEN-ENDED |
Lacking boundaries, crudely penned dictionary entertains (4-5)
|
| Anagram (crudely) of PENNED, contained in (. . . entertains) OED (abbreviation for Oxford English Dictionary). | ||
| 30 | PREDECEASE |
Pass before Prince Edward close to Mile End (10)
|
| PR (abbreviation for prince) + ED (short form of the name Edward) + last letter (close) of [mil]E + CEASE (end, as a verb = stop).
To die before someone else: term generally used in the legal context of determining inheritance. |
||
| 31 | BRAG |
Game heads for boring result at Gillingham (4)
|
| First letters (heads) of B[oring] R[esult] A[t] G[illingham].
Card game, otherwise known as three-card brag, a precursor to poker. |
||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | PRANCE |
Computer cops operated on East Parade (6)
|
| PC (abbreviation for personal computer) containing (cops, as a verb = grabs) RAN (operated, as in “ran a business”), then E (abbreviation for East).
Parade, as a verb = prance = walk in a showy manner. |
||
| 2 | ENTRAIN |
Leaders of exclusive nursery school put on board (7)
|
| Leading letters of E[xclusive] N[ursery] + TRAIN (school, as a verb = teach).
To put someone or something on a train (formed by analogy with “embark” = to put on a ship). |
||
| 4 | TASK FORCE |
Working party has time to question stuff (4,5)
|
| T (abbreviation for time) + ASK (to question) + FORCE (stuff, as a verb = to pack something tightly into a container). | ||
| 5 | ROOM |
Fell over in kitchen? (4)
|
| MOOR (fell = uncultivated land on a hillside) reversed (over).
Definition by example, indicated by the question mark. |
||
| 6 | CONVERTED |
Modified traffic barrier protecting green on Sunningdale’s 8th (9)
|
| CONE (a temporary barrier to stop traffic) around (protecting) VERT (heraldic name for the colour green), before (above, in a down clue = on) the 8th letter of [sunning]D[ale]. | ||
| 7 | INDOORS |
Iron old dress shirts, initially, working under cover (7)
|
| Anagram (working) of IRON + initial letters of O[ld] D[ress] S[hirts]. Or the O could be an abbreviation rather than an initial letter, if you prefer. | ||
| 8 | EXECRATE |
Curse former judge embracing Brussels institution (8)
|
| EX (prefix indicating former, as in “ex-MP”) + RATE (judge, as a verb = assess the quality of), containing EC (abbreviation for European Commission or European Council, both with headquarters in Brussels). | ||
| 9 | OPUS |
Army type declining month’s work (4)
|
| [oct]OPUS (a creature with lots of arms = army type), without OCT (abbreviation for the month of October).
Latin-derived term for a work of music or literature. |
||
| 15 | ESPIONAGE |
Frisky ponies over time showing intelligence (9)
|
| Anagram (frisky) of PONIES, before (above, in a down clue = over) AGE (a specific time).
As in Central Intelligence Agency: information-gathering, often by spying. |
||
| 16 | DUNGAREES |
Labourer’s clothes surprisingly ungreased (9)
|
| Anagram (surprisingly) of UNGREASED.
Trousers with a bib front and shoulder straps, traditionally workwear. |
||
| 17 | STARSHIP |
Fantastic vehicle of celebrities in Vogue (8)
|
| STARS (celebrities) + HIP (slang for fashionable = in vogue).
Fantastic = in fantasy or imagination rather than reality. |
||
| 20 | AL DENTE |
Having bite of spaghetti? (2,5)
|
| Cryptic definition. Italian expression meaning “to the tooth”, describing pasta cooked just long enough that it still has a bit of “bite” to its texture. | ||
| 22 | SHUDDER |
Quiet outlet for milk shake (7)
|
| SH (sh! = quiet! = a command to stop making noise) + UDDER (the bit of a cow from which one gets milk). | ||
| 23 | SEA DOG |
Jack‘s dosage when off-colour (3,3)
|
| Anagram (off-colour = unwell) of DOSAGE.
Jack = sea dog = slang for a sailor. |
||
| 26 | HEEL |
Round object taking off with incline (4)
|
| [w]HEEL (a round object) without the W (abbreviation for with).
Heel, as a verb (especially of a ship) = lean to the side = incline. |
||
| 27 | JOKE |
French Setter straddling Roger’s funny (4)
|
| JE (French for “I”, the first person singular, so how a French crossword setter would say “I”) around OK (Roger, in radio communications = an acknowledgement that a message has been received and understood). |
Great fun. Relatively plain sailing with a few chewier bits.
Ticks for TASK FORCE, SHUDDER, MADHOUSE amongst others.
Had BARGE in stead of NUDGE originally but I think that’s more for when the NUDGE option fails from my managerial experience.
PREDECEASED held out the longest
Thanks Coot and Quirister
Nice puzzle from Coot as is to be expected. Trickier to get into at first but once I had a few crossers, the remainder flowed. CONVERTED my LOI as it took a while to think of VERT for green. I shouldn’t be surprised at both NUD(g)E and NUDIST turning up – this setter does enjoy some cheek, as it were. CLASSIFY, TRAMPLE, ENTRAIN, INDOORS, ESPIONAGE, DUNGAREES, SHUDDER and HEEL my faves.
Probably right about the ‘army type’ though Vulcan used it in the G earlier this month – and, surprisingly, a search of this site using the string ‘army type’ only returns four examples in total.
Thanks both
Thanks Coot for an excellent crossword which seemed to have the appropriate level of challenge for me. I was able to solve and parse everything except for OPUS which I correctly guessed. (Maybe ‘army type’ isn’t so ‘hackneyed’ after all 😀). Favourites included ANTIPASTO, CRU, MADHOUSE (a Spoonerism I actually liked), HENNA, PRANCE, ESPIONAGE, STARSHIP, and SHUDDER. Thanks Quirister for the blog.
A fun puzzle with a nice difficulty curve, with the NW corner giving me the most pause for thought. I loved the ‘army type’ in OPUS! Also liked CLASSIFY, DATA SET, TRAMPLE, DUNGAREES and SHUDDER.
Thanks both