An easier then usual Cinephile, but certainly no less enjoyable for that.
CA in the clues stands for ‘castaway’ and I very much enjoyed reading on Wikipedia the stories of all the castaways and mutineers involved. In fact I had to force myself to stop otherwise this blog would never have gotten published. Thanks to Cinephile for an entertaining morning.
Hold mouse over clue number to see clue.
| Across | ||
| 1 | TEAPOT | PO (postal order) inside TEAT (bottle top) |
| 4 | CRUMPLED | Caught (abbreviation, cricket) RUMP (behind) LED (was first) |
| 10 | ELEVENSES | Loch LEVEN inside SEES* |
| 11 | REGIS | Right EG (for example, say) IS – Latin for ‘belonging to the king’ |
| 12 | See 3 | |
| 13 | PAST MASTER | Piano and MAST (nuts) inside ASTER (flower) – definition is ‘expert’ |
| 15 | REDWOOD | River and the start and finish of EDWin DrOOD –The Mystery of Edwin Drood is an unfinished by Charles Dickens |
| 16 | ESTATE | Double definition – ‘piece of land with a lot of houses’ and ‘a car’ |
| 19 | ARABIC | Double definition – tongue=language and relating to ‘gum arabic’, a type of gum. Could also be interpreted as a d+cd where ‘connected with gum’ is read as ‘a word that goes with gum’. |
| 21 | See 2 | |
| 23 | UNCLE REMUS | anagram of NURSE Married CLUE (new=anagram) |
| 25 | ANON | Double definition |
| 27 | BLIGH | BLIGHt (trouble, nearly all the letters) – Lieutenant William Bligh of the Royal Navy, cast away during the Mutiny on the Bounty |
| 28 | RURITANIA | RURI TANIA (sounds like “Rory” and “Tanya”) – Tanya is the Russian diminutive for the girls name Tatiana, Ruritania is the fictional setting for Anthony Hope novels |
| 29, 30 | ROBINSON CRUSOE | ROBINS (birds) ON COURSE* (anagram=off) – castaway in the Daniel Defoe novel |
| Down | ||
| 1 | TREASURE | TRE (‘three’ translated to Italian) A SURE (certain) – definition is ‘quantity of wealth’ |
| 2, 21 across | ALEXANDER SELKIRK | ALEXANDERS (plant similar to cow parsley) EL (‘the’ in Spanish) and KIRK (church) – scottish sailor voluntariliy cast himself away on an uninhabited island rather than sail with an unsafe ship. Supposed to be an inspiration for the fictional character Robinson Crusoe. |
| 3, 12 | OVERSEAS | O (love, zero as tennis score) VERSE (poetry) AS – definition is ‘abroad’ |
| 5 | ROSETTE | SETT (badger’s home) inside ROE deer – definition is ‘badge’ |
| 6 | MERCANTILE | ER (HM=Her Majesty the Queen, Elizabeth Regina) and CAN‘T (cannot=has no power) inside MILE (distance) |
| 7 | See 26 | |
| 8, 9 | DESERT ISLAND | DESERT (abandon) I’S (one’s) LAND (country) – the traditional image of a castaway is on a desert island |
| 14 | DOUBLE CHIN | CHurch inside DOUBLIN (sounds like ‘Dublin’, capital city) |
| 17 | TWINNINGS | TWo INNINGS (with O=zero removed) – definition is ‘links between towns’ |
| 18 | SKIN GAME | KING (ruler) inside SAME (identical) – definition is ‘scam’ |
| 20 | CHEERIO | CHE Guevara (famous Argentinian marxist) English RIO (Brazilian) – definition is ‘farewell’ |
| 21, 22 | SQUARE NUMBER | SQUARE (come to an arrangement with) NUMBER (anaethetist, one who numbs pain) |
| 24 | CLIMB | Conservative LIMB (member) |
| 26, 7 | STARLIGHT | TAR (sailor) inside SLIGHT (not much) |
*anagram
Many thanks, PeeDee.
This was great fun and easy – well it was after getting one of the CA references!
As Rory is usually considered to be an Irish name, I think the Scots boy in 28ac is Ruari
(or Ruairidh or many other possible spellings from Scots Gaelic).
And I’m sure you intended to refer to Tatiana in the same clue?
Hi mike04, Rory is a common name where we stay in Scotland, I know two with this spelling, no Ruaris or Ruairidhs that I am aware of. Does a name being Irish prevent it being recognised as commonly Scottish too?
And perhaps a reference to the setter’s recent appearance as a CA on Desert Island Discs?
Very enjoyable, many thanks to Cinephile and PeeDee.
Hello again, PeeDee. Thanks for your reply.
I’m sure you’re right about the Irish/Scottish names connection.
Earlier, I was consulting the 1983 edition of Chambers; it gives Rory, m. (Ir.) red. The 2003 edition gives Rory, (Ir) Ruaidhri, (Gaelic) with other spellings …
Then I thought maybe Cinephile followed Rugby Union. He may have seen Scotland’s stand-off half Ruaridh Jackson playing recently in New Zealand. (Unfortunately, probably home by now!)
I thought Ruaridh sounded very like the front half of RURITANIA.
Just finished this crossword.
I agree with you PeeDee that it was relatively easy.
But enjoyable it was too – just what I needed after Brendan’s Torture.
And nothing that might be called ‘outrageous’ this time, or too Libertarian.
And would you believe, even after my very last entry I had no idea what Cinephile meant by CA ……..
About the spelling of Rory/Ruaridh, I suspect it depends on where in Scotland one is, we stay fairly East, but if one went to North West Scotland to traditionally Gaelic areas then I expect Ruaridh would be the normal spelling.