Monday Prize Crossword/Jul 13
Another elegantly clued puzzle by Crux which, in case one still wants to give it a go, can be found here. While there was nothing too difficult, I really made a mess of the NE by making no less than 4 (four!) mistakes to which I will refer in the blog below.
As always, definitions are underlined whenever possible and/or appropriate.
| Across | ||
| 1 | UPSTAGE | Model puts many years in to steal the show |
| (PUTS)* + AGE (many years) | ||
| 5 | ONE-STOP | Single person’s favourite kind of convenience store |
| ONE’S (person’s) + TOP (favourite) | ||
| My Mistake No 1: ONE + STAR (as my favourite), thinking of a grading system of hotels, restaurants and perhaps stores? | ||
| 9 | TIARA | Headdress, one buried in Ireland’s royal site |
| I (one) inside TARA (Ireland’s royal site) | ||
| See: Hill of Tara. | ||
| 10 | AUTHORESS | Christie possibly organised shareouts |
| (SHARE-OUTS)* | ||
| My Mistake No 2: ARTSHOUSE as an anagram of ‘shareouts’, referring to the famous auctioneers. The Christie intended, however, was Agatha. | ||
| 11 | INELEGANT | Line breaks down, say, worker being clumsy |
| (LINE)* + EG (say) + ANT (worker) | ||
| 12 | INTRO | Italian leader leaves to present musical opening |
| INTRODUCE (to present) minus DUCE (Italian leader, more specifically Mussolini) | ||
| 13 | THYME | Season, we hear, for seasoning |
| Homophone of TIME(season) | ||
| 15 | ENGENDERS | Leads to sex in various quarters |
| GENDER (sex) inside E,N,S (various quarters, East North South) | ||
| My Mistake No 3: I was so focused on an anagram (indicator: various) of ‘to sex in’ that I thought it might give me, together with some quarters (E, N): EXTENSION – think: extension leads. | ||
| 18 | PHEASANTS | Game that’s hard, which country folk accept |
| H (hard) inside PEASANTS (country folk) | ||
| 19 | LAIRS | Places to hide from penniless landlords |
| LAIRDS (landlords) without D (penny) | ||
| 21 | SOAVE | Husband admits love for Italian wine |
| SAVE (husband, as a verb) around O (love) | ||
| 23 | SMELLIEST | High as can be and still seem stupid! |
| (STILL SEEM)* | ||
| 25 | ABUNDANCE | A knees-up with cake eaten in plenty |
| A DANCE (a knees-up) around BUN (cake) | ||
| 26 | VITAL | Key WW2 missile the army lacked, initially |
| VI (WW2 missile, a V1) + T[he] A[rmy] L[acked] | ||
| The last bit might also be seen as TA ((the) army, Territorial Army) + L[acked], but I prefer the one above (because of ‘the’). | ||
| 27 | EYEBROW | Intellectual, says 14, with facial hair |
| Homophone of HIGHBROW (intellectual) with the H swallowed as an Eastender (14d, a Cockney) would do | ||
| 28 | SPRAYER | Travellers about to catch fish with type of gun |
| Reversal of REPS (travellers, salesmen) around RAY (fish) | ||
| SPRAYER = spray gun : not that dangerous. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | UNTWIST | A French orphan is free of entanglements |
| UN (a, in French) + TWIST (orphan, Oliver Twist) | ||
| 2 | SPARE TYRE | Unwanted fat found in rolls we’re told |
| Double definition with a cryptic part perhaps? | ||
| The first bit is clear, but I am unsure about “we’re told” bit. I saw ‘rolls’ as fat rolls and also as as Rolls (spare tyres in cars) although it should ideally be capitalised then. Could be that “we’re told” is there to distinguish ‘rolls’ from ‘Rolls’. | ||
| 3 | ABATE | Relax in a club, mid-September |
| A + BAT (club) + [sept]E[mber] | ||
| 4 | EL ALAMEIN | A name I’ll confuse with English battle |
| (A NAME I’LL + E (English))* | ||
| My Mistake No 4: (an avoidable one) writing EL ALAMEIN as EL ALAMAIN, hence A as the starting letter for 15ac [indeed Bryan @4, not 10ac] (which it clearly wasn’t). | ||
| 5 | OCTET | Group extremely eloquent after a month |
| E[loquen]T following OCT (a month, October) | ||
| 6 | EMOTIONAL | Dramatic eastern proposal the French rejected |
| E (Eastern) + MOTION (proposal) + AL (reversal of LA (the, in French)) | ||
| 7 | THEFT | Crime you have in hand! |
| Plain definition with a cryptic element | ||
| 8 | PISTOLS | Pilots trained on top secret weapons |
| (PILOTS)* + S[ecret] | ||
| 14 | EASTENDER | Cockney festival about to finish |
| EASTER (festival) around END (to finish) | ||
| 16 | GAS METERS | They may well be read below stairs |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 17 | EVIDENTLY | Pit in live broadcast closes in year, it seems |
| DENT (pit) inside (LIVE)* + Y (year) | ||
| I had to think a bit about ‘closes in years’ but it’s all right, I guess: the first part of the clue ‘ends in/with Y’. | ||
| 18 | POSTAGE | It could be first-class when Gestapo gets involved |
| (GESTAPO)* | ||
| 20 | SETTLER | Pioneer Crux eg takes control, finally |
| SETTER (Crux eg) around [contro]L | ||
| 22 | ACUTE | A charming accent |
| A + CUTE (charming) | ||
| 23 | SINEW | It indicates strength in exotic wines |
| (WINES)* | ||
| 24 | LOVER | Romeo (or Juliet) left for dead in port |
| DOVER (port) with L (left) replacing D (dead) | ||
| Nice device and, er, nice surface, even if I have seen ‘left for dead’ before. | ||
Hi Sil, Arthouse, ouch, that’s really unlucky and unlike some setters can’t believe Crux realised or intended two viable answers here.
As you say, flashling, ARTHOUSE (which is a cinema) – not ARTSHOUSE. So it was wrong anyway.
Still, my idea was not that silly: see eg http://www.artshouse.co.uk
Granting that some of our early hazards at answers might be tentatives –
if the setter had the auctioneers in mind, the first word in the clue would have been Christie’s, not Christie.
Many thanks Sil and Crux
Silly Me (Yes a pun is intended), I couldn’t spell EL ALAMEIN correctly either!
I had it as El Alamain which then screwed me up for 15a.
Failed on 6d,12a,15a,17d& 28a. No particular reasons -just too good for me.
Rishi @3, I do not feel any need to justify ARTSHOUSE or ARTHOUSES. That early entry was purely My Mistake, and – as I read between your lines – Crux himself has really nothing to do with it.
That said, personally, I find it a kind of “interesting” mistake, just like 15ac.
By the way, anyone out there who can say more about 2d?
Hi Sil,
I took 2dn as a double definition: Spare tyre being both a car tyre and spreading waist; rolls (of fat)& Rolls (the car) both being pronounced the same, hence “we’re told”.