We found this a difficult prize puzzle – it’s themed around the words “course” and “set”, both of which have many synonyms. (I seem to remember reading once that “set” is the word in the OED with the largest number of different definitions.)
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 9. | CHANTILLY | CHILLY = “Raw” around ANT = “soldier”; Definition: “French course” – I’d have guessed this was a reference to Chantilly cream (which would be a dish rather than a course), but it turns out that there’s racecourse of that name (see the link from the answer) |
| 10. | LIANA | ANAL = “may be obsessive” reversed around I = “one”; Definition: “Climber” |
| 11. | TOILE | ELIOT = “Poet” reversed; Definition: “material” |
| 12. | GELIGNITE | GEL = “Set” + IGNITE = “fire”; Definition: “big banger” |
| 13. | REGIMEN | REGIMEN[t] = “Army unit fails to complete”; Definition: “course” |
| 14. | BARRAGE | RA = “soldiers” in BARGE = “boat”; Definition: “Sustained fire” |
| 17. | TARSI | TAR = “pitch” + S[o]I[l] = “odd soil”; Definition: “They may be broken” |
| 19. | PUS | PS = “rider” around U = “certificate” (as in film certificates); Definition: “Discharge” |
| 20. | DREAD | A compound anagram of sorts: (REMANDED)* without (MEN)*; Definition: “Terror” |
| 21. | SCENERY | ENE = “course, perhaps” in SCRY = “divine”; Definition: “Set” (as in a stage set) |
| 22. | SCOURER | (COURSE)* + R = “river”; Definition: “cathartic” – a cathartic is a laxative, apparently |
| 24. | CAST ASIDE | CAST and SIDE = “Two sets of players” around A; Definition: “discard” |
| 26. | RHUMB | RHUMBA = “dance” without A = “Adult”; Definition: “course” |
| 29. | UNPOPULAR | UN = “a foreign” + POPLAR = “tree” around U = “uniform”; Definition: “Disliked” |
| Down | ||
| 1. | SCOT | [a]SCOT = “course? Not at first”; Definition: “National” |
| 2. | WAXING | WAX[w]ING = “Bird drops core”; Definition: “on the rise” |
| 3. | STREAMLINE | STREAM and LINE are “two courses”; Definition: “Provide efficiencies” |
| 4. | SLOGAN | SLOG = “a big hit” + [b]AN[k] = “Central Bank”; Definition: “Catchphrase” |
| 5. | SYLLABUS | SYLLABUB = “Dish” with the last letter (“base”) exchanged for S = “second”; Definition: “course” |
| 6,28. | FLAGSTONE | FLAG = “Jack” + STONE = “Ruby, say”; Definition: “slab” |
| 7. | NAVIGATE | (A VINTAGE)*; Definition: “Set course” |
| 8. | GAME | “Set and course constituent?” – a game is part of a set in tennis, and game (food) might be part of a course in a meal |
| 13. | RATES | RA = “Artist” + SET reversed; Definition: “judges” |
| 15. | RADIOGRAPH | RADIO = “set” + GRAPH = “diagram”; Definition: “View inside” |
| 16. | EIDER | RE = “about” + DIE = “pass” all reversed; Definition: “Bird” |
| 18. | REED STOP | REEDS = “Material for Thatcher” (or REED’S = “Material for Thatcher’s” – both work, I think) + TOP = “first”; Definition: “organ piece” – a reed stop is part of an organ |
| 19. | PHYSIQUE | (SHY)* in PIQUE = “resentment”; Definition: “Frame” |
| 22. | STEPPE | (SET)* + PPE = “course” (Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford); Definition: “wide open space” |
| 23. | ROUBLE | ROUÉ = “Rake” around B[eds] L[ooking]; Definition: “money” |
| 24. | CASE | CHASE = “course” without H = “horse”; Definition: “Patient” |
| 25. | AXES | A follwed by “union” = SEX reversed; Definition: “cuts” |
| 27. | BERM | Hidden in “climBER Manages”; Definition: “narrow path” |
Thanks mhl. I agree, this was quite a challenge. Of course it was clear that SET and COURSE were key words and I did look for a theme but it was soon apparent that those clues had little or nothing in common other than the clever use of these two words. 21 was my last and I learned a new word in the process.
I enjoyed it.
Thanks, mhl. This was a really good prize puzzle.
I spent nearly as long on 8 as the rest of the puzzle all together. I was trying to make sense of “sate”, since both set and course have the letter S followed by E as common constituents. It was this line of thinking that made me see, finally, that I should be reading the word “constituent” in the plural in the clue… then GAME was obvious. Doh!
Thanks mhl and Bonxie
Generally taxing at the time but more straightforward in retrospect. Berm and Rhumb had to be checked in Chambers.
Like NeilW I found 8d hard to fathom for some reason – indeed I left it till later and forgot to go back to it during the week. Only noticed this today!
I liked 20a, 2d and 19d particularly.
Many thanks for the blog. I enjoyed this puzzle but, like others, I was stuck on 8d. So many possible words. Did anyone think of DANE? And* + E (course). Spent a lot of time trying to explain constituent and gave up!
Found this tough going. The clues were all fair in retrospect, but I didn’t find much fun in it – just personal taste, I suppose.
Thanks mhl,
I didn’t do very well on this one and looking at the answers, I really don’t know why. The answers all seem fairly obvious
but I just didn’t see most of them. I had convinced myself that the puzzle was difficult as Bonxie often can be and just
didn’t try very hard. I’ll try harder next time. Thanks Bonxie.
Thanks mhl, definitely a difficult one.
I agree that this was a tough one, and I was grateful that it wasn’t my turn to blog it! For a long time I was looking for racecourses, but apart from Ascot and Chantilly, there were none. GAME and WAXWING both eluded me. SCENERY was very subtle, I thought, using the double meaning of divine to mislead us.
A proper weekend puzzle for a change. I suspect 8d would have been blindingly obvious if the consonants had been checked.
Thanks mhl.
It’s a small point but I took the course reference at 8 to refer to course in its hunting sense where game is the quarry, rather than course as a meal, where game would seem more arbitrary.
aztobesed @10, see what you mean but can a quarry be a “constituent” of a hunt? Meat as a constituent of a meal seems more likely, I would have thought.
NeilW –
Lol – I would have thought the quarry is not only a constituent of a hunt but an essential. Otherwise the hunt would be pretty pointless, wouldn’t it? The whole nebulousness of the key-word was something that lessened the pleasure of this puzzle for me. Admittedly, the game will eventually reach the table after the course, when, of course, it will become another course, in the course of time.
Thanks all
Enjoyably tough.
I particularly liked 12ac and 19d (for jockey as the anagram indicator).
Much discussion of ‘game’, my last in. Like Neil ‘game’ as a constituent of a meal seems fine. However, I was reluctant (and still am)to accept ‘set’ as a definition for ‘game’. The blog makes it clear that they are not even vaguely synonyms. It would be like using ‘inch’ as a definition for ‘mile’.
Ignore that, I have just seen ‘constituent’ as doing double duty.
How slow can I be?
Thanks, Bonxie and mhl.
This was hard work and took ages to get into. Like Biggles A @1, I looked for a theme but no such luck!
Favourite was Waxwing, which was a super clue.
Scry doesn’t exactly trip off the tongue. My ancient Chambers’s (sic) gives it as the Spenserian descry or Scot. to proclaim – a cry: a flock of wild-fowl.
Giovanna x
Game and ‘constituent’… ‘constituent’ can also mean ‘essential’ and that was the sense I was taking it. Game as a constituent of a meal is fine (but there are other options). Game as course constituent (no article = essential) is a nice point but it does make a tighter clue.
re 29ac: How does U = “uniform”?
rho
I think URL uses it.
rhotician@17 Phonetic alphabet
Thanks ToniL. Funny thing is when I solved the clue myself I didn’t think twice about it. When I read the excellent detailed blog I thought – how did I know that? So I looked up U in Chambers but failed to look up Uniform. You have restored two of my marbles.
We parsed 1d as ‘not’ at first and got Ain’t from Aintree a national course.
Thanks mhl. We didn’t finish this one which is quite unusual for us! Kept on thinking of Radioscope for 15d for some reason and didn’t look any further. Missed BERM completely – a new word for us! Had also never seen RUMBA spelt with an ‘H”.
Thanks Bonxie for the puzzle though – it kept us guessing!
Did anyone else have “cake” as the answer to 8 down? One definition of “to set” is “to cause to become fixed or hard” while a definition of “to cake” is “to form into a crust or compact mass”. And cake can be a constituent of dessert.
Yes, glm (@23) I went for cake, having painstakingly gone through every possible alternative. Still seems a reasonable answer, though I now see that game is better.
Last in in one of the hardest prize crosswords for a long time.
I went for cake too.
Got about half of this a while back, returned today and almost finished it, with some aids. I didn’t get GAME, but I like it and prefer the definition of course as a hunt, since that’s one more usage. I didn’t bother to check is every usage of “set” and “course” were different definitions, but I suspect they are.
Stumped at RHUMB and BERM. I was working too hard to figure out a dance I could remove some form of “adult” from to get “route” to even think of looking for the HA, and didn’t know RHUMB at all, or this definition of BERM.
As pointed out, the puzzle wasn’t as difficult as it seems in many places, once one finally found the answer. I kind of like that.
Thanks for the great weekend puzzle, Bonxie, and the blog, mhl!
Thanks Bonxie and mhl
This one had been in the ‘too hard pile’ for a long time now … with 27D not finished. Finally realised that the 26 was RHUMB and not ROUND and it still took an overnight pondering to see the hidden BERM which was a new word to me.
I consistently find Bonxie quite a difficult setter and this was no different who easily draws errors which cause a lot of re-work to get back on track.
Still a very good challenge !