Monday Prize Crossword/Mar 25
Enjoyable crossword by Falcon which, for some reason, I found slightly harder than usual. Good variety of devices (but no cryptic definitions!) and – as always – care for the surface, too. Four clues with the word ‘game’ in it today.
Definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.
| Across | ||
| 1 | FRESCO | Painting front of emporium for one in San Francisco? (6) |
| FRISCO (San Francisco) with the I (one) replaced by E[mporium] | ||
| A device well loved by setters like Redshank and Bradman, but I do not remember it from Falcon’s back catalogue. | ||
| 4 | CRIBBAGE | Cheat to secure point in card game (8) |
| CRIB (cheat) + BAG ((to) secure) + E (point, East) | ||
| 10 | VICE VERSA | Bright deleting line in travel document? The other way round (4,5) |
| {CLEVER (bright) minus L (line)} inside VISA (travel document) | ||
| Often clues with “the other way round” in it indicate that one should read “A inside B” as “A around B”. Here it was the definition which initially wrongfooted me. | ||
| 11 | MIGHT | Clout small child in the auditorium (5) |
| Homophone of MITE (small child) | ||
| 12 | SUIT | Petition clubs, say (4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 13 | VIETNAMESE | Envies me at translation of Asian language (10) |
| (ENVIES ME AT)* | ||
| 15 | ABALONE | Sailor, with no one else present, produces paua (7) |
| AB (sailor) + ALONE (with no one else present) | ||
| Never heard of ‘paua’ before. It is the New Zealand word for this mollusc. | ||
| 16 | RADISH | Salad plant artist’s shown on plate (6) |
| RA (artist) + DISH (plate) | ||
| 19 | RACKET | Unfinished game causing row (6) |
| RACKETY (game, as an adjective this time) minus its last letter | ||
| 21 | SECULAR | Not connected with religious matters, clause upset reverend at first (7) |
| (CLAUSE)* + R[everend] | ||
| 23 | RUGBY UNION | Sort of football played in public school match (5,5) |
| RUBGY (public school) + UNION (match) | ||
| 25 | SWAN | Australian river bird (4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 27 | OUTDO | Defeat old-fashioned party (5) |
| OUT (old-fashioned) + DO (party) | ||
| 28 | GRENADINE | Popular as ingredient of pineapple or pomegranate syrup (9) |
| IN (popular) inside GRENADE (pineapple, a bomb) | ||
| 29 | FLY A KITE | What co-pilots do to test public opinion? (3,1,4) |
| Double definition | ||
| A kite can be an aircraft hence the first part of the clue. Not sure why Falcon uses co-pilots instead of just pilots. | ||
| 30 | FACTOR | Introduction to football player’s agent (6) |
| F[ootball] + ACTOR (player) | ||
| Another one of these fine surfaces. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | FIVE-STAR | Game on pitch that’s first-class (4-4) |
| FIVES (game) + TAR (pitch) | ||
| ‘Fives’ is a squash-like ball game. | ||
| 2 | ENCHILADA | Mexican dish, notice, eaten by the odd Chilean (9) |
| AD (notice) inside (CHILEAN)* | ||
| 3 | COVE | Inlet providing shelter, to a large extent (4) |
| COVER (shelter), to a large extent (without the last letter) | ||
| 5 | REALTOR | One sells properties in Montreal to retailers (7) |
| Hidden solution: [mont]REAL TO R[etailers] | ||
| A new word to me – a North American estate agent, so the use of Montreal is very appropriate. | ||
| 6 | BOMBAY DUCK | Host turned up by 3 to dive for fish (6,4) |
| BOM (reversal of MOB (host) + BAY (cove, the answer to 3d) + DUCK (to dive) | ||
| 7 | ANGLE | Fish fork (5) |
| Double definition | ||
| The first one is clear, but I had to think about ‘fork’. Unless I am wrong, I took this as “the space or angle between branches, esp on a tree or between the legs” (Chambers). | ||
| 8 | ESTEEM | Respect shown by eastern power, reportedly (6) |
| E (eastern) + STEEM (homophone of STEAM (power)) | ||
| 9 | BRAISE | Cook is to be employed by Scottish bank (6) |
| IS inside BRAE (bank, Scottish) | ||
| 14 | DONKEY-WORK | Jenny’s function becoming a grind? (6-4) |
| DONKEY (Jenny) + WORK (function) | ||
| 17 | SOLO WHIST | Very vulgar, this silly game (4,5) |
| SO LOW (very vulgar) + (THIS)* | ||
| 18 | GRANDEUR | Splendour of Greek article under bust (8) |
| GR (Greek) + A (article) + (UNDER)* | ||
| 20 | TONIGHT | Drunk holding on this evening (7) |
| TIGHT (drunk) around ON | ||
| 21 | SCOTER | Dreadful score opener in test bagged – a duck (6) |
| (SCORE)* around T[est] | ||
| 22 | CRY OFF | Back out of rear of caff following shout (3,3) |
| {OF + [caf]F} following CRY (shout) | ||
| 24 | GETTY | Billionaire art collector, good painter (5) |
| G (good) + ETTY (painter, William Etty (1787-1849)) – the definition: Jean Paul Getty (1892-1976) | ||
| 26 | GALA | Girl on a celebration (4) |
| GAL (girl) + A | ||
Re 29: Pilots train in kites, so perhaps a co-pilot might be found flying one.
Thanks for a great blog and a stimulating crossword.
Re 15: Here in NZ, paua is indeed a commonly used word.
Nice crossword and very clear blog thank you.
I failed to finish the bottom half and didn’t spot the very clever homophones in the NE corner.
Re 19a: I wonder if the game referred to is rackets (more commonly spelt racquets in the UK).