Monday Prize Crossword/Jan 20
If my memory serves me well, I think I found this Dante puzzle slightly harder than average for our beloved setter.
I also remember me not immensely enjoying the puzzle. Must have been one of those days (for me, of course).
Definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.
| Across | ||
| 1 | REMAIN | Don’t go and clip them in wet weather (6) |
| EM (them, clipped: ‘em) inside RAIN (wet weather) | ||
| 4 | CHAPERON | Broken car phone in Escort (8) |
| (CAR PHONE)* | ||
| I am pretty sure I saw this anagram very recently. Perhaps it was in a Rufus. Nice one though. | ||
| 9 | ADDLED | Corrupt theologian in crooked deal (6) |
| DD (theologician, Doctor of Divinity) inside (DEAL)* | ||
| 10 | PENNINES | Write numbers of chain letters? (8) |
| PEN (write) + NINES (numbers) | ||
| I am still thinking about ‘letters’. Yes, it’s there for the surface and I also think that it’s technically justifiable. But I fear I don’t like it. | ||
| 12 | HOT-PLATE | Stolen silverware used by restaurant cooks (3-5) |
| HOT (stolen) + PLATE (silverware) | ||
| 13 | ARCHER | A bowed old soldier (6) |
| Is this a cryptic definition? | ||
| 15 | SEEN | Observed and heard making a scene (4) |
| Homophone (‘heard’) of: SCENE | ||
| 16 | HEAVY METAL | Lead, say, in hard rock (5,5) |
| Double definition | ||
| 19 | DIMINUENDO | Notable decrease in volume (10) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| Musical term, hence the use of the word ‘notable’. | ||
| 20 | BAWL | Shout and dance, say (4) |
| Homophone (‘say’) of : BALL (dance) | ||
| 23 | ACTION | Order to start shooting in battle (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| 25 | ANALYSIS | Determination that snail, say, is about to demonstrate (8) |
| (SNAIL SAY)* | ||
| 27 | OVERCAME | Subdued, having arrived after it’s finished (8) |
| CAME (arrived) after OVER (finished) | ||
| 28 | BIREME | It had row upon row of rowers (6) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 29 | DREADING | Not looking forward to daughter going to university (8) |
| D (daughter) + READING (university) | ||
| 30 | AGATES | Name for stones when placed round an entrance (6) |
| AS (when) around GATE (an entrance) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | REACHES | Stretches between bends (7) |
| Cryptic definition – is it? | ||
| 2 | MIDSTREAM | The farthest one will be from a bank (9) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 3 | IDEALS | Reformed ladies showing the highest standards (6) |
| (LADIES)* | ||
| 5 | HIED | Rushed a hide-out (4) |
| (HIDE)* | ||
| 6 | PANORAMA | Latin American country holds an alternative view (8) |
| PANAMA (Latin American country) around OR ((an) alternative) | ||
| 7 | RANCH | Managed to get central heating at the farm (5) |
| RAN (managed) + CH (central heating) | ||
| 8 | NOSTRIL | It joins another for a breather (7) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 11 | STEERED | Third mate to be furious about having taken the helm (7) |
| SEERED (furious) around [ma]T[e] (third letter of ‘mate’) | ||
| I still cannot get used to things like ‘third mate’ for T. That said, I know that many solvers/setters are fine with it. | ||
| 14 | EVIDENT | It’s obvious I’d enter the contest (7) |
| I’D inside EVENT ((the) contest) | ||
| 17 | TRANSIENT | Passing test, ran in, all excited (9) |
| (TEST RAN IN)* | ||
| 18 | ENFORCED | Compelled to use pressure in extremity (8) |
| FORCE (pressure, really?) inside END (extremity) | ||
| 19 | DIAMOND | Area inside American bases (7) |
| Definition | ||
| An (American) baseball term: the area of a baseball field that is enclosed by 3 bases and home plate. How cryptic is that? [Not that I knew the term!] | ||
| 21 | LESSENS | Belittles schoolwork, we hear (7) |
| Homophone (‘we hear’) of: LESSONS (schoolwork) | ||
| 22 | FLYING | Taking flight and running fast (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| ‘Flight’ and ‘flying’ are very close, aren’t they? | ||
| 24 | THERE | Article about that particular place (5) |
| THE (article) + RE (about) | ||
| Nice one, in my opinion. | ||
| 26 | OMEN | A sign that Verne’s captain has turned up (4) |
| Reversal (‘turned up’) of NEMO (Verne’s captain, of “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” fame) | ||
The best I could do for 10a with p??n?n?s was pennants thinking that they might have letters on them.
Didn’t know hied.
I guessed that 19a would be a musical term that I didn’t know and I don’t think I would ever have got 19d or explained it if you’d given me the answer.
Tough I’d agree
Thanks, Sil.
Your memory does serve you: Rufus used 4a (verbatim) in Guardian 26,149.
I would argue that there are two valid solutions to 27a: OVERCOME and OVERCAME. Both words (and their respective components, COME and CAME) can indicate the past, with the former being the past participle, and the latter the simple past/preterite. It’s possible the intended parsing was “having arrived” (a participle phrase) = COME. For CAME to work, it would be just “arrived” = CAME, with “having” serving as a bit of fodder for a smoother reading.
Glad to see a clue (19d) where I had an advantage over UK solvers!
I did realise that there were two possible answers for 27a.
I see now that the actual answer given is shown as ‘overcame’ which was my initial thought.
ernie (and perhaps others), now tweaked 27ac in the blog.
I just saw that it was actually CAME that I entered into my grid ….. 🙂