Independent Crossword 8530 by Anax (15-02-2014)

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The Saturday after Valentine’s day and a duel with Anax.

Now this was certainly one for a hungry person on a long train journey, where the buffet was closed. Every clue has some reference to food, eating, drinking or dining. And most of the answers too.

Could Anax be on a post Christmas diet when he wrote this?

Even many of the anagram indicators where food orientated – the nuts and crackers of 4ac and 9ac reminded me of a two Ronnie’s sketch  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2e0afvMYqI from several years ago.

Certainly not one for anyone still worried about the excesses of Christmas but very enjoyable in my opinion.

14ac has to be my favourite clue. 10ac was the hardest one I found to parse with some devious meanings hidden in the clue. Many thanks Anax.

Key:

* Anagram; DD Double definition; Underline = definition Italics = anagram indicator

ACROSS

1 Preserve is jam (6)

DD PICKLE

4 Fine nuts and not square sweets (8)

F (fine) + (and not)* + s (square) = FONDANTS

9 Miss World’s last meal’s crackers (6)

D (world’s last)  + (meals)* = DAMSEL

10 A café with no area reserved for a cigar (8)

Per (a) + (café – a(area))* + to (for) = PERFECTO

11 Chicken sandwich horse swallows in song (6, 9)

Yellow (chicken) + sub(sandwich) + mare (horse) around in = YELLOW SUBMARINE

14 Tucking into cereal, one very naughty boy (5)

Bran (cereal) around (i) = BRIAN (as in a quote from Monty Python’s Life of Brian)

15 Piece of tableware – its unsophisticated (5,4)

SA (it – sex appeal) + Laddish (unsophisticated) = SALAD DISH

16 One kipper in skillet behind English gourmet (9)

I + cure (kipper) in pan after e (English) = EPICUREAN

18 A solid empty pepper is minute (5)

Pr (empty pepper) + is + m (minute) = PRISM

19 Stupid git – ivy seeds block food processor (9, 6)

(git ivy seeds)* + stem (block) = DIGESTIVE SYSTEM

21 New café in trouble, beginning to see frozen faces? (8)

(café)* in ill (trouble)  + s (beginning to see) = ICEFALLS

23 Sort of gas bottles to shelter herbs (6)

Cs (sort of gas) around Hive (shelter) = CHIVES

24 For one bagging a duck, entertained by well cooked bird (5, 3)

Eg (for one) around a + (well)* around o (duck) = EAGLE OWL

25 Like a fungus, wanting really dirty place (6)

Yeah (really – h – wanting) + sty (dirty place) = YEASTY

DOWN

1 It makes rice soft? (5)

DD PADDY as in filed and soft is paddy

2 Vanilla slices on the way – with beef (11)

Plain (vanilla as in ice cream) in coming (on the way) = COMPLAINING

3 What kipper needs is to have air above (3, 4)

Own (to have) after Lied (air – as in tune) = LIE DOWN

5 Upset when eating a mouthful first of all (11)

Once (when) around [verbal (a mouthful) + a (first of all)] = OVERBALANCE

6 Turkey stuffing unusual fare for do? (7)

Dud (turkey) around (fare)* = DEFRAUD

7 Big Apple somewhat tiny core (3)

Hidden tiNY Core = NYC (New York City)

8 Cured meat good in roughly mashed medium (6, 3)

Ok (good) in (mashed)* + m (medium) = SMOKED HAM

12 Mixed raisins – let’s start to weigh for a relative (6-2-3)

(raisins lets)* + w (start to weigh) = SISTER-IN-LAW

13 Plans tea in visit arranged after one (11)

(teas in visit)* after I (one) = INITIATIVES

14 People getting free food, slugs and salty water, as Spooner would say (9)

Lead (Slugs a in bullets) + brine (salty water) – a la Spooner = BREADLINE

17 Company delivering cold beer of high quality (7)

UPS (Company delivering) + c (cold) + ale (beer) = UPSCALE

18 If you would start to peel bananas they will be accepted by soldiers (7)

P (start to peel) + (they)* in Re (soldiers) = PRYTHEE

20 Menu extremely reserved, as peas may be served (5)

Mu (menu extremely) + shy (reserved) = MUSHY

22 Breakfast food for one thousand (3)

Eg (for one – a little repetition from 24ac) + g (thousand) = EGG

 

15 comments on “Independent Crossword 8530 by Anax (15-02-2014)”

  1. Thank you to Anax and twencelas,
    Enjoyable, degree of difficulty just right and a good theme – what more could you ask for. The ideal way to get the 19 prepared for a big dinner which I’m now off to cook. I found the Tyneside region pretty hard – thanks for the parsing of 10 and 15. I liked 11 – I’m sure your explanation is correct but to me a SUBMARINE is also a sandwich that only a horse could swallow! Yes, I found 10 the most difficult with 5 not far behind.
    Thanks again to both setter and blogger.

  3. Bamberger – reserved is the anagram indicator as in re-served.
    Chambers gives “per” as meaning prep for each or a;

  4. The problem with reading this blog for prize puzzles is that it is usually so long since I finished (or sometimes, failed to finish) the puzzle that I can’t remember anything about solving it.

    That said, I do recall problems parsing 15ac (which may have been my last one in) thinking maybe “saladdish” – in the manner of a salad – might mean unsophisticated. Thanks for the explanation.

    Bamberger@2: Now that I look again at it, I realise I couldn’t parse 10ac either. I’m sure people will now say that per for a is common but I can’t recall seeing it. However, I see it is in Chambers – “for each or a”. “Reserved” is the anagram indicator, in the sense of re-served or to serve up again.

  6. Thanks both. I was dead chuffed to finish this – relatively quickly, for me. Some of the parsing eluded me, I confess. As usual, a really interesting variety of clueing from Anax.

  9. Maybe I was just in the mood for Anax this morning but I enjoyed this puzzle more than I do a lot of his. Of course, that could have been because I finished it in a reasonable time.

    I particularly liked the clues for BRIAN and YELLOW SUBMARINE. PRYTHEE took a while to work out because I’ve only ever seen it spelled “prithee” before so it didn’t spring to mind with the P?Y checkers at the start of the answer. YEASTY was my LOI.

  10. I’m not really into making bucket lists, but if I were, then ‘beating Anax at crosswords’ might well be on it. However, the current score is something like Anax 25-4 Kathryn’s Dad. He doesn’t set that often these days, and I’m getting old, so I’m not holding my breath.

    However, I did manage this one, and enjoyed it. Clever theme, which didn’t get in the way of solving it. I especially liked DEFRAUD and COMPLAINING. But I’m struggling to see how BREADLINE can be ‘people getting free food’. ON THE BREADLINE, surely?

    Thanks to S&B.

  11. Thanks Anax for an enjoyable challenge and twencelas for the blog. I solved most of this on two bus journeys this morning, but came to the blog with 10ac unsolved. However, the hints in the preamble were enough for me to see the answer before scrolling down to the solution. Not sure if that counts as an unaided solve or not – probably not.

    25ac: I took this as “really” = YEA, with “wanting” as a link word, but I think it works either way.

    K’s Dad@10 re 14dn: Chambers 2011 gives breadline a queue of poor or down-and-out people waiting for free food, esp from government sources.

  12. I’m afraid I was as dense as bamberger and also don’t really associate “to” with “for” as well as “per” with “a”. When does obscure clueing become simply a bit lazy? Still, always good to learn something, and perfecto is new to me.

    1 down, I assume you mean “as in field”. Paddy meaning soft is also new to me, but easily guessed.

  14. Many thanks for the fine blog, twenceslas, and to all for your comments.

    The theme wasn’t pre-planned. The clue for 2d had been written some time ago and simply reflected the fact that crossword solvers occasionally refer to non-themed puzzles as ‘vanilla’, so I wondered if I’d get away with defining ‘plain’ that way. So in the end it was just a clue I fancied using and, once it was in the grid, I wondered how many clues could have a food/drink theme.

  15. I am very pleased that, nowadays, I can finish Nimrod and Anax puzzles – albeit either with a solving partner or resources at hand.
    This was a very enjoyable culinary exercise with every single clue having a food surface.
    Hard to select a favourite clue.
    That said, with hindsight Anax must surely be annoyed by using ‘for one’ for EG twice (in intersecting solutions).

    Many thanks, twenceslas.

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