Monday Prize Crossword/Sep 1
Enjoyable exercise by Monday regular Crux. Good spread of devices although my least favourite device, the double definition, was once more very prominent with no less than 7 entries. The appearance of J, Q, X, and Z made me look out for a possible pangram. However, bad luck as B and V were missing.
Definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.
| Across | ||
| 1 | TERMINUS | “Streetcar depot” is an Americanism (8) |
| TERM IN US (an Americanism, which the definition indeed is) | ||
| 5 | OPAQUE | Stop a queue – that’s a bit cryptic! (6) |
| Hidden solution (‘a bit’): [st]OP A QUE[ue] | ||
| 9 | POSTCODE | Unfair kind of lottery mixing up letters with numbers (8) |
| Double definition, perhaps, or: POST (letters) + CODE (numbers) | ||
| The first part relates to the term “postcode lottery”. More about it: here . The second part of the clue can perhaps be seen in two ways: (a) in a postcode we have letters and numbers mixed up, (b) as the abovementioned charade. As it was my initial thought (during solving) too, I prefer to go with the second parsing as suggested by brucew @2, even if a CODE doesn’t necessarily have to contain only numbers. | ||
| 10 | WAY-OUT | Unconventional exit (3-3) |
| Double definition | ||
| 12 | ASPEN | A tree-like enclosure (5) |
| AS (like) + PEN (enclosure) | ||
| Deceptive use of the hyphen but we’re used to that nowadays. | ||
| 13 | THIRD GEAR | Read right? Wrong! It can be hard to find in a car (5,4) |
| (READ RIGHT)* | ||
| As for the definition: well, perhaps, it can be, yes. | ||
| 14 | POISED | Standing by – cool, calm and collected (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| 16 | MOUSAKA | Tail-less rodent, also known as a Balkan dish! (7) |
| MOUS[e] (rodent, tailless) + AKA (also known as) | ||
| 19 | DEFAMER | Mud-slinger artfully framed with a note (7) |
| (FRAMED + E (a note))* | ||
| 21 | TAHITI | One success in Treasure Island initially leads to another [island] (6) |
| {A (one) + HIT (success)} inside T[reasure] I[sland] | ||
| 23 | MAJORETTE | Female band leader, important central character (9) |
| MAJOR ( important) + [l]ETTE[r] (character, its centre) | ||
| 25 | LANCE | Weapon of knight much missed, we hear (5) |
| Homophones (‘we hear’) of: LANCELOT (knight) minus A LOT (much) | ||
| Not sure whether we strictly need the homophones here. LANCE is just LANCELOT minus LOT. Perhaps, Crux made the choice that “a lot” is better than “lot” for ‘much’. | ||
| 26 | ASSETS | States having no right to make money (6) |
| ASSERTS (states) minus R (right) | ||
| 27 | SEA OTTER | A rosette specially made for expert swimmer (3,5) |
| (A ROSETTE)* | ||
| 28 | EL NINO | Current on Nile is liable to fluctuate (2,4) |
| (ON NILE)* | ||
| A very very strong current, one might say. | ||
| 29 | WATERLOO | Battle later resolved in court (8) |
| (LATER)* inside WOO (court) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | TOP HAT | Formal wear that restricts old people primarily (3,3) |
| THAT around O[ld] P[eople] | ||
| 2 | RUSTPROOF | Full of antioxidants? (9) |
| (Non-) Cryptic definition | ||
| 3 | INCAN | In chains, oddly, as Atahualpa was (5) |
| IN + C[h]A[i]N[s] | ||
| Interested in the man? Read about Atahualpa by clicking on the hyperlink. | ||
| 4 | UNDATED | Like some rare coins, possibly, or [like] a wallflower! (7) |
| Double / Cryptic definition | ||
| 6 | PLAY-DOUGH | With which young modellers learn to have fun with money (4-5) |
| PLAY (have fun) + DOUGH (money, slang) | ||
| Better known by its brand name: Play-Doh ® | ||
| 7 | QUOTE | Mention the builder’s estimate (5) |
| Double definition | ||
| 8 | EXTERNAL | Unchanging vote taken inside and outside (8) |
| X (vote) inside ETERNAL (unchanging) | ||
| 11 | FILM | A thin skin could be the main feature (4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 15 | SAMARITAN | The Devil’s about to ruin one good man (9) |
| SATAN (the Devil) around {MAR (to ruin) + I (one)} | ||
| 17 | ANTENATAL | Describes the time before Labour? (9) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| I would have preferred to see either “it describes” or “describing” – or am I nitpicking? | ||
| 18 | ADAM’S ALE | Very first home brew, apparently, obtainable from 29 (5,3) |
| The first part of the clue is a Cryptic definition, a normal definition can be found as part of 29: WATER[loo] | ||
| 20 | RITZ | Legal documents, say, supplied by hotel (4) |
| Homophone (‘say’) of: WRITS (legal documents) | ||
| 21 | THERESA | Saint’s unorthodox Easter wish, finally (7) |
| (EASTER + [wis]H)* | ||
| 22 | WEIRDO | On the radio we’re to act eccentric (6) |
| WEIR (homophone (‘on the radio’) of WE’RE) + DO (act) | ||
| 24 | JASON | Little James takes on leader of travellers (5) |
| JAS. (James, abbreviated) + ON — Jason, leader of the Argonauts who travelled to find the Golden Fleece | ||
| 25 | LOOSE | Insecure general (5) |
| Double definition | ||
Yes, the usual fun from Crux — but, I agree, 13ac seems rather lame. Thanks Sil & Crux
Thanks Crux and Sil
Nice workout from Crux here.
At 9a I had parsed it as ‘letters’ = POST (mail) and ‘numbers’= CODE.
Took a while to get the ETTE part of MAJORETTE. Last in was POISED.
Well, Bruce, thanks for your parsing of 9ac.
When I wrote the blog I couldn’t actually remember anymore how I parsed that clue. I hadn’t written anything down either.
But now, thanks to you, it all came back.
Very few solved in the SW .
2d I think is impossible without checking letters or you hit lucky.
Did not like 21d.
Thanks for the explanations
Should be 22d oopsQ