[If you’re attending York S&B please see comments 32&33] - here
Monday Prize Crossword/Nov 24
Neat puzzle by Crux with a few cross-references thrown in this time.
Definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.
| Across | ||
| 1 | ONE BY ONE | HM’s autobiography, perhaps, in single instalments (3,2,3) |
| HM’s autobiography is probably ONE written BY ONE (i.e. Number One) | ||
| 5 | GERMAN | One of 13 would be relevant without English (6) |
| GERMANE (relevant) minus E (English) | ||
| The definition “One of 13” refers to 13ac (LANGUAGES) | ||
| It needs some deep thinking to decide whether ‘would be’ is correct here or not. | ||
| 9 | FROM A TO B | Where travelling may get you, literally (4,1,2,1) |
| Simple but nice – let’s call it a cryptic definition | ||
| 10 | PHOBIA | Type of 29 that gives you the jitters, irrationally (6) |
| Type of ‘neurosis’ (29ac), with a cryptic extension | ||
| 12 | EXULT | Left gutted after vote splits EU – rejoice! (5) |
| L[ef]T (left, gutted) coming after {X (vote) inside EU} | ||
| 13 | LANGUAGES | Centuries after North Gaul collapsed some Latin descendants appear (9) |
| (N (North) + GAUL)* + AGES (centuries) [* = collapsed] | ||
| 14 | DIVERS | Various ducks, for instance (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| 16 | WATCHER | Drink keeping cold (and hot!) for the guard (7) |
| WATER (drink) around C,H (cold, hot) | ||
| 19 | AMNESIA | It affects lotus-eaters and strange men in Asia (7) |
| (MEN)* inside ASIA [* = strange] | ||
| 21 | ORDURE | It’s filthy or horribly rude (6) |
| OR + (RUDE)* [* = horribly] | ||
| 23 | ELECTABLE | Likely to be chosen, being tasty without a starter (9) |
| DELECTABLE (tasty) without its starting letter | ||
| 25 | TUBER | Shoot down revolutionary for King Edward? (5) |
| Reversal (‘revolutionary’) of: REBUT (shoot down) | ||
| My LOI – I was playing with ER for King Edward, hoping that ‘down revolutionary’ might lead to TUB, meanwhile seeing ‘shoot’ (in a botanical sense) as the definition. How wrong I was! It’s all about potatoes. | ||
| 26 | ON HIRE | Hero in disguise could be rented out (2,4) |
| (HERO IN)* [* = disguise] | ||
| 27 | BILLYCAN | William’s able to boil water in it (8) |
| BILLY (William) + CAN (‘s able) | ||
| 28 | SPLASH | Special military punishment 14 created (6) |
| SP (special) + LASH (military punishment) | ||
| The definition is ‘something that DIVERS (14ac) created | ||
| 29 | NEUROSIS | New money is a possible cause of depression (8) |
| N (new) + EUROS (money) + IS | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | OFFSET | Compensate for bad tennis games (6) |
| OFF (bad) + SET (tennis games) | ||
| 2 | EVOLUTION | Most of what Lenin preached is explained by Darwin (9) |
| [r]EVOLUTION (what Lenin preached, most of it) | ||
| 3 | YEAST | Kind of culture coming from an unknown direction (5) |
| Y (an unknown) + EAST (direction) | ||
| 4 | NOODLES | Name on bags of pasta (7) |
| N (name) + OODLES (bags, a large amount) | ||
| 6 | EXHAUSTED | Having nothing in reserve, he used tax reforms (9) |
| (HE USED TAX)* [* = reforms] | ||
| 7 | MR BIG | Criminal boss, a real heavyweight? (2,3) |
| Double / Cryptic definition , Mr Big is a villain in Live and Let Die | ||
| 8 | NOAH’S ARK | Prototype wildlife refuge (5,3) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 11 | SNOW | It can pile up in banks nowadays (4) |
| Hidden solution (‘in’): [bank]S NOW[adays] | ||
| The clue as a whole may be seen as the definition | ||
| 15 | EASY TERMS | Ways to pay off debt popular with students (4,5) |
| Double / Cryptic definition | ||
| 17 | HARDBACKS | Tough players on the team’s books (9) |
| HARD (tough) + BACKS (players on the team) | ||
| 18 | RAVENOUS | Following wild party in Paris we end up starving (8) |
| RAVE (wild party) + NOUS (we, in Paris i.e.in French) | ||
| 20 | ABBA | They used to record blood groups (4) |
| AB,B,A (blood groups, all except O) | ||
| 21 | ONE-TIME | Prompt to welcome Eton’s first-former (3-4) |
| ON TIME (prompt) + E[ton] | ||
| My favourite clue. | ||
| 22 | DRONES | Doctor approaches couple in 1 across as possible spies (6) |
| DR (Doctor) + ONES (couple in 1 across, ONE plus another ONE) | ||
| 24 | ETHEL | She’s not completely above the law (5) |
| Hidden solution (‘not completely’): [abov]E THE L[aw] | ||
| Not difficult but Crux uses his device as part of a very neat surface. | ||
| 25 | TYLER | Poll tax rebel also takes part in 16 (5) |
| TYLER’s first name is WAT (part in clue 16ac, ‘watcher’) | ||
| Wat Tyler, leader of the Peasant’s Revolt (1381). One of his aims was to get rid of the then newly imposed poll tax. Unfortunately, he was killed by royalists. | ||
Thanks Crux and Sil
Apparently the Monday Prize is not a favorite amongst bloggers … I hope that the FT puzzles are done by a lot more folk than are represented here – I find them excellent – and with the wide range of setters, the variety of styles is greater as well.
This was enjoyable and not too difficult – having said that, I couldn’t equate ONE to HM 100% in my mind. Didn’t fully get my head around SP LASH until coming here either.
Small typo in 23a – it should be WITHOUT the starting letter.
Had a similar hold up with 25a until I remembered the potato.
My last in was ORDURE which I had previously not heard of. I liked the subtle misdirection in Both the 25’s.
Typo now corrected.
Agree about 1ac, Bruce – not 100% satisfying but I think I liked it nonetheless.