Monday Prize Crossword / Feb 29, 2016
I quite liked this Dante puzzle.
Yes, a lot of familiar things but there was some icing on the cake, in my opinion (e.g. 28ac and 23d).
Definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.
| Across | ||
| 1 | FEELING SWELL | Aware of a rising sea, but far from queasy (7,5) |
| Double definition with the first somewhat Cryptic | ||
| 10 | OVERACT | Ham to carve in pieces (7) |
| (TO CARVE)* [* = in pieces] | ||
| 11 | ENDORSE | Possible sore after the finish, attained second (7) |
| END (the finish) + (SORE)* [* = possibly] | ||
| 12 | UNION | University running student organisation (5) |
| UNI (uinversity) + ON (running) A union doesn’t have to be a student organisation but the surface needs it here. |
||
| 13 | BROWBEAT | Repeatedly hit on the forehead to intimidate (8) |
| BROW (the forehead) + BEAT (repeatedly hit) | ||
| 15 | EISENHOWER | Where one is involved as an ex-president (10) |
| (WHERE ONE IS)* [* = involved] | ||
| 16 | ISLE | Backing Italian agreement, the French are giving ground (4) |
| IS (reversal, indicated by ‘backing’, of SI (Italian agreement, Italian word for yes) + LE (the, in French) Bit of a loose definition but an island is definitely an piece of land (i.e. ‘ground’). |
||
| 18 | FLAK | Criticism aimed at military aircraft? (4) |
| Double definition I didn’t know the second meaning of ‘flak’: anti-aircraft fire, so it took a while to get the solution. |
||
| 20 | SPIDER’S WEB | Flycatcher (7,3) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 22 | REGALING | Treating one to a large gin sling (8) |
| ((LARGE GIN)* [* = sling] | ||
| 24 | LASSA | Girl gets a serious disease (5) |
| LASS (girl) + A Lassa Fever is an acute disease, often fatal, acquired from infected rats. It occurs mainly in West Africa and is named after the town of Lassa in Nigeria. |
||
| 26 | DILEMMA | Making a comeback, cover girl creates a difficult situation (7) |
| DIL (reversal, indicated by ‘making a comeback’, of LID (cover)) + EMMA (girl) | ||
| 27 | AINTREE | Trainee in crash course (7) |
| (TRAINEE) [* = in crash] | ||
| 28 | SERVE AT TABLE | Wait to start a game of ping- pong? (5,2,5) |
| Double definition with the second somewhat Cryptic I quite liked this one. |
||
| Down | ||
| 2 | EYELIDS | Featured open-and-shut cases (7) |
| Cryptic definition My last one in, a typical Dante cd. |
||
| 3 | LEARNING | Pupil winning scholarship (8) |
| L (pupil. L for learner) + EARNING (winning) Nice use of ‘scholarship’ in the surface. |
||
| 4 | NUTS | Crazy students drinking time (4) |
| NUS (students, National Union of Students) around T (time) | ||
| 5 | SPEARHEADS | Pioneers asparagus tips (10) |
| SPEAR can be an asparagus shoot and so SPEARHEADS may be seen as ‘asparagus tips’ | ||
| 6 | ENDOW | Provide money, enough to keep daughter (5) |
| ENOW (enough) around D (daughter | ||
| 7 | LARGESS | Bounty is a big ship (7) |
| LARGE (big) + SS (ship) Another wholly appropriate surface. It all looks so simple, and perhaps it is, but this is so well-written. |
||
| 8 | VOLUME OF TRADE | What sales staff record in a ledger? (6,2,5) |
| Double / Cryptic definition punning on the various meanings of ‘volume’ | ||
| 9 | WEATHER-BEATEN | Defeated by the elements? (7-6) |
| (Not so) Cryptic definition if at all: BEATEN (defeated) by WEATHER (the elements) | ||
| 14 | COMPENSATE | Remunerate ace postmen perhaps (10) |
| (ACE POSTMAN)* [* = perhaps] | ||
| 17 | SRI LANKA | Ian larks about in South. Asian republic (3,5) |
| (IAN LARKS)* [* = about] | ||
| 19 | ANGELUS | Messenger joins us in prayer (7) |
| ANGEL (messenger) + US | ||
| 21 | WASTREL | Spendthrift Walter’s reformed (7) |
| (WALTER’S)* [* = reformed] | ||
| 23 | LEMUR | An animal or bird that runs from left to right (5) |
| EMU (bird) positioned between L and R (from left to right) This has to be my Clue of the Day. First I thought that Dante made a mistake, that we had to look for a reversal of a bird. And that ‘from left to right’ would not work in a down clue. But it was not like that – how clever. All the more because an emu is a bird ‘that runs’. |
||
| 25 | CAST | Shed required for a theatrical production (4) |
| Double definition | ||
*anagram
Thanks Dante and Sil
Got to this one late last night and found Dante at the top of his game.
A mix of his usual cds, dds and anagrams – but a couple of ripper clues in LEMUR and my favourite SERVE AT TABLE. Finished not all that confidently with VOLUME OF TRADE – but after seeing the second definition for ‘ledger’ from the blog, it is also a very good clue.
Enjoyed this one a lot.
Thanks Sil and Dante.
Maybe it’s down to my mood at the time – I found this slightly irritating.
The 4 long outer clues were all – I thought – fairly weak CDs. And SPIDERS WEB was hardly cryptic at all.
Conversely, LARGESS and LEMUR were both elegantly clued.
However, This puzzle is supremely better than his offering in the Guardian of the same day.
As ever, this setter has a particular style. Often imprecise but almost always with some very clever nuggets.
As usual rompted through most of this but couldn’t finish it. Defeated by the NW
1a First word -just couildn’t see it.
2d As you say typical Dante -ie correct but hard to get
3d Couldn’t see it
8d First word -just couldn’t get volume . I thought of amount, record,proceeds but nothing that would fit. I don’t think most people refer to volume of trade -seems convoluted to me.
12a Noone will ever persuade that me that uni is a nice word.
I couldn’t parse 6d -never heard of enow.