Monday Prize Crossword / Jun 6, 2016
This was probably the quickest Dante solve I ever experienced.
It took me longer to write this blog than to crack the puzzle.
There were some solutions that weren’t immediately clear from the clue (e.g. 25ac or 27d) but after finding the crossing letters there was not much leeway.
I even had no trouble finding 10ac (in which there’s clearly something missing).
This could not be said of 13ac (CAMEO) which nearly foxed me. Nearly ….
Definitions are underlined weherever possible and/or appropriate.
| Across | ||
| 1 | CACHET | Prestige hurt in court (6) |
| ACHE (hurt) inside CT (court) | ||
| 4 | APPETITE | What prompts consumer demand (8) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 9 | RANCID | Directed police offensive (6) |
| RAN (directed) + CID (police) | ||
| 10 | COLLAPSE | Thicket in wood sheltered everyone on way back (8) |
| COPSE (thicket in wood) around a reversal [on way back] of ALL (everyone) No definition? That’s odd. |
||
| 12 | LIDO | Pool in which duck’s after cover (4) |
| O (duck, nothing) coming after LID (cover) | ||
| 13 | CAMEO | A small part to be played in relief work (5) |
| Double definition This was my last one in. Couldn’t see it for ages which took me almost just as long as the rest of the crossword. |
||
| 14 | ACME | Top of the bill to note (4) |
| AC (bill) + ME (note) | ||
| 17 | SMALL FORTUNE | Lots of money, but little luck (5,7) |
| SMALL (little) + FORTUNE (luck) | ||
| 20 | ABSENT-MINDED | Contemplating truancy? (6-6) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 23 | IDEA | Notion not quite perfect (4) |
| IDEAL (perfect) missing the final L, so not quite (perfect) | ||
| 24 | ABBOT | Cleric with a prior appointment (5) |
| Definition with a cryptic extension | ||
| 25 | SMEE | Duck! It’s Captain Hook’s bosun! (4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 28 | SINGULAR | A ruling’s remarkable outcome (8) |
| (A RULING’S)* [* = outcome] Bit of an unusual construction which positions the definition in the middle. For some, perhaps, confusing because ‘remarkable’ can also be an anagram indicator. |
||
| 29 | BOTTLE | Courage needed by the bedridden (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| 30 | MISLEADS | Gives faulty advice to Yorkshire beauty queen, say (8) |
| Homophone [say] of MISS LEEDS (Yorkshire beauty queen) Liked this one. |
||
| 31 | LEARNT | Gained knowledge about Shakesperian king and New Testament (6) |
| LEAR (Shakespearian king) + NT (New Testament) That’s how I write ‘Shakespearian’ …. |
||
| Down | ||
| 1 | CARELESS | Without transport, without direction, but unconcerned (8) |
| CARLESS (without transport) around [without] E (direction) | ||
| 2 | CANADIAN | North American girl entering the promised land (8) |
| DI (girl) inside CANAAN (the promised land) | ||
| 3 | EXIT | A way out of perplexity (4) |
| Hidden solution [of]: [perpl]EXIT[y] | ||
| 5 | PROTESTATION | Objection to one part, it’s badly translated (12) |
| (TO ONE PART IT’S)* [* = badly translated] | ||
| 6 | EELS | They may be shocking swimmers (4) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 7 | IMPACT | Effect of a single legislator on law (6) |
| I (a single. i.e. one) + MP (legislator) + ACT (law) | ||
| 8 | ELEVEN | Team ends up even below the Spanish (6) |
| EVEN positioned below EL (the, Spanish) | ||
| 11 | MAN OVERBOARD | Chairman of the directors could be in deep water (3,9) |
| That chairman can perhaps be seen as a MAN OVER BOARD. And the definition is more or less the clue as a whole, I guess. |
||
| 15 | GLOBE | All countries appear bent on it (5) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 16 | SNAIL | Pest possibly slain in the garden (5) |
| (SLAIN)* [* = possibly] | ||
| 18 | ODOMETER | It measures the miles possibly motored around English capital (8) |
| (MOTORED)* around E[nglish] [* = possibly, again!] | ||
| 19 | ADHERENT | Any of the following (8) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 21 | LISSOM | So slim, perhaps, and supple (6) |
| (SO SLIM)* [* = perhaps] | ||
| 22 | TENNIS | Set up games around pub – one game in particular (6) |
| A reversal [set up, in a down clue] of SET (games) around INN (pub) | ||
| 26 | DUKE | Noble king in appropiate setting (4) |
| K (king) inside DUE (appropriate) | ||
| 27 | ROSE | Adjourned for some wine (4) |
| Double definition However, I had to think deeply about ‘adjourned’=’rose’. But what else could it be? |
||
*anagram
Thanks Sil and Dante.
“Oh no, it’s that grid again – and this time it’s Dante!”
Those 4 5-letter words around the middle were always going to be tough and Dante’s style meant that the clueing might be less than helpful. In the end it was only 13ac that held me up like you Sil.
I did use a word finder for -A-E- and the one I use had 444 different alternatives. But then I twigged before I started looking at the list and actually it’s a fine clue.
I think that 10ac is fine. I seem to recall (although couldn’t find a reference) that after a famous England batting collapse, one wag referred to the team as a “THICKET” – a collection of wickets!
I too enjoyed MISLEADS and also smiled at BOTTLE at 29.
So good fun and no gripes.
Thanks Dante and Sil
Funny how different we all are – CAMEO would have been one of my 3rd or 4th ones in – with only the E from 5d in – it just jumped out at me for some reason. My only holdup was by writing in CAREFREE initially at 1d and DUKE which took quite a while to nut out – was going with King=R for a while. Just over 20 minutes … so about average time for me with him.
Had to check that ROSE did equal adjourned – as in a court session.
ABBOT was my pick for best clue with the play on words that he would have been a ‘prior’ in his prior role!
Not easy for me.I couldn’t get
10a which as you say doesn’t seem to have a definition .
14a which I would still be trying to solve now.
25a If you don’t know who Captain Hook’s bosun is and all you have is ?m?? , it is not much help.
19d . Even with the solution, it took me about 20 seconds to get it.
Hamish, your explanation of 10ac might perhaps be what Dante intended.
He knows his cricket – and I don’t (happily so).
But it is then so obscure that we can hardly call it a fair clue.
Meanwhile, I didn’t even mention the term ‘double duty’.
Anyway, I am not convinced and I tend to see 10ac as a faulty clue.
10ac has no definition. If Hamish is correct I think it’s a very mean clue! Didn’t rate 11d either. Still did finally finish it. Thanks Sil.