27358 Thursday, 23 May 2019 Drag night?

Certainly not as tough as yesterday’s, and I stopped the clock at 17 minutes dead. You do need a tiny bit of history awareness for the battleground and there are a couple of archaisms that are not flagged as such, but overall the wordplay is reasonably generous and there’s little to cause panic.
I might suggest that the juxtaposition of two I words at 14 across is a little bit insensitive on the day of the Euro elections and the high flying Brexit tendency, for (I’d better say many of) whom the two words are a bête noir to get indignant about. But hey ho!
You’ll find definitions in BOLD CAPITALS, clues in italics, and definitions further underlined.

Across

1 Farm animal to lumber behind (10)
SADDLEBACK If it’s a farm animal as indicated, it’s a breed of pig, but can be one of several other creatures: the great black-backed gull, the hooded crow, the male harp seal,  a breed of goose, a rare New Zealand wattlebird, or any saddle-shaped animal (provide your own examples). The wordplay is a straight charade of lumber: saddle and behind: back.
6 Some football and a little drink (4)
HALF Two definitions, the latter usually half a pint
10 American impressed, having obtained meat (5)
GIGOT Leg of lamb. An impressed (enlisted) American is a GI, add GOT for obtained
11 It leaves from the city, not Darwin, going west (4,5)
DOWN TRAIN An anagram (going west) of NOT DARWIN. From the days when up trains went to London, down ones went away
12 No matter what, remove roof only if rotten (3,4,2,5)
FOR LOVE OR MONEY An anagram (“if rotten”) of REMOVE ROOF ONLY. Usually (exclusively?) found as part of a negative: I wouldn’t blog this crossword for love (n)or money. But it does mean “under any circumstances”, so “no matter what” is fine.
14 Such an immigrant I will say a high-flier (7)
ILLEGAL I take it this is I’LL (minus the apostrophe) for I will, then say eagle for high flier and write EGAL. If such immigrants are high fliers, that dam’ wall’ll make no dam’ difference!
15 Small frog in basket (7)
SHOPPER We used to have one of these on wheels, though no much use when you’re also pushing a pram. S(mall) frog HOPPER
17 Bounty, a big ship (7)
LARGESS A minor hesitation as I’d spell it with an extra E at the end. But a big ship is a LARGE SS
19 Demanding couple in a hurry should stop short (7)
ARDUOUS The couple is  DUO, and a hurry cut short is A RUS(H)
20 Moving fast, only lock part of church? (6,8)
FLYING BUTTRESS Moving fast: FLYING, only BUT, lock (of hair) TRESS.
23 Gravity is an attractive quality (9)
ACUTENESS An attractive quality gives you A CUTENESS. I wonder if you realise the seriousness/acuteness/gravity of the situation. That works ok.
24 Cockney’s claim to be tough turned into emotional scene (5)
DRAMA More often than not, the word Cockney in a clue triggers the loss of aitches, or sometimes the rhyming slang. Here the cheerful Cockney chappie makes the claim (I) AM ‘ARD. Which you then reverse
25 It follows tentative demand to leave? (4)
ERGO Er….go.
26 Planted in tub, one ace bloom (10)
POINSETTIA Planted in this sense is INSET, the tub you’re looking tom put it in is POT, followed by one 1 and A(ce)
Down
1 Vision reduced, sound miserable (4)
SIGH cut the end off SIGHT for vision.
2 Make arrest, concealing good evidence of professional standing (3,6)
DOG COLLAR To make arrest is DO COLLAR, hide G(ood) therein, though leave it showing, of course. A dog collar is the white all-round neckwear of a priest, sometimes (believe me) cut from a washing up liquid bottle
3 Aliens making cross signs? (6,5,3)
LITTLE GREEN MEN, the cross signs being the ones you see on pedestrian crossing lights.
4 Base wickedness is torment (7)
BEDEVIL Again straight enough: base gives BED, and wickedness EVIL
5 Irresponsible workers intimidate youngsters (7)
COWBOYS Not the Stetson wearing gentlemen of the but artisans of the corrupt and/or incompetent variety. Intimidate: COW and youngsters: BOYS
7 To seize area, have entered with violence (5)
AMAIN Have entered translates to (I) AM IN, which then “seizes” the additional A(rea)
8 Like the idea of women’s clothing? For men, this could be (5,5)
FANCY DRESS The first part of the clue is a straight charade. The second is a suggestion that for men, a fancy dress could be fancy dress, though I think I should add that it may be a personal choice that elicits no adverse comment.
9 March hard, not softly, over two crosses in battleground (8,6)
STAMFORD BRIDGE The Yorkshire battleground where King Harold beat Norwegian invaders three weeks before his ‘arrowing encounter with the Normans at Hastings. Alternatively, for Spurs fans, Chelsea’s infamous ground usually littered with foul play and dirty rotten cheating. March hard is STAMP*, but remove the P indicated by “softly”. The two crosses are then FORD and BRIDGE
*corrected, thanks Jack
13 Carried round sick, not interested in choice of food (4,2,4)
BILL OF FARE Carried is BARE, marked in Chambers as archaic. From the Ceremony of Carols by Benjamin Britten:
There is no rose of such vertu
As is the rose that bare Jesu.
Anyhow, place it round ILL for sick and OFF for not interested
16 What actor carries: handle for part of engine (9)
PROPSHAFT Anything an actor carries is a PROP, and handle gives you the shaft
18 Freezing membership fee with love (7)
SUBZERO the membership fee is a SUB(scription) and love (as in tennis) is ZERO
19 Train as flexible worker (7)
ARTISAN Anagram (flexible) of TRAIN AS
21 Newly-developed browser over years taken up (5)
YOUNG A browser, or browsing animal might be a GNU (spelt G-N-U), add O(ver) and Y(ears) and reverse the whole
22 People of the New World are allowed to answer (4)
MAYA are allowed: MAY, plus A(nswer)

87 comments on “27358 Thursday, 23 May 2019 Drag night?”

  1. 45 minutes whilst watching Chris Cuomo getting to it over Weetabix and a 5 min boiled egg. The Bishop of Oxford was 40 minutes quicker.

    4ac HALF I took this to be SHOT early in the game.

    12ac FOR LOVE OR MONEY – sometimes heard as FOR LOVE OF MONEY but not enough ‘ffs’. Any miscreants?

    FOI 1dn SIGH of relief

    LOI 25ac ERGO I was initially misled into thinking it might be EXIT.

    COD 23ac ACUTENESS

    WOD 20ac FLYING BUTTRESS invented way before Kittyhawk!

    Will the setters remain anonymous? We should be told.

    Edited at 2019-05-23 02:50 am (UTC)

  2. Some of this did, indeed, as Vinyl says, seem forced (e.g,, the cryptic for LITTLE GREEN MEN), but in other places I was impressed. Never heard of STAMFORD BRIDGE but the answer materialized from the wordplay.
      1. The game where the foot is in contact with a round ball for most of the game. Not the American type where the ball is only occasionally in contact with the rugby ball.

        The team are aka Chelski after their Russian owner.
        They play Arsenal in the final of the Europa Cup in Baku
        29 May 2019 ko 8pm BST. Give it a try! Millions will be watching.

          1. I remember it well. We beat off those nasty Vikings. Shame we didn’t do it three weeks later, history would have been rather different!
            1. It was because of the forced march from Stamford Bridge to Senlac, that meant they were knackered for the big day. Mr Grumpy
          2. Clearly you weren’t watching Chelsea v Spurs in May 2016 when 12 players were booked for dangerous and foul play.
            1. Interestingly, 9 bookings for Spurs vs “only” 3 for Chelsea .. who committed 9 fouls, vs 20 for Spurs
              1. Dashed clever those Chelsea players at making it look as if it was all Spurs’ fault.
                1. Eddie Gray of Leeds still has bruises from the 1970 FA cup final against Chelsea.
                  1. Clough when he arrived at Leeds (44 days?) told Gray that if he had been a racehorse he would have had him shot!
  3. Thanks, Z, particularly for POINSETTIA. Such a lovely Christmas flower.
    This was a refreshing change after yesterday’s slugfest.
    Do some priests really make their dog collars out of washing-up liquid bottles? I would have thought they would have obtained them from clerical outfitters.
    1. They sure do: a proper cotton one from Watts and Co costs 17.95 (inferior versions are available)
      Of course, you have to make sure you fit your cut-out Blue Peter version the right way round. It’s not good to turn out in public with your collar saying “Fairy”. At least, not outside London.
      1. I thought cost might have something to do with it. When the church I used to be a parishioner at in Sydney replaced a votive candle rack with one with electric candles, I explored buying one for real candles. The cost was prohibitive.
  4. 13:46 … no real hold-ups other than AMAIN, which I eventually just submitted ‘without full understanding’ but knowing the definition. The wordplay still feels odd to me, specifically I want it to be “Seizing area, …”
    1. I solved it t’other way round, i.e. didn’t know the word so relied on the wordplay, which works for me.
  5. Doesn’t ‘march hard’ have to be STAM{p} at 9dn to arrive at the correct answer? I never heard of that meaning but am about to check to the usual sources.

    Edit: ‘Walk heavily’ is the best I can find at the moment but I guess that just about covers it.

    Edited at 2019-05-23 04:57 am (UTC)

    1. Indeed, yes. I think my subconscious editor threw in STOMP as the more pleasing equivalent for “march hard” without allowing for the consequences. Chambers has “to walk with a heavy tread” which is pretty much what you came up with.
  6. 35 minutes but a techncal DNF as I gave up on 7dn and used aids to arrive at AMAIN. I’d like to think I learn from past experiences here but the word has come up a couple of times before yet even its existence hadn’t stuck in my brain, let alone its meaning. I’m not questiioning the validity of today’s definition but on previous occasions AMAIN was clued as ‘with great strength’ which doesn’t necessarily suggest that violence is involved.

    Following the discussion here only a couple of days ago it’s good to see a setter agreeing with my understanding of DOWN in the context of travel (11ac) i.e. it’s nothing to do with compass readings.

    Never heard of BARE = ‘carried’, so I was somewhat puzzled by the parsing at 13dn although the answer to the clue was pretty obvious.

    Edited at 2019-05-23 05:09 am (UTC)

  7. 41 minutes, despite my ken not ranging to the SADDLEBACK, the GIGOT, AMAIN or that spelling of LARGESS. I was most worried about GIGOT as I’d not clocked what “impressed” was doing. FOI 1d SIGH, LOI 7d AMAIN. At least I was slightly more confident about this one than yesterday’s…
  8. 40 mins enjoying this and yoghurt, granola, blueberry compote and excellent Rwandan coffee.
    I didn’t like 6ac and DNK 7dn (but guessable from wordplay).
    MERs at carried=bare and ‘love (N)or money’.
    Mostly I liked: Poinsettia, Little green men and COD to Cowboys.
    Thanks setter and great blog Z.
    1. I’ve seen MER before and can’t work it out, what does it mean, please?
        1. Thank you. Glossary? Sounds like a splendid idea! Perhaps you could write one (MER?!)
  9. 24 minutes. Fortunately, there were no clues I couldn’t get FOR LOVE OR MONEY, another favourite expression of my Dad. LOI ERGO, as I had put in EMIT earlier, and only the YOUNG showed me the error of my ways. I half-knew AMAIN, or at least pretended I did after I constructed it. Similarly GIGOT. I just assumed a SHOPPER was a shopping-trolley type thing my Mum would use to take out pedestrians on her way to Asda in her nineties. I nearly made the New World folk CANA but that was where the water was made into wine. By the end of the afternoon at The George on Tuesday, I could have done with it the other way round. I learnt today how to spell LARGESS. I put in SADDLEBACK thinking of the alternative name for Blencathra, but did know it was a pig and not a sheep, which you’re more likely to find there. I always smile at a FLYING BUTTRESS, but COD to FANCY DRESS. Thank you Z and unnamed setter.
  10. 9:29. I enjoyed this one a lot. It wasn’t terribly hard, but I found I needed the wordplay quite a lot. Fortunately I did pay some attention to definitions so that my initial thought of CANA at 22dn didn’t make it into the grid.
    Is the word GIGOT used much in English? I don’t think I’ve ever heard it outside France. Whatever you call it, it’s not really worth eating at this time of year, unless you prefer your meat tasteless.
    1. Still very much in current use in the soon-to-be Free Republic of Escossia, as in “A pun o mince an a gigot chop, please.”
  11. Fun crossword, not too hard, with a couple of hesitations at AMAIN and LARGESS(e)and also love (n)or money

    For 16dn I had props/haft rather than prop/shaft. Apparently either would do; but haft doesn’t mean anything else

    Edited at 2019-05-23 08:33 am (UTC)

    1. Now that you mention it, I think that’s better, but it didn’t occur to me while solving or writing up.
  12. What a pleasure to return to solving a decent puzzle after yesterday. A good tussle and a feeling of satisfaction on completion rather than a headache.

    I shall ignore our blogger’s remarks about Stamford Bridge other than to remind him that people in glasshouses should be careful with stones, particularly when associated with White Hart Lane

    1. I carefully avoided mentioning that at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in May 2016, of the 12 players booked, 9 were Spurs, still a Premier League record.
      1. I think it was also true in that complete season, that Spurs picked up the most yellow cards without having anyone sent off. Suggesting that they went for tactical bookings on rotation and ’spread the love around’ a bit. Mr Grumpy
  13. Could some kind soul please explain why ‘going west’ is an anagrind? I took that to mean reversed, and got nowhere fast.

    Found this generally straightforward but quite a few DNKs and biffed quite a few owing to obvious definitions or obscure wordplay.

    Someone yesterday (if I can work out how to insert a link to their name I will) said that they had to look up a couple of words in the dictionary so ‘technically a DNF’. Good grief! On that basis every single Times crossword I’ve ever finished is a did not finish!!! At my level, I just don’t have a brain like a thesaurus. I’d say my vocabulary is fair but in nearly all Times puzzles there is at least one obscure or archaic word. I’m quite happy being reliant on electronic aids, at this stage. Maybe my next 3-month challenge will be no aids. I’m sure my solve times will skyrocket and most grids will be DNF!

    COD 3d
    LOI and FOI – can’t remember – did this in the dead of night, due to insomnia.

    Three month challenge: 28/30.

    Thanks to setter and blogger,
    WS

    Edited at 2019-05-23 08:44 am (UTC)

    1. “Going West” basically means broken, smashed, b*ggered .. hence can be used as an anagrind.
      So far as aids are concerned, it is entirely down to the individual.. crosswords are just a game, a fun diversion despite what some may have you think. Though if you wish to improve I would advocate never using aids at all except for checking afterwards, and just not worrying if you don’t always finish in whatever time you allot yourself
      1. I always took it to mean either ‘disappeared’, or ‘no longer a possibility’ or ‘no chance’. Or perhaps ‘failure’. I suppose only this last might be an acceptable anagrind. Mr Grumpy
    2. Under “go west” Chambers has a secondary meaning as “to be destroyed or completely dissipated”, apparently in association with the setting/dying sun. It’s sufficient as an anagram indicator, if a particularly brutal one.
      1. It’s interesting that “go south” also means “fall in value, deteriorate, fail” (ODE). I suppose on a sales chart if one’s numbers go south that would be a bad thing. Clearly east, towards the rising sun, and north are more positive directions, at least to English-speaking culture…
    3. I think ‘technical DNF’ is based on the fact that you aren’t allowed any aids in the crossword championship so in ‘competition conditions’ you wouldn’t have finished.
      I always try to finish without aids, because I have found that guessing words you don’t know from the wordplay (and there are almost always one or two for me) is something you get a bit better at with practice. But as Jerry says it’s supposed to be fun so there is nothing you’re ‘supposed’ to do or not do.
      1. Thanks. Right, that’s my view too, particularly as I’m relatively new to the Times crossword. I’ve done various cryptics sporadically since the age of about 16, but lacked any consistency. About two years ago I discovered the Times Quickie, loved the format and had various spells with that – finished the first published book for example. After subscribing to The Times last year I resumed a daily effort on the Quickie for about 6 months and could usually finish it off in well under an hour with aids and within a day with no aids or minimal aids.

        Since I’m easing myself into the waters of the grown-up 15-squared puzzle, I’m allowing myself access to all and any aids I can lay hands on. I think Don Manley says that one should do this in his excellent Crossword Manual. After all, as you say, the principal goal is to have fun. Later on I will run another 3-month challenge with no aids or very minimal aids. I will see different types of progress under these conditions.

        At the moment if an aid (thesaurus, wordsearch) throws up a word for me that fits the grid and what I’ve parsed to be the definiton, then I’ll pop that in. The check button is then clicked unless I’m 100% sure of the answer, or playing offline with the dead-tree variety. Sometimes I will quickly scan the wordplay to see if I can see how it works, but often will just move on.

        With no access to a check button or word-finding aids the nature of the puzzle changes dramatically and one must rely chiefly on one’s wits and one’s knowledge of crossword language and wordplay parsing skills. I believe that at the moment, with access to all aids, I am developing knowledge of wordplay mainly post solve through these blogs, BUT I need (and hopefully am in possession of) a rudimentary knowledge of wordplay to get properly started on the grid, otherwise I’m looking at a load of blank squares and strange clues.

        Playing with no aids will force me to parse each and every clue, unless with enough lights answers pop off the page. I’ll think about the way I can run myself another 3-month challenge after the one in hand. It would be a dream for me to compete in a crossword competition – I am not sure I am capable…

        Best wishes,
        WS

  14. I observe that last Saturday’s cryptic solution has been published on the website .. is that usual? The only reference I can find says “the solution will be published on the Monday after publication” ..
    As the solution is up, brnchn might as well publish his blog after all! 🙂
    1. Please do; I want the maximum opportunity to moan about the kerning of 16d in my printed version!
      1. So you were wondering what that darn’d sweet potato was doing too Matt!
    2. Someone else will know for sure, but I think the solution is usually up by Thursday. I vaguely remember a conversation here (or behind the scenes) about whether TftT should publish the blog before Saturday and it was decided not to change the practice. Vinyl1 may remember, or Linxit, if it was in his time.

      Edited at 2019-05-23 09:13 am (UTC)

    3. I just checked the rules as printed wih the puzzle which state that entries must be received by midnight on the Wednesday after publication. So publishing the solution on Thursday makes sense. On reflection I suspect TftT decided to err on the side of caution and not risk publishing the blog too early and upsetting our friends at the Times.

      Edited at 2019-05-23 09:31 am (UTC)

      1. I seem to recall correspondence on here about solvers who locate TfTT blogs via the calendar rather than the main page struggling to find blogs of weekend puzzles if they didn’t appear on the scheduled / expected day.
        1. Yes, that makes sense. What else would we read on Saturday mornings anyway?
          1. I’m with jack. It’s neat and clean to get the new one and discuss the old one all at one time.
      2. When we started I think you had until midnight on Thursday to get the solution in, but it was only published on the Saturday morning. I don’t know when that changed, but I did notice recently that the Saturday puzzle I solved on a Thursday already had the solution available and couldn’t be submitted.
  15. Much more congenial than yesterday’s, as all the potentially obscure things were known to me (barring LARGESS without an E at the end). I particularly liked the conciseness of the LITTLE GREEN MEN, and the impressed American.
  16. Easy but couldn’t finish it off, having misunderstood the clue for YOUNG which meant that ERGO wouldn’t come either. LOI AMAIN which was a DNK.
    As a veggie, the word Meat usually makes me think there’s something I don’t know about here, and there was….
  17. Gigot is a Catalan Dragon who played amain against Warrington in the Challenge Cup final last year. (with strength, not violence!)
    Should help me to remember those two obscure words.
  18. ….to Wigan. Is there such a thing as an across train ?

    I struggled to finish an otherwise fairly straightforward puzzle through being ridiculously slow to spot HALF. I then took AMAIN on trust (I’d considered “are in” but not “am in”). POINSETTIA wasn’t parsed.

    FOI LARGESS
    LOI AMAIN
    COD LITTLE GREEN MEN
    TIME 14:27

    Edited at 2019-05-23 08:23 pm (UTC)

  19. 8m 14s with the last 2 minutes or so spent on AMAIN. I must admit I thought it meant ‘at sea’.

    A few tricky ones today, so I was pleased to get GIGOT & POINSETTIA in particular – although I couldn’t figure out why POINT meant tub. Which, if course, it didn’t.

  20. Having watched 3 episodes of The Lost Treasures of The Maya last night, I’m abashed to admit I put CANA at 22d. Sackcloth and Ashes for a week for me! Not content with that I failed with a desperate AGAIN at 7d, never having heard of AMAIN. A bad day altogether. At least I managed to work out GIGOT, which did ring a faint bell. Was baffled by POINT=TUB so thanks for the proper explanation Z. I had 95% of this done in 20 minutes, but the struggle with the last few clues was mainly in vain. 33:55 with 2 errors. Thanks setter and Z.
  21. West London prima donnas – one puff of wind and they fall over…
    Tactically masterful though, sharing the thuggery out among nine different players so that no one got sent off.
  22. Thanks for the parse on POINSETTIA Z. I was stuck with point=tub which didn’t seem quite right. My knowledge of the battle site is just about Sellars & Yeatman level since I thought it was in Stamford Lincs not Yorks. I did however know the “bare”=”bore” thing thanks to the Cowper poem that was turned into a hymn with the rather giggle-inducing line – “can a woman’s tender care cease toward the child she bare”. Which sounds like “she-bear”. 15.24
  23. I’m sure we’ve had similar discussions before, but if my prop shaft was in the engine I’d be a bit worried! Part of the drive train I can accept.

    Edited at 2019-05-23 12:37 pm (UTC)

    1. I did wonder about “part of engine”, because it wasn’t on my Volvo 343 (especially when it fell off). But I contented myself that it probably is on a Spitfire or a Swordfish.
    2. To a layman like me if it’s under the bonnet it’s part of the engine (I might make an exception for the bit where the screenwash goes)
      1. If you find your prop shaft under the bonnet you really are in trouble!! 🙂 It runs under the car from the back of the gearbox to the differential in the rear axle.
  24. But onme mistake: what on earth induced me to put Cana for Maya????!!! Unbelievable. Except I see I am not the only one!
  25. 14:08, slowed a bit by, like Horryd, initially having SHOT instead of HALF at 6. I also took a while at the end to get POINSETTIA PROPSHAFT (was she the vicar’s wife in The Pickwick Papers?)
    1. No she was not!

      They were a late sixties rock band from Frinton; good friends of John Peel and twice on The Old Grey Whistle Test
      with ‘Whispering Bob’. I have all their album.

  26. 12:22 but I also had a careless CANA at 22D. Bunged in halfway through, thinking I’d need to go back to check it, but then forgot. D’oh!
    1. All you cana-nites got too drunk on the free wine. I sobered up in time.
  27. 21:13 with the last 3 spent on AMAIN, which went in with a shrug as I couldn’t think of anything better, unparsed and not knowing it meant “with violence”. I liked POINSETTIA and LITTLE GREEN MEN.
  28. Much more the usual thing than yesterday. LOI the PROPSHAFT from wordplay and checking letters. I don’t think I’d heard of it before as we always say driveshaft. Is it the same? Regards.
    1. Over here, we usually call the shafts that connect the differential to the rear wheels, or in a front wheel drive, the trans-axle to the front wheels, the drive shafts. The prop shaft is the shaft that connects the gearbox to the rear axle differential. US usage does appear to call the prop shaft a drive shaft too.
  29. WTF is AMAIN – never heard of that.

    Come on setters, try a bit harder please.

  30. DNF. Another one! Couldn’t crack the wp at 7dn and dnk amain so bunged in again… in vain. I found this a frustrating off-wavelength solve. Probably didn’t help that I was wrestling with a difficult choice all day. There’s a nice fish and chip shop near my polling station. Would it be cod and chips or saveloy and chips for tea?
  31. I had a horrible feeling I was heading for another DNF, staring at 5d (cowtots? cow-something elses?) and 6ac dumbly for several minutes, and deciding that they both must be such obscure terms that I could only guess and hope. However, both pennies eventually clichéd and I finished in a reasonable (for me) time of 26 minutes.

    AMAIN is one of those words I met at some point years ago, and then lost touch with. I have now resolved to use it at least once a day, since it seems like a jolly useful word that deserves to see more action. GIGOT – only ever encountered (by me, at least) on the Times menu. STAMFORD BRIDGE barely known, since my ignorance of sport is equal to my ignorance of history.

    Is it just me, or has there been a recent dearth of any clues remotely related to the sciences? I read recently that 97% of the things that we actually know are from the sciences, which is probably a fair estimate.

    1. Wife cooked a double gigot joint once, which is basically a sheep’s bum
  32. Thanks setter and z
    Did find this easier than the previous two puzzles, but still with enough in it to make me work hard to get to the end.
    Needed the blog after not seeing the INSET bit of the wordplay at 26a and struggling with both the definition and wordplay of 7d (which was a word finder with crossed fingers entry).
    Smiled out loud with the LITTLE GREEN MEN and entered STAMFORD BRIDGE from my limited knowledge of EPL grounds and was surprised to see that it was an actual battle field in days of yore.
    All of the rest was reasonably straightforward, finishing with several of the short ones in MAYA, HALF and that AMAIN.

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