Club Monthly 20141 June 2012 – Wapenshaws, Clanjamfrays and Rondaches

Author   JerryWPosted on Categories Monthly Club Special
Solving Time: No time recorded as I did it in several goes; but over an hour, I reckon, though it felt only medium-hard. Rather a medieval theme this month

One of the joys of this particular crossword is the way the most unpromising words are clued in such an elegant, economical way with such convincing surfaces. Look at 9dn for example, where the clue has only 11 letters more than the answer. Or 22ac, or 16ac. Top banana.

cd = cryptic definition, dd = double definition, rev = reversed, homophones are written in quotes,
anagrams as *(–). ODO = Oxford Dictionaries Online, OED = Oxford Dictionary, etc.

Across
1 mocuck – artificial = MOCK containing CU(E) = “potter’s stick, whittled.” So a snooker cue, and not some esoteric potter’s tool, as I initially assumed
4 ash-blond – A + SH + connection = BOND containing L = life’s beginning
10 forestall – FOREST + ALL. Do I have that right? “rising thick profusion” = forest? Seems a little odd if so, an attempt to make the clue more misleading perhaps.
11 outre – OU + TRE, due and tre being Italian (I think) for two and three.
12 awn – (F)AWN. Fawn is a pale colour, though whether fawn = pale is less clear
13 clanjamfray – CLAN + JAM FRAY. A fine Scots word, one of those which can be spelt in several ways, and which I have come across before in crosswords, either this one or the Mephisto I suppose
14 exedra – (V)EXED + RA
16 shalwar – *(HAS) + L + WAR. Nice surface to this clue, a reference to the song Baggy Trousers by Madness. Great song, great video..
19 Chennai – OrganiC HENNA Is… Chennai being what used to be known as Madras. Except in curries, where it is still Madras..
20 illupi – two – II containing PULL rev. Another word for the Indian Mahwa tree, which produces oil-containing nuts which are put to a startling variety of uses.
22 lammergeyer – egg producer = LAYER containing M + MERGE. I would normally spell this lammergeier; I see them in the Pyrenees from time to time and it is always a thrill. Magnificent, they are…
25 noy – “that, for some” = YON, rev. A tricky little clue to parse. Noy is a very old word, still used by my old gran, at least until she died.
26 iftar – provided = IF + TAR = salt = sailor. And iftar is a “late breakfast, literally” being the meal muslims have after dusk, during Ramadan. Unless of course they come to London for Ramadan, where no-one will be checking up…
27 rondaches – *(CRASH, NODE). A rondache is a medieval shield – not a word in common use these days you might think, but you would be wrong! It turns out to be a familiar term to thousands of dedicated players of the fantasy game Diablo, on PC and Playstation.
28 gado-gado – G + A + DOG + A DO. An Indonesian dish that surely tastes better than it sounds. Or looks.
29 kotwal – LAW + T + OK, all rev. A Kotwal is not just a policeman but a chief of police, or village head.
Down
1 muftat – MUTAT(E) containing F = following.
2 chronaxie – main reduced = CHIE(F), containing R + ON + A X.
3 cusec – constant = C and speed of light = C, containing application = USE. The word is informal shorthand for a rate of flow of x Cubic feet per second.
5 self-justifying – gnome = SAYING (oh, yes it does! Think gnomic utterences, perhaps from the gnomes of Zurich) with the A replaced by ELF + JUST + IF. A clue I found much easier to solve than to parse.
6 broomball – hurry = BOMB + ALL(Y), containing RO = run out, the cricketing term du jour.
7 ottar – excessively = OTT + AR(T). A word better known (slightly) as Attar, eg attar of roses.
8 dielytra – ARTY + LEI + D, all rev. The genus which includes bleeding hearts is more properly called Dicentra, and Chambers lists Dielytra with the comment “Orig. a misprint.” Quite a serious one, it appears..
9 banana-fingered – *(FERN AGAIN AND BE). A new anagrind for the collection, “Whack.” I notice that Chambers, although bizarrely and unaccountably including a seven page list of “anagram indicators” in the current edition, have nevertheless failed to include that one.. which rather ponts up the futility of that particular exercise.
15 Dannebrog – corgi, say = DOG containing (Queen) ANNE + BR. Being 25% Danish, and proud of it, this went in without hesitation
17 wapenshaw – WAS HAW(K) containing PEN. Another of those old words, unusable but hauntingly familiar, in this case supplied (in Chambers) with no less than eight alternative spellings
18 sculking – come clean = SING containing *(LUCK).
21 byssal – (A)BYSSAL. A byssus being what certain molluscs use to attach themselves to rocks etc.
23 moted – M(O)OTED, ie having motes.
24 realo – tO aL-lAzEeRa’s, rev. An unlovely word, apparently denoting the moderate wing of the German green party. Makes you wonder what the extreme wing of the green party espouse. Compulsory muesli?

Author: JerryW

I love The Times crosswords..

One comment on “Club Monthly 20141 June 2012 – Wapenshaws, Clanjamfrays and Rondaches”

  1. Solved about 3/4 of this on the train without recourse to a dictionary, but had to go back and change a few once I got home. Seemed to be a lot of unusual/alternate spellings, e.g. mocuck/mocock, illupi/illipi, lammergeyer/lammergeier, ottar/attar, clanjamfray/(several others), wapenshaw/(even more choices).

    As I have a couple of Dicentra in the garden, I was a bit confused by 8D but got it from the wordplay and confirmed later. As you say, one hell of a misprint – I’m waiting for the word Grauniad to appear in the dictionary!

    I sorted them all out in the end, but then put in my original spelling of MOCOCK when typing it in online! Bummer!

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