As so often seems to be the case, I spent absolutely ages on my last few in. RACCOON and INFLATE seemed the obvious answers, for instance, but for some reason I felt uncomfortable biffing them and spent a long time trying to work out the (elusive) wordplay to be sure. Similarly WIND GAUGE seemed the best fit, but I lacked the specific knowledge to be absolutely sure and eventually put it in with crossed fingers (which is an awkward way of typing). My last in, ENTHUSIASM, turned out to be a case of ‘spot the definition’.
By the time this blog is automatically posted in the early hours of Sunday morning this year’s crossword championship will be behind us, so if you’re reading this sentence it will be because I haven’t had time to make a specific comment on the day’s events.
Many thanks to Dean for an excellent half-hours entertainment, and here’s how I think it all works.
Definitions are underlined, anagrams indicated like (THIS)*.
| Across | |
| 1 | Fire men put out — so I like going in |
| ENTHUSIASM – (MEN)* containing THUS, I, AS. My last in, as mentioned. Even with all the checkers in I struggled to match any part of the clue to any part of the available letters. I got there eventually by working outwards from THUS. | |
| 6 | At Wembley, no shot beats me |
| PASS – two definitions, one football-related, one Mastermind-related. | |
| 10 | Is obliged to interrupt training period |
| PHASE – PE containing HAS (is obliged). | |
| 11 | One making prisoner fitter |
| CONFORMER – someone making – or forming – a prisoner would be a CON-FORMER. I’m sure I wasn’t alone in trying to add a word meaning ‘fitter’ to CON to get a word meaning ‘one making’. This misdirection is made all the more cunning by the fact that ‘fitter’ looks like an adjective, whereas for wordplay purposes it’s a noun. Great clue! | |
| 12 | Staying off the booze — or trying? |
| SOBER AS A JUDGE – I’m not sure how to classify this one. It’s a straight definition plus a sort of cryptic hint. | |
| 14 | Leaderless group meeting trouble around Old England |
|
ANGLIA – |
|
| 15 | Not quite blue, my new fur |
|
RACCOON – RAC |
|
| 17 | In future, keeps lost balloon |
| INFLATE – IN FATE (future) containing L (lost). Again this seemed very likely to be the answer but I wanted to be sure, and struggled for far too long with the wordplay. L for ‘lost’ appeared in the first puzzle I ever blogged, and was discussed at some length there. | |
| 18 | Got around anything |
| CAUGHT – C, AUGHT. | |
| 20 | One offensive from enemy lines? |
| POISON PEN LETTER – CD. | |
| 22 | Doctor may be recorded using this |
| WIND GAUGE – another CD, this one entirely baffling if you don’t know that a doctor is ‘a cool sea breeze blowing in some countries’ (Collins). My least favourite clue in the puzzle, because it relies on a fairly arcane piece of knowledge to be understood. However I was able to put it in fairly confidently from the checkers, so I can’t complain. | |
| 23 | Hygienic recycling centre by tip |
|
CLEAN – |
|
| 24 | Hives superior as honey pots |
| RASH – contained in ‘superior as honey’. | |
| 25 | All because of accepting love, lady gutted |
|
THOROUGHLY – TH(O)ROUGH, L |
|
| Down | |
| 1 | Spotting gap, one cuts up |
| ESPIAL – reversal of LA(I)PSE. | |
| 2 | Soft bread sent in, not normally toast |
| TO ABSENT FRIENDS – (SOFT BREAD SENT IN)*. | |
| 3 | Benefit of American English |
| USE – US, E. | |
| 4 | Made real nine-carat rocks |
| INCARNATE – (NINE-CARAT)*. | |
| 5 | From cavity — it’s morning! (Apparently) |
| SINUS – SUN IS up. Very clever. | |
| 7 | Ready for war theatre, MOD’s revolutionary choppers |
| ARMED TO THE TEETH – (THEATRE MOD)*, TEETH. I feel I ought to have got this immediately from the definition and ‘choppers’, but I didn’t. | |
| 8 | Officer material, possibly soldier |
| SERGEANT – SERGE (material), ANT. | |
| 9 | Fancy shocking treatment? Call up nurses |
| CONJECTURE – CONJ(ECT)URE. | |
| 13 | Circular pipe breaks while creating pools of water |
| BILLABONGS – BILL (circular), A(BONG)S. Australian term for an oxbow lake. When surrounded by coolibah trees they are popular watering-holes for jolly swagmen and jumbucks. | |
| 15 | A current novel about old storyteller |
| RACONTEUR – (A CURRENT)* containing O. | |
| 16 | The highest form of defence? |
| AIR POWER – CD that took me far too long to see. | |
| 19 | Clenching butt, go in |
| TRENDY – TR(END)Y. | |
| 21 | A bonus — husband’s rich |
| PLUSH – PLUS, H. | |
| 23 | Vineyard workers reported |
| CRU – sounds like ‘crew’. | |
The wordplay was very clever, and a few had to be biffed. All correct, which is good for an Anax puzzle.
Especially liked the slight flavour of WA in the “doctor” part of 22ac and the obvious Australian ref at 13dn. Once a jolly swagman … always a jolly swagman. Eh?
I’m not entirely convinced that the colloquial meaning of “sober as a judge” is quite the same thing as “staying off the booze”, but they’re both in the same area and the answer was obvious.
Edited at 2016-10-23 06:04 am (UTC)
50 minutes with LOI 16dn AIR POWER
FOI 11ac CONFORMER thus not that cunning, methink.
COD 22ac WIND GUAGE – the ‘Doctor’s Wind’ arrives every mornin’ on Jamaica’s north coast line. In the evenin’ the ‘Undertakers Wind’ blows away the bad air – as observed by Quarrel in Ian Fleming’s Dr No.
Talking of whom WOD 1dn ESPIAL
*we were given a bit of extra time to make up for a security alert about 45 minutes in, which fortunately turned out to be a false alarm but was very distracting for a while.
Edited at 2016-10-23 09:19 am (UTC)
Several very pleasing penny-drop moments (particularly 5d and 22a). LOI 1d, not a word I knew and had to resort to aids as the wordplay was leaving me totally at sea.
Thanks for the blog K.