Club Monthly, 20116 (May 2010)

Author   JerryWPosted on Categories Monthly Club Special
Solving time: c70mins, but should have been under an hour really.

Back to normal speed after the difficulties (for me, at least) of April’s grid. Another enjoyable, strictly Ximenean solve, ie with no looseness or indiscipline in clue formation. Much of the grid done after 30 minutes, but the SW corner – Pondokkie, Kletzmer, Schapskas etc. – took me a long time to finish off. Overall a rock solid effort once again by the setter. I remind readers that this blog is published after the closing date for entries, but before the solution is published – so my solution is not 100% guaranteed!

I am away in the Pyrenees for two months now, far from blogs and maybe even crosswords, so the July and August club monthlies will have guest bloggers, I hope. Have a good summer! I might have some serious catching up to do when I get back.

Across
1 Carapaces – roughly = CircA + RAP + ACE + S. I don’t remember having trouble with this while solving, but when I got round to doing the blog it took me a while to sort out the clever wordplay
6 Quoit – HoratiO in QUIT. Apart from being the object itself, it seems quoit is a verb too..
9 Futhorc – fine = F + capital = UC containing Thor, god of thunder, though seemingly less worshipped now than formerly.
10 Two pair – TOP + AIR, containing W to make a word that apparently means “a room situated on the second floor.”
11 Chios – a Greek islandformed from the first letters of “Campaigning have influence on some”
12 Ossifraga – “can be proved” = IS SO, rev., + strong = Forte + RAGA. Chambers says that an ossifrage (Latin for “bone-breaker”) is a Lammergaier, which does break bones for food. An ossifraga however is a giant fulmar, which doesn’t.. and Wikipedia for once is no help at all since entering ossifraga gets you redirected to Euphorbia, (!) while entering “giant fulmar” just gets you a subspecies of petrel..
14 Sar – SARdine, ho ho ho..
15 Jacqueminot – Jack = J + (QUIT CANOE + M)* with “after a wave” as the anagram indicator. An extremely attractive dark rose, named after a French general who fought at Waterloo
17 Highwrought – HI + (GROWTH)* containing UGH.
19 Zax – unknown number = Z, one of three so used (x, y and z) + wAX = “grow.” Defined as “A chopper for trimming slates;” useful in Scrabble, if nothing else..
20 Pondokkie – POND + OK + KIEv
22 Fezes – oFfEr + ZESt. Another useful Scrabble word.
24 Klezmer – EL + K, rev, + ZimMER. A “Zimmer” Frame is a trademarked brand name by the way, apropos the use of Sky a few days ago.
26 Aliunde – (UNLAID)* + E. The “blocks” seems mainly required for the surface, but seems to work OK.
27 Soger – second = S + “blunder defending” = Own Goal + ER. Raised a smile, though I probably won’t be the only one that is surprised to discover that soger is a real word and not just infant-speak.
28 Cleveland – C + LEVEL + AND. President Grover Cleveland is unique in being counted twice, as both 22nd & 24th President.
 
Down
1 Cufic – C-I-C containing U, F for “superior” and “following.” The Times’ own little bit of regular class discrimination, which I find grates rather. The word is more usually spelt Kufic, an Arab script that the earliest versions of the Koran were written in.
2 Rattier – split in the sense of “inform on” = RAT + TIER = level or row.
3 Phossy jaw – (AS SHY O JP)* + W. An early and highly unpleasant industrial disease, the symptoms of which included glowing green in the dark..
4 Cuckoo clock – crackers = CUCKOO + LOCK = jam, containing C.
5 Sot – S + OT. OT and NT for the old and new testaments being familiar regulars.
6 Quoif – QUO + IF, a less common spelling of coif, not just a hairdo but a cap or hat as well.
7 Ouabain – OU + AGAIN, with the G swopped for a B, ie second class for good.. making a compound that would “be fatal to take.” More accurately, it might be fatal.. it is used as a treatment in cases of heart failure. One of my last ones in, mainly because I had difficulty believing such a word existed, not for the first time!
8 Tartan tax – bitter = TART + ANTi + A + X, neatly avoiding the clichéd ant (or bee) = worker. “Tartan tax” is a pejorative term for a tax which could be a saving and was never even levied.
13 Stun grenade – hurt = STUNG + RENegADE, clever wording, and brought another smile. I do like a good surface reading.
14 Schapskas – (ASKS)* containing CHAP’S.
16 Met Office – had match = MET + OFF + ICE.
18 Ginseng – traps = GINS, + ENG being short for the English tongue, I assume
19 Zizania – All reversed: extreme characters = AZ containing IN A ZI, zi of course being the southern quarter of Benghazi!
21 Ormer – the popular music singing combo, REM, rev. below OR = gold. The Times once again shows its street cred!
23 Shend – pipe down = SH + END.
25 Roc – heavens = COR (!) Apparently “soaring” means rev., a bit dodgy that, perhaps?

Author: JerryW

I love The Times crosswords..

2 comments on “Club Monthly, 20116 (May 2010)”

  1. Agreed another cracking puzzle that was a real pleasure to solve. I don’t think it quite fair to blame the Times for “U” as opposed to “non-U” which was one of those silly class distinction things of about 40 years ago. It’s in C.

    I hope you enjoy the Pyrenees (cassoulet and roquefort – yum).

    1. 39:45 for me. I made a terribly slow start and still had about five clues unsolved by the time the half-hour was up, but I felt that they might well come out if I pressed on so I let my stop-watch run.

      As you say, this was another very fine puzzle. Like you I was a little worried about OUABAIN, which sounded a bit unlikely and was the first word I checked after I’d finished, but it’s certainly a tribute to the setter that I was moderately confident that I had all the other answers right.

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