Solving Time: Not too sure, since this was an intercontinental crossword solve, begun in Qatar and finished later, back in the UK. But it felt to be perhaps a little easier than the average for the Club Monthly, and I had no real difficulties with it. Tight and inventive clueing as usual, and a fair sprinkling of science as well. In fact quite a good broad spread of subject matter, I thought, including several sops to our friends overseas. It is a double pangram, too. Brilliant stuff!
Across |
1 |
Mozambique – a tricky one to start: doctor = MB + I + QU + tablet = E, containing “weight in the morning” = OZ AM |
6 |
Hadj – hospital = H + A DJ = a trip to Mecca.. |
10 |
Janskys – JAN + SKY’S, making yet another scientific unit I haven’t previously come across, named after Karl Jansky, inventor of radio astronomy, and thus fully deserving of being remembered |
11 |
Stuping – burn = STING containing UP – this clue took me a while, because initially I read burn as bum.. |
12 |
Brown bill – forehead = BROW + mark = nota bene = NB + ILL. The brown bill is now obsolete, even in Britain’s armed forces |
13 |
Ngoni – NGO = non-governmental organisation, not dissimilar to a quango, + fashionable = IN, rev. The Ngoni are an East African ethnic group. |
14 |
Luigi – alternate letters of “alluring air” |
15 |
Hinduized – (IN DUD 1HZ + E)* – 1 = I seems to be an accepted crossword convention |
17 |
Ineffable – excellent = FINE + FABLE, with the F in fine put back to the end. |
20 |
Facer – just a double def., I think |
21 |
Maori – MO containing A, + RI, Providence being the capital of that attractive and interesting state, Rhode Island. Most will know it is the smallest US state by area, not so many perhaps that it is 30% water by area, and it’s official name is actually the “State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.” There is an impressive list of famous Rhode Islanders, but sadly I have never heard of any one of them, barring a golfer or two.. |
23 |
Floor show – pro = FOR containing L + O, + (WHO’S)* “rogue” being the anagrind and “not raised performance?” the def. |
25 |
Thionyl – (ONLY HIT)* – “like SO radical!” being the amusing (and accurate) def. |
26 |
Apostil – trouble = AIL containing letters = POST. An apostil is (it turns out) a marginal note. |
27 |
Volk – hidden, rev. in “thinK LOVe’s” |
28 |
Grapestone – hmm, “gardener in extremes” = GR + does like = APES + TO + cut new = NE. |
Down |
1 |
McJob – gangsters = MOB containing CJ, the boss of Reggie Perrin. Just a little surprised to see this cluing.. I loved the original Reggie Perrin (though the books are better still), and I understand the series has been rewritten and rerun though I haven’t seen it. But any possibility of criticism of the clue is wiped away by its use of one of my very favourite words, the McJob. What a wonderfully expressive word! What an advert for the inventiveness and creativity of the English language! As the link shows, McDonalds did not altogether agree, and apparently did not quite grasp how dictionaries work. |
2 |
Zinc Oxide – (IONIZED + C)* containing by = X. Zinc oxide is the white stuff Aussie cricketers love to smear on, even when there is no chance of sun (eg at Headingly :-). It has an extraordinary range of other uses though, from car tyres to breakfast cereals.. |
3 |
McKenzie Friend – M(A)CKENZIE + I END containing father = FR. Mackenzie is a reference to Canada’s longest river. Wikipedia contains a long list of famous Mackenzies, many of which I have heard of, and none of whom came from Rhode Island.. |
4 |
Ipswich – ‘IP SWITCH, “West Ham” being used to indicate the dropped H. Ipswich is now a middle-ranking team but the club has had its moments from time to time, including a UEFA Cup win. Two of its managers, Sir Alf Ramsay and Sir Bobby robson, went on to manage England. |
5 |
Upsilon – hikes = UPS + home = IN containing LO. |
7 |
Aviso – nAVy + I + SO = “it follows.” |
8 |
Jaghirdar – posh car = JAG + (t)HIRD + A R(un). A jaghirdar is, of course, a holder of a jaghir.. |
9 |
Quinquefarious – queen = QU + I + NEFARIOUS containing another QU. The resulting word is a seriously OTT way of saying “fivefold.” |
14 |
Leitmotiv – L + reversed: V + I+ TO + M + TIE. The def. being “theme.” What a beautifully constructed clue! Surely my COD. |
16 |
Zucchetto – OUZ(o) rev., containing clubs twice = CC + HE + TT for teetotaller. A zucchetto is a roman catholic priest’s skullcap. |
18 |
Bifilar – fiction = FIB rev., + ILAR = liar with “left a bit down.” |
19 |
Exocarp – no longer = EX, O = “half of” + beef = CARP. Another highly ingenious clue, though perhaps not the most comprehensible surface. |
22 |
Oriel – tanker’s cargo = OIL, containing R + E = “engineers regularly.” An oriel is a bay window. |
24 |
Wolve – wife = W + OL(i)VE. Wolve is a strange word, not quite wolf and not quite wolves. “Neither one thing nor the other,” as Churchill famously said of a fellow MP called Bossom. |
QUIN…. is interesting. Before computers came along actuaries could only do full fund valuations every five years – or quinquennially as they used to enjoy espousing. When I presented the first computer produced full valuation to the then actuary six months quicker than it could be done manually he was shocked. When I told him we could run it again the next day with a different set of assumptions he decided it was time he retired!
Music to my ears as that is exactly what we try to achieve with this puzzle. Listener-style vocab but very much Times daily style wordplay, in accessibility at least, if necessarily more complex at times.