Club Monthly 20146 November 2012 – A tour de force

Solving Time: About 1hr 15mins in two sessions. This crossword struck me as unusually good even for a Club Monthly, which is saying something. It is also a pangram. It has a lot of elegant clues and a lot of wit. I marvel that words which on the face of it seem virtually uncluable, can not only be clued but also be turned into a plausible surface reading. As someone said on the Club forum, bravo, setter!

Another unusual feature of this crossword is the number of words which if not common, I had at least heard of. I counted only three across and three downs that were completely new to me. Not that it made it any easier, but I was able to write more of them in without having to check the dictionary first. One of the many benefits of attempting the Club Monthly is that it teaches you not to worry about words you haven’t previously met.

cd = cryptic definition, dd = double definition, rev = reversed, homophones are written in quotes, anagrams as *(–)

Across
1 vivaria – test = VIVA + island = I inside RA = Royal Artillery
5 mudpack – DUMB rev. + PACK = (rugby) forwards
9 baldpated – *(BORSTAL + ADAPTED)
10 owler HOWLER
11 agami SALSA PLAYING ARIA FROM ERNANI
12 quillajas – A + JA in QUILLS
13 Seanad Eireann – understand reason for = SEE + paddy = IRE + girl = ANN containng a poster = AN AD.
17 script kiddies – con = KID in *(CID PERSIST)
21 scuzzball – “signs of bends” = ZZ in diving gear = SCUBA, + L + L
24 carny – transport = CARRY, with one R replaced by new = N
25 emmer – on = RE + French lady = MME, all rev. Emmer is a very interesting plant, growing both wild and also as possibly the first ever domesticated variety of grain. It is still grown in a few places, and available as flour. I have made emmer bread from time to time
26 Madrileno – nuts = MAD + cheese off = RILE + ON rev.
27 ethmoid – “letter of old” = ETH, a relative of our old friend the thorn, + doctor = MO + papers = ID.
28 apraxia – A + X in fools date = APR I + A
Down
1 Vibram – VIBE + RAM. Most good quality walking boots have Vibram soles.
2 valvassor – Vermonter initially = V + behind = ASS in American bottle = VALOR. A very neat clue. A valvassor is what we might call middle management nowadays
3 replica – soft = P in *(LACIER). This is quite a racy clue, if the surface means what it seems to
4 antiquark – ANTIQUE + ARK
5 modii – A Modius, pl. modii, is a Roman dry measure. However I can’t parse this clue. The obvious way to make 23 equal 12 is to subtract 11. Is that what is meant? But if so, how can MOD = subtract?
6 doodler – IDLER, with the I (= current) replaced by “take no action perhaps” = DO O
7 aflaj – answer = A + FLAK with the K changed to its neighbouring letter, J
8 kerosene LAKE ROSE NEARBY
14 eid al-adha – boy’s owner’s confession = I’D A LAD in pardon = EH, + A
15 au serieux – A + USER + Brussels = EU in I + X
16 tsessebe – being = ESS in *(BEST). Unfortunately I typo’d this by misreading my own handwriting and entering “tsessere”.
18 pizarro – speed up = ZIP rev., + ARROW
19 itchier – *(HERETIC), with one E having been changed to an I
20 xyloma – axes = XY + see = LO + M + A
22 ummah – joint = HAM + MU all rev., MU being the Greek letter equivalent to M.
23 Ahmed – “word for laryngologist” = AH + MEDIC

Author: JerryW

I love The Times crosswords..

3 comments on “Club Monthly 20146 November 2012 – A tour de force”

  1. One of the problems with these monthly puzzles is that its difficult to find anything new to say. They are an absolute delight. Well done setter indeed.
  2. m MOD n (short for modulus) is the function which returns the remainder when is dived by n, so 23 MOD 11 = 1 = 12 MOD 11
    1. Ah yes, thanks for that.. actually I feel a bit silly, because I was aware of the existence of modulus 11 – and after all the solution actually *says* mod II – but even though I looked up a page or two of explanation, I couldn’t get it to help me understand the clue – so, good explanation!

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