Club Monthly 20151 April 2013 – Natural History edition

Author   JerryWPosted on Categories Monthly Club Special
Solving Time: Just over an hour, so about average for me, although it did feel quite a hard crossword. Another high class offering, though, and a welcome diversion from some of the more ramshackle goings-on over at the crossword club recently, with things like membership, and championship entries.. it has a rather insectivorous air about it, what with banxrings, wambengers, and the Dictyoptera themselves

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

Across
1 Klondyker – *(KL + ORKNEYD). Or, more likely perhaps, KL + *(ORKNEYD)
6 sybow – S(AVOUR)Y + BOW = stem (of a boat, say)
9 booksie – certainly = OK in lover of Wilde = BOSIE, ie Lord Alfred Douglas. Nothing at all against gay people, but golly, didn’t they look droopy in those days?
10 divisim – dang it, when I did the crossword I understood this clue but now I come to do the blog I have forgotten.. a sim is a computer game, so the one sim is clear enough, as is the def. But how to get DIV (or DVI) to equal fool? Don’t know, I think I must be missing something.
11 bro – sphere = ORB, rev. Why it says somewhere, instead of someone, I cannot fathom. Anyway, I have a bro I feel anything but close to.
12 abscondence – study = DEN in A + B + candle holder = SCONCE
14 Skopje – E + JP + OKS, all rev. My sister was caught up in the big earthquake there in 1963
15 banxring – “banks wring.” They are treeshrews, sweet little things..
17 orpiment – Tennessee = TN + (S)EMIPRO, all rev. An aresenic ore, used historically to poison arrows, as a fly poison, and as a Chinese medicine, which says something perhaps about (early) Chinese medicine..
19 agiler – (MO)RE LIGA(TURES) rev.
22 Dictyoptera – (CHERR)Y + picker = OPTER in rulings = DICTA. Termites and cockroaches, yummy!
23 wus – doWntUrnS
25 laocoon – L + A + (C)OCOON. Beware of Greeks bearing gifts..
27 dehisce – *(CHE DIES)
28 xyris – younger = YR, in boundary = SIX rev.
29 palfreyed – unknown = Y in china = PAL + released = FREED.
Down
1 kabab – (POR)K + muscle = AB, twice. Kabab = kebab is one of those words that can apparently be spelled however you want. I count some 12 different ways, and no doubt there are more.
2 oloroso – (D)OLOROSO> A good dry oloroso is a fine wine and usually, a fine bargain too givne the quality of the product
3 dismal Jimmy – papers = ID rev., + SMAL(L), + jimmy (= jimmy riddle = micturate = wee).
4 kreese – predictor = SEER, rev. in K(NOWLEDG)E
5 radio ham – *(I DO HARM + A). how can I let that go without mention of the most famous radio ham of all?
6 sov – ergo = SO + V = victor (as in T = tango etc. Sov being short for sovereign.
7 basenji – abject = BASE + NJ + I
8 wambenger – honour = MBE, in with = W + resentment = ANGER. Small marsupials. A fine word this, which should be much more useful than it is..
13 doxographer – lower = OX in shadow = DOD, + castigate = RAP + the woman = HER.
14 spondulix – *(POUNDS) + 59 = LIX (roman numerals). I am more used to it being spelled …LICKS
16 snip-snap – finds fault with legs = PANS PINS, all rev.
18 pochoir – sorting office = PO + CHOIR = “perhaps ensemble”
20 lewdsby – LE + W + D + S + BY = next to
21 feodal – *(OF DALE)
24 speld – (LAPE)L in torn = SPED
26 ous – (H)OUS(ES). other males being “hes,” and dynasties, houses..

Author: JerryW

I love The Times crosswords..

5 comments on “Club Monthly 20151 April 2013 – Natural History edition”

  1. …is UK prison slang for a fool – I’ve heard it used on the outside too. Might be a bit ephemeral to make it into the dictionaries
    1. Ah, thank you z8 (may I call you z8?) – it has not appeared in any of my usual sources, but I see it clearly enough in the urban dictionary, and in fact in googling, which makes me wonder why I didn’t spot it myself. I prefer not to memorise prison or drug cant, so it will probably catch me out again some day..
      1. Jerry: did you never hear anyone called a “divvy” in the area where we both grew up? Maybe a class difference? I.e., I was a bit more likely to hang around with lads whose dads/brothers were ex-cons. Anyway, it was pretty common and often directed my way!

        Edited at 2013-04-27 06:08 am (UTC)

        1. Ah, well, now you mention it mc.. no, not that I remember. Not too many ex-cons in Great Meols, though I am sure my state school contained a number of future ones..
  2. Growing up in Merseyside in the 1970s, div or divvy was a common insult – and as far as I’m aware no friends of mine had criminal parents!

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