Club Monthly 20153 June 2013 – Absentee Blogger Edition

Author   JerryWPosted on Categories Monthly Club Special
Solving Time: Just under 40 minutes, in two sessions. So, rather easy, in fact this may be the easiest club monthly I’ve blogged. The first five acrosses went straight in, unheard of for me.. nevertheless there were some wickedly tortuous clues as well, for example 19dn and 20dn. If it comes to pass that I must leave the Crossword Club, this is the crossword I shall miss the most.

By the time you read this, I shall be away walking somewhere in the high Pyrenees, quite likely lost, and certainly far from wi-fi. I shall be back in early August, so cannot respond before then to any queries.. but dorsetjimbo has graciously agreed to keep an eye on things, and blog the July edition for me.

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

Across
1 favous – FAVOU(R)S. An easy start, and a fine example of why not knowing the word you are looking for need not be a handicap to solving the clue
4 Punjabis – thrust = JAB in PUN + IS. Eg “She is/represents the face of some cruddy cosmetics company”
10 wazzock – sorcerer = WARLOCK, with the R & L appropriately altered. A strangely satisfying word, of unknown (northern British) origin. The ODO example sentence is: “So no, Gordon, I don’t hate Easter eggs themselves, just the marketing wazzocks who foist them on us from January 1st each year.” And so say all of us..
11 begorra – BEG + OR + RA, the Royal Artillery, my father’s (and my son-in-law’s) regiment. (As the latter said, “If you must go to war, get a BIG gun to shoot with”). The word “Oirish” is also noteworthy, meaning exaggerated Irish. cf the wonderful plastic Paddies
12 ryal – hidden
13 Monegasque – somebody grand = ONE + G in drama with dancing = MASQUE. A masque is one of those things we did before television was invented. An elegant clue, this!
15 lehrjahre – R(ASTA) + “his god” = JAH., in learner = L + what = EH, + about = RE. tricky to parse but a word I’ve met before, having studied German (to no great effect) at school.
16 outie – CUTIE, with the C “joined up” to become an O. What I call a “physical” clue
18 adsum – “add some.” Latin for “I’m here..”
19 postdated – standard was worrying = STD + ATE in capsule = POD. Postdated w
21 cyclothyme – unwilling = LOTH in C(HATT)Y x2 + ME
23 ibex – exist = BE in, I suppose, IX = 9 = a square, the rest of the clue being all def. Or am I missing something?
26 latakia – *(A TALK I) + A. Latakia is the largest port in Syria, currently an uncomfortable place to be.
27 hip-knob – park = PK, in home = IN, in cooker = HOB.
28 cleidoic – ring of flowers = LEI, in conservative = C + party = DO + I(N) C(HARGE)
29 in sync – S(OMEBODY) in hotel = INN + C(LUBS)
Down
1 fewer – weight = W in REEF, rev. the reference to people being presumably just to provide colour
2 vizcachas – CA(T)CH in specifically = VIZ., + when = AS. Viz. is an abbreviation of videlicet, z being a medieval Latin symbol for -et. Vizcachas are large rodents that look like the sort of rabbit you wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley
3 udon – U + DON
5 umbrere – Brisish = BR, in doubtful expression = UM + before = ERE
6 jaguarondi – working = ON, in keeper = GUARD, in JAI(L). A jaguarondi is a fierce sort of cat that even a vizcacha wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley..
7 bar-b-q – BARB + Q
8 scare-head – consideration = CARE, + the man = HE, all in deplorable = SAD.
9 skoosh – extremely = kick-off = KO, in SO + quiet = SH
14 sjambokked – S + JAMB + look = DEKKO rev. An elegant clue for an inelegant word and item, a rhinoceros-hide whip
15 lead colic – *(ICE COLD + AL(EX)). The reference is to the wonderful film “Ice Cold in Alex,” one of the brightest stars in the British film galaxy, and one of the best films of all, about the second world war.
17 titubancy – hmm, tricky.. clumsy boat = TUB, and “imagine clipping head” = (F)ANCY. I think we have to insert IT = “the infant” into tub, and indeed ODO has: “referring to an animal or child of unspecified sex: ‘she was holding the baby, cradling it and smiling into its face.'” My comment would be, just try calling it “it” in the mother’s hearing… oh, and my other comment would be, immediately slap the face of anyone who uses this word to you in preference to the easily understood synonym “stumbling.”
19 Pahlavi – VALH(ALL)A, rev., in irrational (number) = PI.
20 samshu – SAM + SHU (T). The references are to Sam Spade, private eye aka Humphrey Bogart, and to the fermented rice liquor, sake.
22 cutie – CUT + TIE, “with central overlap.”
24 xebec – Anglicans = CE + B(OR) + cross = X, all rev. The word xebec refers to a wide variety of sailing ships used in and around the Mediterranean.
25 span – dd, easy if and when you discover that a span is a team, usually of horses or oxen.

Author: JerryW

I love The Times crosswords..

3 comments on “Club Monthly 20153 June 2013 – Absentee Blogger Edition”

  1. 28:02 here for the sort of puzzle I like – the clues not too convoluted, and all of them solvable either from the definition or wordplay without recourse to solving aids.

    At a quick glance I agree with all your explanations, including 23ac (I’m pretty sure we’re not missing anything) and 17dn (IT = “a young child” is fairly common in the Listener crossword).

    I suspect WAZZOCK is derived from “wazz” (meaning “to urinate”), a word I’ve only come across quite recently (thanks, Caitlin Moran :-).

  2. Had a go at this, as Jerry said it was easy, and actually got quite a bit and might have got more if I had trusted the wordplay and my solving powers. Is the function of Kimberley to locate the action in a region of Africa where a rhino might be found?

    I watched Ice Cold in Alex when I was 12 and fell in love with Sylvia Sims…

    Edited at 2013-06-30 09:39 am (UTC)

    1. Hello from wifi enabled Lescun.. It was the same with me ulaca except it was the beer Ifell in love with. .

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