Club Monthly 20161 February 2014 – All’s Well that Ends Well

Author   JerryWPosted on Categories Monthly Club Special
Solving Time: Well I am in a little difficulty here, since I printed it out as usual on 1st Feb, solved it, put it to one side pending writing the blog, and I haven’t seen it since.. so I had to print off and solve another one yesterday, which took me about 40 minutes. That’s faster than the first time, and for some clues there was a definite feeling of déjà vu, but sadly quite a lot of them seemed completely unfamiliar. At least this month the solution is all correct, a blessed relief.

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

ODO = Oxford Dictionaries Online, OED = Oxford Dictionary, etc.

Across

1 scorzonera – area = ZONE in S(mall) + CORRA(l), the def. being “viper’s grass,” so called because its juice was once thought to be a cure for snake bites. They were wrong, don’t try that at home…
6 esth – hidden in tribES THat
9 triclinium – CLINI(C) + U in TRIM. A hard clue because although I could see the CLINI, upholstery = TRIM did not occur to me for some time
10 yump – YUM + P. A word I knew, from various adventures in my old Landrover Discovery, years ago
12 eisteddfodau – *(FADED TEDIOUS)
15 ice anchor – = “I sank her.” An unexceptionable homophone
17 on-off – O + NO (Japanese play) + FF. What a relationship might be..
18 bajri – R + JAB rev., + I. A type of millet
19 Tupungato – A GNU + PUT rev., + TO(P). A very neat clue for a very fine mountain, seriously high
20 concelebrate – formerly = ONCE in *(BRACELET)
24 irie – I(DEA) in resentment = IRE
25 giardiasis – AID + RA (Royal Artillery) rev. in GI + SIS. A very nasty illness, (“Beaver fever”) which you have to be on your guard against, when trekking in some parts of the world, notably the USA.
26 Eryl – LYRE rev. Not a name I’ve come across, but listed in my trusty 11th edition of Chambers – but not in the useless, miserable current 12th edition
27 amercement – AMER(ICAN) + CEMENT. A common enough word once, eg in Pepys’ Diary

Down

1 sith – ‘TIS rev., + H(our). An archaic word meaning “since;” I’m not sure how we are supposed to leap from there to “time.” And nothing to do with the Revenge of The…
2 olid – I in OLD. Rank as in “Smelling extremely unpleasant” (ODO)
3 zillionaires – “put out in parts, mostly upset” = SERIALIZ(E), rev., containing a big cat, a LION. Another neat clue, though the surface reading is a little clunky
4 nonet – MONET, with the M turned into a N by erasing a vertical stroke, more or less.. hence the “approximated”
5 round trip – easy if you find that meaning of ROUND: not omitting or disguising anything; frank: “she berated him in good round terms.” + TRIP, what everyone did in the ’60s with LSD. Except me, sadly
7 squadronal – thigh muscle = QUAD (sothat’s where they are) in: S(ons) + R(un) + ON + (W)AL(K)
8 hoppus foot – opposite = OPP + US F(orce in HOOT
11 eflornithine – sparse = THIN, in *(OR FELINE). An instructive clue for more nervous Club Monthliers, since it turns out this is not actually a difficult clue to solve, despite it being such a difficult word.. you just need a good dictionary to check it exists!
13 riebeckite – IE + B in REC + KITE. Another easy one, if you parse the clue carefully
14 perjinkity – *(JERKIN) in shame = PITY
16 hetaerism – SIRE + ATE rev. in HM (the queen). A Greek word, which I happened to know because of a remarkable science fiction book called “Eon,” by Greg Bear. Unfortunately dated nowadays, but a great work of fiction in its day. I’m still waiting to see Mouseion.
21 rarer – R(E)ARER. What your steak should be
22 isle – (CARL)ISLE, a miserable, benighted city I have never ever forgiven for being wrongly given a parking fine. Some time in the 1980s.
23 psst – SS in P(or)T

Author: JerryW

I love The Times crosswords..

2 comments on “Club Monthly 20161 February 2014 – All’s Well that Ends Well”

  1. Enjoyed this one, and as you say, a lot of the answers can be worked out by trusting the wordplay then hunting in Chambers to check the word exists. I got scorzonera, triclinium, bajri, giardiasis, hoppus foot and perjinkity like that, as well as the two you mentioned in the blog.

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