Club Monthly 20172 January 2015

Author   JerryWPosted on Categories Monthly Club Special
Solving Time: Fairly quick again this month, under the hour. A very nice puzzle as always, and it is a pangram as well, I see.

cd = cryptic definition, dd = double definition, rev = reversed, anagrams are *(–), homophones indicated in “”

ODO means the Oxford Dictionaries Online, OED = Oxford English Dictionary, etc.


Across
1 evet – EVENT, without the N(ame)
4 up the booay – ha! I loved this clue. It is UP (happy), and BOO(k) + A in THEY (those people). I shall start using this useful phrase, at the earliest possible opportunity
9 rooibos tea – a tricky parsing: ROO (Aussie skipper) + I + B(owled) + *(TO AS E(nglish)). but I was greatly helped by the fact that my son-in-law has just started using redbush tea and so I had to buy some, for when he came at Christmas.. so a write in! Apparently it is greatly superior to ordinary tea, but as I absolutely loathe all tea, I wouldn’t know.
10 deke – (bloc)K in DEE, a useful river. Well rivers, really. Note that “kid” means feint in this context.
11 maloti – A LOT (bags) in terMInal. The wonderful currency of Lesotho has sente and loti, the plurals of which are lisente and maloti
12 arianize – IN + AIR (appearance) rev. in ‘AZE, haze (vagueness) as pronounced by those ever so useful Cockneys
14 waka – W(ith) + AKA (alias)
15 lordolatry – LOR’ (gracious) + DO (cook) + LA (note) + TRY (shot). I spent some time thinking “lord” = gracious and wondering how the O = cook.
17 portamento – AMEN (last word) in PORT (left) + TO
20 upgo – U + PG (film certificates) + O(deon)
21 Jedburgh – *(R + B + H + JUDGE), the r, b & h being the first letters of “reprimanded by hanging.” My loi, and only now parsed properly. Been there, nice place, unless I’m thinking of Kelso
23 phreak – HR (Human Resources, one of many euphemisms for personell) in PEAK (highpoint)
24 bradykinin – RAD (US vernacular for excellent) in BY + KIN (family) + IN (home)
25 digladiate – DI (girl) + GLAD (happy) + I + ATE
26 tegu – hidden, rev. in hUGE Teeth. “Worn at the edges” presumably being an instruction to ditch the unneeded letters

Down
2 viola d’amore – *(L + A ROAD MOVIE). nice clue
3 taikonaut – A + N + OK (pass) + I, rev. in TAUT (tense). Funny how they can be taiko, cosmo, or astro, but they are all nauts
4 uxorial – U (superior; don’t get me started on that) + X (kiss) + I in ORAL (spoken)
5 tetrabranchiata – *(HEAT CRAB IN A TART). I found the clue much easier to parse than the anagram then was to untangle!
6 ex animo – NI (part of UK) in EXAM (paper) + O
7 ozeki – OZ(ON)E (invigorating air) + KI(CK) (boot). I used to enjoy watching Sumo on TV, even though it looked about as honest as most other forms of professional wrestling, but it seems to have disappeared from Sky lately.
8 yfere – REF (whistle-blower) rev., in YE (you, dated)
13 zero grazing – ER (queen) in ZOG (old Balkan king) + RAZING (destroying). Yet another reason in favour of giving up meat. King Zog was an interesting character, respectively Prime Minister, then President, then King of Albania, then an exile, along with most of Albania’s gold reserves..
16 aquariist – IIS (two seconds) in A + QUART (two pints)
18 marybud – MAR (damage) + BY rev., + U(nplante)D
19 oophyte – OOP(S) (careless, almost) + *(THE + (onl)Y)
21 jerid – JE (I in French) + RID (shot)
22 droog – DR (GP, possibly) + OO (pair of spectacles, cricketese for two ducks) + (findin)G. A reference to A Clockwork Orange, a novel by Anthony Burgess.

Author: JerryW

I love The Times crosswords..

4 comments on “Club Monthly 20172 January 2015”

  1. This is one of various oze– words we tried, but couldn’t find the definition anywhere. Even now a Google search doesn’t show it up
      1. OK thank you. Clearly we need to invest in at least one new dictionary or explore other online ones
  2. Enough known words in this one to build up enough of the grid to make intelligent guesses on the unknowns, so managed to finish this on the train. I had a few to check in the dictionary when I got home though. I’m with you on UP THE BOOAY, Jerry!

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