Club Monthly 20177 June 2015 – Pyrenees Edition

About 40 minutes in one session, so unusually quick for me and thus another one on the easier side. I felt helped by having heard of quite a lot of the required words, or at least similar ones.. for example I seldom bethwack, but thwack is a familiar term. I see that magoo solved this in under 12 minutes… a remarkable feat. I can only hope, as my old grandmother used to say, that his lavatory chain won’t pull 🙂

So far as the crossword itself is concerned, its correctness, precision and inventiveness make it the crossword highlight of every month for me, and long may it remain so.

I will be away for the next two months walking in the Pyrenees (blog here, in case you are remotely interested) and have left this small corner of TFTT in the extremely capable hands of DorsetJimbo for the while. See you in September!

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. After combat an enlisted man gets spirit from bananas (6)
waragi – WAR (combat) + A GI (an enlisted man). Waragi is said to make up 80% of all alcohol drunk in parts of Africa, such as Uganda, but like many home-made spirits it can be dangerous stuff
5. Most passionate work ultimately happens before short nap (8)
kissiest – (wor)K + IS (happens) + SIEST(a).
9. Sensual, extremely sexy area embraced by UK people (10)
sybaritish – S(ex)Y + A(rea) in BRITISH
10. Farmer’s first one that could fawn over tenanted land (4)
feod – F(armer) + DOE (one that could fawn) rev. Feod is an alternative spelling of feud, as in feudal but not to be confused with feud as in vendetta, which comes from a different root altogether
11. Soundly beat Lizzy and Scouse mate (8)
bethwack – BETH (Lizzy) + WACK (Scouse mate). Having grown up in the Wirral I well remember calling people wack or wacker, before I learnt proper English
12. No provincial recalled entering Kiwi’s home by a lake in Africa (6)
Nyanza – NAY (no, provincial) rev. in NZ (Kiwi’s home) + A. Nyanza is not a particular lake but the Bantu word for “lake” and as such is variously applied to a number of African lakes
13. Goat’s head and gravy: things Shetlanders fiddled with (4)
gjus – G(oat) + JUS (gravy). What Shetlanders called viols.
15. Smearing conveyed by note carried by Antipodean idiot (8)
nointing – IN (conveyed by, as in “We went to New York in concorde”) + TI (note, a drink with jam and bread ;-), both in NONG, one of a startling number of Australian slang words for idiot. My last in, being doubtful nointing actually existed (it’s an aphetic form of anointing) and not having heard of nongs.
18. Separating wild mice is unknown in Confucian way, relating to complex animals (8)
metazoic – Z (unknown) in TAO (Confucian Way) in *(MICE). Metazoa as opposed to Protozoa, single celled animals
19. Certainly dated by swains on a regular basis (4)
ywis – bY sWaInS, the def. being “Certainly, dated” and dated it certainly is though somewhat connected to words in current use such as wist, wistful
21. Concerted effort to devour new crêpe (6)
blintz – N(ew) in BLITZ, a concerted effort. Held up for a minute or two, by thinking of crepe the material rather than the pancake
23. A blow for Milton Keynes’ last couple after greatest Liberal’s left (8)
Argestes – (l)ARGEST (greatest) + (keyn)ES. A NW wind according to the Greeks, all except Homer, who had it as a SW wind. No wonder Odysseus took so long to get back home. Not really to do with Milton at all, despite Chambers; a passing mention only in Paradise Lost
25. Ancient inscription’s crack returned in the morning (4)
ogam – GO (as in “Stand back, she’s about to go!”) rev., + AM. Ogham is an interesting read (or should be, to anyone who can solve this crossword 🙂
26. Concert probe impertinently keeping back half of author’s fact-book (10)
promptuary – PROM + AUT(hor) rev. in PRY (probe impertinently)
27. Lack of coordination could make one angry, yes? (8)
asynergy – *(ANGRY YES). I instinctively jump when I see something like synergy/asynergy because of my career working for large corporates, when buzzword bingo was a fruitful pastime. I well remember when one speaker’s use of the pharase “helicopter view” brought the entire room to its feet, to claim victory… he realised what was going on immediately, and had the grace to blush
28. Eatable grass in some places eastward, with no filling item on menu (6)
eddish – E(astwar)D + DISH
 
Down
2. Tortilla or matzo possibly used in crazy meals (5)
azyme – hidden in crAZY MEals.
3. The one here, having also called earlier, I answer in an agitated state (9)
akathisia – AKA (also called) + THIS (the one here) + I + A(nswer). The Chambers def. describes my two grandchildren perfectly
4. I deliver aluminium connected with parts for viewer (6)
iridal – I + RID (deliver, see Pied Piper of Hamelin) + AL, ie aluminium. The viewer being one’s eye
5. Manufactured at York, cooler gift is put in trinket collection (5-10)
knick-knackatory – NICK (cooler, ie penitentiary) + KNACK (gift) in *(AT YORK), I confess I only parsed that properly now, but what else could it be? A fine word this, and as my wife has made one out of our entire house, I expect to be able to use it before too long
6. Hawk moth bothered hind and pigs (8)
sphingid – *(HIND + PIGS). The anagrist is easy to spot, the solution a bit less so unless you are more of an entomomaniac than I am
7. Popular Italian monk appearing later in book? (5)
infra – IN (popular) + FRA (Italian monk, as in Fra Angelico)… who died in 1455, but was beatified by John Paul II in 1982, 527 years later, so there is hope for us all I suppose.
8. Suddenly stressed notes showing how to get son from Zion? (9)
sforzandi – put “s for z and i” to change zion to son, ha ha.. a neat clue!
14. For an audience, a patient man records an average one (3,6)
Joe Bloggs – sounds like “Job logs” though not terribly, if I say it
16. Irish tea mug with contents to guide piggish creature (9)
tayassuid – TAY (Irish tea) + ASS (mug) + (g)UID(e). I was pleased to construct the answer totally from the wordplay despite not having heard of either tay or the answer itself.. tayassuids are peccaries
17. Rest enlisting superior for a champion of old poet (8)
douzeper – U (superior, don’t get me started on that subject) in DOZE (rest) + PER (for, as in one per/for each)
20. Love feasts get on with an announcement system installed (6)
agapae – A PA (an announcement system) in AGE (get on). The Chambers def. is a riot, with its not too delicate allusions to the hypocrisy of the participants in such events
22. God that presides in fourth book and 14th letter (5)
numen – NUM(bers), the fourth book of the old testament, and EN (= N, fourteenth letter). The 11th edition of Chambers gives you a useful (for present purposes) list of all the books of the bible, including the apocrypha. The 12th and current 13th don’t. Nuff said.
24. Penny-pinching father turns up besotted (5)
epris – P(enny) in SIRE (father) rev.