Club Monthly 20195 December 2016

Solving Time: Well I don’t remember it being difficult .. at the time of writing there are 47 correct entries, which seems a trifle on the low side.. but 14 with one error, including a few old friends. Unfortunately, the original paper with my notes on has disappeared. I see from the crossword club website that I also had one wrong .. not an auspicious start! Let us see what we can find:

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

Dictionaries: The Club Monthly uses several dictionaries as sources, and why not? The main ones are the Concise Oxford Dictionary (COD), Collins, and Chambers.

Across
1. Stealthy art’s classical character cloaking trendy projects (8)
ninjutsu – IN (trendy) + JUTS (projects) in NU (classical, ie Greek character
5. Independence Day spurned by radical in review of thriller movie (6)
swaraj – RA(d) (radical) in JAWS rev.
9. Reddish brown stick striking hard striped cloth (8)
bayadere – BAY (reddish brown) + AD(h)ERE
10. A sample of quite lugubrious language (6)
Telugu – hidden, in quiTE LUGUbrious
12. Have Jack cutting things to keep water off vegetables (5,7)
brown jollies –  OWN (have) + J(ack) in BROLLIES. A corruption of brinjal, the egg-plant
15. Elvish giant dispatching every other character over nothing (5)
nihil – every other letter, rev., of eLvIsH gIaNt.
16. Cardinal’s misinformation swallowed by wealthy target of Brexit? (9)
Richelieu – LIE (misinformation) in RICH EU.
18. Entering start of online address, I first note trouble for Daphne (5,4)
widow wail – I + DO (forst note) in WWW (start of online address) + AIL (trouble). A shrub, apparently
19. Curie following breakdown of waste chemical (5)
ureic – *(CURIE)
20. Essential to show disapproval in criminal evictions (12)
constitutive – TUT in *(EVICTIONS)
24. Trample Italian that is after grass (6)
potche – POT (grass, ie cannabis) + CHE (“that” in Italian)
25. It’s funny on social media, extremely likely a joke, for Americans to mooch (8)
lollygag – LOL + L(ikel)Y + GAG (a joke)
26. Withdrawing a bit of unknown quantity in type of kebab? (6)
shyish – Y (unknown, not x or z) in SHISH (kebab)
27. Device for scattering drops   identifier of psychological condition (8)
Asperger – add: Hans Asperger, and a sprinkler for holy water

.. the acrosses look OK. Onwards:

Down
1. Name a book that “crown of thorns” came from (4)
nabk – N( ame ) A B(oo)K. Another name for the Jerusalem Thorn.
2. From conflicting answers, note emerging troubles in some parts (4)
noys – N) + YES (conflicting answers) with the E (note) removed.  A dialect word meaning trouble
3. Financial backer keeping head down deep when value is too small to be shown (9)
underflow – FUNDER (financial backer) with the F down at the end, + LOW (deep). A computing term, pretty much obsolete.
4. Way to take inspiration with diamonds falling a whisker (5-7)
straw-breadth – ST (way) + DRAW BREATH, with the D moved or “falling” ..
6. Big eater taking to heart the end of die Welt (5)
wheal – WHALE (big eater) with the E “taken to heart” .. that’s three “manipulative” clues in a row! I don’t approve of this one though because I don’t like the inappropriate capital W. I know setters consider it acceptable to mislead by putting a capital where it shouldn’t be, but it’s still wrong, ie not ambiguous, but just a lie. Classier clues hide the capital somewhere legitimate, eg at the beginning of a sentence. “Welt” as written is not a synonym for wheal, welt is.
7. Took interest from top valued housing away from and toward the centre (10)
routinized – OUT and IN (away from & toward centre) in (P)RIZED, ie valued, topped … and here we find my error, because I carelessly wrote routinised. Both spellings are acceptable, but only one will parse!
8. Most of Juno O’Casey composed to hold universal rapture for old poet (10)
jouysaunce – U in *(JUNO O’CASE(y)). Three guesses who the “Old poet” is .. yes, Edmund Spenser, where would we be without him?
11. Sailor shortening uniform in euphoria’s giving emotional outbursts (12)
ejaculations – JAC(k) + U(niform) in ELATION’S. Outbursts, that may be emotional, or not..
13. Christmassy scenes with small present on ship rounding headland (10)
snowscapes – S(mall) + NOW (present) + CAPE in SS (ship)
14. Fixation on finding criminals crooked, involving measure of brick-carrying capacity? (10)
whodunitry – HOD UNIT in WRY (crooked)
17. European state of alertness, nearly wholly replacing one with similar regulators (9)
equivalve – E QUI VIVE (state of alertness), with one of the Is replaced by AL, not entirely sure why .. is it A LA, nearly, perhaps? [on edit: no, much simpler, it is AL(l) – thanks phmfantom]
21. Mountain-climbers lifted lid on eminent scientists’ group (5)
tahrs – HAT (lid,) rev. (lifted) on RS, the Royal Society, or “Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge.” Tahrs are ungulates, about which the Wiki entry says “A routine of feeding during the morning followed by a long rest period, then feeding in the evening, constitutes the tahrs daily routine” .. thus making them animals after my own heart
22. Very curious compromise between legendary pair of giants? (4)
agog – neither GOG nor MAGOG.
23. Say something to express doubt in bore (4)
eger – say something to express doubt .. EG ER. Eger is an alternative form of eagre, a bore as in a river bore