The crossword is still live on the Crossword Club website, but it clearly states that entries must be in before midnight last Thursday, so I am assuming that later ones will be discounted. About this time last month, I had an email from the lucky winner.. please say hello, if you are this month’s lucky entrant!
I solved this puzzle in the same week as a flurry of historic puzzles from the 1940s, 60s and 80s. Although they certainly have their charms and I did warm to them, it was nice to settle back into the discipline and certainty of a modern Times cryptic.
Having failed to notice that last month’s puzzle was pangrammatic, I looked to see if this one was but it is lacking an X, at least. There were 16 words (of 28) I had not come across before, 5 more than last month.
I am always impressed by a really good surface reading, and several of these clues were absolutely outstanding in that regard, for example 15ac, 1dn, 5dn, 9dn. Top class work, no quibbles, and a fine crossword this one, in every way.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | KHODJA – (OK + HADJ)* |
| 4 | ADJUDGED – radio presenter = DJ “wearing” gold = AU + the Director General of the BBC = DG and the head of a newspaper, = ED. Although these days it is not so simple, they also have chief eds, ed-in-chiefs, chief publishers etc and everyone has to do whatever Rupert tells them, anyway.. |
| 10 | INFAMONIZED – popular = IN + worried = FAZED containing IN+OM rev, to make a word meaning “to defame.” |
| 11 | LEW – LEW(d) |
| 12 | WOOLDED – yarn = wool + not vital, ie DE(a)D |
| 14 | LYRISTS – roster’s = LISTS containing YR = younger |
| 15 | ANTHROPOPHOBIA – article = AN + beat = THROB + Iowa = IA containing “work doubly hard” = OP+OP+H. This clue quite took my breath away. Wonderful stuff |
| 17 | PUT THE KIBOSH ON – another awesome construction: hit on green before hospital = PUTT+H and then NOH+SO+BIKE all rev., to make a phrase meaning “finish off,” well enough known to me but possibly not so well overseas? It’s forces slang I think, of uncertain origin |
| 21 | JERQUER – judge and ruler = J+ER and QUER(y) to make a handy word meaning “someone searching for contraband” |
| 22 | TALAYOT – T+A LOT containing AY, a year. |
| 23 | WAE – W(retched) A(berdonians) E(tc) to make wae = Scottish woe. The entry in Chambers includes inter alia the wonderful word “waesucks” = alas |
| 24 | GRANNY KNOTS – just a double def. really; and anyway I was always taught that it was actually less likely to slip than a reef knot |
| 26 | NESHNESS – NE’S+H+NE’S+ “chiefly suppressing” = S. My (Sheffield) Granny was fond of describing people as nesh, usually meaning weed or milksop or similar |
| 27 | INFOLD – (of Lind)* |
| Down | |
| 1 | KNITWEAR – INK rev. + (WATER)* |
| 2 | OOF – (h)OOF, one of many slang words for cash, as is “rhino.” |
| 3 | JEMADAR – clash = JAR containing broad = DAME, rev. I hadn’t heard of this but I knew the similar Havildar, so not too hard a guess. |
| 5 | DAZZLE PAINTING – (lend giant pizza)* – not heard of this either, but “painting” seemed to be in there somewhere and then it’s obvious |
| 6 | UNDERDO – (blo)OD RED NU(dist) rev. |
| 7 | GOLDSMITHRY – just as it says on the tin, take every other letter of “a growl adds…”etc. Clever. |
| 8 | DAWISH – D + A WISH. Why a simpleton should be described as being like a jackdaw, I can’t imagine. They always look rather cunning, to me. |
| 9 | UNADOPTED ROADS – (spread out and do)* another fine surface |
| 13 | OUTQUARTERS – the opposite presumably of headquarters.. “old states” = O+UTTERS containing “as Republican” = QUA+R, qua being latin for “in the capacity of.” |
| 16 | UNITISED – opposite of mint = USED, containing NIT+I. Once your securities have been unitised they may be called a Unit Trust.. |
| 18 | TRUDGEN – TRUDGE+N. From the Chambers description, a swimming stroke not unlike the front crawl. |
| 19 | OOLAKAN – ON containing (koala)* – one of no less than eight different spellings given in Chambers for the remarkable candlefish. |
| 20 | AJOWAN – A JO + WAN, a plant of the caraway genus. Jo = girlfriend is common word in Yorkshire, I didn’t know it was of Scottish origin until now. |
| 25 | OHO – OH(i)O |
I did enter, but no one has sent me 100 pounds. I would be curious to know how many correct entries they get each month.