Have to admit I struggled with this one for more than an hour and a half, possibly because of the ten (count ’em) unknowns. Still, that’s one of the joys of crosswords, and since solving this I’ve tried to work antistrophe, elytron, rhodamine and buckminsterfullerene into my office conversations as much as possible. Now they’ve asked me to work from home.
Compliments to the setter as usual. Some really top-notch clues here and some lovely surfaces.
So away we go. Clues are in blue, with definitions underlined. Anagrinds are bolded and italicised (my little innovation, no extra charge).
(And I’ve just realised that this was meant to be posted a week ago. Apologies to those whose lives have been thrown into chaos by the delay. Blame my inability to correctly add two weeks to the crossword date).
| Across | |
| 1 | Confession of an old rocker after walk is justified (11) |
| LEGITIMATED – I’M A TED (confession of an old rocker) after LEG IT (walk) | |
| 7 | Support about to be given girl not making the top grade (6-5) |
| SECOND-CLASS – SECOND (support) C (circa, about) LASS (girt) | |
| 13 | Ruddy fellow providing the clues — a dog! (3,6) |
| RED SETTER – RED (ruddy) SETTER (fellow providing the clues) | |
| 14 | Drink followed by good meat? That’s the stuff! (7) |
| GINGHAM – GIN (drink) followed by G (good) HAM (meat) | |
| 15 | Royal female in country, one coming out against English repeatedly (5) |
|
RANEE – RAN [{I}ran (country, one coming out)] EE (English repeatedly) DNK no. 1….a Hindu name meaning queen. Think I knew the more common alternative Rani. |
|
| 16 | Tom who gets his teeth into his work? (6) |
| SAWYER – Double def, the first one a literary DBE, the second one jocular | |
| 17 | Horror of hell — army starts to surge towards enemy (8) |
| DISTASTE – DIS (hell) TA [territorial (army)] STE (starts to Surge Towards Enemy) | |
| 18 | Expression of surprise about ruler being unstable? (7) |
| ROCKING – ROC [COR (expression of surprise), about] KING (ruler) | |
| 20 | Get priorities wrong in play as the situation hots up (6,5,4,5) |
| FIDDLE WHILE ROME BURNS – Double def | |
| 23 | Jumbos we can handle, mainly — acrostics initially confused us tho’ (7) |
|
MAHOUTS – MA (Mainly Acrostics initially) HOUTS (us tho)* DNK no. 2….someone who keeps or trains an elephant. They’d probably know how to get down from an elephant, whereas most of us can only get it from a duck. |
|
| 24 | A bit from the sewer? (7) |
| SAMPLER – Cryptic def | |
| 26 | See temperature with man getting a bit of a bug? (7) |
|
ELYTRON – ELY (see) T (temperature) RON (man) DNK no. 3….a wing case on a beetle. |
|
| 28 | Huge tax restricts onset of spending (4) |
| VAST – S (onset of Spending) in VAT (tax) | |
| 29 | Designed home with inlets and outlets? (8) |
| INVENTED – IN (home) VENTED (with inlets and outlets) | |
| 32 | Bad French article gives an account of events (9) |
| CHRONICLE – CHRONIC (bad) LE (French article) | |
| 35 | Do men look silly with hair dye? (9) |
|
RHODAMINE – (do men hair)* DNK no. 4….a family of chemical compounds used as a dye. |
|
| 36 | A cut above the rest? (3-5) |
| TOP-NOTCH – TOP (above the rest) NOTCH (a cut). &LIT. | |
| 37 | Pub, one providing port (4) |
|
BARI – BAR (pub) I (one) DNK no. 5….a port city in Southern Italy |
|
| 39 | Weep when given mostly tasteless glass (7) |
| CRYSTAL – CRY (weep) STAL [stal{e} (mostly tasteless)] | |
| 41 | What’s offered by smilers impersonally? (7) |
| SIMPERS – hidden in smilerS IMPERSonally. &LIT. | |
| 44 | Affair coming as blow to the lady? (7) |
|
SHEBANG – SHE (the lady) BANG (blow) Reminds me of our friends across the Tasman |
|
| 45 | Polygonal structure provided by US money: church with more people and energy, not half! (20) |
|
BUCKMINSTERFULLERENE – BUCK (US money) MINSTER FULLER (church with more people) ENE (ene{rgy}, not half) DNK no. 6…words fail me. Well this one did anyway. But of course it’s a spherical carbon molecule. |
|
| 49 | Nymph‘s song (7) |
| CALYPSO – Double def | |
| 50 | One entertained by the extremely wicked act (8) |
| THIEVERY – I (one) in THE (the) VERY (extremely) | |
| 51 | Insect crusher (6) |
|
BEETLE – Double def DNK no. 7….well I know what a beetle is, just didn’t know it was a large wooden hammer. |
|
| 53 | Tie available in lots of shops? (5) |
| CHAIN – Double def | |
| 54 | An hour being absorbed, observing a duck (7) |
|
NOTHING – NOTING (observing) absorbs H (hour) I complained here years ago about “duck” being used to clue “nothing”. Doesn’t work, it has to be “a duck”. Now I feel like someone actually listens and I want to give this setter a great big hug. |
|
| 55 | Catch fish moving in little stream (9) |
| TRICKLING – TRICK (catch) LING (fish) | |
| 56 | Worker is left bowled over by explosive rhetorical device (11) |
|
ANTISTROPHE – ANT (worker) IS (is) TROP [port (left), bowled over] HE (High-Explosive) DNK no. 8….on reading the clue, I didn’t get it. After solving the wordplay, I didn’t get it. After reading Wikipedia, I still don’t get it. |
|
| 57 | Tender of animals quietly housed in various sheds here, sleeps at first (11) |
| SHEPHERDESS – P (quietly) in (SHEDS HERE)*, S (Sleeps at first) | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Catalogue includes your poetic type (6) |
| LYRIST – LIST (catalogue) includes YR (your) | |
| 2 | Come to grief in a GCSE subject and be remembered for a long time (2,4,2,7) |
| GO DOWN IN HISTORY – Double def, one more literal than the other | |
| 3 | Immense monster due to be beaten (10) |
| TREMENDOUS – (MONSTER DUE)* | |
| 4 | Sailor tucked in after end of storm (4) |
| MATE – ATE (tucked in) after M (end of storM) | |
| 5 | Is the fellow probing lake’s discolorations? (9) |
| TARNISHES – IS (is) HE (the fellow) in TARNS (lake’s) | |
| 6 | Soldier has time shown within face of modern clock? (7) |
| DIGITAL – GI (soldier) T (time) in DIAL (face) | |
| 7 | Something wrong — I wander endlessly left, not right! (9) |
|
SINISTRAL – SIN (something wrong) I (I) STRA [stra{y} (wander) endlessly] L (left) Of the left (or sinister) side |
|
| 8 | Firm somewhere in Plymouth supplying fish (5) |
|
COHOE – CO (firm) HOE (somewhere in Plymouth) DNK no. 9….what’s wrong with normal fish like bream or mullet? |
|
| 9 | Possibly within the capabilities of person who counts (9) |
| NUMERABLE – Cryptic def | |
| 10 | Like a signed-up member as vicar definitely is (4-8) |
| CARD-CARRYING – (viCAR Definitely) “carries ‘card'” | |
| 11 | Relations loosen up within a second (7) |
| AUNTIES – UNTIE (loosen up) within A (a) S (second) | |
| 12 | Put cricketer off vehicle (6) |
|
SLEDGE – Double def Something that only Australian cricketers do, apparently. |
|
| 19 | Foreign city hospital lies in ruins, flooded by liquid (8) |
| HELSINKI – H (hospital) (LIES)* flooded by, or filled with INK (liquid) | |
| 21 | Not complete idiot, Conservative taking care of country (7) |
| MOROCCO – MORO{n} (not complete idiot) C (Conservative) CO (care of) | |
| 22 | Son born with energy, so ending up blessed (8) |
|
SNEEZING – S (son) NEE (born) ZING (energy) Good one. |
|
| 23 | Independent state in grip of small man (8) |
| MAVERICK – AVER (state) in MICK (small man) | |
| 25 | A French word — and in Paris it is heard in church (5) |
| MOTET – MOT [word (translated to French)] ET [and (translated to French, hence “in Paris”)] | |
| 27 | Sporting event that may be won by the enemy in a desperate situation (4,7,4) |
| RACE AGAINST TIME – where TIME is “the enemy” | |
| 30 | Individual lacking power engages me, an American writer (7) |
| EMERSON – ME (me) in {p}ERSON [individual lacking P (power)] | |
| 31 | Like some musical time — instrument must hold line (5) |
|
DUPLE – DUPE (instrument) holding L (line) Instrument as in pawn or puppet. |
|
| 33 | Rubbish contains various bits of slack mineral (4,4) |
| ROCK SALT – ROT (rubbish) contains (SLACK)* | |
| 34 | Trips captain organised for players (12) |
| PARTICIPANTS – (TRIPS CAPTAIN)* | |
| 38 | Sentimental film has career Yank meeting Queen (10) |
| TEARJERKER – TEAR (career) JERK (yank) ER (Queen) | |
| 40 | One given to ridicule, unfortunately pal no more (9) |
| LAMPOONER – (PAL NO MORE)* | |
| 42 | Murderer makes dull journey traversing islands off France (9) |
|
MATRICIDE – MAT (dull) RIDE (journey) traversing CI [Channel Islands (islands off France)] Like the other ‘cides, it can mean the perpetrator as well as the act itself. |
|
| 43 | Flirt nasty about boy initially, character needing the edges knocked off (9) |
|
SOUBRETTE – SOUR (nasty) about B (Boy initially) {l}ETTE{r} (character, needing the edges knocked off) DNK no. 10….refers to coquettish female roles in opera and operettas. |
|
| 45 | Something round, a stone, in mixture for concrete (7) |
| BALLAST – BALL (something round) A (a) ST (stone) | |
| 46 | Sacks of silver imported into parties (7) |
| RAVAGES – AG (silver) in RAVES (parties) | |
| 47 | Regularly obscuring fancy arch is a flowering plant (6) |
|
ACACIA – fAnCy ArCh Is A Includes the golden wattle, our very own floral emblem. Now where would a country be without a floral emblem eh? |
|
| 48 | We may hear objections, beastly sounds (6) |
| NEIGHS – Homophone (we may hear) for nays (objections) | |
| 50 | Add set of books to insert into elevated place (3,2) |
| TOT UP – OT [Old Testament (set of books)] in TUP [put (place) elevated] | |
| 52 | On trip for school (4) |
| HIGH – Double def | |
Your talk of working those words into the conversation reminds me of Aldous Huxley, of whom someone (a friend, no doubt) said that you could always tell from his conversation what volume of the Encyclopedia Britannica he was currently reading. Great blog, Galspray; worth the wait (even the MAHOUTS part).
Edited at 2016-04-09 04:43 am (UTC)
Re ANTISTROPHE, it’s apparently also “the repetition of a word or phrase at the end of successive clauses”. I’m now reflecting on whether the example in my explanation of the clue was too subtle, too feeble, or just wrong!
Re RHODAMINE, as you say it’s all about the scope of the anagrind. Does “with” allow the scope of “look silly” to be extended to include “hair”? Maybe, but I share your reservations.
Actually, two more points: I finally noticed that the definition is ‘rhetorical device’, so it’s the reversal of word order (odd device), not the chorus movement.
BTW, it was the other rhetorical device (the repetition of words) I was going for in my explanation, not the reversal of word order.
For a word I’d never heard of before, ANTISTROPHE seems to have a lot of meanings.
Isn’t BUCKMASTERFULLERENE a wonderful word?