Solving time: c. 45 mins, with Chambers used for the last half hour or so.
Fresh from the top of the Crossword best-seller lists, Time gives us quite a tough wiorkout with our copies of Chambers – showing that there are still plenty of words left in the old red book. This one started off in the SW and NE corners for me, and then the harder ones filled up from the bottom. Aplologies for the delayed report, and the pesky blank area.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | R.A.,FF,ISH – the tricky bit here is ff = fecerunt = (they) did it |
| 6 | SAMPI – A M.P. in IS rev. – supposed name of a Greek numerical charater for 900 |
| 10 | ELLEN Terry, famous actress 100-odd years ago = (t)ELL (m)EN |
| 11 | PONIARD = a short dagger = crease(2), and DRAIN OP = “sewer’s work”, rev. |
| 12 | Leslie CHARTER,IS who wrote about Simon Templar = The Saint |
| 15 | ACTA = minutes – “active duplication” as both ACT and A are abbrevs of ‘active’ |
| 16 | POT,L(I)D, which is a curling stone – jerry = a chamberpot |
| 17 | R(ED H)AT = a cardinal, from the hat traditionally awarded to them. edh or eth is the letter Ð or ð in Old English and Icelandic for one form of th, thorn = Þ or þ standing for the other. (In Icelandic, eth is consistently voiced and thorn consistently voiceless, but apparently both letters can be used for both sounds in Old English – even when we had the right tools, we couldn’t spell properly!) |
| 18 | SP(LATTER,P)UNK – a splendid new word for violent literature |
| 20 | PALS,GRAV(IN)ES – countesses palatine apparently. Old hands will remember (and new hands should note) that many -grave words are noble folk. |
| 24 | STELL,A – stell = Scots for ‘to fix, post’, not the variant spelling of stele(1) that I was expecting. |
| 25 | KICK-UP = a dance. UP = at (posh) school, and kick is ‘obs sl’ for a sixpence. |
| 26 | ORAN – (another – the)*. Port in Algeria which I thought of soon enough but didn’t see the wordplay |
| 29 | PIANO,LIST – which must be someone who plays the pianola |
| 30 | FOOTROT = rev. of (TORT = wrong, OOF = greens = money (esp dollar bills)). The derivation of OOF from ‘auf dem Tische’ = ‘on the table’ is one of my all-time favourite word stories from Chambers |
| 31 | GEN,R,O – o’ or o = shortened form of of or on, says C. The GENRO were the elder statesmen who advised the Japanese emperor in the early 20th century. I guess they were given their cards soon after WWII |
| 32 | E,T,WEE=’what we have to pass’, snigger. Variant spelling of ETUI = case for needles or similar |
| 33 | G(O,ODD)EN – good-den is one of various variants of ‘good evening’ |
| Down | |
| 1 | RECAPS = spacer (=space bar) reversed |
| 2 | FLA(s)K |
| 3 | FERULAS = refusal* |
| 4 | INTI(mate) = former currency of Peru |
| 5 | SPEED-TRAP = rev. of (part,deep,s) |
| 6 | SNIPER = (re PINs) rev. |
| 7 | MANCHU – CH. = Chinese, in Man U = Manchester United |
| 8 | PRYTANEUM – an ancient Gk town hall, and (party menu)* |
| 9 | IDEA – hidden |
| 13 | COP A TRIO,T – should have had this straight away but took ages to get COP |
| 14 | BREAK INTO = (baritone, K)* – ‘party’ is a rather cheeky anagrind. |
| 19 | PICK,L.E.D. |
| 21 | LEASOW – O in Wales* – some kind of pasture |
| 22 | G,LOIRE = Fr. for ‘glory’ |
| 23 | SPOT-ON = “no tops” rev. |
| 26 | (c)ORFE – the same faish as the ide. Corfe Castle is a scenic ruin. |
| 27 | TO GO – two defs |
| 28 | SIN,D – sind/synd is a washing down with booze. |
I also started in the SW, with a few entries elsewhere, then got completely stumped when I refused to believe what appeared to be a word starting PALSGR.. at 20ac. I cheated with an electronic search for that, and then finished the rest without too much problem.
As I remarked to Jimbo “a certain alloy of expediency improves the gold of morality and makes it wear all the longer” – maxims of archy
One of the prime rules of barred-grid puzzles is to look up words or word-beginnings that seemingly can’t possibly exist.
26AC was not a problem – I spent so long pottering about in the SW corner that I had worked that one out before.
I suggest we terminate this particular exchange before I lose it completely!
I’m happy with “party” as an anagrind (certainly more so than “clock” from Times 24116 which I’m still pondering!!). The tip about “—grave” is a good one and serves as a reminder as to how much easier it is to do these puzzles once you have experience of them.
I loved 18A. A really great word beautifully clued.
I liked this crossword, to me it felt tightly clued and just the correct difficulty for me. Mind you living just down the road from Leasowe in the Wirral in my youth, reading Saint books, may have helped 🙂
As for crossword books, I feel there is only one: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ximenes-Art-Crossword-D-S-Macnutt/dp/190340004X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231495116&sr=1-1 – sadly out of print but not hard to find (note to self: must learn how to insert a link into these comment boxes!)