My thanks to all our setters for another year of high quality crosswords and best wishes to setters and solvers alike in 2011.
This was an easy puzzle for the Sunday after Christmas with just one clue, 16D, giving real problems. I’ve come up with an explanation on the Holmesian basis that having exhausted everything else, what is left must be the answer. I’ve tried relating “doubleu-p sounds like w-p” to “alphabet” but without success. I’ve tried pulling “alphabet”, “hiems”, “double up” and “estancia” to pieces with no positive outcome. If you have a better solution than mine, please share it!
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | PUGILISM – PUGIL-I-S-M(atisse); pinch (of say salt)=PUGIL; first=I; second=S; solved from definition; |
| 7 | AHAB – BAHA(i) reversed; Quaker captain of the Pequod who hunts Moby-Dick; knee jerk solve from “captain”; |
| 10 | VANDALISE – V(AND)ALISE; the original Vandals sacked Rome in 455 – I wonder why we remember them particularly?; |
| 11 | IDUN – I-DUN; current=I (physics); horse=DUN; Norse goddess of Spring who kept the magic immortality apples; |
| 12 | ALPEEN – (sp)ALPEEN; without issue=sine prole=sp; rascal=spalpeen; a club; |
| 13 | NERVE – plots=erven (see “erf” in C) then move “n”=knight (chess) to the front; |
| 14 | BATH,MAT – BAT-HM-AT; flutter (eyelids)=BAT; royal=HM; playing=AT; |
| 15 | GRIDDLE – G-RIDDLE; |
| 18 | ALCOHOL,ABUSE – (a school able + u=university)*; binge drinking for example – when will we bring back The Pledge; |
| 20 | SIMULTANEITY – (suit a timely + n=new)*; |
| 24 | GNATHAL – (LAH-TANG all reversed); note=LAH; hint=TANG; of the jaw (gnathology is intricate dental work); |
| 27 | CHELONE – C(HE)LONE; the turtlehead plant; |
| 28 | THANE – TH(AN)E; Macbeth was Thane of both Glamis and Cawdor. Castle Cawdor near Culloden and Inverness is worth a visit; |
| 29 | INDENT – I(N)DENT(ity); newton=N (physics); IDENTITY=2003 film written by Michael Cooney, directed by James Mangold; |
| 30 | PUCE – CUP reversed – E; |
| 31 | ANNUITANT – AN-NUIT-ANT; night in Paris=NUIT; soldier (perhaps)=ANT; the source of much actuarial angst as we continue to live longer and longer causing funding deficits in pension and life company funds; |
| 32 | LEAP – PA(E)L reversed; |
| 33 | DAY-TO-DAY – DAY-TODAY; 24 hours=DAY; now=TODAY; |
| Down | |
| 1 | PLING – P(o)LING; having a punt=poling; the definition is “!”; |
| 2 | UNDERLIE – (bl)UNDER-LIE; library=BL=British Library; |
| 3 | GAURI – GAUR-I; wild South Asian ox=GAUR; important Hindu goddess; |
| 4 | LAMEDH – LAME-DH; implausible=LAME; “that is” in German=das heisst=d.h; the letter L in Aramaic, Arabic, etc; |
| 5 | INKBLOT – (to blink)*; the cod science known as the Rorschach Test and its associated Exner scoring system; |
| 6 | MALTHA – MALT(H)A; hotel=H (phonetic alphabet); pitch (tar); |
| 7 | ALPHABET – ALPH-ABET; sacred river=ALPH from Coleridge’s Kubla Khan; |
| 8 | HIEMS – HI(ME reversed)S; Waggledagger for winter; |
| 9 | BENTLEY – BE-(lent*)-Y; Turkish governor=BEY; iconic 6.5 litre car in racing green as used by James Bond (in the books) and John Steed in The Avengers. Since 1998 part of Volkswagen; |
| 16 | DOUBLE,UP – I’m sure that “share” is definition; this is how I think the cryptic works: if you take 7D and move to the next serial number you get 8D. Then “double up” and you get 16D, which is this clue. I would welcome a better explanation; |
| 17 | ESTANCIA – E-(satanic)*; Spain=E; think Argentinian ranch like Pondorosa in the old TV series Bonanza; |
| 18 | ASOCIAL – A-SOCIAL; one=A; well set up=SOCIAL; |
| 19 | LANEWAY – L(ANEW)AY; station=LAY; again=ANEW; |
| 21 | LEONID – NOEL reversed – I’D; a meteor in a shower of same in the constellation of Leo; |
| 22 | NATANT – NA(TAN)T; natural=NAT; bronze=suntan=TAN; |
| 23 | SEDNA – ANDES reversed; 90377 Sedna is a dwarf plant that has an elongated orbit around Neptune. Discovered in 2003 by Mike Brown and others and named after the Inuit goddess of the cold sea; |
| 25 | HAULD – HAUL-D; duke=D; used in “out of house and hauld” in Hamilton; |
| 29 | LEERY – LEE-RY; |
Your suggestion is intriguing, perhaps you could help a little further by giving a fuller explanation relating what you say to the clue wording. Thanks.
Thanks for the blog.
John