Another very entertaining Monthly Club Special, the acme of cryptic crosswords. As usual, some glorious unusual words of which 10A is my pick. Lots of diverting wordplay too. I particularly enjoyed “abbreviated description of Broadway” but there are plenty more. Super stuff. Thank-you clever setter!
Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, {deletions} and [] other indicators.
| Across | |
| 1 | Old man in need of drink and a sunshade (6) |
| PALAPA – PA (old man) LAP (drink) A. | |
| 4 | New Year do’s talked of for caretaker (8) |
| JANITRIX – JAN 1 (New Year) TRIX, sounds like TRICK’S (do’s). | |
| 10 | Welcome notice mostly to avoid backing poet’s right to entertainment (9) |
| CUDDEEHIH – HI (welcome) HEED (notice) DUC{k} (avoid) [mostly] all reversed, [backing]. My word of the month. | |
| 11 | What can spoil hide, swapping parts of anti-wrinkle treatment (2-3) |
| OX-BOT – BOTOX (anti-wrinkle treatment) [swapping parts]. | |
| 12 | Proud fairy had an oddly invisible Asian rhino! (7) |
| RUFIYAA – Alternate letters [oddly invisible] of pRoUd FaIrY hAd An. An imaginative surface that made me smile. | |
| 13 | Tea ceremony to get to, one November out in China briefly (7) |
| CHANOYU – AN{n}OY (get to) without one N (November) in CHU{m} (China; mate) [briefly]. | |
| 14 | Sweetbreads unhealthy directly alongside mincemeat sandwiches (5) |
| THYMI – Hidden in [sandwiches] unhealTHY MIncemeat [directly alongside]. Inventive wordplay. Nice one. | |
| 15 | Fresh opening for thrush in choir of birds (8) |
| ORNITHIC – [Fresh] (t{hrush} in choir)*. Seeing a couple of checkers I thought “ornithology” for birds, and it was then but a small step to the answer. | |
| 18 | No good leaving, avoiding going in for early piece (8) |
| PRELUDIO – ELUDI{ng} (avoiding) without the NG (no good) [leaving] in PRO (for). | |
| 20 | Middle East pair coming between leaders of Hong Kong and India’s emperor (5) |
| MEIJI – Some more inventive wordplay here. ME (Middle East), IJ (pair of letters coming between [leaders of] H{ong} and K{ong} in the alphabet), I (India). Lovely! | |
| 23 | Officiating at game is beyond one hundred (7) |
| CANTREF – A division of a county. If being a referee (officiating at game) is beyond you then you CAN’T REF. Ho ho! It took me quite a while to see this, which made the PDM even more enjoyable. | |
| 25 | State of torment for one needing to reverse hair dye (7) |
| GEHENNA – EG (for one) reversed -> GE, HENNA (hair dye). | |
| 26 | Spineless tunneller, heading right to the back (5) |
| INERM – Our tunneller is a MINER. Take the first letter [heading] and put it at the end [right to the back] -> INERM. | |
| 27 | Scottish rock tune wasn’t (mostly) hard to play (9) |
| WHUNSTANE – (tune wasn{‘t} [mostly] h (hard))* [to play]. Not a rock tune, obviously! | |
| 28 | In South Australia, see clear sort of earth (8) |
| SOLONETZ – LO (see) NET (clear), in S (South) OZ (Australia). | |
| 29 | Stars unknown in the underworld (6) |
| HYADES – Y (unknown) in HADES (the underworld). I actually knew this word -from a Mephisto, I think. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Mammals turning up in plain and peak (4,4) |
| PACK RATS –STARK (plain) CAP (peak) [turning up]. | |
| 2 | Youth, within two years RAF officer, one spotted with wings (7) |
| LADYFLY –LAD (youth), FL (Flight Lieutenant; RAF officer) in Y Y (two years). | |
| 3 | “Finnish” female athlete initially enters for run, after quiet attempt to conserve energy (9) |
| PTERYGIAL – A little trip to the Uxbridge English Dictionary for our definition here (helpfully indicated by the quotation marks). And what an Ikean wordplay! P (quiet) TRY (attempt) outside, [to conserve], E (energy), GI{r}L (female) replacing the R (run) with A{thlete} [initially] -> GIAL. Bravo! And what a super word too! | |
| 5 | Henry in Accounts has World Nations Anthem released? It’s not everyone’s thing (1,6,3,4) |
| A CHACUN SON GOUT – H (Henry) in AC AC (accounts), UN (world nations) SONG (anthem) OUT (released). Another that made me smile – for the surface as much as the wordplay. | |
| 6 | False ideas of a philosopher — and artificial language, note (5) |
| IDOLA –IDO (artificial language) LA (note). | |
| 7 | Master at home with pupil once restriction lifted (7) |
| RABBONI – IN (at home) OB (Old Boy; pupil once) BAR (restriction) all [lifted]. | |
| 8 | Hospital DJ looking up American or Greek ancestor (6) |
| XUTHUS – H (hospital) TUX (tuxedo; dinner jacket; DJ) [looking up] -> XUTH, US (American). | |
| 9 | Character of Lear, tho deaf OK, wasn’t mad (3,5,2,4) |
| THE AKOND OF SWAT – (tho deaf OK wasn’t)* [mad]. It took me a while of staring at the anagrist and checkers to remember the character. | |
| 16 | I’m with different broadcaster for gig (3-6) |
| TIM-WHISKY – (I’m with)* [different] SKY (broadcaster). | |
| 17 | Old minister’s wife with gentle touch after sex? (8) |
| VICARESS – VI (six in Roman numerals, which is sex in Latin), CARESS (gentle touch). Suits you sir! | |
| 19 | Author of dossier’s final ambition spelled out first for lecturer (7) |
| RENDELL – {dossie}R [‘s final] END (ambition) ELL (the letter L; first letter of Lecturer) [spelled out]. | |
| 21 | Local court’s abbreviated description of Broadway? (7) |
| INNYARD – Broadway is a road in New York, hence IN NY (New York) A RD (road). Clever. | |
| 22 | Content regulators with joint statement primarily supporting board deputy (1-5) |
| V-CHIPS – VC (Vice Chairman; board deputy), HIP (joint) S{tatement} [primarily]. | |
| 24 | Enter with force Malaysian wood (5) |
| RAMIN – RAM IN (enter with force). [Note to self on completing this] “And breathe”. | |
Too difficult for me this one, I got about half or so.
I did like the Akond of Swat ..