Once more the Monthly Club Special provides us with a feast of exotic words clued by inventive and entertaining wordplay. I found rather more difficult than last month’s, although it’s hard to pin down why, taking just under 1 hr 50 minutes. My LOI was 5A with the definition being a bit tricky to spot. Word of the Month goes to the archaic 6D and most-fun bit of wordplay the ‘one leading Victor in obviously’ in 3D. Thank-you clever setter.
Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, {deletions} and [] other indicators.
| Across | |
| 1 | Landing vehicle from US to carry old woman westwards (6) |
| AMTRAC – CART (carry) MA (old woman) all reversed -> AMTRAC. | |
| 5 | Yank attempts to conceal small cosmetic ops making smile extremely wide (8) |
| SNOWJOBS – S (small) NO{se}JOBS (cosmetic ops) replacing the outside letters, [extremely], of SmilE with W (wide)- > SNOWJOBS. The definition says the word is American slang. My last one in, and it took me a while to parse. | |
| 9 | Alan once has shattered relative to console (8) |
| ANCONEAL – (Alan once)* [shattered]. | |
| 10 | Turkish ruler visiting Lincoln finally departing (6) |
| ATABEG – A word I knew! AT (visiting) ABE (Abraham Lincoln) and last letter of departinG. | |
| 11 | American got up to plug tune informally for earthy band (1,7) |
| C HORIZON – RIZ (got up; US slang) in CHOON (tune, informally; English slang). I suppose a wordplay based on CHORIZO + N would be too simple for the MCS, so I’m not complaining. | |
| 12 | Ass Jack runs out of stuff for cheese (6) |
| JENNET – J (Jack), {r}ENNET (stuff for cheese) without the R (runs). | |
| 13 | Get excited by one wearing jacket, most seductive (8) |
| VAMPIEST – AMP (excited) I (one), in VEST (jacket). | |
| 15 | Vehicle’s valuation oddly overlooked (4) |
| AUTO – Even numbered letters of vAlUaTiOn. Unlike 11A, a clue that’s invaded from a quick cryptic. My FOI, not surprisingly. | |
| 17 | Stop pulling horse’s tail (4) |
| FILL – FILL{y} with the last letter ‘pulled’. | |
| 19 | Singular, powerful piece of board cut by my window cleaner (8) |
| SQUEEGEE – S (singular), QUEE{n} (powerful piece on board) [cut], GEE (my!). | |
| 20 | Judge this lens to be full of cracks? (6) |
| OCULAR – J (judge) + OCULAR gives JOCULAR (full of jokes; cracks). Clever. | |
| 21 | Sacred primate’s case for elevation we demand to know (8) |
| ENTELLUS – Outside letters of ElevatioN, TELL US (we demand to know). | |
| 22 | In front of uniform in dark, you there will find fungal spore (6) |
| OIDIUM – OI (you there!), U (uniform) in DIM (dark). | |
| 23 | Following The Sun, Nick from The Scotsman retains old women’s magazine article (8) |
| DEISHEAL – SHE (old woman’s magazine) A (article), in DEIL (Scottish word for devil; Nick). The opposite of widdershins. | |
| 24 | Reflectively rating track by rock dinosaurs (8) |
| BARYONYX – AB (rating) reversed -> BA, RY (railway; track) ONYX (rock). I liked the ‘track by rock dinosaurs’. | |
| 25 | Top horse to back: I agree to do it, too (6) |
| GANSEY – NAG (horse) reversed -> GAN, YES also reversed -> SEY. Another neat surface. | |
| Down | |
| 2 | Mostly lacking housing, keep mum at this country guesthouse (8) |
| MINSHUKU – SH (keep mum) UK (this country), in MINU{s} (lacking) [mostly] | |
| 3 | Overseas runner Rex over the moon: one leading Victor in obviously (3,5) |
| RIO BRAVO – R (rex) IO (moon of Jupiter), BRAVO (phonetic alphabet word for B) – B being the letter before the V (Victor in the phonetic alphabet) in oBViously. Fiendish! I love it, but it took me an age to see how it worked. | |
| 4 | Derivative of silk in which different yeomen should dress unknown number up (8,1) |
| COENZYME Q – (yeomen)* [different] in QC (silk) reversed -> CQ. | |
| 5 | Impressively false info to give — the same tip — on a vote (9,6) |
| SPLENDIDE MENDAX – SP (slang for latest info, from Starting Price) LEND (give) IDEM (the same) END (tip) A X(voter’s mark; vote). Impressive charade. | |
| 6 | No longer know which exam, informally (7) |
| WOTTEST – WOT TEST (which exam, informally). Ho ho. | |
| 7 | You ban guidebook showing river’s name in French (8) |
| OUBANGUI – Hidden in yoU BAN GUIdebook. French spelling of Ubangi. | |
| 8 | “A-list” tag for casting as a requirement for The Archers (8) |
| SAGITTAL – (A list tag)* [for casting]. | |
| 14 | Carol reading notes, perhaps, pining about gutless Tobias (5-4) |
| SIGHT-SING – Outside letters of TobiaS in SIGHING (pining). | |
| 15 | British music award touching a revolving arm dropped (8) |
| AEROBOMB – B (British) MOBO (music award) RE (touching) A all reversed -> AEROBOMB. | |
| 16 | Estate holder’s university lecture involves ace visiting medic (8) |
| TALUKDAR – U (university) in TALK (lecturer), A (ace) in DR (doctor). | |
| 17 | Egyptian peasants: around 622 formed military lines (8) |
| FELLAHIN – FELL IN (formed military lines) about AH (Anno Hegirae; in the year of Hegira (ie from the flight of Mohammed)). | |
| 18 | A lean cut riddled with holes (8) |
| LACUNATE – (A lean cut)* [riddled]. | |
| 19 | Rock briefly to loosen, releasing new alloy (7) |
| SHAKUDO – SHAK{e} (rock) [briefly), U{n}DO (loosen) without the N (new). | |
This was Richard Rogan’s last Club Monthly crossword, as he died on 1 June. RIP.