Monthly Club Special No 280 – Nov 2024

Another monthly gourmet treat of a crossword for the connoisseur with some entertaining wacky vocabulary from the dusty corners of the dictionary and witty wordplay. Word of the month goes to KOK-SAGHYZ and favourite clue to LIKER. In all it took me about 1hr 20 minutes, which is about par for me with these. Thank-you clever setter.

Definitions underlined in bold italics, (Abc)* indicating anagram of Abc, {deletions} and [] other indicators.

Across
1 Rat getting into grub left muck around for diggers (9)
FARNARKELNARK (rat) in FARE (grub), L (left). Australian slang. I found this in Collins but not in Chambers or ODE.
6 A very observant person can prove who they are? (5)
HASIDHAS ID (can prove who they are). Ho ho!
9 Thread revolved around misprint after abridgement of a copy (7)
ECTYPALTYP{o} (misprint) [after abridgement], in LACE (thread) reversed -> ECAL.
10 Skin lesion or cut after revolutionary parade (7)
MORPHEW – PROM (parade) reversed -> MORP, HEW (cut).
11 Ridicule in ocean during periodical teasing in Trinidad (10)
MAMAGUYING – A double inclusion. GUY (ridicule) in MAIN (ocean) , all in MAG (periodical).
12 Chess champion not seeing her lost purse (4)
FISC – Bobby FISC{her} (chess champion) without the HER. “Lost” to indicate the word is obsolete… and make a good surface.
14 Metal pan for cooking milk a dairymaid uses (5)
KADAI – Hidden in milK A DAIrymaid.
15 Dash of vodka along with eastern Hebridean island’s tangerine liqueur (3,3,3)
VAN DER HUM – First letter [dash of] Vodka AND (along with) E (Eastern) RHUM (Hebridean Island). I knew this one as my Dad had some in the cupboard of liqueurs that were brought out at Christmas. I’m not sure I ever had any, though.
16 Plant with colourful flowers and crinkly leaves covering most of moor? (9)
KALANCHOE – [Most of] ANCHO{r} (moor) in KALE (crinkly leaves). Another one I knew. We’ve had a couple of them in pots before.
18 Line that’s fixed on TV hospital drama (5)
LEGERLEG (on; side of the field in cricket) ER (hospital drama). The fixed lines that notes are written on in music notation.
20 Scattered rays showing spikiness (4)
ARSY – [scattered] (rays)*. Not the hardest of clues, but the answer did raise a prudish twitch of the eyebrows.
21 Easy Times sudoku: alternately, second-to-last is complicated (10)
IMPLEXUOUS – Alternate letters of sUdOkU in {s}IMPLE (easy) X (times) S (second), moving the S (second) to the end.
25 Haiku isn’t outwardly a popular set of poetic lines (7)
HUITAIN – Outer letters of H{aik}U I{sn’}T, IN (popular).
26 Marx possibly besets king wearing gold lamb’s fur (7)
KARAKUL – A second double inclusion – K (king) in AU (chemical symbol for gold) in KARL (Marx, possibly).
27 Half of Kazaks making a return in exchange for Muslim tax (5)
ZAKAT – First half of KAZ{aks} reversed -> ZAK, AT (in exchange for).
28 Fish around enormous bog and large city on the Volga (9)
YAROSLAVL –  RAY (fish) reversed -> YAR, OS (outsize; enormous) LAV (bog, which is schoolboy slang for lavatory) L (large).
Down
1 Bloodsucking insect with mark that releases animal’s blood (5)
FLEAMFLEA (bloodsucking insect) M (mark).
2 Set a new schedule for rotating device to clear windscreen with small cut (7)
RETIMED – DEMI{s}TER (device to clear windscreen) reversed and without the S (small) -> RETIMED.
3 Period string instrument’s pin for tuning note in middle section for clarionets (10)
ARPEGGIONEPEG (pin for tuning) G (note) in middle letters of clARIONEts.
4 Captain’s junior guide holds Scot’s glass filled to the brim (5)
KELTYLT (lieutenant; captain’s junior) in KEY (guide)
5 Strength of light weapon, minus smaller shot loaded (9)
LUMINANCE – (minu{s})* [shot] without the S (smaller), in LANCE (weapon).
6 Praise for poet who celebrated Elizabeth, expunging her father’s name? (4)
HERY – A word for Praise from Spenser (poet who celebrated Elizabeth), removing the N from HE{n}RY (her father).
7 School wraps cored hot pepper that’s finely crushed and washed? (7)
SCHLICHCH{i}LI (hot pepper) without the middle letter in SCH (school).
8 Fancy modern WC fed by old pipe from cistern? (9)
DOWNCOMERO (old) in [fancy] (modern WC)*. Nice surface.
13 Excellent enticements to embrace old lover’s deviations (10)
DEFLEXURESDEF (excellent), and EX (old lover) in LURES (enticements).
14 In Kentucky, approved flag with height variable shows dandelion (3-6)
KOK-SAGHYZOK (approved) SAG (flag) H (height) Y (variable in an equation), all in KY (Kentucky). What a great word!
15 See European strong guys weep, expressing right strength of feeling (9)
VEHEMENCYV (videlicet; see) E (European) HE MEN (strong guys) C{r}Y (weep) without the R (right).
17 Anachronistically vigorous criticism dogs liberal university (7)
LUSTICKL (liberal) U (university) STICK (criticism), with [dogs] being a positional indicator for follows.
19 Nepalese in advance operations research Turkish hostel, missing base (7)
GOORKHAGO (advance) OR (Operations Research) KHA{n} (Turkish hostel) without the last letter.
22 Someone who appreciates football pundit avoiding Shearer’s area? (5)
LIKERLI{ne}KER (Gary ; football pundit) without the NE (where Alan Shearer comes from). That made me smile.
23 It’s hilarious when repulsed by something in suntan lotion (5)
SALOLLOL (it’s hilarious) AS (when), all reversed -> SALOL.
24 Manganese ore with commercial benefit ultimately (4)
WADTW (with) AD (commercial) and last letter of benefiT.

3 comments on “Monthly Club Special No 280 – Nov 2024”

    1. Lol. No pink squares for me either, so there’s a decent chance my blog is accurate. Loved the song. Thanks! As it happens my (Scottish) parents had a West Highland terrier called Kelty.

  1. That was much faster than my time which was over 3 hours which is about par for me and that involves ample use of on-line word searches anagram solvers plus Chambers and the full Collins. Why bother if you have to use so many aids? I often ask myself, but it is the clever parsing of the clues I find most entertaining. There were even a few words that looked familiar! (such as kalanchoe which I have bought from a garden centre). However, farnarkel, mamaguying and kok-saghyz definitely weren’t included in the familiar list. Hats off to the setter for finding these wonderful words and for the very clever clues that go along with them.

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