Wikipedia tells me that today is Blue Christmas, a holiday disappointingly not named after the Elvis Presley/Shakin’ Stevens song. Perhaps more relevant to all of us gathered here though is that, on this day in 1913, the first crossword (then called a “word-cross”) was published in the New York World. The intersection of music and crosswords seems to be fairly sparsely populated, though Quicky beginners may identify with the line from Crosswords by Split Enz: “Crosswords puzzle me, it’s frightening”.
Nothing particularly scary in this offering from Pedro, though, assuming you don’t mind being attacked by hyphens when you least expect it. Wishing all solvers an enjoyable festive season, and see you in 2016.
The crossword can be found here if the usual channels are unavailable: http://feeds.thetimes.co.uk/puzzles/crossword/20151221/12043/
Definitions are underlined.
| Across | |
| 1 | American paving team go missing (8) |
| SIDEWALK – SIDE (team) + WALK (go missing, e.g. “My pencil seems to have walked”) | |
| 5 | Runs when piano produces rough sound (4) |
| RASP – R (Runs) + AS (when) + P (piano) | |
| 8 | Greatly want firm to take on old soldier (5) |
| COVET – CO (firm) + VET (old soldier) | |
| 9 | Article in horoscope is poor, being wrong about cold (7) |
| SCORPIO – anagram (being wrong) of IS POOR, around C (cold) | |
| 11 | Bonnets, nonetheless, may be available here (3-4,4) |
| CAR-BOOT SALE – cryptic definition, relying on the fact that a car-boot sale is not actually a sale for car boots, and may include bonnets (possibly of the car, though more likely of the hat, variety) | |
| 13 | Operating cash, initially money held in silver (6) |
| ACTING – C (cash, initially, i.e. the first letter of “cash”) + TIN (money), inside (held in) AG (silver) | |
| 14 | A measure of compensation for not participating in film? (6) |
| OFFSET – if one is OFF SET then one is not participating in a film | |
| 17 | Rescuers treated chap’s artery (6-5) |
| SEARCH-PARTY – anagram (treated) of CHAP’S ARTERY. This phrase isn’t hyphenated in any of the usual online sources, plus a search party’s goal might not be to rescue someone (and even if it is they may not be successful), but I thought this was a good surface. | |
| 20 | Person investigating death finding embarrassing situation involving love (7) |
| CORONER – CORNER (embarrassing situation) around (involving) O (love) | |
| 21 | Front removed from ceiling timber subsequently (5) |
| AFTER – {r}AFTER (Front removed from ceiling timber, i.e. take the first letter from the word “rafter”) | |
| 22 | Excavation belonging to the writer (4) |
| MINE – double definition | |
| 23 | Greatly upset about hot, sleepy condition (8) |
| LETHARGY – anagram (upset) of GREATLY around H | |
| Down | |
| 1 | A sudden surprise, missing hard blow (4) |
| SOCK – S{h}OCK (A sudden surprise, missing hard, i.e. the word “shock” without the “h”) | |
| 2 | Party vote disrupted, Conservative getting in? It’s for the birds! (7) |
| DOVECOT – DO (Party) + anagram (disrupted) of VOTE, with C (Conservative) inside (getting in). “For the birds” is a slang expression meaning (Chambers) “Not to be taken seriously, of little value”, which helps explain what would otherwise be a rather odd surface. | |
| 3 | Handy way to give the plot some fluidity? (8-3) |
| WATERING-CAN – cryptic definition, referring to garden plots rather than book plots. Another phrase that doesn’t have a hyphen in the usual sources. | |
| 4 | Hero seen around capitals of Spain, Bulgaria … and Portugal (6) |
| LISBON – LION (Hero) around SB (capitals of Spain, Bulgaria, i.e. the capital letters of “Spain” and “Bulgaria”), with the definition requiring you to make use of the surface reading | |
| 6 | Mark of excellence in trial phase (5) |
| ALPHA – hidden (in) in triAL PHAse | |
| 7 | Quality support given to tyre in need of repair (8) |
| PROPERTY – PROP (support) + anagram (in need of repair) of TYRE | |
| 10 | No longer washing oneself, standing round about, panting (3,2,6) |
| OUT OF BREATH – OUT OF BATH (No longer washing oneself) around (standing round) RE (about) | |
| 12 | Top arrangement of music – something for Salad Days? (8) |
| CAPSICUM – CAP (Top) + anagram (arrangement) of MUSIC. Perhaps better known as the bell pepper. Salad Days is the name of a ’50s musical, which helps the surface. | |
| 15 | Dodgy lawyer, wary, and not entirely unyielding (7) |
| SHYSTER – SHY (wary) + STER{n} (not entirely unyielding, i.e. the word “stern” without its last letter) | |
| 16 | Scattered beams with energy (6) |
| SPARSE – SPARS (beams, e.g. on a ship) + E (energy) | |
| 18 | Article about professional gear for the cook? (5) |
| APRON – AN (Article) about PRO (professional) | |
| 19 | Small fish circling a disturbance (4) |
| FRAY – FRY (Small fish) about (circling) A | |
I agree about the hyphens which according to OneLook only appear in the Wordnik on-line dictionary, surely not the most reliable source for a setter apparently to be consulting!
‘Salad Days’ is indeed the name of a delightfully soppy English musical written by Julian Slade in the early 1950s. The phrase originates in Shakespeare: My salad days, / When I was green in judgement, cold in blood… (Antony & Cleopatra)
Edited at 2015-12-21 08:18 am (UTC)
Edited at 2015-12-21 08:46 am (UTC)
I could not parse “out of breath” but the answer seemed obvious at first glance -so thanks Blogger. Some good tricky clues e.g. 2d, 3d, 12d and 11a. A lot to like with hindsight. David