ST 4344 (Sun 30 Aug) – Animal Farm

Author   talbinhoPosted on Categories Daily Cryptic
Solving time: 5:33

I hadn’t seen a crossword for a couple of weeks when I did this but it was a gentle re-introduction. There seems to be an animal theme with bears, horses, lions, antelopes, three birds and a fish appearing, as well as three synonyms of ‘idiot’ in the grid.

If anyone can clear up 9ac I would be grateful. Also, many thanks to Niall and Uncle Yap for having covered the last two Sunday blogs in my absence.

* = anagram, “X” = sounds like ‘X’.

Across
1 ANARCHIC; AN ARCH + I + C[rossed]
6 OR PINE – one of these, I think. Botany is not my strong point and I wasn’t totally sure about this answer.
9 IMAM – this fits ‘potentate’ but I don’t understand the wordplay; ‘Individual’s claim’ could be ‘I’M’, but then ‘a Moslem’ would have to give ‘A + M’, and I can’t see why ‘Moslem’ should abbreviate to M.
10 CARRIER BAG; CARRIE + (BRAG)*
11 ASSOIL; A + S + SOIL – this obscure old word last appeared in this puzzle on 7th June, wrongly defined. This time the definition is ok (‘Discharge’) but the wordplay is dubious (‘after a second on earth’) which would probably have made solving this difficult without knowing the answer word.
12 MASTHEAD (cryptic definition) – pretty good.
14 HULL + A + BALOO – Baloo, from Hindi bhalu, is the bear in Kipling’s The Jungle Book.
16 E + SPY – Mata Hari was executed by the French for espionage in World War I, though there seems to be doubt over her guilt.
18 ALTO (hidden)
19 RE + CREATION
21 FLAT TYRE; (FLATTERY)* – having ‘flat’ in the wordplay is weak, although forgivable for such an unlikely anagram.
23 URSINE; (I.E. + RUNS)* – very indirect, both in the wordplay (‘That is to say’ => ‘i.e.’ which is then anagrammed) and the definition, which refers to part of the wordplay in another clue.
25 COMMERCIAL (2 defs)
27 LIST; “LISZT”
28 OSPREY; (ROPES)* + [ma]Y
29 SAWHORSE; rev. of WAS, + HORSE – a stand for wood being sawn.

Down
2 NUMBSKULL; (BUM SLUNK)* + L (= learner = ‘apprentice’)
3 ROME + O
4 HUCKLEBERRY – refers to Huckleberry Finn, creation of Mark Twain.
5 CARAMEL; R.A. in CAMEL
6 O.B. + I – ‘OB’ for ‘old boy’. An ‘obi’ is a Japanese sash as well a word for witchcraft.
7 PARCHMENT; (MERCHANT + P)*
8 NYALA – a South African antelope. This is both the plural and the singular form.
13 STONE CURLEW; (WE CLUSTER ON)*
15 LION TAMER; (LAIR NOT ME)* – at first I thought this was going to be a partial &-lit, but in fact the definition is just ‘Who calms the beast’.
17 PROGNOSIS; (SIGNS POOR)* – good anagram, but not sure why it needs the exlamation mark.
20 CRETINS (hidden) – extremely well concealed (‘…secret institution’).
22 GEESE LOONS (2 defs) – ‘loon’ is slang for a stupid person.
24 SALVO; (OVALS)*
26 RAY; rev. of YAR – the Yar is a river on the Isle of Wight and skate and ray are both types of fish, although I’m not sure whether one group encompasses the other or whether there are just some fish which fall into both categories.

6 comments on “ST 4344 (Sun 30 Aug) – Animal Farm”

  1. I know this didn’t take too long but I did have to scoot over to the computer to
    confirm my guesses at YAR and Stone CURLEW then submit the solution online.

    Herein lies the rub.
    I have written to the Crossword Club yet again:

    “Hello
    This is the third time in as many weeks that I’m writing
    inquiring about the submit/save tabs on the Saturday/Sunday
    cryptic puzzles online. To date, no reply.

    Just to be sure, I submitted today’s (Sept. 6th) solution and immediately
    went to insure that it had been saved. It wasn’t and I had to redo the
    puzzle and submit again. This time it “took”.

    Going back over a few months I find only a few had been saved and now
    wonder whether any had, in fact, been submitted. Adding to the dismay is
    the lack of any response from you.

    These puzzles are a great pleasure for so many of us but the prospect of
    winning a nice prize sort of adds to it, what?

    I look forward to your response.

    Sincerely, etc”

    Anyone else notice this?

  2. With you on 9 – had a question mark next to it, but I can’t see it being anything other than IMAM
  3. Not sure what’s happened at 22dn, T, but it’s LOONS not GEESE which wouldn’t fit with your answers at 21, 25 and 28 across.

    I never heard of this meaning of LOON before. Nor of the words ORPINE and ASSOIL, or so I thought until you mentioned ASSOIL turned up in a recent puzzle. I’m concerned I must have forgotten it already.

    1. Whoops, thanks! What had happened was that I solved this puzzle a week ago, then blogged it several days later from a blank copy, having lost the original. I must have looked at the clue for 22dn & thought I remembered the answer ‘geese’, which I’m sure I’ve seen similarly clued elsewhere recently.

      I’ve always thought ‘loon’ meant a slightly crazy, rather than stupid, person, and was short for ‘lunatic’, but Chambers has ‘a simple-minded or eccentric person’, & ‘origin unknown’.

      1. Yes, I assumed you must have solved it correctly.

        Just to clarify, it was LOONS = “birds” that I had never come across before. “Loon” meaning a stupid person is covered by Collins.

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