Sunday Times Puzzle 525 from 1935

Posted on Categories Other Crosswords

Greetings all – as part of celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Sunday Times crossword there are some old puzzles reprinted, and vinyl1 thought that old puzzles meant some old bloggers should have a swing at them.

I started doing the Sunday Times puzzle in 1992, when they was printed in The Australian, and a few of us at university would pore over it during lunch breaks. Between about 5 of us, we were usually able to get most of it out over the course of a few days (I did the daily cryptic in the Age, which was a lot easier to me than the Sunday Times). As I got more into cryptic crosswords in the late 90s, I learned some more of the development of the style, and that earlier puzzles were a wild west of straight definitions, cryptic definitions, indicated anagrams, partial indicators and even quotes. This crossword from 1935 has it all!

I had one incorrect when I first submitted, though the answer was obvious when I saw the pink squares. There’s an article on the Crossword Club explaining a few of the clues.

I dare say there’s only two or three clues that would make it past an editor today!

Let’s take a swing at it.

Across
1 Some of this material is used to hide features (6)
DAMASK – This appears to be a type of clue that has disappeared, where there is a definition of the entire answer and a definition of part of the answer, with the rest needing to be filled in. In this case we are given MASK(used to hide features) as part of the answer. Get ready, there a lot of these!
4 Expert ability is needed for the making of this kind of broth (6)
SKILLY – Yep, here’s the second. Expert ability gives SKILL
8 This Swiss town has its wealthy quarter (6)
ZURICH – And a third – RICH is wealthy
10 Dangerous kind of fish this with a small head (6)
WEEVER – Care for a fourth? WEE (small) at the start
11 Most of this bush is hard to see through (5)
HAZEL – And a fifth – HAZE is hard to see through
12 Lazy advice from a common form of food (4)
LOAF – Two definitions, but a contorted way of joining them
14 Fruit (4)
SLOE – a direct definition
15 Lying apparently to improve a great town (9)
MENDACITY – MEND(improve), A, CITY(great town). This clue might just pass, though an editor could strike down the two linking words.
17 Upper sails and rigging might be part of the picnic preparations (3,6)
TOP HAMPER – the definition isn’t quite there, but I think this is another partial indication with HAMPER bring the picnic preparations
20 A natural weapon (4)
HORN – cryptic definition based on a horn being a weapon. Might slip through an editor.
21 Mate (4)
PAIR – direct definition
22 Is this little quadruped really contemptible? (5)
SKUNK – double definition, kinda. Contemptible isn’t a noun, but maybe contemptible person
24 Sweet (6)
TOFFEE – Direct definition
25 Insect that tells another to wander (6)
GADFLY – I kind of like this one telling another insect to wander could be GAD, FLY
26 Feminine name that shows another (6)
STELLA – back to the partial indicators. I had SHIELA here thinking it might mean a female name and a name for a female, but I think it is just that ELLA is part of STELLA
27 Show about some meat (6)
REVEAL – RE(about), VEAL(some meat). This one would work today.
Down
1 Often a cause of road accidents at night (6)
DAZZLE – Straight definition. How many road accidents were there in 1935?
2 Feminine name (6)
MIRIAM – direct definition
3 He thinks too much. ____ men are dangerous. (Julius Caesar) (4)
SUCH – insert the missing word from the Shakespeare quote
5 Part of a vessel (4)
KEEL – direct definition
6 Active would be fair were I nothing (6)
LIVELY – LOVELY(fair) with I replacing O(nothing)
7 Any red (anag.) (6)
YARNED – yep, it’s an anagram
9 Looks like what the parlourmaid may do at the fish course and is generally a part of … (9)
HANDSHAKE – at the fish course, the parlourmaid HANDS HAKE. The definition is in the next clue…
10 … this kind of greeting (9)
WELCOMING – … which is a straight definition
13 A criminal (5)
FELON – as is this one
14 Soak (5)
STEEP – and this
16 London club in which many appear for games (6)
WHITES – double definition, White’s is one of London’s oldest clubs
17 An unimportant sweet (6)
TRIFLE – double definition, this clue might work in a current puzzle
18 Gambling” say the kill-joys (6)
RAFFLE – I think this is a double definition with kill-joys being a bit of a stretch for riff-raff
19 Scottish shire (6)
ARGYLL – direct definition
22 Marine creature of importance in the legal world (4)
SEAL – double definition
23 Vegetable (4)
KALE – direct definition

6 comments on “Sunday Times Puzzle 525 from 1935”

  1. Thanks to everyone who has jumped onto the old puzzles. The later arrival of a 1955 blog is very understandable — one of the first things learned when preparing the 100 years book was that the 50s were the toughest decade.

    Responses on a few clues:
    1A I think there’s a case for “a mask” being the part that hides features, leaving it only one letter short of full wordplay.

    17A The def is pretty close to the one in ODE, which mentions sails and rigging, and “upper” might conceivably have been added as a hint towards “top”, this being fairly tough vocab. I think the picnic part of the clue is based on a whimsical notion that a large picnic might have a “top hamper” corresponding to the top table at a wedding dinner or other meal that’s a social event.

    18D I think “kill-joys” may be a jab at procurators fiscal or similar people in Scotland. For quite a few years at that time, the competition details for the crosswords said that people living in Scotland could not enter, presumably because the random draw was seen as a form of illegal gambling. Likewise for raffles, presumably. I’m pretty sure there are still some church denominations in the UK that disallow raffles at their social events.

    1. 1935 is the correct date for the puzzle. 1953 mistakenly got into some of the online version, though I believe this is now corrected.

  2. Re “Road accidents in 1935”: T.E. Lawrence died from a motorcycle crash that year. I think Bernard Shaw had quite a few crashes around that time too!

  3. Well, thank goodness we’ve come a long way since 1935. Interesting that it’s a cross between a cryptic crossword and a concise. I would never have finished it without aids.

    Liked SKUNK, HANDSHAKE/WELCOMING, GADFLY and MENDACITY. Another with Sheila.

    Thanks to all involved.

Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *