Times 20,154 Club Monthly – July. It Was Such A Romantic Affair.

Solving time 45 minutes

I’m standing in for Jerry, who is mountain walking (and cheese and wine sampling possibly)

Another very high standard puzzle that was a real pleasure to solve. An exercise in precise wordplay used to derive the answer that is verified from the definition. It is, of course, a pangram. Thank you setter.

If you want to develop your skills beyond the daily cryptic these and the Mephistos are the way to do it.

Across
1 RORIC – OR reversed-RIC(h); men=ordinary ranks=OR; rolling in it=RIC(h); dewy;
4 MUDEJARES – MUD-SEE reversed contains JAR; spot=SEE; to the west=reversal indicator; Moors who remained in Spain after the Christian Reconquista but kept their Moslem faith. An example of their architecture can be seen at Casa de Pilatos in Seville;
9 DOLI,CAPAX – DO-L(I-CAP)AX; best=CAP; legal jargon used to describe politicians;
10 GUQIN – GU(QI)N; piece=slang for GUN; Chinese zither;
11 LAHARS – LA-H-A-R’S; note after so=LA; hugely destructive hot mud flows from a volcano;
12 TROUVEUR – T(OUR)*V-RUE reversed; box=slang for TV; old French poet;
14 MAORITANGA – I-ROAM reversed-GNAT reversed-A=area; the Maori way of life;
16 JOSS – JOS(he)S; kid=josh; kharma;
19 NEET – TEEN(ager) reversed; N(ot) in E(ducation) E(mployment) or T(raining);
20 CZAREVITCH – mania=CRAZE then switch even letters=CZARE; V=very; ITCH=long; eldest son of a Russian Czar;
22 WAGTAILS – (vie)WA(ble)-(gaslit)*;
23 STUNS’L – S(TUNS)L; SL from S(pecia)L; a studding sail;
26 OHONE – O-(s)HONE; s=saint; waesucks in Wexford;
27 AKATHISIA – AKA-THIS-I-A(grees); alias=AKA; not that=THIS; inability to be still;
28 ZAMBOORAK – ZAMB(O-OR)A-K; O-OR replaces I in Zambia; kilometer=K; a cannon on a camel;
29 DRANT – DR-ANT(is); save=removal indicator; to speak in a tiresome whine;
 
Down
1 RADDLEMEN – RA-(mended)* contains L=left; artist=RA; a man who marks things red;
2 RALPH – first letters R(oguery)-A(t)-L(ocal)-P(rinting)-H(ouse); a disaffected Mormon presumably at the offices of the Nauvoo Expositor 1844;
3 CUCURBIT – CU-CUR-BIT; a plant like a marrow;
4 MOPY – MOP-(derr)Y; shock=hair=MOP;
5 DEXTROGYRE – D(EXT)OG-YR-(nos)E; EXT=extra=type of run such as a wide (cricket); turn to the right;
6 JUG-JUG – stir=prison=JUG; the nightingale (old song and excellent foxtrot As we kissed, and said goodnight, a nightingale sang in Berkeley Square);
7 ROQUEFORT – sounds like “rock four”;
8 SANER – (earns)*; reference “mad as a hatter” from the tea party in Alice in Wonderland;
13 RANZELLAAR – (arran)* contains ALLEZ reversed; Scott’s Ranzelman – a searcher for stolen goods in Orkney;
15 OVERGLOOM – O-VERG(e)-LOOM;
17 SCHOLIAST – (this also)* contains C(ricket); Greek annotator;
18 KVETCHED – (the deck)* contains V(essel); Yenta drant;
21 SAPEGO – SAP-EGO; Waggledagger for skin disease;
22 WOOTZ – W-OZ contains TO reversed; wicket=W; very old steel from Tamils of Southern India;
24 NYSSA – hidden reversed (christm)ASSY-N(ativity); tupelo tree or Dr Who’s squeeze;
25 JARK – yank=JERK then change E from (alpin)E to A from A(lpine); a pass;

2 comments on “Times 20,154 Club Monthly – July. It Was Such A Romantic Affair.”

  1. Thanks Jim.. I’m back now of course but by then this blog was already done and diarised..

    Agreed another top class effort. I hadn’t noticed the pangram; my only other comment is that “jug-jug” seems wholly inadequate, as a description of a nightingale’s song

    1. Eliot uses it in The Waste Land to describe the call of said bird. Maybe he alone?

      On edit: turns out (on Googling) that Lyly also has:
      “Jug, jug, jug, jug—tereu—she cries” for the nightingale in The Songs of Birds.

      Edited at 2013-07-27 05:27 am (UTC)

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