I’m not sure if this was the third puzzle in the Championships semi-finals; based on the last two weeks it ought to be, no doubt someone with a tree-based newspaper or who was there on The Day and can still remember, will confirm. I found it straightforward enough, with no obscure or unknown words and only 5d which might stump the overseas brigades.
There are numerous witty double-definition clues, most of them easy enough, like 17a, 3d, 15d and 16d, and a meaty anagram at 26a; unusually, no hidden word clue in this one.
Well within the twenty-minute target for me, in a relaxed environment at home, but as one of three to be done in an hour in Fort Murdoch a different story could well have emerged.
I’m off for a spin in my Tardis for lunch on the exoplanet Draugr today so any responses needed to queries or comments will follow later in the day, or not.
There are numerous witty double-definition clues, most of them easy enough, like 17a, 3d, 15d and 16d, and a meaty anagram at 26a; unusually, no hidden word clue in this one.
Well within the twenty-minute target for me, in a relaxed environment at home, but as one of three to be done in an hour in Fort Murdoch a different story could well have emerged.
I’m off for a spin in my Tardis for lunch on the exoplanet Draugr today so any responses needed to queries or comments will follow later in the day, or not.
| Across | |
| 1 | RISIBLE – RILE = nark, insert SIB, being prelate BIS(HOP) relieved of H and OP, reversed; D ludicrous. |
| 5 | SCAMPER – SCAM = cheat, PER = for each; D run. |
| 9 | POLICE STATE – POLE = highest latitude, insert ICE and STAT being very cold and datum; D harsh regime. |
| 10 | LOG – Double def. |
| 11 | AT MOST – ATMOS(PHERE) = half the air, T = time, D more likely less. |
| 12 | QUADRANT – a QUAD RANT would be to speak passionately in a court; D some of circle. |
| 14 | SHAKESPEAREAN – Deduct one with-coffee biscuit if you biffed. SHAKES PEN = wields quill, insert AREA = some ground, D Will specialist. |
| 17 | TABLE MOUNTAIN – Cryptic def, ha ha, if you haven’t yet been to stand on top there on a clear day, do so, before you die, it’s special. |
| 21 | EASY MEAT – EA (each), (STEAMY)*, D an obvious target. |
| 23 | ON CALL – ONC(E) = in the past nearly, ALL = everyone, D available for work. |
| 25 | MOA – MOA(N) = complaint no end, D it’s extinct. The moa was (9 species of) a giant flightless bird, some 12 feet high, sadly made extinct by the Maori hunters around 1400 CE, before even a young David Attenborough could get a glimpse. |
| 26 | STIPENDIARY – (ANY SPIRITED)*, D paid magistrate. |
| 27 | RUSSIAN – RAN = worked, insert US and IS reversed; D European maybe. |
| 28 | MAYFAIR – MAY blossom, FAIR = attractive, D wealthy district (of London) as Monopoly players know. |
| Down | |
| 1 | REPEAT – RE on, PEAT fuel, D familiar programme. A familiar clue too. |
| 2 | SALAMIS – A MISSAL is a service book, move half SAL to the front; D ancient battle. Deduct another biscuit for biffing. The Greeks won this one in 480BC but lost the next round at Thermopylae which led to the Persians occupying Attica and Boeotia. |
| 3 | BACKSPACE – Cricket time. If your captain doesn’t use his spin bowler he BACKS PACE. D key. |
| 4 | ERSE – VERSE is poetry, lacks its V; D language, Irish or at one time Scots Gaelic. |
| 5 | SWAN-UPPING – Insert WAN = pale into SUPPING; D a custom on the Thames. No swans are injured in the carrying out of this annual procedure, we can assure our readers. |
| 6 | AHEAD – Thomas Arnold was headmaster of Rugby School; double definition, the other one being ‘up’. |
| 7 | PILLAGE – PILE (heap) around LAG (convict); D plunder. |
| 8 | RIGATONI – RIGA being the capital of Latvia, as The Donald may one day learn; go from there TO NI; D tubes, of pasta. |
| 13 | DECORATION – DURATION = period of time, swap the U for ECO = green; D medal. |
| 15 | A RAINY DAY – Cryptic definition, ha ha. |
| 16 | STREAMER – Another double definition. |
| 18 | BUS PASS – BASS = singer, insert US and P for quiet; D free ticket. Mine’s not much use here because there are no buses. |
| 19 | NIAGARA – A RAGA I N would be an Indian tune, one note; rises = reversed; D falls. |
| 20 | PLAYER – P(hoto), LAYER can mean shoot, as I wasn’t aware but I quote from the online dictionary; Horticulture. A shoot or twig that is induced to root while still attached to the living stock, as by bending and covering with soil. A plant so propagated. D actor. |
| 22 | MASAI – AS A = like a, M I around that, D Africans often found in crosswords. |
| 24 | SEAM – STEAM for energy drops its T; D joiner. |
I finished after 68 minutes, with one wrong. I failed to see the parsing of 2d and, after getting all the checkers, I decided that nobody would straight-facedly name a battle after Italian sausages, so I plumped for “Salamos”. I really ought to brush up on battles of former millennia – my ignorance of the subject pains me daily.
And while I’m brushing up on ancient history, I should probably bite the bullet and get to grips with cricket too. 3d held me up for quite a while – quite how I failed to grasp that “spin” is the opposite of “pace” I do not know – it seems so obvious in retrospect.
As you can perhaps tell, I am in a profoundly grumpy mood.