Times Crossword Championship 2009 – Grand Final Puzzle No. 2

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The hardest of the three – my (estimated) time was 18 minutes in two roughly equal bursts – halfway through, I gave up to try puzzle 3 instead. I can’t remember much about which answers were solved at that point. A cracking puzzle as people have already said.

FL next to the clue number means that I solved the clue on my first look. WW means that I wrote the answer without understanding the full wordplay. Both are subject to the accuracy of my memory and for many of the the WW ones, it’s perfectly possible that thinking for a few seconds more would have been enough for full understanding.

Across
1 KISSAGRAM = (gas mark is)* – peck=kiss in the “peckish errand boy” def – another giggle-raiser
6 FL STAFF – from last letters of “sails boat via Calf of”. Lovely surface for those who know the Isle and Calf of Man, the calf being a smaller island to the south, reached by boat from Port Erin if I remember right.
9 FL B(I.O.M.)ASS – “Man carries round fish” is cheeky wordplay for “Man inside fish”, but I didn’t hear any complaints
10 T(W=with)ITCHY
11 FL B(l)OTCH – Fluff (vb.) is the def., the L leaving “blotch” is from “last of wooL”
12 FL UP THE POLE – 2 defs., with bats=mad, standard=flag (noun)
13 FL SARDI(NIA = (and air is)*
14 FL BERG – 2 defs, the composer being Alban Berg – one of the few bits of general knowledge in these puzzles
17 WW LIMO – my last answer and the one that David Howell got wrong (he said he’d either put a flash-based LAMP, or possibly forgotten to put anything). L=”chauffeur to be”,I=one,MO=flash – so “Chauffeur to be flash, possessing one” is a very neat all-in-one.
18 JUMP=clear (vb.),SUIT = “quarterdeck” – deck=pack of cards
21 FL SCHOOLBAG – CD and def. – I liked “pack of fish” as the cryptic def., which could also be “pack of pack of fish” – but see below for the intended interpretation which was too deep for me
22 WW LORDS = (House accomodating (political) parties), and = “lauds” = raves about
24 A,TH.=Thursday,LONE=deserted – lovely ghost-town image in the surface
25 WW D.I. = busy = slang for a policeman/detective, P.T. = (physical) training, ERA = time
26 FL K=grand=1000,AP(U)T – U = “bend in pipe”
27 FL TEN(aNgElS)SE,E
 
Down
1 FL KEBAB = rev. of BoAt BrEaK
2 SHOOT FROM THE HIP = (this photo of her,m=married)*
3 WW A,RA(CH,N)ID – bizarre image of “ladies of the morning” plying their trade outside churches!
4 FL RASPUTIN = (puritan’s)* – “unnatural” is both anagram indicator and arguably part of the “functional” def., though “influence on old princess” is enough as the official def for Grigori.
5 MUTATE – hidden backwards in “gET A TUMmy” – with the “upset” in “tummy upset” as the reversal indicator
6 S(HIVE)R. – COED confirms the fairly exotic Sr. = Sister (nun)
7 A.T.C.,LOSE=miss,QUARTERS=home – the ATC (Air Training Corps) are the “trainee pilots”
8 WW FLY=”something done up in bags?” (bags=trousers),WEIGHT=import – “one that’s boxed” as the def completes the packaging surface reading
13 WW S(A,LESS)TALK – “pitch” is the def., and “pitch area” had me looking for cricket and other sporting terms for ages – my last but one answer in both this puzzle and the final
15 WW GUN GA(D)IN
16 APPLE PIE – CD referring to “apple pie order” and “apple pie bed”
19 BOW OUT – CD and def.
20 FL A.B.,JE(C)T – note that in the sandwich part of this, “about” is the meat, not the indicator of sandwiching
23 SHAM=cod (adj.),E – “humble” (vb.) is the def in the Fish and Chip shop surface reading

9 comments on “Times Crossword Championship 2009 – Grand Final Puzzle No. 2”

  1. Just a small point on SCHOOLBAG:
    The way the clue was meant to be read was Pack of fish = school ; Appropriate = bag. But I guess it works perfectly well in your interpretation

    Thanks for fascinating blog, as ever

  2. There was no way I was going to try to tackle this with an eye on the clock. I’d heard many comments about how good it was, so gave myself the luxury of absorbing the subtleties of every clue – what an absolute cracker!

    There are too many good moments to list, but part of this setter’s* skill (apart from those brilliantly cunning defs) is exploiting lift-and-separate to the full, as in 19D:
    What violinist gets when preparing / to leave stage (3,3)
    It’s just so well thought out! Terrific stuff.

    *The identities of the setters of the 2nd and 3rd puzzles seem to be common knowledge – and we appear to have at least an acronym for setter 1(?) – and I suspect that for these championship puzzles that isn’t a problem. I certainly believe that the setter for a puzzle as good as this deserves a name check.

  3. I had the same idea as anax, plus I wasn’t going to embarrass myself by quoting a time. This was a superbly crafted crossword, worth framing really. From the BOTCH at 11ac, it could well be the same setter as Times 24351 (which featured BUTTERSCOTCH with similar usage of fluff). I said at the time that that was as good as it gets. Whether or not, this is better. I had to sleep on SALES TALK, LIMO & JUMPSUIT but finally all pennies dropped.
  4. Surprisingly I found this the easiest (or at least, the quickest solve) of the three, finishing it in 17:47. I put in LIMO without understanding it, and took a couple of minutes to get SHAME at the end. Other than that I managed to get on the setter’s wavelength quite quickly; for example I saw the correct wordplay for SCHOOLBAG at first look.
  5. Made a total and utter mess of this, and as they wanted me out of there after pint 7, this was it. Most of the right hand side empty (AT CROSS PURPOSES was penned in ever so lightly). Felt good about getting GUNGA DIN and SCHOOLBAG.
  6. Now I want to lock myself away with pen and paper for half an hour and play with 2D. There must be some mileage in HOOT FROM THE SHIP…
    Foghorn suggestions anyone?
  7. What a fantastic puzzle this was. I can’t see a single clue that is anything less than superb. Probably the best crossword I have ever solved. Solving time about 6 minutes ( I really must get the zero key fixed on my keyboard!)

    Many thanks to the setter – am I the only one who doesn’t know who it is?

  8. I can only report how it felt as I remembered it – I certainly stopped to try No. 3 instead, and I’m pretty sure Mark Goodliffe did the same. But the times for the three are no more than an estimate.

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