Times Crossword Championship 2010 – 4th Qualifier

Author   topicaltimPosted on Categories Announcement
Convention is that we don’t give actual times for the qualifiers; suffice it to say that as far as I am any judge, this musically-orientated puzzle was also the easiest of the four qualifiers this year, which seems to be the usual pattern. Good luck to any who have left it to the last to enter!

Across
1 BROUGHT UP – double def.
6 PLANT – PLAN + T(erm).
9 OVERALL – OVER(=concluded) + ALL(y), as in, say, the General Classification in the Tour de France.
10 RIPOSTE – R.I.P. (“final message”) + O + (SET)*.
11 DOLCE – C(ellos) in DOLE.
13 PART-WORKS – PART(=”some”) WORKS (=”factory”). If you live in a part of the world where such publications are unknown, all is explained here.
14 DISCLOSED – DISC + LOSE + D(eejay).
16 MOON – double def.
18 TA-TA – TAT + A. “Vale” is not the geographical depression but the Latin for “farewell”, and the answer is thus a casual form of goodbye.
19 OPERATORS – (POOR RATES)*.
22 PRESENTER – PRESENT + E.R.
24 SAY-SO = “SAY SEW”.
25 ALLEGRO – equAL LEG-ROom, another musical direction to go alongside dolce.
26 CELESTA – C.E. + LEST + A.
28 LATER – L(eft) and R(ight) round ATE.
29 TASK FORCE – (ATTACKERSOF)*, the anagram requiring first the removal of the T.A.
 
Down
1 BROODED – ROOD inside B. Ed. It would appear that an educationist may be, like an educationalist, an expert in the theory of teaching, or simply an educator. Though presumably a teacher who has done an entire teaching degree, rather than, say, a post-graduate teaching qualification, might be regarded as a theoretical expert, and thus both.
2 OLE – i.e. HOLE.
3 GRAVELLY – ELL in GRAVY; an ell is one of those obsolete measures that lives on in crosswords, and varies from place to place, though the English (45 inches) and Scottish (37 inches) are both definitely “a bit over a yard”.
4 TULIP – T(rade) U(nion) + LIP.
5 PARTRIDGE – (TRAP)rev. + RIDGE.
6 PAPAWS – PAPA W/ S(on); the variant spelling caused me to have a second look; I’d have written “pawpaw”, but PAPAW is equally valid, it seems.
7 ASSYRIOLOGY – (GLORYSOISAY)*; I must admit I didn’t know that the region had its own ology, but it’s an obvious formation along the same lines as Egyptology (though one never really hears of Romanology or Hellenology).
8 TREASON – TRE(e) + A SON. Tree as in “Tyburn Tree”
12 LOSE THE PLOT – double def.
15 SMOOTH OUT – MOOT inside SHOUT.
17 BASS CLEF – cryptic def. describing this part of musical notation.
18 TOPSAIL – (APILOT’S)*.
20 STORAGE – O(ther) R(anks) in STAGE.
21 VERGER – VERGE + R(ook), a man whose duty involves preceding the clergy.
23 ROCKS – FROCKS without the F(emale).
27 SIR – STIR minus the T(ime).

Just to demonstrate what a thrilling life I lead, I am posting this from the Cambridge Folk Festival, so my participation in any subsequent discussion may be intermittent at best. If I have committed any heinous blunders, please feel free to propose tactful corrections in my absence.

3 comments on “Times Crossword Championship 2010 – 4th Qualifier”

  1. The reason I found this puzzle so easy is that I’d done it the week before: déjà vu all over again!
  2. This one took me 5 minutes longer than Qualifier 3 which is the one I submitted. Good job I didn’t wait.

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