Hello all you happy crossword solving Easter bunnies (and others). Not a chocolate egg in sight, but a nicely balanced puzzle from Flamande. I’m sure there’s a story to tell from the answers, but that may be just my imagination. Is it a 1a 4a? Do you need to be 6d 24a to solve it? You can be the judge. I didn’t find this too easy, but not too hard. I was held up mostly by mistyping 11d as LENIDISTS and wondering how 17a could be HANDSTANDS. But I got there in the end in about a minute over average time. COD to 13d as an occasional bridge player. It is all very neat and fairly clued and I think it could be fairly described as a 4a. Thanks Flamande for the fun challenge. I’m looking forward to the next one from you. How did all you bunnies (and, to be politically correct, non-bunnies) find it?
Definitions underlined in italics, (ABC)* indicating anagram of ABC, {} deletions and [] other indicators.
| Across | |
| 1 | Funny performer in company, taking microphone briefly (5) |
| COMIC – CO + MIC{rophone}. That will be the stand-up comedian type. | |
| 4 | Type of vintage car: commander takes girl aboard (7) |
| CLASSIC – CIC (commander-in-chief) with LASS inside [aboard]. Mine was an MGB GT. And great fun it drive it was too – especially in snow and ice, except when the water in the handbrake cable froze. | |
| 8 | Underground worker wants a large fizzy drink (7) |
| MINERAL – MINER + A + L. I can relate to this. My grandfather, who was a miner, was known as Pop. These days my family has a penchant for San Pellegrino, which they drink like, ahem, water. | |
| 9 | Smell an earthling (5) |
| HUMAN – HUM + AN. Poooey! | |
| 10 | Lonely female at dance makes a bloomer (10) |
| WALLFLOWER – Double definition. I think men can be too.. I hated discos. As for the bloomer, we have a bunch in the garden but they don’t look like blooming any time soon. | |
| 14 | One saying nothing about president’s principal attribute (6) |
| IMPUTE – I + MUTE about P (president). Not a word I use in my everyday conversation and, I have to confesss, I had only a vague idea of its meaning. But the wordplay is clear enough. | |
| 15 | Not entirely popular role (2,4) |
| IN PART – IN (popular) + PART (role). Very neat. Thumbs up to this one! | |
| 17 | Gymnastic feat: offer some fresh water afterwards (10) |
| HANDSPRING – HAND + SPRING. As mentionioned in the intro I had a little problem with this. But once I fixed my error it was obvious enough. Have I ever performed one? No. How about you? | |
| 20 | Part of Birmingham is home for religious sect (5) |
| AMISH – Hidden word in {Birmingh}AM IS H{ome}. Interesting surface given some of the recent concerns about educational establishments in the area. | |
| 22 | Remnant of undergarment I get shortened (7) |
| VESTIGE – VEST + I + GE{t} [shortened]. A good word, often prepended with ‘last’. I must find a way to use it in conversation in the next week. | |
| 23 | Boat with less cargo? (7) |
| LIGHTER – If a boat has less cargo it will be LIGHTER. Nice one. | |
| 24 | Stylish forms of transport going into reverse (5) |
| SMART – The forms of transport are TRAMS. Reverse. Not that I’ve ever seen a tram reverse. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Invitation from business leaders in Middle England (4) |
| COME – CO (business) + M{iddle} E{ngland}. Did anybody get misdirected by “business leaders”? A bit of experience helps to avoid that bear trap. | |
| 2 | Impressionist painter trimmed long hair (4) |
| MANE – Trim the painter MANE{t} to get a hair style somewhat unlike mine and more commonly associated with lions. | |
| 3 | Old Spanish writer shattered a TV screen (9) |
| CERVANTES – (a TV screen)*. I’m not sure I know any other old spanish writers. His creation Don Quixote is a regular visitor to crosswordland. | |
| 4 | Conservative supporter recruiting millions with little fuss (6) |
| CALMLY – C + ALLY (supporter). Insert [recruiting] M for millions. Another smooth surface. | |
| 5 | Wood imported into Tashkent (3) |
| ASH – Hidden word [imported into] in {T}ASH{kent}. I guessed Ash was not a native tree to Uzbekistan as I have one in my garden, with a rather different climate, so it is likely it would have to be imported. But I (and our setter) would appear to be wrong. Uzbekistan is home to the Turkestani Mountain Ash. See here. | |
| 6 | Mates who run riot, to a certain extent (8) |
| SOMEWHAT – (Mates who)*. Lol. | |
| 7 | Building material — cement, originally, on Greek island (8) |
| CONCRETE – C{ement} [originally] + ON + CRETE. Cement is, of course, an ingredient of concrete. | |
| 11 | Communist supporters: revolutionary listens in (9) |
| LENINISTS – (listens in)*. Simple enough. But it caused me problems through finger trouble (see introduction). | |
| 12 | Cocktail in US school prom? (8) |
| HIGHBALL – HIGH (US school) + BALL (prom). High School is a term used here too now… as is a school prom. Well my kids’ high school has them, at least. | |
| 13 | Beating bridge champion? (8) |
| SPANKING – SPAN + KING. I like it. Which reminds me. I’m a frustrated bridge player with no partner. Must find a local club to join. | |
| 16 | More sober Greek holds party (6) |
| GRAVER – GR (Greek) with RAVE (party) inside. MER at the definition, but the wordplay is clear enough and it makes a good surface. | |
| 18 | Tamil uprising — leader goes missing in capital city (4) |
| LIMA – You take Tamil, lose the leader and stick it upwards. I’ve never been to South America, but always wanted to. Maybe soon. I don’t think they have many Tamils there, though. | |
| 19 | Criminal tendency (4) |
| BENT – Neat double definition. | |
| 21 | Feverish and throaty from time to time (3) |
| HOT – Alternate letters [from time to time] of tHrOaTy. That was me last weekend fighting off a virus. | |
Thanks for the blog
FOI 4ac CLASSIC
COD 3dn CERVANTES!
13dn SPANKING! Stormy Daniels’ WOD
Otherwise I fared quite well. A number of tricky clues. David
Fairly straightforward, but couldn’t parse LOI Leninists.