Monday Prize Crossword/Oct 28
Enjoyable crossword from Crux who gives us a great range of surfaces, from semi-nudity and ‘topless’ (twice) to nursery rhymes (also twice).
Crux seems to have developed a love for cryptic definitions which I do not always find an advantage.
Definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.
| Across | ||
| 1 | WAR DAMAGE | Chaotic game (a draw) ends in general devastation? (3,6) |
| (GAME A DRAW)* | ||
| 6 | CRAMP | Force plus pressure equals muscular pain (5) |
| CRAM (force) + P (pressure) | ||
| 9 | MICRO | Central comic role needed in kitchensink dramas? (5) |
| Hidden in the middle (‘central’) of [co]MIC RO[le] | ||
| The definition is, I presume, cryptic. Kitchen-sink dramas were set in a working-class environment, such as for example John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger. I guess, Crux wanted to make a link between ‘role’ and ‘dramas’, and also between ‘micro(wave)’ and ‘kitchen’. Perhaps, someone else has a better idea. | ||
| 10 | FLOWER-POT | River weed spotted on window-sill (6-3) |
| FLOWER (river, one that flows) + POT (weed, marijuana) | ||
| 11 | NON-STARTER | Injured runner? He withdraws from north-eastern ground (3-7) |
| (NORT[h e]ASTERN)* – with a rather loose definition | ||
| 12 | VENT | Let off steam if 27 goes topless (4) |
| EVENT (solution to 27ac) minus the starting letter (‘topless’) | ||
| 14 | SEEK OUT | Try to find Indian, reported absent (4,3) |
| SEEK (homophone of SIKH (Indian)) + OUT (absent) | ||
| 15 | SALERNO | Learns nothing about Italian port (7) |
| (LEARNS + O (nothing))* | ||
| 17 | EREWHON | Butler’s place is nowhere special (7) |
| (NOWHERE)* | ||
| ‘Butler’ is Samuel Butler (1835-1902) who wrote ‘Erewhon’ and Erewhon Revisited’. Crux’ device (the anagram) must surely have been Butler’s device. | ||
| 19 | INCISOR | Canine companion could be Goofy (7) |
| The definition is accompanied by a cryptic one, ‘goofy’ (lower case) meaning something like ‘having crooked front teeth’ | ||
| 20 | ORBS | They symbolise the power of kings …. or heartless bankers! (4) |
| OR + B[anker]S | ||
| 22 | SWISS ROLLS | European car with jammed cylinders (5,5) |
| SWISS (European) + ROLLS (car) – the definition once more cryptic (‘jammed’ as in ‘with jam’) | ||
| 25 | BLUE BLOOD | Aristocratic ichor? (4,5) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 26 | DEBAR | Ban from pub after semi-nude display (5) |
| BAR (pub) coming after [nu]DE | ||
| 27 | EVENT | Competition in sport never rejected (5) |
| Hidden solution, reversed (‘rejected’): [spor]T NEVE[r] | ||
| 28 | NARROWEST | Slightest quarrel occurs in breeding-ground (9) |
| ARROW (quarrel, used in a crossbow) inside NEST (breeding- ground) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | WOMAN | West country person not going on stag-night (5) |
| W (west) + OMAN (country) | ||
| 2 | RECONVENE | Never once managed to meet again (9) |
| (NEVER ONCE)* | ||
| 3 | APOSTROPHE | A sign of possession that commonly isn’t! (10) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| The apostrophe is a ‘sign’ indicating possession (like in Butler’s). Sometimes it is not and that is what Crux wants to tell us in the second part of the clue. Does it work for me? Not sure. | ||
| 4 | AT FIRST | Trees found in a dry environment, originally (2,5) |
| FIRS (trees) inside {A + TT (dry, tee-totaller)} | ||
| 5 | ELOPERS | The dish and spoon, for example? (7) |
| Cryptic definition – this is about a nursery rhyme | ||
| Hey diddle diddle // The Cat and the fiddle // The Cow jumped over the moon // The little Dog laughed // To see such sport // And the Dish ran away with the Spoon. (As they were running away, they were ELOPERS. But why did Crux not give us ‘the’ in front of spoon?) | ||
| 6 | CREE | Detailed beliefs of some American Indians (4) |
| CREED (beliefs) minus the last letter (‘detailed’) | ||
| 7 | AMPLE | Quite enough try to go topless! (5) |
| SAMPLE (try) minus the starting letter (‘to go topless’) | ||
| 8 | PETIT FOUR | It’s like a sweet little French number (5,4) |
| PETIT (little, in French) + FOUR (number) | ||
| 13 | CLOCK-RADIO | This may arouse you with its music (5-5) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 14 | SEE DOUBLE | Grasp a large whisky? Drunks might well (3,6) |
| Double definition | ||
| 16 | RE-SOLUBLE | Exotic blue rose gets left in sort of paint (2-7) |
| (BLUE ROSE)* around L (left) | ||
| 18 | NEWBORN | Labour’s long expected (and welcome) result! (7) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 19 | INSIDER | Group member into booze, we’re told (7) |
| Homophone of: IN (into) CIDER (booze) | ||
| 21 | BRUTE | Caliban has to live without routine (5) |
| BE ((to) live) around RUT (routine) | ||
| Caliban is a character from Shakespeare’s The Tempest. | ||
| 23 | SPRAT | Jack who nicely complemented his wife (5) |
| Cryptic definition – one more nursery rhyme | ||
| Jack Sprat could eat no fat // His wife could eat no lean // And so between them both, you see // They licked the platter clean. | ||
| 24 | ABET | Aid provided by Lincoln and Taft, primarily (4) |
| ABE (Lincoln) + T[aft] | ||
Re 3d: If we take ‘of’ as a ‘hidden indicator’, the setter’s intention might be that the punctuation mark is part of the word ‘isn’t’ which is quite common.
I solved all bar 9a and 3d.
I hate missing hidden answers but I’ll excuse myself this time as like you I can’t make much sense of it.
Re 3D
I simply thought that the setter was alluding to the fact that people often leave out the apostrophe altogether.
I’ve been away so just got round to the blog. Surely Crux in 3d is simply saying that the apostrophe ‘s’ is supposed to be a sign of possession but is often misplaced in words that are just plurals, the so-called ‘grocer’s apostrophe’ eg carrot’s, onion’s and pea’s. Many, many people, probably a majority, are very hazy about this punctuation mark and seem to use it with gay abandon!
I’m sure Musca’s right. I spotted the answer quite quickly with that in mind.