Sometimes we find that the prize crossword is actually easier than some of the weekday puzzles – this wasn’t one of them.
There were a number of clues when one or other of us guessed the answer from the definition but the other person ended up parsing it. There were then a few clues when we thought – no it can’t be and moved on elsewhere in the grid – and later discovered that we were right all along.
We really felt as if Monk put us through our paces on this one so thanks to him for keeping some of our brain cells alive for a bit longer!
If there are any alterations that are necessary it may be a while before we can sort them out. We will be away when the blog is published and may have limited access to the internet.
| Across | ||
| 1 | About to be able to pass round a brandy | |
| COGNAC | C (about) + CAN (to be able to) + GO (pass) reversed or ‘round’ | |
| 4 | Very good Australian criminal | |
| RIPPER | Double definition | |
| 9 | Maths relating to sun’s motion, quite a feat, not half complex | |
| EQUATION OF TIME | An anagram of MOTION QUITE A and FE (only half of ‘feat’) anagrind is ‘complex’ | |
| 10 | Without permission, away game needs colonial to be on time | |
| TRUANT | RU (game) + ANT (an ant lives in colonies so could be described as ‘colonial’) on T (time). | |
| 11 | Call in mediator, initially to break apart wrestling Poles | |
| SUMMONS | M (first letter of mediator or ‘initially’) inside or ‘breaking apart’ SUMO (wrestling) NS (poles) | |
| 12 | Surround section of Mayfair club with unopened barrier | |
| ENCIRCLE | Part, of the answer is hidden within, or a ‘section of’ MayfaIR CLub in (using ‘surround’ as both definition and wordplay!) |
|
| 14 | Famous golfer’s standard set by a woman – at last | |
| NORMAN | NORM (standard) + A + N (last letter of womaN or ‘at last’) | |
| 16 | Conservative clubs welcoming odd couples in election team | |
| CELTIC | C (Conservative) C (clubs) around or ‘welcoming’ EL and TI (pairs of letters or ‘odd couples’ within ELecTIon) | |
| 18 | Possible west-coast crook dropping in, causing tears | |
| LACRIMAL | LA CRIM |
|
| 20 | Wrong people caught in distress | |
| TORMENT | TORT (wrong) around or ‘catching’ MEN (people) | |
| 21 | One intended to keep private safe? | |
| TIN HAT | A play on the fact that a private may well wear a TIN HAT to keep him/her safe | |
| 23 | Feeling trapped in boozy actors’ public house locked inside | |
| CLAUSTROPHOBIC | An anagram of ACTORS PUBLIC around or ‘locking in’ HO (house) anagrind is ‘boozy’ | |
| 24 | Without restraints serenity somehow intact | |
| ENTIRE | An anagram of |
|
| 25 | Evil enemy introducing an unknown catalyst | |
| ENZYME | An anagram of ENEMY (anagrind is ‘evil’) around or ‘introducing’ Z (unknown) | |
| Down | ||
| 1 | Even locking artist in church is OK | |
| CLEARANCE | CLEAN (even) around or ‘locking in’ RA (artist) + CE (church) | |
| 2 | Wrapped in silver, a pair of round cheeses? Just the one | |
| GOUDA | AG (silver) around or ‘wrapping’ DUO (pair) reversed or ‘round’. Very early in the solve and with only the middle letter, Joyce was convinced it was GOUDA but could not parse it. With only two other clues to solve (1d and 10ac) she eventually was able to parse it. | |
| 3 | Changeable Alastair, at heart a jerk | |
| ASTATIC | ASTA (the middle of AlASTAir) + TIC ( a jerk) | |
| 5 | Tough guy possibly viewed as female? | |
| IRON MAN | A play on the fact that a man who irons may be viewed as having female traits – Not in our household and we hope not anywhere else these days! When our son was younger, Joyce remembers one of his friends making a comment about ironing being women’s work – you could almost hear our son gritting his teeth waiting for the backlash from his mother. | |
| 6 | Grimace cut short by bishop, one going after drug collection | |
| POTPOURRI | POU |
|
| 7 | Legendary twin from southern Babylonia, from the south | |
| REMUS | If reversed or read ‘from the South’ you get SUMER (Southern Babylonia) | |
| 8 | Maybe Norma’s anxiety when brief lines replace service | |
| CONSTELLATION | CONSTE |
|
| 13 | Barge in River Trent, one done up inside | |
| INTERRUPT | An anagram of R TRENT + I (one) anagrind is ‘done’ with UP inside | |
| 15 | Overwhelming influx of heroin hidden in a simple cover-up | |
| AVALANCHE | A VALANCE (cover up – although we are not sure why it is ‘simple’) around or ‘hiding’ H (heroin) | |
| 17 | Clergyman about to commence embracing a god | |
| CREATOR | RECTOR (clergyman) with C (about) at the beginning or ‘commencing’ around or ‘embracing’ A | |
| 19 | Caterpillar caught close to branch beside twig | |
| CATCH ON | CAT (caterpillar) + C (caught) + H (last letter or ‘close to’ brancH) + ON (beside) | |
| 20 | A sign that letter below should be read in a nosey way? | |
| TILDE | The answer is a play on the way that the TILDE sign indicates that the letter is pronounced nasally | |
| 22 | Like rich people, old bachelors stopping in US city | |
| NOBBY | O (old) BB (bachelors) inside NY (US city) | |
Thanks Monk and Bertandjoyce.
I interpreted 5D as meaning that female can be broken into Fe (the chemical symbol for iron) + male (man)
Excellent!
Tough! I got there in the end though and parsed them all, including 5D, IRON MAN, as Querulous above. But I wasn’t, and still am not, happy with TIN HAT. Feels like there’s something missing there still.
The across answers have something in common.
@4
I wish I’d noticed that at the time! Would probably have helped a bit with a tough solve. I was misled all over the place – especially trying to find a famous Italian art collection for 6d…
Thanks to Bartendjoyce & Picaroon,
@3 I agree with O’patrick about ‘tin hat’
@ 4 Please Muffyword, put us out of ignorance..?
An enjoyable way to while away a Saturday am.
Apologies, thanks to Bertandjoyce..
nocomment55@6
Classic example, wow that did hush everyone!
All across clues begin and end with same letter
Although I have to disagree with the dynamic duo and say that I found this, for some strange reason, easier than some of the puzzles in the week, I also have to admit that I didn’t notice the extremely ‘obvious’ when I was solving it.
Thanks to B&J and M
Didn’t see that all the acrosses started and ended with the same letter. I should have taken a better look as there’s always something going on in Monk’s puzzles.
It would also have given me the correct answer to 21ac (TIN HAT). I entered ‘tin can’ and couldn’t explain it – of course not!
Many thanks Bertandjoyce for the blog which I needed for parsing ENCIRCLE (12ac). Looking back at it, there’s no need to blame myself. I must say, I do not like very much the double duty in this relatively convoluted clue.
Yes, 5d had to be IRON MAN but I didn’t see fe/male. Well spotted Querulous. It’s so obvious now.
Many thanks to Monk for another fine puzzle.
[becomes a bit of a cliche, doesn’t it?]
Thanks to B&J for blog and to all for comments. Just popping in to augment Sil@11‘s opening sentence with “…, which letter occurs nowhere else in the answer”.
Humble apologies to Monk for missing the correct parsing of 5d! Thanks to Querulous for that. Although we now have internet access it will be a while before we correct the blog.