We always look forward to the challenge of an Anax prize puzzle and this was definitely a challenge! However, we’re not wildly enthusiastic about long anagrams and this puzzle has eight fifteen-letter answers, three of which are anagrams and two more have anagrams within the solutions, so this took the edge off the challenge to a certain extent.
We hadn’t come across the entries at 11ac or 12ac before, so some electronic help was needed there and we had to check the relevance of the ‘private army’ reference in 5d.
We still can’t parse 13ac, so any thoughts would be most welcome! Otherwise, thanks to Anax for another good work-out!
| Across | ||
| 1 | As one struggling with English might say, went down together? | |
| SYNCED | Someone struggling with English might assume that the past tense of ‘sink’ (go down) would be ‘sinked’, which sounds like SYNCED | |
| 5 | Seal food more expensive? | |
| BOARD UP | BOARD (food) UP (more expensive) | |
| 10 | Take time to consider map of some nature reserves | |
| PAUSE FOR A MOMENT | An anagram of MAP OF SOME NATURE – the anagrind is ‘reserves’ but you have to read it as re-serves | |
| 11 | Starts to run into enemy that invaded Italian city | |
| RIETI | First letters or ‘starts’ of Run Into Enemy That Invaded – we had never heard of this city before, even though we have been to Lazio several times! | |
| 12 | Insecticide container into which hot air’s blown | |
| PARATHION | PAN (container) round an anagram of HOT AIR – anagrind is ‘blown’ | |
| 13 | Somehow, choice of last parts? | |
| ONE WAY OR ANOTHER | We think this must be the answer, but we can’t parse it – why should a ‘WAY’ be a ‘last part’? Thanks Gaufrid for the parsing! | |
| 15 | Speed freak has done it on vacation, Porsche made to look good | |
| LICKED INTO SHAPE | LICK (speed) + an anagram of HAS DONE IT and PE (first and last letters (‘on vacation’) of ‘PorschE’ – anagrind is ‘freak’ | |
| 16 | I dip what in French port? | |
| DUNKERQUE | DUNKER (one who dunks or ‘dips’) + QUE (‘what’ in French) | |
| 17 | Students gathering for one hot drink | |
| NEGUS | NUS (National Union of Students) round EG (‘for one’, as an example) | |
| 18 | Arranged live set to do that random drumming | |
| THE DEVILS TATTOO | An anagram of LIVE SET TO DO THAT – anagrind is ‘arranged’ | |
| 20 | The slavish attempt to follow hard rock band | |
| HELOTRY | TRY (attempt) following H (hard) ELO (Electric Light Orchestra – rock band) | |
| 21 | Possible use for shortening lifeline? | |
| PASTRY | PAST (life, as in personal history) + RY (railway – line) | |
| Down | ||
| 2 | It’s impossible to say “Don’t go shopping” | |
| YOU NEVER CAN TELL | A play on the use of ‘shopping’ as in ‘informing on’ or TELLING | |
| 3 | As is one kind bearing malice, running after the man | |
| CHEMICAL ELEMENT | CLEMENT (kind) round or ‘bearing’ an anagram of MALICE – anagrind is ‘running’ after HE (the man). As refers to Arsenic – a chemical element. Thanks Rullytully for the reminder. | |
| 4 | David’s first, Posh second for soccer couple | |
| DUO | D (first letter of David) + U (posh) + O (second letter of ‘sOccer’) | |
| 5 | Private army in this hideout thrown into billet, oddly | |
| BLAIR CASTLE | LAIR (hideout) + CAST (thrown) in the odd letters of ‘BiLlEt’ | |
| 6 | For ages, fans shot fans – damn you | |
| A MONTH OF SUNDAYS | An a anagram of SHOT FANS DAMN YOU – anagrind is ‘fans’ | |
| 7 | Cackle and croak? | |
| DIE WITH LAUGHTER | A cryptic definition – DIE (croak) WITH LAUGHTER (cackle) | |
| 8 | Elected president | |
| PUTIN | PUT IN (elected) | |
| 9 | It lubricates a male into filth | |
| SPERM OIL | PER (a, as in ‘five a day’) + M (male) in SOIL (filth) | |
| 12 | Snoop accepts work in deserted neighbourhood | |
| PROPINQUITY | PRY (snoop) round or ‘accepting’ OP (work) IN QUIT (deserted) – we had some debate about ‘quit’ as a past tense, but decided it was okay, as in ‘I quit my job yesterday” | |
| 14 | Ignoring intro, reproduces best organ piece | |
| REED STOP | ||
| 16 | Level land with water underneath | |
| DITCH | Double definition – (a) a level, as in the Somerset levels and (b) to land an aircraft on water | |
| 19 | Exhaust – it’s quiet | |
| SAP | SA (‘it’ – sex appeal) + P (quiet) | |
Thanks B&J
My interpretation of 13ac was that the ‘parts’ of ‘last’ are LA and ST and if you have a ‘choice’ it would be LA (lane) or ST (street), in other words ONE WAY OR ANOTHER.
Thanks Gaufrid – well done for spotting that. We looked at the clue for ages and couldn’t see anything.
I will admit to having Mr CS’s assistance with the insecticide (he’s the gardener round here) but apart form that thought it quite a user-friendly Anax puzzle. Thanks to him and B&J too.
Thanks B&J.
In your blog for 3d, you haven’t referred to the fact that “As” is the symbol for the element arsenic.
I managed to complete this one correctly without recourse to aids but PARATHION was a guess as the most likely arrangement of the “hot air” anagram fodder inside “pan”. I didn’t know RIETI but the wordplay was very helpful, and I didn’t bother to parse a couple of the longer answers once enough checkers were in place. It took me a while to see the SYNCED/CHEMICAL ELEMENT crossers.
After a delightful duo of Paul and Mudd, this was a real struggle and I didnt get there unaided, Tough and for me slightly unenjoyable- no PDMs- just a slog- but very good all the same. A bit out of my league.