We started off very quickly with both of us solving 1AC as soon as we looked at the clue. Despite the setter, we wondered if we might be in for an easy solve. How wrong can you be?
There were a few clues that we solved but weren’t sure how to parse until we had finished and were about to give up.
| Across | ||
| 1 | A dance, it’s associated with Latin South America | |
| SALSA | SA (It as in Sex Appeal) L (Latin) SA (South America) | |
| 4 | Sprinkle around a bit of liquid | |
| SPLATTER | A play on the fact that SPATTER (sprinkle) around L (first letter or a ‘bit of’ liquid) can also be to sprinkle around a bit of liquid | |
| 8 | Sounds like you should assume cranky OAP’s not fallen for trick | |
| PULL A FAST ONE ON | U (sounds like you) inside or ‘assuming’ an anagram of OAP’S NOT FALLEN (anagrind is ‘cranky’) | |
| 10 | Old copper is becoming investigator in episode’s beginning | |
| INCIPIENT | INCI |
|
| 11 | Preposterously weeds look hard! | |
| STARE | We thought at first it was a two stage solve which may not be everyone’s cup of tea – an a anagram of TARES (weeds) with ‘preposterously’ as the anagrind. We then checked ‘preposterously’ in Chambers. Apparently it can mean ‘literally inverted’ having or putting the last first (rare) – So now we know! | |
| 12 | Very little is drunk | |
| TIDDLY | Double definition | |
| 14 | Interrogate and search one that’s charged | |
| QUESTION | QUEST (search) ION (one that’s charged) | |
| 17 | Australian native’s to turn up to pool naked? | |
| COCKATOO | COCK (to turn up) AT (to) |
|
| 18 | Bee hives can be so unpleasant | |
| BITCHY | B (bee) ITCHY (hives can be so) | |
| 20 | Hat worn by daughter is a sign for Pedro? | |
| TILDE | D (daughter) inside or ‘wearing’ TILE (hat) | |
| 22 | Doctrinaire guide ruined English tours round centre of Boulogne | |
| IDEOLOGUE | An anagram of GUIDE (anagrind is ‘ruined’) + E (English) around or ‘touring’ O (round) LO (middle letters or ‘centre’ of Boulogne) | |
| 24 | Allowed current feud finally to get personal in that, he’s disappointed the others | |
| LET THE SIDE DOWN | LET (allowed) TIDE (current) + D (last or ‘final’ letter of feud) OWN (personal) around HE’S. Perhaps a trifle contrived? | |
| 25 | Quiet gentleman back in Rio’s ready for vengeful act | |
| REPRISAL | P (quiet) SIR (gentleman) reversed or ‘back’ in REAL (money or ‘ready’ in Rio) | |
| 26 | Master entering school yard gets injured | |
| GAMMY | M (master) in GAM (school) + Y (yard) | |
| Down | ||
| 1 | Old Greek teacher in charge at Eton ignoring fashion, being refined fellow | |
| SOPHISTICATE | SOPHIST (Greek teacher) IC (in charge) AT E |
|
| 2 | In style, I will climb tree | |
| LILAC | I in CALL (style) reversed or ‘climbing’ | |
| 3 | Slipshod palace guards quietly left one unaccompanied | |
| A CAPPELLA | An anagram of PALACE (anagrind is ‘slipshod’) around or ‘guarding’ P (quietly) + L (left) A (one) | |
| 4 | Cellist amended partly abandoned viola’s part? | |
| STAMEN | Hidden in the clue celliST AMENded | |
| 5 | In Full Metal Jacket avoiding glum displays | |
| LUTETIUM | We’re not sure about this one. If we are correct, it’s somewhat crafty! The short way of writing the metal is displayed in |
|
| 6 | Chinese gangs that could make your hair curl? | |
| TONGS | Double definition | |
| 7 | Very conceited sort in prison shortly given comeuppance | |
| EGOMANIAC | IN A MO (shortly) inside CAGE (prison) reversed or ‘given a comeuppance’ | |
| 9 | Tiny youngster’s wise, we’re told, about drug featuring in news broadcast | |
| TEENSY-WEENSY | TEENS (youngsters) YY (sounds like wise) around or ‘about’ E (drug) and an anagram of NEWS (anagrind is ‘broadcast’) | |
| 13 | Revealing bust company’s heading for liquidation, beset by strike | |
| DECOLLETE | CO (company) + L (heading for liquidation) inside or ‘beset’ by DELETE (strike) | |
| 15 | Movie mogul wants scorer on pitch? The reverse | |
| SPIELBERG | We also had this pencilled in for ages and it was only at the last moment that we parsed it. BERG (scorer as in the composer) and SPIEL (pitch) which need swapping around or ‘reversing’ | |
| 16 | For a start cedar’s one, fir’s another way to represent these | |
| CONIFERS | An anagram of C (start of cedar) ONE and FIRS (anagrind is ‘another way to represent’) with CEDAR and FIR also examples of conifers | |
| 19 | Rejection letter that’s in your face | |
| DENIAL | EN (letter) in DIAL (face) | |
| 21 | Compound interest’s adjusted, but not in time | |
| ESTER | An anagram of |
|
| 23 | New union member changes sides, causing dejection | |
| GLOOM | G |
|
With you on all but the tricky 5 down. I like your thinking, except I have that element with an ‘e’ rather than ‘i’, ie “lutetium”. Whether this affects the parsing or not I really don’t know and am not really inclined to give it further thought just now, simply being pedantic.
Thanks very much for the blog, but please can we have the crossword identified by number rather than just by date in the title? I think the number has always has been used previously.
It makes it much easier to search the site if we have a consistent way of identifying puzzles.
AndrewW
Thanks for pointing that out. I have edited the title.
Thanks Gaufrid – We’ve been out walking so couldn’t do it earlier. We normally add the number and the fact that it is a Prize puzzle together with the date so have added these details too.
Thanks Kingslor and Bertandjoyce, I enjoyed the puzzle and the blog was most helpful.
That use of ‘preposterously’ at 11a was interesting, something to remember!
Would it be possible to give the numeration at the end of a clue like most (all?) of the other bloggers do,
e.g. 1 A dance, it’s associated with Latin South America (5)
P.S. I notice RatkojaRiku does not give the numeration of the answer either.
Cookie@5 – It depends what tools the various bloggers use. We type all of the clues up by hand and add the answers and the parsing. Others use an application developed by one of the other bloggers so only the parsings have to be added.
I just thought it might be possible to type the numeration at the end of the clue … America (5).
Apologies to Klingsor, I had Richard III on my mind, de mortuis nil nisi bonum.
Struggled with 5d but got there in the end. But please explain call=style in 2 d, just can’t see it. Thanks.
We wondered about that too Eric and checked it in Chambers. Call is there as a synonym for style in the Thesaurus in the sense of designate as a verb.
I’m late to this but surprised to see a slightly grudging response in the comments to what I thought was an excellent and challenging puzzle (like Bert and Joyce I found the first easy clue turned out to be most deceptive) and a thorough and helpful blog. I couldn’t work out the parsing for EGOMANIAC or the use of ‘scorer’ for BERG – I didn’t recognise Berg as a composer, is that philistinistic(?) of me? I particularly enjoyed the use of ‘preposterously’ in 11A and the clue for 5D, LUTETIUM.
Am I the only one who thought 17A was a rather rude double entendre?