Today's puzzle is online in place of the second TCC qualifier, in the paper, which I shall blog after the closing date (I expect on 24th May). This one, based on its serial number, dates from April Fool's Day in 1977, not quite as ancient as the previous old stinker, and not nearly as difficult. We still have need for knowledge of a poetic quotation and some classical references, but the word play is not too vague and definitions, by and large, exist. An overdose of anagrams too. It took me about 30 minutes at leisure. There are a couple I don't fully understand (27a, 23d) but I think the answers are all correct.
I'd hoped it might have some kind of an April 1 theme, to suit my avatar, but not that I noticed. However it is a pangram.
I'd hoped it might have some kind of an April 1 theme, to suit my avatar, but not that I noticed. However it is a pangram.
| Across | |
| 1 | Judge taking in old writer almost makes a bloomer (7) |
| JONQUIL - J for judge, O for old, QUIL(L) for writer almost; a jonquil is a variety of daffodil, as everyone knew in 1977. EDIT see third comment below, I think the OLD relates to the quill and it's J, ON = taking, QUIL(L). | |
| 5 | Stone dead, his foes (7) |
| PERSEUS - &lit. Said Greek chap had quite a few tricks up his sleeve but one involved turning people to stone by brandishing the head of Medusa, whom he had eariler decapitated using a Baldrick style cunning ploy. | |
| 9 | Does it, say, intimidate yachting visitors? (5) |
| COWES - &lit. Isle of Wight yachting capital, sounds like COWS = intimidates. | |
| 10 | Where master is involved in craze of living off the land (4-5) |
| FARM-STEAD - Anagram of MASTER inside FAD. Never seen it hyphenated before. | |
| 11 | Leads in The Rivals can be performed — easily managed (9) |
| TRACTABLE - T, R fist letters of The Rivals, ACTABLE = cen be performed. | |
| 12 | Over a pint needed to get engineer tiddly (5) |
| LITRE - An RE (engineer) LIT would be a tiddly one. | |
| 13 | Thus shortens said — to avoid these dangers? (5) |
| REEFS - I think this is a DD, to do with reefing a sail to make it shorter. | |
| 15 | A girl’s in love, madly, with new creations (9) |
| ORIGINALS - (A GIRLS IN O)* | |
| 18 | Visited by Puck in twenty minutes? (9) |
| ANTIPODES - In AMND Puck says he can put a girdle round the earth in forty minutes, presumably anticipating the ISS, so he could get to New Zealand in half that time. Although he'd have to be in a lower orbit as the ISS takes 90 minutes to go round. | |
| 19 | Grand to do nothing but mend broken windows (5) |
| GLAZE - G = grand, LAZE = do nothing. | |
| 21 | Capital is in order in toy-making (5) |
| TOKYO - OK inside (TOY)*. Would have been good for the Quick Cryptic, if there was one. | |
| 23 | I came unstuck in voting that’s controversial (9) |
| POLEMICAL - (I CAME)* inside POLL. | |
| 25 | Put back flag, make speech and vanish (9) |
| EVAPORATE - PAVE = flag, put back = EVAP, ORATE = make speech. I could argue that evaporate means turn to vapour, not exactly vanish, but no doubt a non-scientific use of the word is OK. | |
| 26 | A bit of a fight (5) |
| SCRAP - Double definition. | |
| 27 | Card-sharpers returning from the Holy Land? (7) |
| PALMERS - People who palm cards could be card-sharps, I am not clued up enough about returning Crusaders or whichever other holy ritual is being referred to here to explain it further. | |
| 28 | No agent misrepresentedcargo capacity (7) |
| TONNAGE - (NO AGENT)*. | |
| Down | |
| 1 | Sailor makes difficult tack in a vessel (4,3) |
| JACK TAR - Anagram of TACK inside JAR. | |
| 2 | He supplies daily intelligence on the Scottish factor (9) |
| NEWSAGENT - NEWS = intelligence, AGENT = Scottish factor, a land agent. | |
| 3 | Disturb order of words for its antonym (5) |
| UPSET - I presume this is implying the opposite of SET DOWN. | |
| 4 | Julius Caesar’s ultimate loss (4-5) |
| LIFE-BLOOD - I can't find a quote with the exact phrase life-blood in the play, but Cassius exhorts them all to come and bathe their hands in Caesar's blood. Is that all there is to this? | |
| 5 | Standard direction to grammar students (5) |
| PARSE - PAR = standard, SE = south-east; 'direction'appears to do double duty here. | |
| 6 | Phone about broken lutes ( ____ in their repair?) (9) |
| RESULTING - I've underlined an underlined space to identify the definition. A first time for everything. (LUTES)* inside RIG. | |
| 7 | Exercise that Rex expects back in this (5) |
| EXERT - Hidden reversed in THA(T REX E)PECTS. | |
| 8 | "May there be no ____ of farewell" (Tennyson) (7) |
| SADNESS - A quotation. I just guessed it from S*D*E*S. | |
| 14 | Student hopes to get room changed (9) |
| SOPHOMORE - (HOPES ROOM)*. Loose identifying of the anagrist, but never mind. | |
| 16 | Five enter in water off 9, or in Queer Street (9) |
| INSOLVENT - The water off Cowes (answer to 9a) is the SOLENT, insert a V for five. | |
| 17 | A song about a cur tangled in a monkey-puzzle (9) |
| ARAUCARIA - A, ARIA around (A CUR)*. | |
| 18 | New part exchange arrangementin Belgium (7) |
| ANTWERP - (NEW PART)*. | |
| 20 | Maybe see about film cuts of the black-out (7) |
| ECLIPSE - (SEE)* around CLIPS. | |
| 22 | Put up bird outside a native village (5) |
| KRAAL - LARK reversed (put up) with A inserted. | |
| 23 | The Hamlet thing being one of them (5) |
| PLAYS - Well, Hamlet is a play. Am I missing something deeper? Yes, apparently, in the play Hamlet says 'the play's the thing'. Thanks to the literate commenter below. | |
| 24 | Novelist, craft type (5) |
| MASON - Double definition. There are a few novelists called somebody Mason, Richard being the most obvious, three of those on my list but one was only born in 1977 so we'll go with the author of The Wind Cannot Read and The World of Susie Wong. | |