Reviews
index | & lit. homepage | Try the
puzzle
C |
12. No. 1 in charts available for sale,
including new number COUNT (c + n in
out) A surface reading
designed to distract the solver from the definition, ‘number’, which looks like
it’s asking for an abbreviation.
13. Channel for ground grain, distance about 80
yards (or more) MILL-EYE
(ley1 in mile; see lea2) A short paperchase
through Chambers leads to the
required lea2, a flexible measure of 80 yds. worsted
to (or perhaps bested by) 300 linen.
18. Opening sought by marketing men, kind
that’s hard getting in
NICHE (h in nice) A great container and contents opportunity
that Dr Watson hasn’t seen used before.
22. Asteroid string by the sound of it CERES (‘series’) Wikipedia notes that Ceres, the largest
object in the Asteroid Belt, is now also designated as a minor or dwarf planet.
28. Alluvial deposits from lake filled round fringes DELTAS (L in
sated, rev.) Some
neat wordplay here, with ‘filled’ as the synonym, ‘round’ indicating the
reversal and ‘fringes’ as a verb indicating the containment.
32. One among contemporaries of Auden, W. H?
They’re exhausting SPENDERS (Spender, S.)
There’s no A or I to insert. Stephen Spender was one
of the ‘Auden Group’ of 20c. poets, including the
perhaps better-remembered Cecil Day-Lewis and Louis MacNiece.
2. Road hazard mostly Scots endure after
work’s reversed
POTHOLE (op., rev. + thole2) ‘Mostly’ is not an instruction to shorten
something. Azed is merely being true to Chambers’ designation of thole2
as ‘(chiefly Scots)’, while no doubt enjoying the consequent misdirection.
6. It’s posted by
admirer, youngster that’s burning inside?
PIN-UP (in in pup) Azed picks an appropriate but little-known
sense of ‘in’ as an adverb meaning ‘alight’, usually in reference to a hearth
fire.
9. Inspiration for heroic opera record
turning up – does it culminate in bloomer?
PEDICLE (El Cid EP, rev.) Another
precise definition that should pass pub-quiz scrutiny. ‘El Cid’ was the Moorish
appellation of the real-life Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar of
Castile, the subject of Massenet’s almost-forgotten 1885 opera Le Cid.
19. Cocotte? This woman’s filled with wild lust HUSTLER (anag. in her) A
nice contrast between the sentiments – or perhaps the objects of the lust – in
the surface reading and the solution.
27. Example of the blues is devastating to the ears SAXE
(‘sacks’) A
very good homophone that eschews the temptation of the more obvious ‘sax’.
Other solutions:
Across: 1. SPLIT CAP (split +
cap); 7. APPEL
(PE in anag.); 14. AMENTA (hidden); 15. THAUMATURGIST (Au in anag.);
16. COBIA (C + obia); 20. RESIDUA (r + anag.
+ a); 24. FRESH
(serf, rev. + H); 25.
AVANT-GARDISTE; 29.
TROOLIE (anag. + lie); 30. VEXED (V + exed(RA)); 31. SENSE (N in sese;
see sessa).
Down: 1. SCOTCH CARTS (scotch2
+ T in cars); 3.
LUMA (initial letters, & lit.); 4. INQUIRENDOS (n Qu in anag.);
5. CAMASS (C + amass); 8. PLAGIARISED (lag I arise in
pd.); 10. EYAS (ay, rev., in (n)es(t)); 11.
LETTERHEADS (letter + anag.); 13. METRICATE (m + anag.); 17. BORAZON (razo(r) in bon(bon)); 21. DERATE (hidden); 23. UGLIS (gli(b) in US); 26. VARE (anag.
less l).