Guardian 24160/ Rufus August 20th 2007 Gentle for Monday.
Posted by Simply_Simon on August 20th, 2007
Across
1 BAY RUM anagram of may rub. In the old days barbers would offer it as an after shave , posh barbers still do. It’s a distillate from Rum and the leaves of the West Indian Bay tree.
5 INTERVAL anagram of travel in.
9 SCRUBBED
10 STUMPS
11 HOLY MACKEREL
13 A C RE I held myself up by being certain this was ‘dene’, an anagram of Eden. It was only when I got 12Dn that I realised my error.
14 TASMANIA anagram ‘it’s a man’, on a.
17 BOOK CLUB
18 I O TA A short neat satisfying clue.
20 SLOW MOVEMENT was, on the other hand, rather pedestrian.
23 SALO ME anagram of ‘also, set next to ‘me’, and she it was who asked for John the Baptist’s head on a plate.
24 EN TITLE D A championship is a title, and it is held by ‘end’, giving entitled which means to be styled, or named.
25 BEDPOSTS, are uprights, and secrets are shared between you, me and the bedposts.
Down
3 ROUGH NECK, neck meaning audacity.
5 INDOMITABLENESS
6 TEST CASE
7 ROUSE, homophone for rows.
8 APPRECIATE
12 SCHOOL MATE
15 ARISTOTLE anagram of ‘tries a lot’.
16 BLOOMERS are mistakes, knickers, and flowers.
19 BEATER
21 WHO OP Dr Who is a well liked, and long running, children’s TV programme in the UK.
22 PE RU Physical Education is P.E., and RU is Rugby Union
August 20th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
Intrigued as to how you were thinking of ‘Eden’ as the solution to 13 across ‘A conservative leader about to give ground’. Can’t for the life of me see why you thought this was the answer.
August 20th, 2007 at 1:20 pm
I wasn’t thinking Eden was the answer, but dene, a valley, and an anagram of Eden, as I said above. By Eden I mean, of course, Sir Anthony Eden. I don’t think that was the stupidest idea in the world, but in any case I became enlightened later, as I said.
August 20th, 2007 at 4:31 pm
5dn: I got INDOMITABLENESS, but not why. Help please
August 20th, 2007 at 4:35 pm
It means resolution in the sense of what has been decided - ie, never to be beaten.
I think….
August 20th, 2007 at 4:54 pm
I had hoped this might be seen as an &Lit! (i.e. “and literally”, where the whole clue gives the answer).
Indomitableness, as well as another meaning of “resolution” (which was also used as an anagram indicator), can be a “state of being unconquerable”, which one with “endless ambition” would need.
Ah well! Back to the drawing board.
August 20th, 2007 at 4:57 pm
I wish I had spotted the anagram…….
August 20th, 2007 at 5:58 pm
I didn’t spot the anagram (ouch) - brilliant clue.
August 20th, 2007 at 10:32 pm
I don’t understand 14a. “Matchbox model” = Test Case.
Can anyone help. It’s never a good week when I don’t get the Monday crossword. If you need me I’ll be under the duvet, cowering.
August 21st, 2007 at 2:15 am
Match = test as in cricket, box = case.
Don’t understand what bakers have to do with bloomers (other than wear them) in 16dn?
August 21st, 2007 at 8:16 am
A bloomer in a bakery is a longish crusty loaf of white bread, with rounded ends and several diagonal slashes across the top.
August 21st, 2007 at 9:19 am
Thanks R&R - I am too stupid to live.
August 21st, 2007 at 10:11 am
I’m too old to rock and roll, too young to die.
August 21st, 2007 at 12:25 pm
yeah I wondered about TEST CASE for a bit too… TEST=match (you Brits seem to like playing them anyway), CASE=box and TEST CASE=model (e.g. for trying something out).