Guardian 24,373 (Sat 26 Apr)/Paul - Know your enemies
Posted by rightback on 3rd May 2008
Solving time: 8:22
The theme in this crossword was fictional archenemies: those of Batman (The Joker, The Penguin and The Riddler), Harry Potter (Voldemort), Luke Skywalker (Darth Vader), James Bond (Blofeld) and Flash Gordon (Ming the Merciless). The good guys were referenced only by their initials in the clues.
Clearly today’s music has to be a James Bond theme song. Please vote for your favourite.
* = anagram, “X” = sounds like ‘X’.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | [h]ARMLESS - because stools have only legs. |
| 5 | ALBUMEN; MEN after rev. of (U.B. + L.A.) |
| 9 | PENGUIN (double definition) - one of Batman’s foes, and a publishing house. |
| 10 | PHOENIX; “FEE NIX” |
| 11 | AR(C(HEN)E)MY |
| 12 | DITTO (hidden) - indicated by previous clue being repeated. Very Paul. |
| 13 | DRESS (double definition) |
| 17 | GOOSE + STEP |
| 19/23dn | DART + H(V)AD + E.R. |
| 22 | UNBID; N.B. (= ‘note’) in [q]UID |
| 23 | VOL(DEMO + R)T |
| 25 | B-LO[a]F + E + L + D |
| 26 | AN + GU(I)SH |
| 28 | TO + NIGH (= ‘close’) + T |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | APPLAUD; A, + rev. of ALP in PUD |
| 2 | MON + O[n]CLE - the French for ‘my uncle’ with the second ‘n’ omitted. The Penguin always wore a monocle. |
| 3 | E + DUCE - Mussolini was known as Il Duce. |
| 4 | S(U.N. HELM)ET |
| 5 | APPLY - as in ‘like an apple’. |
| 6 | BLOW-DRIED; (WORLD I)* in BED - Sassoon being a maker of hair products. |
| 7/15ac | MING THE MERCILESS; THEME (= ‘11?’ = ‘archenemy?’) + RC (= Catholic) + I, all inside MINGLE (= ‘mix’), + S.S. (= ‘Nazis’) - needless to say, I didn’t dissect this while solving! |
| 8 | NOXIOUS; (I in OXO) in N.U.S. |
| 14 | SPEED WELL (one cryptic, one straight definition) |
| 16 | REPELLANT; rev. of ALL in REPENT |
| 17 | G + RUBBER |
| 18 | OXBLOOD; B[lack] + LOO (= ‘throne room’) all inside OX[for]D |
| 20 | RIO + TIN + G[enerate] |
| 21 | HOT SHOT |
| 24 | EG(G)ON - the gastronome is Egon Ronay. |
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