Guardian 24,373 (Sat 26 Apr)/Paul - Know your enemies
Posted by rightback on May 3rd, 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. |
May 3rd, 2008 at 3:30 pm
I thought this was a great puzzle - a highly entertaining theme, with some very good clues, especially 22ac, 25ac, 6dn,7,15dn [brilliant!] 18dn.
9ac: triple definition: also a black and white bird
Vidal Sassoon was a hairdresser to the famous, therefore did the blow-drying.
May 3rd, 2008 at 8:06 pm
Any answers for the May 3rd Guardian crossword>>>> i’m stumped!
May 3rd, 2008 at 8:48 pm
Terrific puzzle, great fun.
Favourite Bond theme: On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, John Barry.
May 3rd, 2008 at 10:22 pm
Agree with Fletch: On Her Majesty’s Secret Service - but has to be Propellerheads version….
May 3rd, 2008 at 10:24 pm
(or if we’re allowed non-Bond music, how about “Hold me, thrill me, kiss me, kill me” by U2 - used in one of the Batman movies)
May 3rd, 2008 at 10:53 pm
Dan, we’re not allowed to comment on prize puzzles. All I can say about this one is that when I saw, ‘7 and 20 play a game… neither player has a clue’, my immediate thought was that it was going to be a tribute to the irreplaceable Humph. Alas…
May 4th, 2008 at 12:07 am
…I was …….ed.