From Guardian Prize Crossword Saturday 12 July 2008
Common abbreviations used
dd = double definition
rev = reversed or reversal
ins = insertion
cha = charade
ha = hidden answer
*(fodder) = anagram

Not a very challenging puzzle from Paul, compared with his horrendous July Genius (which I am still struggling with at the time of writing this blog). This one is more of a weekday puzzle that one can solve on the commuter train.

Post Script : It wasn’t until I read the comments to this blog that I took out my finished grid and read around the perimeter and there was a message - HAPPY EIGHTIETH BIRTHDAY, MOTHER. What a thoughtful and filial son.

Across
8 RUSH HOUR Cha of RUSH (grass) H (heroin) OUR (the Guardian’s)
9 OWNING Ins of N (opening for neck) in OWING (in the red) - clothes is the insertion indicator
10 EASY ha
11 LITHOGRAPH Cha of LIT (sparked off) + replacement of (art) with RAP (criticism) in William HOGARTH (English artist 1697–1764)
12 HUSSAR Cha of huss (fish) A R (a river)
14 SEAMOUNT SE (south-east or Kentish) amount (aggregate)
15 TAPIOCA Cha of TAP (on tap is readily available) I O (I love) CA (half of cake) Contrary to the equation of pudding with tapioca, I have never been served tapioca pudding once in all my six years in the UK
17 MAESTRI MA (mother) ESTRI *(tries) plural of maestro
20 OCCASION OC (rev of CO) Casio (famous Japanese manufacturer of calculators) N (letter left after taking ‘ever’ from ‘never’)
22 ANYONE A + ins of Y (last letter of rally) in NONE (love)
23 MINCED MEAT One of those reversed anagram clue whereby the answer could well be an anagram clue for ‘team’
24 HEAT dd
25 YEARNS Ins of E (last letter of imaginative) in YARNS (stories)
26 POOH-POOH rev of Hoop X 2

Down
1 HULA-HULA Hula hoop
2 AHOY Hoy is a Scottish island
3 POPLAR Removal of U from POPULAR
4 PROTEST Ins of ROT (bull) in pest (pain in the neck)
5 YOKOHAMA YOKO (Ono, the widow of John Lennon, creator of the song ‘Imagine’) HAM (meat) A to give the Japanese port
6 ENORMOUSLY Ins of US in *(only more)
7 INSPAN Removal of ‘I’ from IN SPAIN (Costa del Sol)
13 SPINAL CORD *(island crop)
16 CHILDISH Chil (e) dish (beauty)
18 RENT-A-MOB Lovely &lit anagram clue *(team born)
19 UNKEMPT Bunk empty (bed lacking occupant) Now take away the first and last letter
21 CRIMEA Crime + A
22 AUTHOR Au (gild) Thor (Thunder God) which Jonathan was (Gulliver’s Travels)
24 HOPI Simple cha for a member of a Pueblo people living chiefly in NE Arizona

I started off quickly with this one, with some very easy clues, especially in the SW corner (28ac, 24 and 25dn), but then things got a bit trickier. Got there eventually, with one or two clues that took a bit of working out even when the answer itself was clear (especially 19dn).

Key:
dd = double definition
cd = cryptic definition
* = anagram
< = reverse

Across
9. SPOKESMAN - dd - As in the spokes of a wheel.
10. CANTO - CANT O - CANT can be “a slope in the turn of a road or track”
11. AMBER - (ch)AMBER - As in traffic lights
12. ABSENTEES - (a bees nest)* - Nicely misleading definition
13,14. GATWICK AIRPORT - (Patrick I got novel)*
17. ALIBI - BIL(l)< in A1 - “Defence” or (less accurately) “excuse” often indicates ALIBI
20. COMMA - dd - It’s a kind of butterfly.
21,22. THOUGHT READING - THOUGH TREADING
24. PLASTERED - dd
26. IMPEL - (SIMPLE less S)*
29. CHARLOTTE - “Shah lot” - I suppose this refers to a lot in an auction, which could be a “good deal”. Or, much more plausibly, a “good deal” of something is a lot of it - thanks to Octofem

Down
1. OSSA - OS (outsize) + SA(ck)
2. SORBET - BE in SORT
3. RETRAINING - R in RETAINING
4. EMBARK - cd - Not very impressed by this
5. INKSTAND - cd - .. Or this
6. SCAN - SCAN(t)
7. ANTEROOM - (no more at)* - Is a mess particularly likely to have an anteroom? Any army officers reading who can confirm? See Peter Owen’s comment for confirmation.
13. GRAFT - RAF in GT - The indication of the wordplay is misleading, but OK if you read it as “in high-performance car: service”. The RAF is one of the Armed Services.
15. ROCKABILLY - ROCK + A BILLY - It took me ages to spot the wordplay here, until I remembered the Billy Can.
16. TWANG - cd - I guessed DUVET for this at first
18. ISOLATED - (SOLIDATE less CON)* - Con=study is an old-fashioned usage that is fossilised in crosswordese and never seen anywhere else.
19. LITERACY - (CATER)* replaces 2nd L in LILY - Again the wordplay took a bit of working out - the anagram of CATER was obvious but I was misled by the presence of the first L.
22. REDCAP - “Read” on CAP - MP = Military Policeman = redcap.
23. IMPUTE - I + PUT in ME
24. PACT - CAP< + T(he)
27. LIED - dd - Lied is German for “song”, and is typically used to describe songs of the Romantic period in music (the 19th Century, roughly speaking)

Common abbreviations used
dd = double definition
cd = cryptic definition
rev = reversed or reversal
ins = insertion
cha = charade
ha = hidden answer
*(fodder) = anagram

A most intriguing set of clues which I enjoyed tremendously for their challenge and their deviousness. Brummie never fails to entertain.

Across
1 UNFOCUSED Ins of CUSE *(clues minus L) in *(found)
10 TONER Ins of One (somebody) in TR (transitive)
11 NEOPHOBIA cd for someone with a dread or hatred of novelty
12 RESOUND RE (note) sound (heard)
13 TRELLIS TR (odd letters of ToRn) ELLIS - Henry Havelock (1859 -1939) British sexologist
14 SAFETY BICYCLE Cha of SAFETY (protecxted status) Bi (sexually ambivalent) CYCLE (turn)
17 STRETCHER BOND Cha of stretcher (to carry an injured) Bond (007)
stretching-bond is a method of building with stretchers only, the joints of one course falling between those above and below (Chambers)
21 THIN AIR alopecia is hair loss or baldness. Thus a prelude is thin hair, which without the h, becomes thin air, which is not good for breathing
22 LACK ALL To ostracise is to “black ball”
24 IN KEEPING A licensee’s work is keeping an inn. Take away one n (lacks new) and ….
25,6 BELLYACHE Belly (pot) A (top grade) Che (f) cook minus F (forte)
26 RORT This was such an obvious ha but I had to consult Chambers and learned a new word which means a fraud or to defraud
27 NON-MEMBER I well remember the vetos by France’s Charles De Gaulle’s on Britain’s entry into the EU. Non (French for no) member (limb)

Down
1 UPTHRUST Cha of UP (excited) ins of H (hearts) in TRUST (faith)
I wonder how Brummie would have clued this as Cyclops :-)
2 FUNDS Fun (leisure) DS (the old LDS system of pound shilling pence minus L (large)
3 CIRCUIT BREAKER *(criketer bra u i) Did you notice the other alter ego (the one with the eye in the forehead) trying to get into the act here? cricketer playing with bra !
4 SAND DAB Ins of N (new) DD (dates) in Saab, the Swedish maker of cars
5 DEONTIC Ins of *(no tie) in DC (District Commissioner, a colonial-day designation which has since been changed to District Officer) BTW deontology is the study of duty, ethics.
7 CABALLERO Cha of CABAL (plotters) *(role)  a Spanish gentleman;  esp in south-west US, a horseman.
8 ELAPSE Ins of LAPS (stages) in EE (points)
9 THREE-CORE CABLE *(echo cerebral et)
15 FOSSICKER FOE (enemies or foes minus E ) sicker (not so good). Another new word - fossick vi to search for gold, on the surface or in abandoned workings; to rummage.
16 C D PLAYER Corps Diplomatique (Diplomatic Corps) + Gary Player (classic South African golfer) I like the way Brummie disguised the definition “it makes tracks available to us” so this is my clue of the day
18 TORSION Ins of I in TORSO (trunk) + N (third letter of hand)
19 HALOGEN Halo (aura) Gen (general, officer)
20 ETRIER a small rope ladder of 1-4 rungs used as a climbing aid by mountaineers. Another new word for me
23 AD LIB A D (one day) LIB (rev of BIL (l))

Phew! Struggled through this very slowly, including a good five minute stare at 1dn before giving up on it until almost the end. Really enjoyed this.

see you…