Crossword 2 Answers Explanation

EXPLANATION FOR CROSSWORD 2

Welcome all! We hope you enjoyed your first crossword with the Cryptonites, and that you found the explanations to be of assistance to you.

This week’s crossword gives you a good opportunity to practice your anagrams (12 clues), double definitions (7 clues) and hidden words (3 clues), but there is also a homophone, a sandwich, plus several combination/general clues.

ACROSS CLUES

1.  Maroon Beach (6). STRAND. Double definition. To “maroon” someone is to “strand” them. But also, a strip of beach is often called a “strand”.

4. Reasonable entertainment (4). FAIR. Double definition. To be “reasonable” means to be “fair”, but a “fair” is also a form of “entertainment”.

7. Eager sort of diva (4). AVID. Anagram. The definition is “eager” (which is a synonym for “avid”). “Sort of” is an anagram indicator, and if you shuffle the letters for “diva” you get “avid”.

8. Rib not broken by Scot, say (6). BRITON. Anagram. The definition is “Scot, say”. The answer is “Briton”, and a “Scot” is one example of a “Briton” (hence the use of the word “say”). The anagram indicator is “broken”, and if you shuffle the letters for “rib not” you get “Briton”.

9. Average guy (4). NORM. Double definition. “Average” is a synonym for “norm”, and Norm is a guy’s name.

10. Always in one version (4). EVER. Hidden word. The definition is “always”, “ever” is a synonym of “always”, and it is hidden in “onE VERsion”.

12. Hero serious about plant (4). ROSE. Hidden word. The definition is “plant”, “rose” is a type of “plant”, and it is hidden in “heRO SErious”.

14. One ran for a long time (3). EON.  Anagram. The definition is “long time” (which is a synonym for “eon”). “Ran” is the anagram indicator, and if you shuffle the letters for “one” you get “eon”.

16. Exclude from the pub (3). BAR. Double definition. To “exclude” means to “bar”, and another word for  “pub” is “bar”. In this case, “from the” are link words.

17. Deity gets terribly sore (4). EROS. Anagram. The definition is “deity”, and “Eros” is a deity, or God. The anagram indicator is “terribly”, and if you shuffle the letters “sore” you get “eros”.

20. Race around some land (4).  ACRE. Anagram. The definition is “some land”, and “acre” is a measure of land. The anagram indicator is “around” and if you shuffle the letters “race” you get “acre”.

23. Attendant’s strange idea (4).  AIDE. Anagram. The definition is “attendant”, and “aide” is a type of attendant. “Strange” is the anagram indicator, and if you shuffle the letters in “idea” you get “aide”.

24.  Hunt for a long time (6). FORAGE. General clue. The definition is “hunt”, and a synonym for “hunt” is “forage”. The wordplay is “for a long time”. In this case it is a matter of inserting “for” directly into the first part of the answer. For the second part of the answer, a synonym for “long time” is “age”.  So, “for” plus “age” = “forage”.

25. Otherwise see about taking leaf (4). ELSE.  Combination of anagram and sandwich clue. “Otherwise” is the definition, and a synonym for “otherwise” is “else”. The anagram indicator is “about”, so we have to shuffle the letters of the word “see”. In addition though, the other part of the wordplay is “taking leaf”. In this case, the word “taking” is an indicator of a sandwich clue. So if we take the first letter of “leaf” and insert it inside an anagram of “see”, we get “else”.

26. Chuck has husband turn right and left (4).  HURL. General clue. “Chuck” is the definition, and a synonym for “chuck” is “hurl”. The wordplay is made up of the following components:
    ‘Husband” can often mean you can use the first letter, “H”.
    “Turn” often denotes “U turn”, so you can use just the letter U.
    “Right” and “left” are often replaced by “R” and “L” respectively.
If you bring each of these letters together, they form the word “hurl”. Did you see the error in the clue??

27. Bad rent to be negotiated (6).  ROTTEN. Anagram. “Bad” is the definition, and a synonym for “bad” is “rotten”. The anagram indicator is “negotiated”, and if you shuffle the letters in “rent to”, you get “rotten”.


DOWN CLUES

1. Dreadful bores are sensible (5).  SOBER. Anagram. “Sensible” is the definition, and a synonym of “sensible” is “sober”.  The anagram indicator is “dreadful”, and if you shuffle the letters in “bores” you get “sober”.

2. Managed to get one in bad weather (4). RAIN. Sandwich clue. The definition is “bad weather”, and one type of bad weather is “rain”. Another word for “managed” is “ran”, and “to get one” means to put either an “a” or an “i” (in this case “i”) into “ran”, which gives you the word “rain”.

3. Reportedly condescends to Europeans (5). DANES. Homophone. The definition is “Europeans”. The word which gives it away as a homophone is “reportedly”, which means we are looking for a word which sounds like a synonym of “condescends”, but means “Europeans”. The answer we are looking for is “Danes”. Danes are Europeans, plus it sounds the same as “deigns” which means “condescends”.

4. Acceptable damages (4). FINE. Double definition. “Fine” is a synonym for “acceptable”, but “fine” is also a form of damages.

5. Loved to bother socialist (6). ADORED.  General clue (a bit like 24 across). The definition is “loved”, and a synonym for “loved” is “adored”. The wordplay is made up of “bother” = “ado” and “socialist” = “red”. Put them together and you get “adored”.

6. Old Italian-style manor (5). ROMAN. Anagram. The definition is “old Italian”, which is a Roman. The anagram indicator is “style”, and if you shuffle the letters of “manor” you get “roman”.

11. Stop changing vote (4). VETO. Another anagram (you’re getting lots of practice with anagrams!). The definition is “stop”, which also means to “veto”. “Changing” is the anagram indicator, and if you shuffle the letters in “vote” you get “veto”.

13. Finished six deliveries (4). OVER. Double definition. “Finished” means “over”, but “over” is also a cricket term for six deliveries or balls.

15. Merchant got tarred, unfortunately (6). TRADER. Anagram. The definition is “merchant”, and a type of merchant is a trader. The anagram indicator is “unfortunately”, and if you change around the letters in “tarred” you get “trader”.

16. Bishop, impetuous and pushy (5). BRASH. General clue (a bit like 24 across and 5 down). “Pushy” is the definition, and another word for “pushy” is “brash”. From the worldplay, you can use the letter “b” for “bishop”, and another word for “impetuous” is “rash”. When you add “rash” to “b”, you get “brash”.

18. Mention freer arrangement (5). REFER. Anagram. The definition is “mention”, and a synonym for “mention” is “refer”. The anagram indicator is “arrangement”, and if you play with the letters in “freer” you get  “refer”.

19. A shade naïve (5). GREEN. Double definition. To be “naïve” is to be “green”, but “green” is also a colour shade.

21. Cancellation includes room (4). CELL. Hidden word. The definition is “room”, and a “cell” is a type of “room”. The word “includes” suggests a hidden word, and included in “canCELLation" is the answer.

22. Wish for wife to join worker (4). WANT.  General clue. “Wish for” is the definition, which can also mean to “want”. From the wordplay, you can substitute “w” for “wife”, and a type of worker is an “ant”. If you join “w” to “ant”, you get “want”.

Craig & Mary