Monthy Club Special 20,208: Explosion in the Scrabble Tile Factory!
Greetings all, the appearance of a new Club Special reminds me that I need to post up a blog of the last one. This puzzle is a curious beast (I find): the wordplay is scrupulously fair, and would not feel much out of place in a daily 15x15, but of course the vocabulary is hopelessly obscure, such that if you can get any of it from a couple of checkers you're a better solver than I am, Gunga Din. So there's a lot of toil and trouble that goes into solving one of these, as you try to locate something, anything that could be indicated by the wordplay that has any chance of being a real word. It's all good clean fun, but I wouldn't want to do it more than once a month.
A big part of the enjoyment I think is discovering what all these ridiculous words actually mean, and I have annotated most of them with their definitions below. I'm not sure how much utility assimilating them into one's personal lexicon would provide, but we don't do crosswords because it's useful, really, do we?
ACROSS
1 Fly right into blow dealt with axe (2-6)
OX-WARBLE - R [right] into (BLOW + AXE*) ["...dealt..."]
An ox-warble is a pesky fly that produces a swelling (of the same name) on the back of an ox.
9 Within one year, not prepared to back land-tenure (8)
RYOTWARI - within I YR [one | year], RAW TO [not prepared | to], all "back"
A ryot was a peasant farmer on the Indian subcontinent. Ryotwari was a system by which the British oppressors collected taxes from the ryots, as far as I can make out.
10 Five removing cape run quietly over, uncloaked (2,6)
IN QUERPO - {c}INQUE [five, removing C for cape] + R P O [run | quietly | over]
"En cuerpo" seems to be Spanish for "out of formal dress", or "without a coat" and apparently if you're English you can spell this almost any way you like.
11 Pound, perhaps, short over time, dividing notes in threes (8)
TERZETTI - reversed EZR{a} [Pound, perhaps, "short", "over"] + T [time], "dividing" TE TI [(two) notes]
A terzetto is a trio, making terzetti "threes".
12 Peeler’s half dislodging plug in nut plant (10)
MACROZAMIA - MAC{ad->ROZ{zer}}AMIA. A peeler is a ROZZER, take the first half and use it to replace the AD [plug] in MACADAMIA to discover another plant.
A genus of Australian cycads. Presumably quite large.
14 I stand for a second in game, playful if wary (4)
ALFA - second letters of {g}A{me}, {p}L{ayful} {i}F {w}A{ry}.
A in the international phonetic alphabet. The very subtle definition part makes this my COD.
15 Female comic agreed gags: she had victims in stitches (7)
DEFARGE - F [female] that (AGREED*) ["comic"] "gags".
In Dickens' Tale of Two Cities, a tricoteuse who, Fate-like, encodes in her knitting the names of people to be killed.
17 Rare solemnity in dispatching pupils once attendant’s released slip (7)
OBSEQUY - OBS [pupils once] + EQU{err}Y [attendant, who has lost ERR meaning "slip"]
Obsequies are funeral rites and solemnities; the singular form is rarely seen.
21 Involving vital element, poisonous with lead removed (4)
OXIC - {t}OXIC [poisonous, with leading letter removed]
Something relating to oxygen.
22 Do next task, arranging places for drying out (5,5)
DETOX TANKS - (DO NEXT TASK*) ["arranging"]
Aka detoxification centres, rumours of verlaine's intimate acquaintance with which over the years are greatly exaggerated.
23 One used to extract sap keeping stone in beak once (8)
JUSTICER - JUICER [one used to extract sap] "keeping" ST [stone]
An old word for a maintainer or administrator of justice. Beak is of course slang for a magistrate, as in "up before the beak".
25 What regularly angry hosts work on by not having relatives for dinner? (8)
EXOPHAGY - EH A{n}G{r}Y [what? | "regularly" angry] "hosts" OP [work] on X [by]
Exophagy is the etiquette among polite cannibals stating that one should not eat one's own kinsfolk.
26 Stand up for Scotland? Government department not getting in way (8)
MISTRYST - M{in}ISTRY [government department, "not getting IN"] + ST [way]
To disappoint by not keeping an engagement, i.e. to "stand someone up", in Scotland.
27 Vulture, one flying through area for last of carrion (8)
ZOPILOTE - ZO{n->PILOT}E. Take ZONE, an area, and replace the last letter of {carrio}N with PILOT [one flying].
A smaller American vulture, most notably a turkey buzzard or urubu.
DOWN
2 Ten with aversion to certain insects - and salt (8)
XANTHATE - X [ten] with ANT HATE [aversion to certain insects!]
A salt of xanthic acid, which I hope is as yellow as it sounds.
3 Brief possibly pornographic song that has makings of rock (8)
ADULARIA - ADUL{t} ["brief" possibly pornographic] + ARIA [song]
A transparent orthoclase feldspar, named for the Adula group in the Alps.
4 Keen at first to have a go at climbing Highland tree (4)
BIRK - K{een} + RIB [to have a go at], "climbing"
A Scots birch.
5 Rhetorical question somewhat tame to readers, on reflection (7)
EROTEMA - hidden reversed in {t}AME TO RE{aders}
A rhetorical question; basically just the Greek word for "question".
6 Bearing old vase and vestment girl holds cross (7-3)
JOURNAL-BOX - O URN + ALB [old | vase + vestment] that JO [girl] holds, plus X [cross]
A box or bearing for a journal; a journal being that part of a shaft or axle which is in contact with and supported by a bearing. It'll come in handy one day I'm sure.
7 Rounded characters, etc, mostly mean a large measure of intelligence (8)
NASTALIQ - NAST{y} ["mostly" mean] + A L IQ [a | large | measure of intelligence]
Persian cursive script. As well as rounded characters it has long horizontal strokes.
8 Big wheel in bird enclosure, not area having young plants (8)
VIVIPARY - VIP [big wheel] in {a}VIARY [bird enclosure, not A for area]
Viviparity, that is to say producing bulbils or young plants in the flower clusters.
13 Parrot-fashion, digitally remastering CD, got lazy, repeating last bit (10)
ZYGODACTYL - (CD GOT LAZYY*) ["remastering..."]
Having two toes in front and two toes behind, in the manner of a parrot. It's all the fashion these days, I understand.
15 Yellow pack arriving in birthday post (8)
DOORJAMB - OR JAM [yellow | pack] arriving in D.O.B. [birthday]
The sidepiece or post of a door. Quite a crossword when this is the least obscure word.
16 Junk food is hard to get in Dutch province (8)
FRIESISH - FRIES IS H [junk food | is | hard]
Of the Dutch province of Friesland.
18 Bow, once, before prince related to Byzantine governor (8)
EXARCHAL - EX-ARC [bow, once] before HAL [prince]
Of an exarch, which is a Byzantine provincial governor, especially of Italy.
19 Strip title from UK, ninth and last in fencing, sadly (8)
UNKNIGHT - (UK NINTH {fencin}G*) ["sadly"]
To divest of knighthood.
20 Religious guru, celebrity, unknown beyond confines of establishment (7)
STARETZ - STAR [celebrity] + Z [unknown] beyond E{stablishmen}T
A holy man or spiritual advisor in Russia, also spelt starets.
21 Purple emblem from board game, one played for longer (4)
GOLP - GO [board game] + LP [one played for longer]
A purple roundel in heraldry. Check your own family coat of arms!
A big part of the enjoyment I think is discovering what all these ridiculous words actually mean, and I have annotated most of them with their definitions below. I'm not sure how much utility assimilating them into one's personal lexicon would provide, but we don't do crosswords because it's useful, really, do we?
ACROSS
1 Fly right into blow dealt with axe (2-6)
OX-WARBLE - R [right] into (BLOW + AXE*) ["...dealt..."]
An ox-warble is a pesky fly that produces a swelling (of the same name) on the back of an ox.
9 Within one year, not prepared to back land-tenure (8)
RYOTWARI - within I YR [one | year], RAW TO [not prepared | to], all "back"
A ryot was a peasant farmer on the Indian subcontinent. Ryotwari was a system by which the British oppressors collected taxes from the ryots, as far as I can make out.
10 Five removing cape run quietly over, uncloaked (2,6)
IN QUERPO - {c}INQUE [five, removing C for cape] + R P O [run | quietly | over]
"En cuerpo" seems to be Spanish for "out of formal dress", or "without a coat" and apparently if you're English you can spell this almost any way you like.
11 Pound, perhaps, short over time, dividing notes in threes (8)
TERZETTI - reversed EZR{a} [Pound, perhaps, "short", "over"] + T [time], "dividing" TE TI [(two) notes]
A terzetto is a trio, making terzetti "threes".
12 Peeler’s half dislodging plug in nut plant (10)
MACROZAMIA - MAC{ad->ROZ{zer}}AMIA. A peeler is a ROZZER, take the first half and use it to replace the AD [plug] in MACADAMIA to discover another plant.
A genus of Australian cycads. Presumably quite large.
14 I stand for a second in game, playful if wary (4)
ALFA - second letters of {g}A{me}, {p}L{ayful} {i}F {w}A{ry}.
A in the international phonetic alphabet. The very subtle definition part makes this my COD.
15 Female comic agreed gags: she had victims in stitches (7)
DEFARGE - F [female] that (AGREED*) ["comic"] "gags".
In Dickens' Tale of Two Cities, a tricoteuse who, Fate-like, encodes in her knitting the names of people to be killed.
17 Rare solemnity in dispatching pupils once attendant’s released slip (7)
OBSEQUY - OBS [pupils once] + EQU{err}Y [attendant, who has lost ERR meaning "slip"]
Obsequies are funeral rites and solemnities; the singular form is rarely seen.
21 Involving vital element, poisonous with lead removed (4)
OXIC - {t}OXIC [poisonous, with leading letter removed]
Something relating to oxygen.
22 Do next task, arranging places for drying out (5,5)
DETOX TANKS - (DO NEXT TASK*) ["arranging"]
Aka detoxification centres, rumours of verlaine's intimate acquaintance with which over the years are greatly exaggerated.
23 One used to extract sap keeping stone in beak once (8)
JUSTICER - JUICER [one used to extract sap] "keeping" ST [stone]
An old word for a maintainer or administrator of justice. Beak is of course slang for a magistrate, as in "up before the beak".
25 What regularly angry hosts work on by not having relatives for dinner? (8)
EXOPHAGY - EH A{n}G{r}Y [what? | "regularly" angry] "hosts" OP [work] on X [by]
Exophagy is the etiquette among polite cannibals stating that one should not eat one's own kinsfolk.
26 Stand up for Scotland? Government department not getting in way (8)
MISTRYST - M{in}ISTRY [government department, "not getting IN"] + ST [way]
To disappoint by not keeping an engagement, i.e. to "stand someone up", in Scotland.
27 Vulture, one flying through area for last of carrion (8)
ZOPILOTE - ZO{n->PILOT}E. Take ZONE, an area, and replace the last letter of {carrio}N with PILOT [one flying].
A smaller American vulture, most notably a turkey buzzard or urubu.
DOWN
2 Ten with aversion to certain insects - and salt (8)
XANTHATE - X [ten] with ANT HATE [aversion to certain insects!]
A salt of xanthic acid, which I hope is as yellow as it sounds.
3 Brief possibly pornographic song that has makings of rock (8)
ADULARIA - ADUL{t} ["brief" possibly pornographic] + ARIA [song]
A transparent orthoclase feldspar, named for the Adula group in the Alps.
4 Keen at first to have a go at climbing Highland tree (4)
BIRK - K{een} + RIB [to have a go at], "climbing"
A Scots birch.
5 Rhetorical question somewhat tame to readers, on reflection (7)
EROTEMA - hidden reversed in {t}AME TO RE{aders}
A rhetorical question; basically just the Greek word for "question".
6 Bearing old vase and vestment girl holds cross (7-3)
JOURNAL-BOX - O URN + ALB [old | vase + vestment] that JO [girl] holds, plus X [cross]
A box or bearing for a journal; a journal being that part of a shaft or axle which is in contact with and supported by a bearing. It'll come in handy one day I'm sure.
7 Rounded characters, etc, mostly mean a large measure of intelligence (8)
NASTALIQ - NAST{y} ["mostly" mean] + A L IQ [a | large | measure of intelligence]
Persian cursive script. As well as rounded characters it has long horizontal strokes.
8 Big wheel in bird enclosure, not area having young plants (8)
VIVIPARY - VIP [big wheel] in {a}VIARY [bird enclosure, not A for area]
Viviparity, that is to say producing bulbils or young plants in the flower clusters.
13 Parrot-fashion, digitally remastering CD, got lazy, repeating last bit (10)
ZYGODACTYL - (CD GOT LAZYY*) ["remastering..."]
Having two toes in front and two toes behind, in the manner of a parrot. It's all the fashion these days, I understand.
15 Yellow pack arriving in birthday post (8)
DOORJAMB - OR JAM [yellow | pack] arriving in D.O.B. [birthday]
The sidepiece or post of a door. Quite a crossword when this is the least obscure word.
16 Junk food is hard to get in Dutch province (8)
FRIESISH - FRIES IS H [junk food | is | hard]
Of the Dutch province of Friesland.
18 Bow, once, before prince related to Byzantine governor (8)
EXARCHAL - EX-ARC [bow, once] before HAL [prince]
Of an exarch, which is a Byzantine provincial governor, especially of Italy.
19 Strip title from UK, ninth and last in fencing, sadly (8)
UNKNIGHT - (UK NINTH {fencin}G*) ["sadly"]
To divest of knighthood.
20 Religious guru, celebrity, unknown beyond confines of establishment (7)
STARETZ - STAR [celebrity] + Z [unknown] beyond E{stablishmen}T
A holy man or spiritual advisor in Russia, also spelt starets.
21 Purple emblem from board game, one played for longer (4)
GOLP - GO [board game] + LP [one played for longer]
A purple roundel in heraldry. Check your own family coat of arms!