Crossmyword: Answers and Explainers to Greater Govanhill's Autumn Crossword
Winner Katy White’s crossword answers.
The Anymen have done it again with yet another cryptic crossword. Over the past month our readers and residents have been sending in their cryptic crossword answers. If you’re still stuck then take a look at the answers and explainers below.
By The Anymen
Congrats on having a go and hopefully completing the second Anymen crossword! Congratulations to Imogen who won the first prize draw and received a £10 voucher for Continental Deli. The winner of this issue’s prize draw will be announced on the Greater Govanhill instagram. We have written the solution to each clue below accompanied by step by step breakdowns of the answers. In case you’re not familiar with the core premise of cryptic crosswords, the clues tend to (although not always!) break down into a literal definition and wordplay. The definition can either be at the start or the end of the clue, and the wordplay consists of the remainder of the clue, with a series of words that can be played around with to fit the definition.
Key concepts
Indicator word: a word or phrase which tells you to play around with some of the other words or letters in the clue. For example, jumbled, in the mix or muddled are classic words which indicate an anagram. Similarly, in reverse or subverted indicates that you should flip the letters so they are back to front. Finally, the word audibly or out loud indicates that the sound of a word out loud will have the same meaning as the one written down. Content words: this is referring to the literal letters that will be used to create the answer. So in a clue that has an anagram indicator, the word/s next to the indicator will be the ones that you anagram! Double definition: these sorts of clues don’t have any wordplay in them. Instead the clue states two things which have the same definition. The solutions below are formatted so that the word in bold is the literal definition, words in italics are indicator words, and words underlined are content words.
Down
1. Wheels, Northern Irish, on annual leave initially. Five inside making a huge celebration — Carnival This one is a real charade (when the wordplay clues multiple small sections of the answer). Wheels gives you CAR, Northern Irish - NI, then initially tells you to take the initial letters of annual leave - AL. Then you put the roman numeral for five - V inside, which gives you CAR-NI-V-AL. 2. Hesitation joins Allison’s Arm for an age — Era Hesitation is ER which can be added to A from ‘Allison’s’ to give you ER-A
3. Loch Restil contains yellowish pigment — Ochre Here the answer is found within “Loch Restil” which is indicated by contains.
4. Pirañas active on Nintendo are recent champions — Spaniards ‘Active’ is an anagram indicator - if you anagram P I R A N A S and put the result on DS (from Nintendo) it gives you SPANIAR-DS, i.e. the recent champions of the football World Cup.
5. Sun rising for rodents — Rats Sun is a synonym for the word STAR. If you read that upwards (rising) then you get RATS.
6. Tent collapsed by the French stinger — Nettle Collapsed is an anagram indicator - if you anagram T E N T and put it by ‘the’ in French (LE) you get NETT-LE, a stinger.
7. Got up and had easy life at public house — Rose Reilly ROSE is a synonym for “Got up”. If someone lives “the life of Reilly” then they have an easy life, so that’s what gives you REILLY.
8. Dull spoken word for surface — Plane This one is a “sounds-like” clue. In this case, “plain”, a synonym for dull, gives you PLANE or surface when said out loud.
11. Drink gargled salami song — Mango Lassi Drink is the definition. Gargled indicates that you should find an anagram of “salami song”.
13. Double entendre hidden deep undercover — Pun This is another “inside” clue, this time PUN can be found “hidden” in “deep undercover”.
15. A sailor's calling first aid in blistering hot — Seafaring A tricksy definition here. “first aid” can be abbreviated to FA which is then put into SEARING.
17. Oscar created in a frenzy for honour — Decorate In the NATO phonetic alphabet, Oscar represents O, which when added to “created” gives you the letters for a nice anagram of DECORATE, used here in its verb form (to honour/to decorate).
19. Insinuate I’m toilet roll?! — Imply IM stays in as is, while PLY is a common stand-in for toilet roll in cryptic crosswords.
21. By means of small container without litre — Via Small container is VIAL which, is you remove L from you get VIA or ‘By means or’
22. Street auto flipper — Carfin A bit of local knowledge required here. Auto gives you CAR and flipper gives you FIN which together makes CARFIN which (for those who don’t know) is a Street just off Cathcart Road.
24. Ranjit’s speciality provided by primarily hearty lads in a hurry — Dahls Primarily is indicating that you take the first letters of hearty (H) and combine it with the letters LADS. You then anagram these letters - indicated by in a hurry - to get the tasty solution.
26. Abandon late night Southside venue — Shed This clue is also a double definition: both things mean SHED.
30. Stuck on repeat with no power or place to go? — Loo In this clue, stuck on repeat is a synonym for the word LOOP. No power is telling you to remove the P and reveal the definition. The question mark is because of the euphemistic definition!
Across
1.Partially agree with society reorganised for queer haven — Category Is Reorganised is the anagram indicator for this clue. Take part of agree - AGR - with the letters from SOCIETY and reorganise to give you the answer.
5. Jogged with one in wet weather — Rain Taking a synonym of jogged, RAN, and adding one, I, gives you RA-I-N, i.e. wet weather.
7. Impulsive breakout — Rash This clue is a double definition: both words are synonyms of the definition.
8. Scheme with Tennents in 32a — Plant PLAN (“Scheme”) with T (“Tennents”) gives us PLANT, which can be found in the Glasshouse, i.e. 32a’s answer.
9. One in a modern form! — Neo This clue has an exclamation mark at the end because “in a modern form” is both an indicator for an anagram and also the definition!
10. From the top, sensible magazine unilaterally trashes filth — Smut From the top here means take the first letter of each word, which gives you the answer.
12. Storm upraises a specialty food shop — Super Asia Storm is an anagram indicator and “upraises a” is an anagram of SUPER ASIA 14. A whizz now selling principally smocks — Aprons ‘A’ is simply A, add a synonym of ‘whizz’ (PRO) and the principle letters of ‘now selling’ (N and S) and you’ll get A-PRO-N-S 16. Attention! Headwear for nocturnal insects — Earwigs “Attention” can mean EAR, as in when you “give your ear to” something. From headwear you get WIGS. Together giving you everyone’s favourite nocturnal insect.
18. Tea shop in a delicious dynamic. Ha! I ingest happily — Mi Chaii This clue deviates slightly from traditional cryptic form and is definitely one for the freestylers! The setter has included some deliberate red herring indicator words to throw the solver off. The answer is simply found in the text - MI CHAII.
20. Elves wrestle with testosterone, becoming sleek — Svelte Here wrestle is an anagram indicator for ELVES and “with testosterone” means you add a T.
23. Joyful bewilderment say, to be looked back upon fondly — Happy Days Joyful is a synonym for HAPPY. Say is an indicator for a homophone (or “sounds like”), a synonym for bewilderment is DAZE, which said out loud sounds like days.
25. Lift sound beams — Rays This is another “sounds like”, a synonym for lift is RAISE.
27. Within this irksome lord — Sir Within is instructing you to look inside “this irksome” where you’ll find the answer. Lord is the definition.
28. Touch and go hirsute — Hairy This is a double definition for “touch and go” and “hirsute” 29. Some daredevil? Oh! East to West religious festival — Holi Here, Some is instructing you to look for the answer inside “daredevil? Oh!”. HOLI is hidden inside going from left to right, as indicated by East to West
31. Clever clogs is doctor of language reversed — Nerd Within cryptic crossword writing, Doctor is often shortened to DR and language to EN (the English language). If you combine these letters and reverse them it reveals the answer. 32. You shouldn’t throw stones if you live in one made of sand castle — Glasshouse This clue is referencing the saying ‘Those who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones’. The wordplay is ‘made of sand’ for GLASS and ‘castle’ for HOUSE.