FT 12,525 / Satori – The Dark Side of the Mole
Posted by tilsit on August 1st, 2007
One of the toughest of setters (be it in his Satori guise or Taupi in the Guardian) and a personal favourite. A battle with Mr Mole is one which always gives a great deal of personal satisfaction. Today’s puzzle was no exception with an entertaining theme as well. However, it did take a little while to sort out this little beast!
THEME: 9, 18 = BLACK AND WHITE
ACROSS * = ANAGRAMS CD = Cryptic def R = Reverse
1 SEDUCE DUC (French nobleman) inside SEE
4 ISOLATED LADIES TO*
10 NEUTRAL B & W = def. T in NEURAL
11 INSTEAD SEAT * inside IND
12 HOLE This held me up for a while. I thought it referred to Black Mass and entered that at first.
13 ECONOMICAL E + NO inside COMICAL
16DEFRAY to de-fray as in remove the tassels, for example!
17 ENSNARE Four points = E N S N + ARE
20 PUDDING (CD) Pudding = dessert, but when preceded by black, it becomes savoury and delicious!
21 ATHENA Not sure I have this right. I think it’s THEN inside (gloved by) a’s
24 OUTGROWTHS SHOW ROTGUT* A reasonably apposite anagram.
25 JACK Another answer to follow ‘Black’ this time to make the game.
27 ORIGAMI (cd) for thr Japanese art of Paperfolding, at which I am a black belt!
29 EARRING A inside ERRING
30 FRESHMEN Hidden answer
31 CYGNUS which gave me the correct answer for 12 C(r)Y = SUNG (R)
DOWN
1 SUNSHADE USE HANDS*
2 DOUBLE FAULT Another to derail me, as I thought it was TENNIS COURT, then SQUASH COURT!
3 CURE Dbl def. The French priest and the method of food smoking.
5 SPINNING WHEEL Spooner’s “Winning Spiel”
6 LAST MINUTE Outrageously dark clue! WEE = SMALL = MINUTE
9 TIE Link with “Black” is a formal occasion e.g. “Black tie dinner”.
10 BLACK AND WHITE CD – The FT is printed on pink paper, so things can’t be seen in B&W!
14 CORRELATION ACTOR IN ROLE*
15 BALDERDASH balder (Baldur?) is Odin’s son + – (the dash)
16 see 9 down
19 DARK AGES CD Associated with the theme word at 9.
22 NOD OFF – rather weak clue I felt
23 See 5
26 GREY Combination of the theme words,
28 ICE Not sure about the first part of this, but the second relates to the driving hazard.
August 1st, 2007 at 9:25 pm
I enjoyed this one too (and was secretly a little jealous that it didn’t coincide with my own blogging duties).
21D I reached the same conclusions, although it took a while for me to twig the as=plural of a device.
22D struck me as more groan-inducing than weak. It raised a smile in these quarters, but mainly because it reminded me of an old Two Ronnies song that featured a similar device (“So doff, so doff, so doff your cap…)!
29D (n)ICE
August 1st, 2007 at 11:10 pm
Check out the report on today’s Times puzzle at the other blog site for a nice coincidence …
August 2nd, 2007 at 9:24 am
Re 10A, is “black and white” a synonym for neutral?
I was perfectly happy with 22D
Re 28A I thought “dress accessory” was overly misleading as a definition of EARRING but I guess not entirely unfair.