Financial Times 12,860 by Cincinnus
Posted by Pete Maclean on September 11th, 2008
I found this more challenging than the typical Cincinnus puzzle but just as enjoyable and satisfying. I failed to fathom the wordplay in one clue, 16A. I especially liked 9A, 10A, 2D and 23D.
Across
1. BADGERED – BADGE (mark) + RED (embarrassed)
5. PACKET – double definition
9. CAPITALS – capitals have capitals? Capital!
10. SCHEME – S[implisti]C H[om]E M[ovi]E
12. LINER – LINE (equator) + R (right)
13. RUBBED OUT – RUB (difficulty) + BED OUT (do some gardening)
14. ESTATE – double/cryptic definition
16. LAYOFFS – OFF (start) in LAYS (poems). (See comments below)
18. LINOCUT – [fal]L + IN (in) + O (love) + CUT (censored)
20. ARETHA – anagram of A + HEART
22. SICKENING – double definition
23. LAGOS – G (grand) in LAOS (country)
24. ECLAIR – double definition. For anyone who may not know, Jenny Eclair is a splendid comedienne often to be enjoyed on BBC radio.
25. MERCHANT – ME (note) + CH (church) in RANT (tirade)
26. STERNA – hidden word
27. ATOMISER – anagram of OR EMITS A
Down
1. BUCKLE – double definition
2. DAPHNIS AND CHLOE – anagram of CHOPIN HELD SAND A
3. ENTER – [r]ENTER
4. ENLARGE – anagram of GENERAL
6. ARCHETYPE – anagram of CAR + [smoot]H + ETYPE (Jaguar)
7. KEEP OFF THE GRASS – cryptic definition
8. TREATISE – anagram of ITS A in TREE (box perhaps)
11. ABEL – hidden word
15. ACCRETION – CRE[w] in ACTION (battle)
17. PLASTERS – PL[ain] + ASTERS (bloomers)
19. TAIL – homophone
20. AUGMENT – AUG (short month) + MEN (people) + T (time)
21. ISHTAR – IS (is) + H (hard) + TAR (sailor)
23. LOCUM – OC (officer) in LUM (chimney). “Lum” is, I believe, a well known Scottish word for chimney.
September 11th, 2008 at 8:27 am
16a OFF (start, as in ‘the off’ or ‘they’re off!’) in LAYS (poems)
September 11th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
Thanks, Geoff!
September 27th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
I don’t agree that 7dn is a CD. Isn’t it a double definition, with ‘sign’ surreptitiously (and unsoundly?) slipped into each definition: ‘No smoking sign’, saying don’t smoke grass, and ‘sign seen in park’? The question mark really applies to the first one, arguably another weakness.
September 27th, 2008 at 11:23 pm
Wil, you have certainly prompted me to think about this clue much more deeply than I had. And, after that inner deliberation, I still want to see it as a cryptic definition. As a double definition it would be very flawed, for the reasons you point out, but I see no argument to its being a CD. I wonder about the capital S in “Smoking” but that is a trivial issue. I still say CD.
September 28th, 2008 at 11:50 pm
I think you’re probably right, Pete. The Azed attitude to CDs, which is basically that they shouldn’t exist, and which I rather agree with, encourages me to try to see the good (or at any rate not the bad, i.e. a CD) in clues, and this can be strained.