Financial Times 13,442 / Armonie
Posted by Agentzero on July 20th, 2010
Nothing too difficult here, except that the explanation for 21 down eludes me. As usual, Armonie’s clues pack an amazing amount into very few words.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | NOONTIDE *(TO DINE ON) |
| 5 | CROOKS dd |
| 9 | TOLERATE *(RELATE TO) |
| 10 | SCREAM S (second) CREAM (best) |
| 12 | FINE-DRAWN FINE (penalty) DRAWN (tied) |
| 13 | LEAVE dd. You don’t eat what you leave on your plate |
| 14 | PITY PIT (quarry) Y (unknown) |
| 16 | ATELIER ATE (consumed) LIER (one reclining) |
| 19 | TRAPPED T (tenor) RAPPED (performed hip-hop) |
| 21 | LUTE FLUTE minus F[ellow] |
| 24 | RULER L (port) in RUE (regret) + R (Romeo) |
| 25 | PERISCOPE PERIS (fairies) COPE (manage) |
| 27 | OPENED PEN (write) in OED (dictionary) |
| 28 | PHEASANT H (hard) in PEASANT (rustic) |
| 29 | TO DATE D.A. (attorney) in TOTE (betting system) |
| 30 | FRIGHTEN RIGHT (authority) in FEN (slough) |
| Down | |
| 1 | NOTIFY FIT (capable) ON, all reversed, + Y (Yankee) |
| 2 | OBLONG OB (old boy) LONG (desire) |
| 3 | TIRED TIRE (slick) D (democrat) “Tire” as in a racing tyre (with the American spelling). Isn’t D only an abbreviation for the capital-D Democrat? |
| 4 | DITTANY AN in DITTY (song) |
| 6 | RECOLLECT RE (soldier) COLLECT (a short prayer) |
| 7 | OPERATIC *(IRATE COP) |
| 8 | SYMMETRY M (Frenchman) in *(MYSTERY) |
| 11 | ANNA hidden in AsiAN NAtion |
| 15 | IMPERFECT dd |
| 17 | START OUT STAR (famous) TOUT (solicitor) |
| 18 | WALLSEND W[ork] ALL (entire) SEND (cast) |
| 20 | DUPE P (pennies) in DUE (expected) |
| 21 | LURCHER A lurcher would be unsteady. I don’t follow the wordplay, though. |
| 22 | HOBART BAR (hostelry) in HOT (passionate) |
| 23 | NEWTON NEW (current) TON (fashion) |
| 26 | SLANG L (student) in SANG (squealed) |
July 20th, 2010 at 8:27 am
Thanks AZ.
A lurcher is a crossbreed rather than a pedigree, usually between a greyhound type dog and another.
I’m struggling with 23d. I got NEWTON, but why is fashion equating to ton?
Intially went wrong at 10a….missed the S off Sgnt Bilko!
July 20th, 2010 at 9:28 am
‘ton’ means fashion or people of fashion.
It’s only in crosswords that I have come across this word.
I think it’s French.
July 20th, 2010 at 2:32 pm
Thanks, Agentzero, for blogging this Armonie.
As always, full of charades & ins [this time not many anagrams, though].
I think 10ac is a very nice clue [S CREAM for Second Best + a fine definition].
Of the dd’s, I found LEAVE a bit weak [that is, 'leave' being 'don't eat'] and was 15d (IMPERFECT) not clear to me.
I do understand that there is an ‘imperfect tense’ but what’s the link with ‘seconds’?
Maybe someone can explain.
I had a bit of a trouble in the SE, because I put in DUDE for 20d [with D for pennies instead of P]. So 25ac started with the wrong letter. Ah well.
July 20th, 2010 at 2:44 pm
Sil
Goods that are not perfect are sold as ‘seconds’.
July 20th, 2010 at 3:00 pm
Thanks, rishi, I had a thing like that lurking in the back of my mind.
But, as you say, ‘seconds’ are ‘imperfect’ – one’s a noun, the other’s an adjective, so strictly speaking not identical. Am I right?
[as a tense, 'imperfect' can indeed be a noun, so that's all right]
From a grammar POV a bit messy, isn’t it?
But I don’t want to make a fuss of it ['Tense seconds' reads nice and that's probably why Armonie did it this way].
July 20th, 2010 at 6:12 pm
Thanks Agentzero.
As you say nothing too difficult and also nothing too controversial.
Only answer I had to check was WALLSEND, as I didn’t know this was an area in Tyneside.
Didn’t like 3 down,I think Americanisms like “tire” should be signposted in crosswords(if they have to used at all).
Top clue for me 1 down.
July 20th, 2010 at 10:45 pm
The Wallsend Boys Club has produced a raft of famous footballers, the best known being Alan Shearer.
July 20th, 2010 at 11:15 pm
Thanks Ferret.
My knowledge of soccer players is extremely limited.I wonder if a raft of them would be useful in a shipwreck?
July 21st, 2010 at 9:12 am
…..not if you were stranded off Africa, it would struggle to make any progress near Algeria