Financial Times 13,538 / Armonie
Posted by Agentzero on November 9th, 2010
An enjoyable, not too difficult puzzle today. There seems to be a word missing in 22 across. Laughed at 23 down, which is risque to American ears, at least. My favorite clue of the day is probably 28 across.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | METAPHYSICAL *(A CHEAT SIMPLY) |
| 10 | PIERCES R[uns] in PIECES (articles) an &lit. clue, and a nice one. |
| 11 | TORNADO TORN (rent) A DO (fleece, as a verb). |
| 12 | LIT UP PUT (suggest) IL (“the,” Italian), all reversed. |
| 13 | WRETCHED W[ife] RETCHED (was sick) |
| 15 | PERIPHERAL PERI (fairy) + HERA (goddess) in PL[ace] |
| 16 | IRIS dd |
| 18 | EASE LEASE (rental) minus the initial letter |
| 20 | STRIPTEASE STRIP (band) TEAS (drinks) E[cstasy] |
| 22 | RAINCOAT A (unaccounted for in the clue) IN (popular) CO (firm) in RAT (scoundrel). Surely the clue was meant to read “Scoundrel acquires a popular firm making clothing.” |
| 24 | PILED P[ennies] I LED (spent). Led = spent as in the phrase “how I led my life…” |
| 26 | ENDOWED END (objective) OWED (unsettled) |
| 27 | UNCLEAN UNCLE (relative) AN (article) |
| 28 | DISCONSOLATE DISC (record) ON SO LATE (playing well into the night). A clever pun! |
| Down | |
| 2 | ERECTOR E[nglish] RECTOR (clergyman) |
| 3 | ALCOPOPS A L (trainee) COP (policeman) OPS (operations) |
| 4 | HOSE S[eedlings] in HOE (weed, as a verb) |
| 5 | SATURNALIA *(AUSTRALIA) |
| 6 | COROT CO (firm) ROT (bunk) |
| 7 | LEATHER THE (article) in LEAR (king) |
| 8 | APPLE-PIE ORDER d&cd |
| 9 | CONDESCENDING CON (prisoner) DESCENDING (going down) |
| 14 | WESTWARD HO *(WHO + STEWARD) |
| 17 | ATYPICAL *(ACT I PLAY) |
| 19 | SKIDDED S[on] + KIDDED (joked) |
| 21 | AILMENT *(LIME) in ANT (worker) |
| 23 | COWLS C[ollege] OWLS (hooters) Interesting surface reading! |
| 25 | NUTS dd |
November 9th, 2010 at 2:52 pm
Thanks Agentzero. This was only a little harder than the puzzle by Armonie’s alter ego Chifonie in the Guardian today. I agree about the missing A in 22ac – I originally thought it must be the incorrectly-spelt RAINMENT (for RAIMENT), with firm = MEN.
November 9th, 2010 at 3:55 pm
10a was the last one I got. It was just about the only word which would fit, but it still took me a while to understand the clue. Unusual for words in the clue to do double duty like that.
November 9th, 2010 at 4:06 pm
Yes, a good, cohesive puzzle with a consistent ‘feel’ (it seems that Armonie tries, in the spirit of economy, to work with a self-imposed limit of eight words per clue max; and a much lower overall average).
I don’t recall encountering the anagram at 5D before, which raised a smile. And I assume that 23D is an intentional innuendo, rather than “lost in translation” (I can’t really figure a viable alternative for the surface). Have to concur with your pick of the bunch being 28A.
Thanks Agentzero.
November 9th, 2010 at 5:57 pm
After some early progress, had to use an anagram solver to get 1a & 5d which got me going.
Would never have got 6d -why does crosswordland always have obscure poets and painters rather than scientists and mathematicians?
8d couldn’t get order.
19d decided slipped was the answer as I without conviction decided joked =being lippy
Failed also on 14d & 26a
As seasoned Eye solver I got and enjoyed 20a.