There were plenty of clues to like in this puzzle. A nice job by Crux.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | VIRGINIA CREEPER *(RECEIVING REPAIR) A great example of anagram fodder that fits nicely into the surface sense. |
| 9 | TOPSIDE TOP (winning) SIDE (team). Topside as in the cut of beef. |
| 10 | TOECAPS cd |
| 11 | LEITH Initial letters of “lose essence in the heat” |
| 12 | LAND SPEED cd. Refers to Donald Campbell, who set a number of land (and water) speed records in the 1950s and 1960s |
| 13 | TRAVELLER dd, referring to the old estate car |
| 15 | SWOON O (circle) in *(SNOW) |
| 16 | TACKS homophone of TAX (charge) |
| 18 | IGNORANCE cd (“Ignorance is bliss”) |
| 20 | SHIFTLESS A couch potato, being relatively stationary, may SHIFT LESS |
| 23 | PETRE A shortened form of SALTPETRE (Potassium nitrate). This was an unexciting clue given that one word is merely the shortened form of the other (as opposed to two independent words). |
| 24 | INKBLOT *(TO BLINK) |
| 25 | BLOSSOM B (British) LOSS (defeat) OM (honour (Order of Merit)). A blossom may occur “in May.” |
| 26 | SAN ANDREAS FAULT a nice cd |
| Down | |
| 1 | VITAL STATISTICS cd |
| 2 | REPLICA P (Prince’s head) in RELIC (antique) A (article) |
| 3 | IRISHNESS Malin Head is the northernmost headland (NESS) in Ireland |
| 4 | IDEAL *([h]AILED) |
| 5 | CUT AND RUN CUT (injury) AND (with) RUN (ladder, as a stocking). I thought this was a great, concise clue |
| 6 | EVENS ELEVENS (teams) minus EL (the, Spanish) |
| 7 | PLACEBO hidden in rePLACE BOtox. “Surprisingly” because in theory a placebo should not help, although it often does, presumably for psychological reasons |
| 8 | RESIDENCE PERMIT RESIDENCE (large house) PERMIT (let) |
| 14 | LEICESTER A nice dd |
| 15 | STRIPS OFF RIPS (tears) in S (Southern) TOFF (dandy) |
| 17 | CHICKEN CHIC (with it) KEN (knowledge). I thought this was well disguised. I spent some time looking for a word with IT in it |
| 19 | NOT A SOU cd |
| 21 | TALON Odd letters of TrAiLhOuNd. A minor quibble: the apostrophe-s must be meant as a connector, rather than as part of the fodder (otherwise it would be TALONS). That being so, there shouldn’t have been a second “is” in the clue. |
| 22 | SABRA *(ARAB’S) A neat coincidence that SABRA can be anagrammed thus. |
actually this is a query on Monday’s FT prize xword, this being the nearest.
Being a cheapskate, I download the xwords for free. But the online version didn’t have the clue for 25 down. Did the print version have it?
If so, could you please let me know what it is? Thank you!
Agentzero,
Could you please help as I do not understand the dd for 14d or the cd for 19d. Also I had residency permit for 6d which meant I did not get 18a either. Thanks
Dave H
14d The Earl of Leicester was a favourite of Queen Elizabeth 1st and Leicester is a type of cheese.
19d A sou was a French coin and ‘bust’ is being used in the sense of broke or pennyless.
Thanks, Gaufrid.
Dreadnought, here you go:
25. One expects some to have called before wedding (3)
Dreadnought, I apologize. The clue for 25d I posted above is in fact from Saturday’s (not Monday’s) prize puzzle. I do have Monday’s paper at home and will check it tonight and follow up with another comment when I do.
Update: a correction appeared in today’s (Wednesday’s) FT. (So the error was in Monday’s print version as well.) It reads as follows:
Missing clue: 25 across in Monday’s crossword:
A quiet wood (3)
Apologies for the omission
Of course, by “25 across” they meant 25 down.
Thanks Agentzero. It’s a pity they didn’t append the same correction to today’s on-line version.
thank you chaps for helping out. obviously I won’t give answer as it’s a prize xword…
btw, another problem with being a cheapskate is that the ft.com site doesn’t put out today’s xword until about 2am GMT – but I live in Singapore (i.e. 8 hours ahead), so I’m already out the door. My next-door neighbour gets it in the print version at 11pm GMT…aaah the trials of life eh?