A quick solve from Neo today. Nothing especially commentworthy, but I enjoyed 21 across and 15 down, among others.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 8 | AGOUTI OUT (in the open) in A GI (an American soldier) |
| 9 | NERVE GAS NE[a]R (with [A]tomic obliteration, “near”) VEGAS (gambling town) |
| 10 | POPE P[ower] in POE (writer Edgar Allan) |
| 11 | MOLYBDENUM *(NUMB + MELODY) |
| 12 | MAKO K[ilos] in MAO (Chinese statesman) |
| 13 | SILVERWARE [Long John] SILVER (pirate) WAR (battling) E[nglish] |
| 17 | STAT START (begin) minus the R (“no right”) |
| 18 | CYNIC hidden in fanCY NICaean |
| 19 | SASH SAS (secret soldiers) H[otel] |
| 21 | BOND STREET BOND (chain) + *(SETTER) Hopefully the setter in the surface reading is a dog and not a cruciverbalist |
| 23 | IDEA AIDE with A cycling to the back |
| 24 | LAST MINUTE LAST (what cobbler uses) MINUTE (very little) |
| 28 | GLOW L[ength] in GO (try) + W[ith] |
| 29 | ALL THERE d&cd |
| 30 | ROOKIE CROOK (criminal) minus the C (caught) + I[ndo] E[uropean] |
| Down | |
| 1 | IGNORANT [s]IGNORA (large woman going topless) As suggested by Eileen, this is surely [b]IG NORA (large woman going topless) NT (books); the definition is “rude” as in unlettered, rather than boorish |
| 2 | SURE-FOOTED *(FOES ROUTED) |
| 3 | SIAMESE CAT *(ISAAC MEETS) |
| 4 | ANIL A (one) NIL (zero) a common Indian name |
| 5 | ARAB dd |
| 6 | HEBE hidden in tHE BEast |
| 7 | JAGUAR AG (silver) + U[ranium] in JAR (pot) |
| 14 | LUNGE LUNG (breather) + E[nergy] |
| 15 | EX CATHEDRA EX CAT (spiteful gossip once) + *(HEARD) I like the way the words “once heard” go together deceptively |
| 16 | WASHINGTON d&cd |
| 20 | STEP ON IT *(SET POINT) |
| 22 | ORACLE CORACLE (rowing-boat) minus the first letter (C) |
| 25 | TA-TA TA (cheers) repeated |
| 26 | ITEM dd |
| 27 | USER hidden in obvioUS ERror |
Thanks, Agentzero.
Re 1dn: I like your ‘signora’ – but she’s not necessarily large, is she? I think it’s [b]IG NORA. 🙂
I’d never heard of MOLYBDENUM but it’s a great anagram.
An enjoyable puzzle all round. Thanks, Neo.
Funny one! I shall steal the office copy.
Another very good puzzle, though you don’t always get ’em in the FT. Agree with Eileen, and many very tight clues.
Eileen: Ha! I’m sure you’re right. Once I saw “signora” in the clue I couldn’t un-see it. Thanks!
Got about half out.
Didn’t get and have never heard of agouti,molybdenum, mako, anil or ex cathedra so that didn’t help with checking letters elsewhere.
1d too tough for me.
As someone commented a few weeks ago the Saturday and Monday prize puzzles seem easier that the Tues-Fri puzzles.
Hi Agentzero, “a quick solve from Neo today”?
And “nothing commentworthy”.
You must have been in a special mood today.
This puzzle was on the FT site last night even before midnight [what happened there?], so I took it to bed to see whether I could make a start.
First impression: a harder Neo than usual.
Probably I was too tired at that stage, so when I looked at it again during my lunch break [read: the break in which I have lunch] a lot of words fell very quickly in place, indeed.
In another place I emphasised the fact that I have great admiration for Neo because of him being extremely precise and providing us with good surfaces – IMO, the two most important things for a setter – and today was no exception.
Admit, I thought IGNORA was [s]IGNORA too, until Eileen made it all clear – and if you think about it, it is all the more misdirecting from Neo given the fact that he probably thought about this too [or not, of course, and then you can throw this in the dustbin].
I especially liked WASHINGTON [different, I thought], MOLYBDENUM [great surface], ROOKIE [fine construction] and above all IDEA [fantastic device (although I have seen Neo using this before)] – surely my Clue of the Day.
I went straight for Big Nora, I’m afraid! After I’d remembered an old one by someone else (‘Unaware Ringo upset a six-footer’) that I was seeking to avoid.
Thanks to Sil for the recent comments about precision (we aim to please), to the other contributors, and to ‘0’ for the excellent bloggery.
Cheers
P, N, T etc.