Financial Times 13,548 by Cinephile (in the red!)

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Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of November 20

For once Cinephile uses a theme that does not make his whole puzzle rather easy once one has copped to it! In fact I think he was very skillful in using “red” in three different ways in this puzzle and making some juicy clues as a result. On the other hand, there are some clues I am not happy with (1A, 10A and 8D). My favourites are 25A (IMAGINARY) and 7D (SHANK).

Across
1. ADVISER – VI (6) in anagram of AS RED. “Not sic” strikes me as a creative anagram indicator but not a good one.
5. CRIMSON – RIMS (borders) in CON (Tory)
9. MARGE – double definition
10. TROUT FARM – anagram of TUTOR + FAR (distant) + M (a mile). But “a mile” would be better cluing IM.
11. RAINDROPS – RA (artist) + IN DROPS (a casual visit pays)
12. RAKED – double definition
13. LAIRD – I (one) in LARD (fat)
15. INITIALLY – IN (in) + I (setter) and L (student) separately in ITALY (Italy)
18. HAND OF GOD – double definition
19. WOODS – double definition referring to redwoods
21. ROSIE – homophone (“rosey”)
23. GRANDPAPA – GRAND (splendid) + PAPA (pope)
25. IMAGINARY – I (one) + A GIN (a drink) in MARY (girl)
26. ARIEL – homophone (“aerial”)
27. GET LOST – anagram of TET[bury] GLOS
28. NAFFEST – A (a) + FF (very noisy) in NEST (home)

Down
1. ADMIRAL – double definition referring to the Red Admiral butterfly
2. VERMILION – REV (parson) backwards + MILLION (1,000,000) with L (50) removed
3. SPEED – DEEPS (of the ocean) backwards
4. RATIONING – anagram of IGNORANT I (one)
5. CROSS – double definition referring to the Red Cross
6. INTERVIEW – INTER (bury) + VIEW (prospect)
7. SHANK – S (South) + HANK (American name) referring to the redshank (a bird)
8. NAME DAY – double definition. Well I understand that “name day” could be derived from “say when” although “name the day” would be better. “Name day” can also mean what is more commonly called “ticket day”, a term used by investors.
14. DUODECIMO – ICED (covered as a cake) backwards in DUOMO (Italian cathedral)
16. INDO-ARYAN – IN (home) + DO (note) + A (a) + RYAN (founder of an airline). Ryanair was founded in 1985 by, among others, Tony Ryan.
17. LOOKALIKE – LOO (John) + KALI (the destroyer) + K (king) + E (energy)
18. HERRING – double definition referring to red herrings
20. SCARLET – SCAR (wound) + LET (little of)
22. START – double definition referring to the redstart (another bird)
23. GIANT – double definition referring to a red giant (a type of star)
24. DWARF – hidden word with definition referring to a red dwarf (another type of star)

6 comments on “Financial Times 13,548 by Cinephile (in the red!)”

  1. This was a Cinephile that wasn’t very hard, but one in which The Rev tried some special things which made us smile.

    But first a remark on (not sic) that you didn’t like as an anagrind, Pete. Only a few weeks ago, in his (alphabetical-along-the-sides) Saturday crossword Araucaria did the same thing: using “not sic” for “not as such” as the anagrind. Nobody complained about it at that occasion, including me.

    In 27ac “unburied” for to delete “bury” is a trick we’ve seen before, but still quite Libertarian.
    But there are three situations in which Cinephile was really at his playful best.

    11ac:
    The clue reads “a casual visit pays”.
    A normal person would say “pays a casual visit” which is DROPS IN.
    So, Cinephile turns the whole thing around:
    “a casual visit pays” = IN DROPS.
    Quite amusing, we thought.

    3d:
    SPEED is the reverse of DEEP’S.
    The DEEP is the ocean, so DEEP’S is “of the ocean”.
    Something that nobody says like that – quite funny, though.

    23d:
    Maybe you think that GIANT is a dd – maybe.
    But here Cinephile gives us “Designating”, which has to be read as “Design ATING” – which gives GIANT with “Design” as anagrind.
    Even my PinC could appreciate this for once.
    [there seems to be a (Libertarian) trend especially in Guardian crosswords where words in the clue have to be split at random – remember “winter” for WESTBURY as the ultimate example?]

  2. I wondered if I was missing something in 23d. Thanks for pointing that out. And, for 3d, where I also missed something — I thought I had heard of the ocean referred to as the “deeps” but that leaves the “of” as extraneous.

  3. Thanks, Pete. I keep thinking I have to wait until Saturday for the Saturday Prize blogs, so all solved prize x-words sit in a drawer for a week or two. I’ll try to remember to look in mid-week.

    Ref. the two red stars – thanks to Sil for Design ATING – wonderful! I was trying to make it from Des IGNAT ing or Desi GNATI ng. And in 24d, I think it is worlD WAR Fame.

  5. Jan, Thanks for your comments. I am not sure now whether I misread 24d or just botched my explanation of the clue, but you are of course correct that it is properly a hidden-word clue. And I have edited the blog accordingly.

  6. As usual I found this typically dreadful from this in-my-opinion-highly-overpraised setter. Quite apart from the criticisms you make Pete, I was very unhappy with exposed as an a.i. in 4dn and with its general libertarian-ness. At 8dn I wondered whether there was any connection with naming the day, weddings, and marriage as a kind of exchange of stock. Probably no.

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