Prize puzzle from the FT of Monday 7 February
Another Monday, another Dante. As usual, there are some clever cd’s (4 down, 8 down stand out for me) and dd’s (I particularly liked 24 down).
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | SHOULDER SHOULD (ought) ER (hesitation) |
| 5 | SHREWD SHREW (spitfire) + D[ay] |
| 9 | BREAKS UP dd |
| 10 | SPLITS dd |
| 12 | AS WAS alternate letters in wArSaW’s AlSo |
| 13 | TITLE PAGE TITLE (right) PAGE (servant) |
| 14 | NETHER N[ame] + ETHER (number) |
| 16 | WRAITHS *(THIS RAW) |
| 19 | SEMIPRO *(PROMISE) |
| 21 | SVELTE T (square) in *(ELVES) |
| 23 | OWNERSHIP *(PRO HE WINS) |
| 25 | SWELL dd |
| 26 | SAILOR “ABC-man” is a homophone of A[ble] B[odied] SEAMAN |
| 27 | DECREASE dd |
| 28 | LASTED *(SALTED) |
| 29 | CONDENSE CON (swindler) DENSE (slow-witted) |
| Down | |
| 1 | SUBWAY A cd, I suppose, but a bit too close to a plain definition for me |
| 2 | OVERWHELM W (first [in] “watch”) in OVER (too muc) HELM (rudder) |
| 3 | LIKES dd Would Uncle Yap call this a “dud”? Usually a dd involves two senses of the defined word. Here only one sense of the defined word is involved; the misdirection lies in the use of two senses of one of the definitions. |
| 4 | EQUATOR cd |
| 6 | HYPHENATE cd |
| 7 | ERICA hidden in AmERICAn |
| 8 | DISPERSE cd |
| 11 | STOW S[outh] (180 degrees) TO W[est] (270 degrees) |
| 15 | HYPERBOLE *(BE HER PLOY) |
| 17 | TITHE BARN THE BAR (advocates) in TIN (money) |
| 18 | ESPOUSAL dd |
| 20 | OOHS SHOO (drive away) reversed |
| 21 | SUPREMO SUP (drink) + *(MORE) I was confused at first by the word “starts”, but I think it just indicates that SUP is the first half of the wordplay |
| 22 | FLEECE FLEE (run) CE (church) |
| 24 | NAILS dd |
| 25 | SHRED SH (quiet) RED (embarrassed) |
Got completely becalmed in the North East but only had 14a missing elsewhere. Not for the first time took number as referring to something methematical rather than medical.
Shrew =spitfire was an unknown, horrified to miss a hidden word.
I’d be grateful for further explanation of 8d. Sure if you move something you disperse it -but why are you breaking concentration? Maybe I’m concentrating too hard and can’t see the ood for the trees. Thanks
Hi Bamberger
If it’s any consolation, it took me quite some time to see that 7 down was a hidden word. Since a number of female names fit the pattern (E-I-A) made by the crossing letters, I wondered for a while whether Eliza Doolittle had some secret anti-American sympathies.
Regarding 8 down: a crowd, for example, is a concentration of people; if the police disperse a crowd, they are moving people in a way that breaks that concentration.
I hope I am not too late to ask a couple of questions.
Why does Shrewd man fly, and espousal mean adoption? Surely you espouse something then either adopt it or not? I put it in because I could see nothing else but with not much conviction.
I liked this puzzle and I like Dante. I was going to ask why ether means number but I fell for the old trick yet again.
cheers
John