FT Prize Puzzle of Monday March 7
A very enjoyable puzzle, with a number of simple but elegant — or should I say simple therefore elegant? — clues. I have in mind, among others, 21 across, 29 across, and 7 down. But Clue of The Day honours goes to 24 down.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | ORDEAL DE (French preposition) in ORAL (spoken) |
| 4 | STRANGER ST[reet] (route) RANGER (US commando) |
| 10 | BACKSLIDE L[eft] in BACKSIDE (rear) |
| 11 | REALM REAL (true) M (head of “monarchy”) |
| 12 | IAMB A-1 (first-class) reversed + M.B. (doctor) |
| 13 | WELLINGTON dd |
| 15 | GORGONS NO GROG (refused a drink) reversed + S (“stepmother” at first) |
| 16 | SETS ON *(STONES) |
| 19 | INTERS *(INSERT) |
| 21 | REGATTA *(A TARGET). “Crafty rivals” is a nice definition |
| 23 | MOTIONLESS d&cd |
| 25 | MALI *(MAIL) |
| 27 | GRAZE dd |
| 28 | RESTRAINT TRAIN (practise) in REST (the others) |
| 29 | SANCTION *(CONTAINS) |
| 30 | VOYEUR *(YOU’VE) + R[ight] |
| Down | |
| 1 | OXBRIDGE OX (meat producer) BRIDGE (game) |
| 2 | DECAMERON DE (“of,” French) CAMERON (English PM) |
| 3 | APSE P[rivate] S[ecretary]in A, E ([musical] keys) |
| 5 | TRELLIS cd |
| 6 | APRON STAGE cd |
| 7 | GIANT GI (soldier) + A + ANT (six-footer) |
| 8 | REMAND cd; an appellate court may remand a case for further trial proceedings |
| 9 | RIDERS cd (I think this is right — referring to riding competitions) |
| 14 | COME TO REST d&cd. Ideally “rest” = “the others” would not have been used twice in the same puzzle; cf. 28 across |
| 17 | OSTRACISE *(RAISE COST) |
| 18 | CANISTER C (“college” head) + RETSINA (foreign wine) reversed |
| 20 | SALERNO *(ORLEANS). A well-known anagram. Which reminds me: What famous folk song title is a cryptic clue? Answer: Arlo Guthrie’s “City of New Orleans” |
| 21 | RESIST IS (one’s) in REST (support) |
| 22 | IMAGES *(GAME IS) |
| 24 | TWAIN d&cd Referring to Mark Twain and to Kipling’s Ballad of East and West (of which “never the twain shall meet”). I thought this was terrific. |
| 26 | ARGO A R[ight] GO (proceed) |
Got most of the rhs out but the lhs was mainly blank.
12a Never heard of this
2d Ditto
24d Didn’t get it but agree very clever