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FT Prize Puzzle of Monday March 21
Apologies to all; I lost track of time and have posted late by one day.
This was a classic Dante/Rufus; the CDs are the best clues here, I think, with excellent misdirection (16 down, in particular).
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | SWEDEN DE (“of,” French) in NEWS reversed |
| 4 | BIT BY BIT dd |
| 9 | DECADE homophone of DECAYED (rotten) |
| 10 | HARDBACK HARD (not easily) BACK (returned) |
| 12 | CUL DE SAC *(L[earner] ACCUSED) |
| 13 | ANGELA ANGEL (Guardian) A (article) |
| 15 | RATE dd |
| 16 | BRIDEGROOM cd, very nicely misleading |
| 19 | BUREAUCRAT BUREAU (foreign office) C (about) RAT (divulge secrets) |
| 20 | KEYS dd (A to G are of course the musical keys, unless you are in Germany where B flat is H) |
| 23 | RESIGN cd |
| 25 | ECSTATIC E.C. (City) STATIC (still) |
| 27 | HELPINGS HELPING (serving) S[econd] |
| 28 | COARSE *(SCORE + A) |
| 29 | SEE AHEAD SEE (interview) A HEAD (capital) |
| 30 | FLOWED FLO (little Florence) WED (got married) |
| Down | |
| 1 | SIDECAR dd I believe I was drinking a rye whiskey and Cointreau sidecar when I solved this |
| 2 | ESCALATOR *(SEAT CAROL); “nonstop flight” is a terrific definition |
| 3 | EDDIES *(DEED IS) |
| 5 | IVAN *(VAIN) |
| 6 | BADINAGE *(ADA BEING) |
| 7 | BLADE dd |
| 8 | TAKE AIM *(MAKE IT A) |
| 11 | CAPRICE AC[count] reversed + PRICE (charge) |
| 14 | ADVANCE dd |
| 17 | OVERTHROW cd; if the ball is overthrown, a fielder will have to run it down; “cast” = thrown ball |
| 18 | LANGUISH *(SAIL HUNG) |
| 19 | BIRCHES dd |
| 21 | SUCCEED dd |
| 22 | STROLL ST[reet] ROLL (flatten) |
| 24 | SOLVE *(LOVES) This can’t be new, but I like it all the same |
| 26 | AGRA hidden in IndiA GRAve; site of the Taj Mahal, built as a mausoleum for Mumtaz Mahal |