FT Prize Puzzle of Monday March 28
Good wordplay here, with some well-disguised definitions (16 across, 31 across). Nothing too hard, although it took me a while to spot the wordplay in clues like 17 down and 23 down.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | CICADA I C (see) in CAD (rat) + A |
| 4 | ELEPHANT *(THE PLANE) There were opportunities for a stronger surface here, I think: maybe “One bearing a trunk off the plane”? |
| 9 | BLOWER dd |
| 10 | FAIR PLAY F (loud) AIRPLAY (radio exposure) |
| 12 | LIMERICK LIME (green) RICK (strain) |
| 13 | BENIGN G (force) in BENIN (African country) |
| 15 | RAIL dd |
| 16 | VAMOOSE MOO (low) in VASE (urn) |
| 20 | DEVIANT VIA (through) in DENT (depression) |
| 21 | URGE hidden in reverse in greasE GRUesome |
| 25 | ANIMAL LAMINA (plate) reversed |
| 26 | RECUSANT *(ETRUSCAN) |
| 28 | FRICTION R (conclusion of “war”) in FICTION (lie) |
| 29 | UPHILL U[niversity] + H[ospital] in PILL (medicine) |
| 30 | ETHEREAL E (beginning to “erase”) + THE + REAL (concrete) |
| 31 | PRETTY R[ight] in PETTY (minor) Amusing, coherent surface, and a definition (“quite”) well hidden by appearing to be part of a common phrase (“quite right”) |
| Down | |
| 1 | COBBLERS dd |
| 2 | CHOW MEIN The Reverend might have been linked to the Glorious Leader by a MAO CHAIN |
| 3 | DREARY EAR (attention) in DRY (stale) |
| 5 | LEAR dd, ref. Edward Lear |
| 6 | PERVERSE A poet might be paid on a PER VERSE basis |
| 7 | AU LAIT [p]AULA (girl skimmed) + IT |
| 8 | TRYING dd |
| 11 | OCEANIC *(COCAINE) |
| 14 | BOUNCER dd |
| 17 | DECANTER CAN (container) in DETER (stop). The clue reads “Container plugs to stop bottle;” I persuaded myself at first that “to stop” was the container indicator, and so spent some time looking for a word meaning “plugs” in a word meaning “bottle” |
| 18 | ORGANIST OR (however) + *(A STING) |
| 19 | MENTALLY MEN (people) TALLY (make sense) |
| 22 | WAFFLE dd |
| 23 | FINISH IN in FISH (angle). Very deceptive to have IN as the contained word, rather than the container indicator |
| 24 | BUMPER dd |
| 27 | IOTA A TO I (first nine characters of the alphabet) reversed |
Solved all the top half but had many gaps in the bottom half.
25a I’m sure this be on old chestnut , but first time for me.
26a Hadn’t come across this word .
31a Just couldn’t see this.
23d Fish =angle never occured to me
24d Got fixated on jumbo =elephant and while trunk wouldn’t fit , there had to be another part …
17D is really awesome. One of the very few constructions where all four components can be a containment indicator (i.e., Container, to stop, plugs, bottle).