Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of November 26
We have another fine Mudd puzzle this week. I especially like 10A (DISPLACE), 29A (TRAIN SET) and 5D (EXIT). Initially I got one clue, 22D (OTTAWA), wrong and failed to fully understand 26D (BONE).
Cinephile seems to have fallen off the rota for this Weekend prize puzzle. I wonder why. He seems to be producing other crosswords as usual.
Across
1. FAMISH – F (strong) + AMISH (religious sect)
4. SEMANTIC – MAN (chap) in CITES (quotes) backwards
9. EXTORT – EX (former partner) + TORT (wrong)
10. DISPLACE – anagram of LIPS in DACE (fish). Lovely anagram indicator (“quivering”) for the context!
12. PLIMSOLL – anagram of SLIM in POLL (head)
13. STREET – anagram of SETTER
15. TORY – [his]TORY
16. MIDAS TOUCH – anagram of IM D[ish] OUT CASH
19. BEHINDHAND – “behind hand” (from here, might one whisper)
20. TACO – hidden word
23. ASTERN – A (a) + S (second) + TERN (winger)
25. WRETCHED – W[a]R + ETCHED (deeply impressed)
27. KINGSTON – KINGS (college) + NOT backwards. Kingston is, of course, the capital of Jamaica. I wondered at first about the appropriateness of “in recess” as a reversal indicator but Chambers tells us that it can mean “a going backwards”.
28. GAMMON – AMMO (bullets) in G[u]N
29. TRAIN SET – anagram of S (Sulphur) NITRATE
30. SANDAL – AN (an) in LADS (boys) backwards
Down
1. FLEAPIT – LEAP (spring) in FIT (attack)
2. MATRIARCH – TRIA[l] (short test) in MARCH (spring)
3. STRESS – [lifeles]S + TRESS (hair)
5. EXIT – EX (someone who’s already left) + IT (it)
6. APPETITE – A (a) + P-PETITE (l-little)
7. TRACE – double definition
8. CHEETAH – homophone (“cheater”)
11. SLEIGH – SLEIGH + T (time) means cunning
14. TANNERY – ANNE (queen) in TRY (attempt)
17. UNASHAMED – anagram of HUMAN [ignoranc]E SAD
18. IMPRISON – anagram of IRON PINS
19. BLANKET – LANK (thin) in BET (chance)
21. ORDINAL – DIN (noise) in ORAL (test)
22. OTTAWA – WATT (engineer) in A and O (separate levels) all backwards. I went in a completely wrong direction with this one, figuring the answer had to be ITHACA!
24. TANGA – A (a) + GNAT (biter) all backwards
26. BONE – B ONE (vitamin B1 otherwise known as thiamine)
Well, here I am again 🙂 …
22d should be OTTAWA.
A reversal of WATT (engineer) inside two separate levels (A (level) and O (level)).
26d: BONE.
You are right about the calcium bit.
But Thiamine is also called Vitamin B1 – B ONE.
Many thanks for your blog!
Sil, What would I do without you?!?! Thanks.
I am not surprised I missed OTTAWA but I should have seen Vitamin B1.
Thanks Mudd, Pete and Sil. I also got 22 wrong – I convinced myself that it was a DD and there was a NA city called STRATA. Oops!
Ah, it’s good to know that I was not the only one! Thanks, MikeC.
Mike @3 -did the same with Strata.
Couldn’t see why 26d was bone either.
Personally I’m glad Cinephile isn’t getting any slots. Some of his clues are just too convoluted. He gets more than his fair share elsewhere.
I well appreciate why some people do not care for Cinephile and I did not make the comment about his absence because I am missing his puzzles in the sense of wishing they were back. As I have said before, however, I do have a certain liking for his puzzles perhaps largely because I have been doing them for so long. On the other hand, I think that too many of his clues these days are a bit lazy with some, especially long anagrams that have negligible surface sense, that could be constructed by a computer program.