I really enjoyed this one, some of the clues were quite tricky so parse correctly. I have not seen Styx before, so this was a bonus for me, I hope he becomes a regular feature in the Wednesday FT. It was interesting to blog without the aid of Wikipedia today too.
CLUE OF THE DAY – my favourite clue was 2dn, clever &lit and well disguised construction. Click one of the ‘vote’ links to vote for your clue of the day. See the results so far here.
Hold mouse over a clue number to read the clue.
| Across | |||
| 1 | CASTLES | vote | CAST (company) LiES (with I removed=diminished by one) – definition is ‘moves on board’, chess |
| 5 | WALLAHS | vote | WALL (partition) and AS containing (divided by) Hard – definition is ‘workers’ |
| 9 | MERIT | vote | Men (leading letter of) and TIRE (flag) reversed (retrieved=brought back) – defionition is ‘good’ |
| 10 | MISGUIDED | vote | MISs (young lady) and GUy (fellow) both nearly finished with DIED* (horribly=anagram) |
| 11 | IMAGINARY | vote | A GIN (spirit) inside I (one) MARY (biblical character) |
| 12 | DWELT | vote | Died with WELT (a bruise) |
| 13 | PLASTIC SURGEON | vote | LAST (finally) inside PICS (pictures) with URGE ON (provide encouragement) |
| 18 | INTERMEDIARIES | vote | TERMED (called) I (one) following IN (fashionable) then ARIES (house, of the zodiac) – definition is ‘agents’ |
| 20 | ACORN | vote | A CORN (vegetable) – the fruit of the oak tree |
| 22 | MANHATTAN | vote | MAN (fellow) THAT* (mixed=anagram) AN – cocktail of whiskey, vermouth and Angostura bitters |
| 24 | TRIMESTER | vote | TRIM (balance) ESTER (organic compound) – a university term |
| 25 | TRADE | vote | conTRA DEal &lit |
| 26 | CREATES | vote | E (ecstasy) inside CRATES (shipping containers) – definition is ‘produces’ |
| 27 | THRONGS | vote | R (sounds like “are”, outspoken) inside THONGS (flimsy beachware) – definition is lots of people. I was planning some extensive research of ‘thongs’ on Wikipedia to find some informative images for this topic, but Wilkipedia is offline today as a protest against this bill, so sadly I am unable to help. |
| Down | |||
| 1 | COME IN | vote | ChOw (regualr servings of) and MEIN – definition ‘arrive’ |
| 2 | STREAMLET | vote | A ML (1 ml, a small amount of something, water perhaps) in STREET (passage) – &lit – a streamlet is a small body of water that flows (in passage=passing by) |
| 3 | LATHI | vote | LATH (strip of wood) and I (1 Roman numeral) – a long heavy stick used as a weapon (Hindi) |
| 4 | SUMMARISE | vote | SUM (quantity of money) and IS inside (invested=put into) MARE (horse) |
| 5 | WISPY | vote | W (start of whiz) I SPY (…with my little eye) – definition is ‘fine’ |
| 6 | LAUNDERER | vote | Left A UNDER (junior) ERr (mistake, with last letter deducted) |
| 7 | ADDLE | vote | pADDLEs (oars without the end leters) |
| 8 | SEDATING | vote | SEe (witness, shortly) and DATING (going out with) |
| 14 | STRINGENT | vote | STRING (cord) with NET* (anagram=twisted) – definition is ‘tight’ |
| 15 | SPINNERET | vote | Page and INNER (hidden) in SET (routine, stage act) – source of spider’s web |
| 16 | EYESTRAIN | vote | YES (definitely) inside (admitted by) England (head of) and TRAIN (coach) – definition is viewer’s problem |
| 17 | GIGANTIC | vote | GIGi (musical performance) with ANTICs (fantastic acts) both ended early – definition is ‘huge’ |
| 19 | ANGELS | vote | AN (one) GELS (begins to work with) – definition is ‘well-behaved children’ |
| 21 | OPINE | vote | ONE containing (punched by) PI (irrational number, figure) – definition is ‘say’ |
| 22 | MATHS | vote | MA (Master of Arts, academic) THiS (with I=one removed) – definition is ‘school subject’ |
| 23 | ACTOR | vote | fACTORy (works) without the end letters (limitations) |
*anagram
Just a note to say you can use Wikipedia if you want to. Just hit the Esc key as the page loads.
Thanks anax, though actually I’m glad I didn’t know that, it was more fun without Wikipedia.
It made me realise how lazy I was getting writing the blog. I think I might make a rule that in future I will only use Wikipedia to check the blog after it is written rather than using it as an aid.
Many thanks PeeDee.
I’m very sorry to hear that your plans for today’s research on Wikipedia were scuppered.
Styx made 4 appearances in the FT in 2011. All of them were good fun
with plenty of excellent clues. W + I-spy really appealed to me today.
NB Styx made (at least) 4 appearances last year.
Thanks PeeDee, thanks Styx. On 2 down, my take was street = passage, and
a ml is a milli-litre, being a small amount, giving streamlet which is a small body of water.