Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of August 18, 2012
I found this to be another excellent Cincinnus with a few great clues and some nice challenges. My favourites are 29A (HARDY ANNUAL), 6D (DORSAL FIN) and 16D (AFTER YOU). 1A (LEATHERHEAD), 26A (SPADEWORK) and 14D (MARRAKESH) are also rather good.
Across
1. LEATHERHEAD – THE (the) in LEAR (King) + HEAD (principal)
7. COB – double definition
9. TOTEM – TOTE (bear) + M[ountain]
10. DEPORTEES – ROPED (bound) backwards + TEES (river)
11. ENTERTAIN – ENTER (take part) + TA (volunteers) + IN (in)
12. AVAIL – homophone (“a veil”)
13. ABDOMEN – anagram of BAD + OMEN (sign)
15. LOFT – F (female) in LOT (shower)
18. PROS – PROS[e] (writing, not quite)
20. TANKFUL – T[h]ANKFUL (expressing gratitude when Henry leaves). It occurred to me to wonder if ‘expressing gratitude” properly defines ‘thankful’? And I satisfied myself that it does.
23. OMEGA – GEM (stone) backwards in [r]OA[d]
24. CHICANERY – CHIC (smart) + ER (queen) in ANY (some)
26. SPADEWORK – anagram of WE DO PARKS. Note that ‘ground’ is the anagram indicator, not part of the definition.
27. PHYLA – hidden word
28. WOK – W[as] OK (so-so)
29. HARDY ANNUAL – HARDY (novelist) + ANNUAL (book)
Down
1. LUTHERAN – L[o]UT (yob lacking love) + HE (he) + RAN (managed)
2. APTITUDE – anagram of PUD EAT IT
3. HOMER – HOME (in) + R (river)
4. REDRAWN – N (new) + WARDER (guard) all backwards
5. EMPANEL – anagram of PALE MEN
6. DORSAL FIN – anagram of IN SALFORD
7. CRETAN – C[u]R[r]E[n]T + AN (an)
8. BASALT – anagram of A BLAST
14. MARRAKESH – A (a) in anagram of REMARKS + H (hot). An easy one for me as I happened to be there earlier this year.
16. AFTER YOU – double/cryptic definition
17. PLAY BALL – P (quietly) + LAY (song) + BALL (dance). A lay, in the sense used here, means a narrative song with a recurrent refrain.
19. SUCCOUR – CU (copper) in SCOUR (search)
20. TRICKSY – homophone (“Trixie”)
21. BOW SAW – BOW (London area) + WAS (was) backwards
22. DEBARK – double definition
25. ASPEN – hidden word
Many thanks Pete & Cincinnus
I did enjoy this but I struggled with 28a before WOK finally hit me in the eye. And then it hurt, I can tell you.
Funnily enough, my elder daughter is currently holidaying in CRETE which is one of the few Greek Islands that I haven’t visited.
Bryan, WOK was one of the first answers I got. But I know that experience well!
While well traveled, I have never been to the Greek islands at all. I hope to one of these days.
Thanks for commenting.
Thanks Pete
I thought I had it out but didn’t get a couple right. Can you tell me why LOT = SHOWER?
You didn’t mention the lack of a hidden word indicator for ASPEN. A question mark may have worked.
shower is shown in Chambers as a large number (of fast particles) and so could equate to lot
That is the nearest co-relation that I can see though not convincing.
I have a vague memory of a British movie from the 1960s or thenabouts with a scene that had Terry-Thomas as an army officer rant at a bunch of recruits calling them, “An absolute shower”. Meaning, as I took it, a rather useless, hopeless bunch (or lot) of people. This is what struck me when I came upon this clue and justified the use of LOT = SHOWER.
Right, I considered it but in the end did not mention the lack of a hidden-word indicator for ASPEN. This was because I have seen other clues where a possessive ‘S seems to serve as such an indicator. It is something we may need to live with.