Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of June 1, 2013
This was not my favourite Mudd. I found the puzzle both difficult and relatively unrewarding. I do applaud three fine clues, 22A (NORWAY), 7D (KOHLRABI) and 16D (ABERDEEN). Those I found most challenging, although entirely fair, were 15D (WRANGLER) and 17D (OKLAHOMA). And one clue I consider poor is 13D (BARBERSHOP) since there is not enough material in the clue to leave one confident that BARBERSHOP is in fact the right answer.
ACROSS
1 Spanish city, for example, lacking a language (8)
MALAGASY – MALAGA (Spanish city) + S[a]Y (for example, lacking a). I did not know but easily guessed that Malagasy is a language as well as a country.
5 One gets agitated seeing fish during supper, gutted (6)
SHAKER – HAKE (fish) in S[uppe]R
9 Replacing thespian in factory, a lilac sort of make-up so applied? (8)
FACIALLY – anagram of LILAC in F[actor]Y (replacing thespian)
10 Plant border in chaos (6)
MAY (plant) + HEM (border)
11 Folding screen, it is behind closed doors (2,6)
IN SECRET – anagram of SCREEN IT
12 Bottom, not middle, in old money (6)
FLORIN – FL[o]OR (bottom, not middle) + IN (in). A florin was the name for a two-shilling piece in British currency prior to decimalisation.
14 With noble bait, a fishy within one’s grasp (10)
OBTAINABLE – anagram of NOBLE BAIT A
18 Twisted puzzle horribly sick, anyone can see – solver’s assistant almost grasping it? (6,4)
RUBIKS CUBE – anagram of SICK + U (anyone can see) in RUBBE[r] (solver’s assistant almost). The ‘U’ here refers to ‘universal’ in film ratings.
22 Absolutely not describing central Mediterranean country (6)
NORWAY – [medite]R[ranean] in NO WAY (absolutely not)
23 Catalogue ignores a fake (8)
ORGANISE – anagram of IGNORES A
24 Hide last of treasure in mattress close to pillow (3,3)
LIE LOW – [treasur]E in LILO (mattress) + [pillo]W
25 Boy Scouts, say, imbibing hot drink (8)
CHAMPERS – H (hot) in CAMPERS (Boy Scouts, say). ‘Champers’ is a common nickname for champagne in the U.K.
26 Payment afterwards retrieved, including unspecified amount (6)
RENTAL – N (unspecified amount) in LATER (afterwards) backwards
27 Single woman turns thirty, early retirement starts (8)
SPINSTER – SPINS (turns) + T[hirty] E[arly] R[etirement]
DOWN
1 Cake failin’ (6)
MUFFIN – MUFFIN[g] (failin’)
2 Stripper failed to entertain scum after peeling off (6)
LOCUST – [s]CU[m] in LOST (failed). Cute definition!
3 Overcoming weapon, good deflection (6)
GLANCE – G (good) + LANCE (weapon)
4 “gA” for gorilla? (10)
SILVERBACK – reverse cryptic
6 Stripe beneath top star (8)
HEADLINE – HEAD (top) + LINE (stripe)
7 I abhor kale, oddly revolting vegetable (8)
KOHLRABI – anagram of I ABHOR K[a]L[e]
8 Balance short of a note (8)
REMINDER – REM{a]INDER (balance short of a)
13 Music from the Cutting Crew? (10)
BARBERSHOP – cryptic definition. Cutting Crew are an English rock group. Would the clue not be better without the ‘the’?
15 Manipulator putting oar in finally – as rower? (8)
WRANGLER – [oa]R in WANGLER (manipulator)
16 A river passing through capital city in Europe (8)
ABERDEEN – A (a) + DEE (river) in BERN (capital)
17 Fine priest’s carried home half cut, in a state (8)
OKLAHOMA – OK (fine) + HO[me] in LAMA (priest)
19 Entering 13, male high-jumper (6)
SALMON – M (male) in SALON (13). I had this wrong in my original posting as BARMAN – BAR (entering 13) + MAN (male).
20 Dry in taste, getting cross (6)
BISECT – SEC (dry) in BIT (taste)
21 Flirt’s problem? (6)
TEASER – double definition
Thanks Pete
I had sal m on for 19D ie m (male) in salon (barbershop from 13D)
I got 18A from the anagram of sick but I don’t think that I was able to parse the rest of the clue. Thanks for the enlightenment.
I should have added that I thought the clue for 13D was acceptable enough.
Barbershop being a type of music and the cutting crew referring to the barbers themselves ie the people doing the cutting.
Thanks Pete. I agree with you. An annoying puzzle in many ways. I do feel that in his efforts to fool us, Mudd stretches the definitions.
22A. I suppose someone will tell me that it is that dreadful Chambers, but I can’t find “describe” to mean “encircle” in any of the on -line dictionaries.
6D. Why does headline = star?
And can you an Ernie explain Barbershop a bit better? Where does music fit in? I could only think of the Barber of Seville. And then 19D – why is entering 13 = bar. And this is a good example of why I say that Mudd stretches his definitions. To call a high jumper a barman is just not on. I understand that a high jumper has to jump over a bar. But he is not a barman. I think Mudd needs to study DANTE a bit.
I agree with ernie @ 1 that 19d is SALMON.
John @ 3 – a star act is a headline act, and a barbershop quartet is a singing group.
Thanks for the blog, Pete. I quite liked the crossword!
John @3
Barbershop is defined in Chambers as a type of music originating in the US played or especially sung in close harmony usually in quartets.
Well this is fascinating. It does look like I got 19D wrong — without ever doubting my answer. I did think that using ‘entering 13’ was a poor way of cluing BAR though. I took ‘high-jumper’ as a cryptic definition of BARMAN and now realize that I unwittingly had that backwards; it does not work although it could the other way round.
Thank you all for your comments and corrections.
Strange how experiences vary. I found this light and amusing and done very quickly, after failing to finish several recently. Last in was Wrangler.
I couldn’t get
10a -didn’t know may as a plant and only had ???h??
12a,6d,8d
Just about every town I go through has a barbers/hairdressers/salon called “Cutting Crew” so didn’t have a problem with that one
I need to offer an apology to Mudd , then. Salmon is a good clue.
I had no problem with this and thought it was very nice in every respect but one: the dreadful grid. Once you’ve solved one of the 10-letter answers you have cut off a little crossword of its own, with no link to the rest of the crossword, and these four mini-crosswords don’t have much variation in their clue-length.