Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of August 24, 2013
I found this puzzle a doddle except for some bits of the top-left quadrant. Clues 2, 3 and 9 all took me a while although I cannot in retrospect see that they are especially hard. I do acknowledge that 20 and 21 are a little tricky. My favourites are 9A (ELAPSE) and 27A (EIGHTEEN). I have quibbles about 1A (FIDDLE) and 23A (SLEIGH).
ACROSS
1 Sham instrument (6)
FIDDLE – double definition. Is ‘sham’ a valid means of defining FIDDLE? It’s close but I wonder.
4 Doubled up, female gobbling hot dog (4-4)
CHOW-CHOW – H (hot) in COW (female) repeated (doubled up)
9 Pass the rum please (6)
ELAPSE – anagram of PLEASE
10 Colt’s invention – the wheel, perhaps? (8)
REVOLVER – double definition. Awfully easy, no?!
12 Top present left for young leader (5,3)
BROWN OWL – BROW (top) + NOW (present) + L (left)
13 Iberian location in bookshop or toyshop (6)
OPORTO – hidden word. Oporto is an English name for the city of Porto.
15 Lying back, be very naughty (4)
EVIL – LIVE (be) backwards
16 The one with all the answers circled, Kevin less popular when beaten (6,4)
CLEVER DICK – anagram of CIRCLED KEV[in]. ‘Less popular’ tell us to remove the ‘in’ from Kevin. I understand that some non-Brits may be unfamiliar with the expression ‘Clever Dick’. It is common in the UK and has a meaning similar to Smart Alec or smartypants.
19 Basin also not designed for trousers (10)
PANTALOONS – PAN (basin) + anagram of ALSO NOT
20 Rider on the way over here! (4)
PSST – PS (rider) + ST (the way)
23 Winter vehicle’s trick, snapping off bumper? (6)
SLEIGH – SLEIGH[t] (trick, snapping off bumper). I have reservations about this clue. For one thing, while I easily guessed that ‘trick’ clued SLEIGHT, I cannot satisfy myself that it is a valid definition. Sleight, as I understand it, is something that one might well use in a conjuring trick but it is not the trick itself. Then ‘snapping off bumper’ serves the purpose but is rather unsatisfactory as it does not indicate which end of ‘sleight’ is to be taken as the “bumper”.
25 Tip off pal (8)
INTIMATE – double definition
27 How many holes he gets with teeing off? (8)
EIGHTEEN – anagram of HE TEEING
28 Man the home of a Sassenach? (6)
CASTLE – double definition, the first referring to chess and the second, presumably, to the expression “an Englishman’s home is his castle”.
29 Shy, as going up the stairs? (8)
RETIRING – double definition
30 African party American cut short (6)
LIBYAN – LIB (party) + YAN[k]
DOWN
1 Strong drink knocked back that is providing something for nothing (7)
FREEBIE – F (strong) + BEER (drink) backwards + IE (that is)
2 Cruel trick during shocking raid, article supporting it (9)
DRACONIAN – CON (trick) in anagram of RAID + AN (article)
3 Behind wood, something deadly in it? (6)
LOSING – SIN (something deadly) in LOG (wood)
5 Obey the villain (4)
HEEL – double definition
6 Jumbo lies wearily at first on top of frogs? (8)
WHOPPERS – W[earily] + HOPPERS (frogs)
7 Initially hang above – or float above? (5)
HOVER – H[ang] + OVER (above)
8 Charmer takes action on restriction (7)
WARLOCK – WAR (action) + LOCK (restriction)
11 Take down flier (7)
SWALLOW – double definition. Or triple definition maybe! (See comment 2 below).
14 The ironer’s job at the end of the day (7)
EVENING – double/crytic definition
17 Partners entering nattily dressed at once (9)
INSTANTLY – NS (partners — as in bridge) in anagram of NATTILY
18 The best medicine required to kill, then remove lid (8)
LAUGHTER – [s]LAUGHTER
19 French chemist tears up forms (7)
PASTEUR – anagram of TEARS UP
21 Inside present, metal casing (7)
THEREIN – HERE (present) in TIN (metal)
22 Single girl among a thousand and one in African capital (6)
KIGALI – K (thousand) + I (single) + GAL (girl) + I (one)
24 Plant disease thus ending in plot (5)
ERGOT – ERGO (thus) + [plo]T
26 Intend to get nasty (4)
MEAN – double definition
It was the SE that did for me.
20a I had ?s?? and would never have got psst from that.
25a Again I don’t think I would ever have got that no matter how long I looked.
30a With only ???y?? too hard -looks easy now.
21d With only ????e?? this is hard to guess
22d I guessed I was after an African capital. All I had was ???a??.
A thousand and one could be ak1 or ami or maybe the a is just for reading. Single girl-miss or ms or val or ann or liz or lis. Just too many possibilities. Never heard of the answer as it happens.
Hi Pete.
Thanks as ever for your efforts.
I had hoped you had something to say about 11d (SWALLOW) as, IMHO, ‘take down’ is not really an appropriate definition.
Could it be that this clue is a triple definition?
‘Take’ (as in to tolerate or to bear), ‘down’ (as in to consume) and ‘flier’ (bird, of course).
Hi Sil,
I was not happy with 11d and know that you and I are not the only ones. I thought of saying something about it and then chose not to because I was unsure of how to put it. But I think you may have hit the nail on the head; it works so much better as a triple definition that I now hope that this is what Mudd intended. Thanks for pointing it out. ‘Take’ could also be interpreted in the context of taking medicine.
After some further thought, I am wondering if I maybe jumped on this idea too quickly. The trouble is that, no matter how I interpret ‘take’ and ‘down’, their meanings seem too similar to justify the clue’s being a triple definition. After all, saying something like “the truth is hard to swallow”, is using swallow in the sense of ‘consume’ only metaphorically.