Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of January 18, 2014
I found this puzzle tough in parts but good. My top clues are 4D (ACCIDENT), 5D (EXCLAMATION MARK), 23A (AS WELL) and 28A (HOKEY COKEY).
ACROSS
1 Try to capture last of men, clearing the country (10)
BANGLADESH – [me]N + GLADE (clearing) in BASH (try)
7 Party where warrior goes topless (4)
RAVE – [b]RAVE (warrior goes topless)
9 Shot pig trimmed (4)
AMMO – [g]AMMO[n] (pig trimmed)
10 Grower putting bananas before beer (6,4)
CUCKOO PINT – CUCKOO (bananas) + PINT (beer)
11 Intimate relationship initially breaking the Devil (6)
FRIEND – R[elationship] in FIEND (the Devil)
12 A stream passing through old communist city in Texas (8)
AMARILLO – A (a) + RILL (stream) in MAO (old communist)
13 Country state with slight following in South Africa (3,5)
SRI LANKA – RI (state, i.e. Rhode Island) + LANK (slight) in SA (South Africa)
15 Open a drink (4)
AJAR – A (a) + JAR (drink)
17 God in time of difficulty not given credit (4)
ISIS – [cr]ISIS (time of difficulty not given credit, i.e. CR)
19 One assumes processing is ready, having article to collect (1,4,3)
I DARE SAY – A (article) in anagram of IS READY
22 Chinese fruit (8)
MANDARIN – double definition
23 A bulge on top (2,4)
AS WELL – A (a) + SWELL (bulge)
25 Man takes luggage as a precaution (4,2,4)
JUSTIN CASE – JUSTIN (man) + CASE (luggage)
26 One stops for Irish city (4)
CORK – double definition
27 Could hospital have been clean? (4)
WASH – WAS (could) + H (hospital)
28 Important drink imported by Scottish island for dance (5,5)
HOKEY COKEY – KEY (important) + COKE (drink) together in HOY (Scottish island)
DOWN
2 Supporter married to club (7)
ADMIRER – anagram of MARRIED. I don’t mind declaring that I do not like “to club” in this context as an anagram indicator.
3 Good intense feeling – one has a hand in it (5)
GLOVE – G (good) + LOVE (intense feeling)
4 I’d slipped into grave, perhaps – by this? (8)
ACCIDENT – ID (I’d) in ACCENT (grave perhaps)
5 Roving cameraman with kilt on almost stealing kiss! (11,4)
EXCLAMATION MARK – X (kiss) in anagram of CAMERAMAN KILT O[n]
6 Out loud, call girl a smoker (6)
HOOKAH – homophone (“hooker”)
7 Copy plate with rice for cooking (9)
REPLICATE – anagram of PLATE RICE
8 Nothing in a private chamber that’s brought up is simple (7)
VANILLA – NIL (nothing) in A (a) + LAV (private chamber) backwards
14 Desperate act, this heartless lad at fault (4-5)
LAST DITCH – anagram of ACT THIS L[a]D
16 Husband hoarding silver on track for brutality (8)
SAVAGERY – AG (silver) in SAVE (husband) + RY (track)
18 Casual massaging around soft bone (7)
SCAPULA – P (soft) in anagram of CASUAL
20 In general, a goal that’s incomplete must inspire learner (2,5)
AT LARGE – A (a) + L (learner) in TARGE[t] (goal that’s incomplete)
21 Some bananas, perhaps, about right for meal (6)
BRUNCH – R (right) in BUNCH (some bananas, perhaps)
24 Mad king in Texas city (5)
WACKO – K (king) in WACO (Texas city)
Thanks Mudd for an enjoyable puzzle and Pete for the blog.
5dn: Here is advice from Azed in his slip for Competition Puzzle 114 (accessible via the links to the &lit site):
And finally on the subject of punctuation, I would discourage exclamation marks when all they mean is ‘I’m rather pleased with my clue – isn’t it witty?’, something we’re all prone to from time to time. Save them for genuine exclamations.
Mudd has found the best possible reason for ending a clue with an exclamation mark.
Pelham, Thanks for commenting. I like that advice very much. It would likely not be taken well in the U.S. however where, I believe, there is a convention that cryptic-definition clues must have an exclamation mark.
I agree with you Pete about 2d. I did not get that this was an anagram, and am not entirely convinced that an admirer is also a supporter. Malcolm
Malcolm, Thank you for supporting me on 2d. It is good to have your admiration. Oh, wait……..
Thanks for the blog, Pete.
I left a note next to 28a wondering how “poke” could be “drink.” It wasn’t until coming here (and subsequently Wikipedia) that I discovered that what Yanks call the hokey pokey, our British brethren call the hokey cokey.
You wrote @2, “in the U.S. … there is a convention that cryptic-definition clues must have an exclamation mark.” Really? Cryptic clues are rare enough here that it would be hard to argue there are any conventions regarding them. If anything, I’d say they’re more likely to be indicated with “?” than “!” (but that’s just my experience).
Well, I never! I have danced the hokey cokey many times and have never known it by any other name. But, yes, Wikipedia reveals that in the English-speaking world outside of the U.K., it is known as the hokey pokey. While in Denmark they have a variant called the boogie woogie and in the Philippines the Boogie Boogie.
Regarding cryptic definitions in the U.S., I think now that I was wrong and you have it right. The convention is that they have a question mark. Thank you for putting me straight. A question mark does work better.