Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of March 1, 2014
It is good to have a Cincinnus again. This one struck me as a wee bit on the difficult side. My favourite clues are 5a (PHOBOS), 9a (LESBIANS), 25a (DALLIANCE) and 28a (LIKE HELL). The one I found most challenging was 6d (HEDGEHOPS).
ACROSS
1 I’m laid back in easily-managed home (8)
DOMICILE – IM (I’m) backwards in DOCILE (easily managed)
5 Moon probe inaugurated by vagrants (6)
PHOBOS – P[robe] + HOBOS (vagrants)
9 The French prejudice about northern islanders (8)
LESBIANS – LES (the French) + N (northern) in BIAS (prejudice)
10 One’s beginning with thick port (6)
ODENSE – O[ne] + DENSE (thick)
12 Short version of Time Regained – novel to disparage (9)
DENIGRATE – anagram of T REGAINED
13 Distinctive character of English army getting back to front (5)
ETHOS – E (English) + HOST (army) with T (back) moved to front
14 Film star’s short dress (4)
GARB – GARB[o] (film star’s short)
16 Scene with models in play I love (7)
DIORAMA – I (I) + O (love) together in DRAMA (play)
19 Craft centre hosting a crochet lesson for beginners (7)
CORACLE – A C[rochet] L[esson] in CORE (centre)
21 Barely equitable (4)
JUST – double definition
24 Scout jamboree finally accepted by Christian denominations (5)
RECCE – [jambore]E in RC CE (Christian denominations)
25 Casual relationship could end marriage (9)
DALLIANCE – [coul]D + ALLIANCE (marriage)
27 Bringing up contribution to make me ticklish (6)
EMETIC – CITE (contribution) + ME (me) together backwards
28 Fancy man extremely loyal? Not at all! (4,4)
LIKE HELL – LIKE (fancy) + HE (man) + L[oya]L
29 Having a go is troublesome (6)
TRYING – double definition
30 Overcoming resistance, save comrade without compunction (8)
BRUTALLY – R (resistance) in BUT (save) + ALLY (comrade)
DOWN
1 Kid about eleven, not even a man (6)
DELUDE – EL[even] in DUDE (a man)
2 Funny leader avoided introspection (6)
MUSING – [a]MUSING (funny leader avoided)
3 Stick caught fish (5)
CLING – C (caught) + LING (fish)
4 Old script left in bank turned up (6,1)
LINEAR B – L (left) + IN (in) + BRAE (bank) backwards. I was not familiar with this script and had to use a pattern-matching dictionary to find the answer.
6 Flies near the ground dance in stalls (9)
HEDGEHOPS – HOP (dance) in HEDGES (stalls)
7 Fool in poor abode keeping pecker up (8)
BONEHEAD – HEN (pecker) backwards in anagram of ABODE
8 Supplier of nursery fluid almost made sense (8)
SEEDSMAN – anagram oF MADE SENS[e]
11, 20 Dull leading characters in Dombey and Son – they go nowhere (4,4)
DEAD ENDS – DEADEN (dull) + D[ombey] S[on]
15 Nice actor cast in extra part (9)
ACCRETION – anagram of NICE ACTOR
17 European following Mark O’Hara (8)
SCARLETT – SCAR (mark) + LETT (European). ‘Lett’ is another term for a Latvian and a word that I have seen occasionally in crosswords.
18 China provides many a garden feature (8)
CROCKERY – C (many) + ROCKERY (a garden feature)
20 See 11
21 Hardy Junior outwardly more cheerful (7)
JOLLIER – OLLIE (Hardy, as in Laurel and) in JR (junior outwardly)
22 Expose juvenile delinquent, avoiding extremes (6)
UNVEIL – anagram of [j]UVENIL[e]
23 Letters from somebody else wouldn’t upset church leader (6)
WESLEY – reverse hidden word
26 Unlimited freedom for French composer (5)
IBERT – [l]IBERT[y] (unlimited freedom)
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