An excellent puzzle from Goliath to get my Friday started. Unfortunately for me, it wasnt easy going and so the solving process (in brief spurts) extended well into the afternoon. This was a nice meaty challenge and now gives me a Turkey with regards to quality challenges over the past three weeks.
The NE corner proved to be a thorn and was my last section in. While several anagrams got me off to a positive start, I had to eventually slow down to trench-crawling pace as working out the clues became more devious. I hadnt come across (15d, 11ac) before but was quite sure as to what the solution would be. Needed help parsing 31ac.
Starting this week, I am rating my puzzles on 2 dimensions: Fun Factor and Difficulty Denominator, (as alliterations are alluring). both on 10. This is a personal opinion and not an absolute. In other words, YMMV.
FT 14695 by Goliath: FF – 8, DD – 8.
Have I missed a nina?
| Across | ||
| 1 | RACIAL | Ethnic non-religious art almost makes a comeback (6) |
| LAIC (non-religious) ARt (almost) – all reversed. I didnt know of the word, Laic until now. Guessed it from deconstructing the clue and confirmed it on google. | ||
| 4 | PEDIGREE | Prada chief and media agreed to remove clothing line . . . . (8) |
| P (Prada chief) m]EDI[a a]GREE[d (remove clothing i.e. without the first and last characters of each word. In cryptic cluing, this could be regarded as the inversion of ‘casing’.) | ||
| 10 | NIGHTIE | . . . . close neckwear and lingerie . . . . (7) |
| NIGH (close) TIE (neckwear) | ||
| 11 | See 15 | |
| 12 | SHOE | . . . . so he could make footwear (4) |
| Anagram of SO HE | ||
| 13 | PHILISTINE | Like Goliath, Matilda’s good for Spooner (10) |
| Goliath was a warrior from Gath, one of five states of the Philistines. Wiki here just in case you are interested to go beyond the fable of David and Goliath. Parsing is spoonerism of TILLY’S (Matilda’s) FINE (good). | ||
| 16 | DOCTOR | Modify entrance to allow court admission (6) |
| DOOR (entrance) admitting CT (court) | ||
| 17, 25 | A GAME OF SNAP | Criticises rival publication: a backward youngsters’ pastime (1,4,2,4) |
| PANS (criticses) FOE (rival) MAG (publication, magazine) A, all reversed. | ||
| 20 | UNCTION | Being smarmy and dysfunctional to some extent (7) |
| Hidden in dysfUNCTIONal | ||
| 21 | ANIMAL | Creature’s backplate (6) |
| plate = LAMINA, back = reversed. | ||
| 24 | BLITZKRIEG | Like Ritz fashion in being extremely offensive (10) |
| Anagram of LIKE RITZ in BG (BeinG extremely) | ||
| 25 | See 17 | |
| 27 | CLAIMED | Demanded medical treatment (7) |
| Anagram of MEDICAL | ||
| 29 | LOW GEAR | First or second moo-kit (3,4) |
| LOW (moo) GEAR (kit) | ||
| 30 | SIDESTEP | Dodge observed as it speeds off (8) |
| Anagram of IT SPEEDS | ||
| 31 | STAY UP | Don’t go to bed with hero to crash into house party (4,2) |
| STAY UP + ‘hero’ can be anagrammatised (to crash into) to give ‘house party’ | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | RINGSIDE | Desiring relocation to the front row (8) |
| Anagram of DESIRING | ||
| 2 | COGNOSCENTI | Finally, traffic congestion gets fixed by the authorities (11) |
| C (traffiC, finally) with anagram of CONGESTION – I quite liked this clue. | ||
| 3 | See 28 | |
| 5 | EARPLUGS | Wyatt carries noise reduction (8) |
| EARP (Wyatt Earp, Sheriff in the US in the 1920’s) LUGS (carries). Something about this clue doesnt quite feel right to me – the construct of the clue as “…for noise reduction” would have made me feel happier. | ||
| 6 | INVESTMENT | Partly dressed blokes have time and money (10) |
| IN VEST (Partly dressed) MEN (blokes) T (time) | ||
| 7 | RUN | Manage to escape rail workers’ uprising (3) |
| Rail workers used to be unionised under the National Union of Railwaymen (NUR) in the UK until 1990. The clue is NUR reversed (=uprising). I do wonder if I have missed the significance of ‘escape’ as part of the clue. | ||
| 8 | ELEVEN | Team’s revenge here (6) |
| ‘revenge’ is the entry at 11 | ||
| 9, 23 | DELHI BELLY | Shop corporation includes hotel for 7s (5,5) |
| DELI (shop) BELLY (corporation) include H (hotel) – referring to the local name in India to describe the runs (7s). Complementary clue to 15,11d. | ||
| 14 | IRONMONGERY | Hardware on entering in merry-go-round (11) |
| ON entering anagram of IN MERRY GO – Once again, one of several anagrams liberally sprinkled all over the grid. | ||
| 15, 11 | MONTEZUMAS REVENGE | Suzanne met Meg overground 7s (10,7) |
| Anagram of SUZANNE MET MEG OVER – The solution to 7d is run. The clue refers to 7s, the plural form, which is runs, the gastrointestinal disaster that we we all try to run away from. ‘Montezuma’s revenge’ is slang for Traveller’s Diarrhea. | ||
| 18 | PORRIDGE | Time for breakfast (8) |
| Double def; with Time referring to prison stay. | ||
| 19 | CLAPTRAP | Applaud role reversal as drivel (8) |
| CLAP (applaud) TRAP (role = PART, reversed) | ||
| 22 | ABACUS | Habeas corpus served with no- hopers round the counter (6) |
| Remaining letters of (h)AB(e)A(s)C(orp)US after removing the letters of ‘hopers’, referring to the ancient but brilliant device for executing addition. In fact, some chinese schools have got their students up to such a level of expertise that they can ‘visualise’ the abacus and manipulate i.e. without the need for a physical device. | ||
| 23 | See 9 | |
| 26 | TWIT | Fool, on leaving Ulster, is still a fool (4) |
| niTWIT (fool, leaving Ulster i.e. less NI – Northern Ireland) | ||
| 28, 3 | ANDANTE | Furthermore, bet at a moderately slow pace (7) |
| AND (furthermore) ANTE (bet) | ||
*anagram
Now, let’s forget about 18d and, perhaps, also 21ac, 27ac and 19d – all being old warhorses.
What remains is a super-classy crossword.
Quite a few devices that one doesn’t see very often in the FT and which are more associated with Guardian puzzles.
The ‘split’ in 15,11 for example.
And the two clever subtraction anagrams in 31ac and 22d.
Plus the kind of thing Arachne frequently uses (and does 13ac): taking parts of consecutive words.
I was tempted to think that in 13ac Goliath introduced himself to us, solvers.
Well, who knows?
Thank you, Turbolegs, for the blog.
And Goliath for a really good crossword.
Thanks, Turbolegs, for the blog and Goliath for an enjoyable puzzle.
As Sil says, several old favourites but clues like 18dn deserve a rerun for the sake of newer solvers who may not have seen them before. I’m not so keen on the animal / lamina one, which we’ve seen several times lately and is so often ambiguous, as it is here.
Not a very savoury ‘theme’ but I was amused by 15,11 and liked its link with 8dn.
Nice anagrams with good surfaces in 24ac and 1 and 2dn.
Best of all: as one whose heart sinks when she sees the dreaded word Spooner – I really do dislike these clues, as so often one of the phrases is meaningless – I was bowled over by 13ac, which is probably the best one I’ve seen. Bravo, Goliath!
Once again I have to question the use of “Ulster” to imply “NI” (26d). NI is part of the province Ulster, just as the UK is part of Europe; they are not equivalent. If “Ulster” can imply “NI” then “Europe” could imply “UK” as in, say, “Territory, on leaving Europe, is that one” yielding “Yon” from “Yukon” less “UK”. I don’t think anyone would agree with the latter as a valid clue but it parallels 26d closely. Maybe 26d should have read “part of Ulster” instead of “Ulster”.
.
I think declanor’s being a bit hard. After all, we all say ‘Holland’ when we mean ‘Netherlands’. Anyway, I loved it and finished before breakfast (rather a lot of reverse-readings, though?). I especially enjoyed the wicked 15dn and 9dn. Thanks, Goliath, and well done Turbolegs.
I agree with Hornbeam @4 about referring to the ‘Netherlands’ as ‘Holland’ – we do refer to the whole by the name of its largest and most populous provinces. The question might be whether this is acceptable to the people of the Netherlands. Do the people of the other ten provinces bristle when the soccer team that represents the Netherlands is referred to as Holland? I am fairly sure that if the gaelic football, rugby, golf, tennis, or other teams that represent Ulster in various Irish and European competitions were referred to as Northern Ireland, the people of Donegal, Cavan, and Monaghan would be quite upset. Yes, there is s soccer team called Northern Ireland, but it represents NI and only NI.
An NI inhabitant is an Ulster person, but the reverse, which the clue implied, is not necessarily true. I see the use of ‘Ulster’ to imply ‘NI’ as an over-used, sloppy, and too obvious device; it’s time to put it to rest.
I think Ulster implies NI to a lot of people, 2d though they may not be.
I enjoyed this one, it felt quite different to the usual fare, somehow.
Fave was 9,23.
almw3 @ 6 may indeed be right about Ulster implying NI, but I would say the same about GB implying England, particularly here in the US where geography is not a very strong suit. How do the Scots, Welsh, and NI folk feel when our US commentators refer to one of their Olympic heroes as an “English” athlete, which happens frequently. The fact that many people equate the two doesn’t make it right or worthy of a good cryptic crossword. One of the joys of a good cryptic is that wonderful combination of obscurity and precision; the use of Ulster to imply NI has neither. Many of the comments on this blog relate to inaccurate definitions or allusions, but this one seems to be accepted without question.
Oh well. I’ve said my piece.
Speaking as a Scot, I have no problems at all about people saying ‘England’ when they mean ‘Britain’. It’s simply a fact of life.
PS I’m going to vote ‘yes’ what’s more
10ac My wife and her sister agree with me that nighties are not articles of lingerie
20ac Isn’t ‘being smarmy’ unctious not unction?
Unlike Eileen, I love Spoonerisms but would never have made the association of Matilda = Tilly so this one was lost on me.
My slingshot failed on this occasion…
I agree with John on both quibbles (@10 and @11).
Still I think that this crossword is far more interesting than all the others we had this week.
The use of “merry-go-round” in 14d, the simple but oh so effective 12ac and the first part of this ellipsis alone made my cryptic day.
I had some reasons to think that 13ac revealed the setter’s identity and the nature of the two long ones made me even more think of that as the setter that is 13ac at another place does like this kind of Paulian ‘humour’.
That said, we all can be easily fooled.
Just remember the one Blackadder episode centred around the Scarlet Pimpernel.
Goliath’s previous puzzles weren’t too special but if this is his level of setting I think he’s a Giant! Despite the niggles.
Hi Sil and John if you’re still there
“I agree with John on both quibbles (@10 and @11).”
I disagree with both!
Collins – ‘lingerie: women’s underwear and nightwear’
You have to read ‘unction’ as a gerund [Collins: ‘a noun formed from a verb, ending in -ing, denoting an action or state’].
Hi Alice – I know several Tillys!
Apologies – I’m not properly awake yet – I meant, of course, that you have to read ‘being smarmy’ as a gerund, rather than a participle.
OK, Eileen, sometimes I am just like a yo-yo.
Now, all at once, I agree with you! 🙂
And happily so as I do not like to be critical about this puzzle – as it is such a good one.
Your explanations seem to make full sense.
Thanks Goliath and Turbolegs
An enjoyable work out which I’ve only had a chance to look at this morning (Sunday).
In 7d, I thought that RUN was more ‘manage to escape’ from – rather than just to manage. With 4a, I parsed EDI as ‘electronic data interchange’ – an interactive system of communication between a supplier and customer.
A couple that I didn’t parse properly:
I just couldn’t see where to fit the NI into twit … even the now obvious front position!
With the Spoonerism – just would never have derived Tilly from Matilda. Instead after googling, I founded the following dialogue:
Waiter: What would you like to drink?
Cust1: Orange juice for me, what about you Matilda?
Matilda: Just water please
Waiter: Still or sparkling?
Matilda: Still is fine.
So STILL IS FINE was my version of the Spoonerism. 🙂
The lengths that we go to ….
Thanks Goliath and Turbolegs
7dn: Further to brucew@16, perhaps this clue is best read as two definitions plus wordplay.
Sorry, I meant brucew@18.
Hornbeam @8, so, should we assume therefore that you would have no problem with using ‘Great Britain’ in a clue, without any qualification whatsoever, to imply the string of letters ‘ENGLAND’? Or is that level of imprecision a step too far?
Thanks, BTW, to Turbolegs for a fine blog and Goliath for a challenge that was beyond my ability to finish.
While declanor’s point at #3 is certainly technically correct, dictionaries e.g. Collins, Concise OED, recognise the common usage which equates NI and Ulster.