Financial Times 14,698 by SAYANG

by

Not too taxing a puzzle. I welcome those at the beginning of the week.

A few personal preferences and chestnuts (UR=old city, PI=good) didn’t get in the way of solving this. Answers were easy to come and wordplays weren’t complicated either. Thanks SAYANG.

All definitions in clues marked like this.
* anagram, + charade, – deletion, ~ sounds like, <= reversal, H hidden, MD multiple definition, DD double definition, CD cryptic definition, GK General Knowledge, D by E definition by example.

ACROSS
1,7 Rep craft or name coined for cultural activity (11,3) PERFORMANCE ART [REP CRAFT OR NAME]*
9 WASP on motor scooter (5) VESPA [DD] ‘on’ as a link word?
10 Material recyclable from prison car (5,4) SCRAP IRON [PRISON CAR]*
11 Agar blended with amrit for a delightful cocktail (9) MARGARITA [AGAR AMRIT]*
12 Time to muse (5) ERATO [time=ERA + TO]
13 Simplicity I’ve found in most of Dante’s cryptics (7) NAIVETE [I’VE inside dANTE*] Most of Dante=ANTE? Not DANT? Not sure if ‘cryptics’ works as anagram indicator either.
15 Like a family (4) AKIN [A + family=KIN]
18 Childish articulation of high-level language (4) LISP [DD]
20 Missile heads for ancient city with first class Japanese warrior (7) SAMURAI [missile=SAM + ancient city=UR + first class=A1]
23 A sage, a thinker I shied away from embracing (5) RISHI [H] Too much padding?
24 Space in transit or in passing (9) TRANSIENT [space=EN inside TRANSIT] Giving away 7 out of 9 letters in the answer for free?
26 Inadequacy failed to start the reproduction (9) IMITATION [inadequacy=LIMITATION with L removed]
27 Tip // top // quality // issue (5) POINT [MD]
28,29 Joplin classic play (3,11) THE ENTERTAINER [GK]

DOWN
1,21 Outstanding drawer of prettiest van am I (8,6) PAVEMENT ARTIST [PRETTIEST VAN AM I]* Not sure if my parsing is wrong or if the anagram fodder has an extra I, but anagram of PRETTIEST VAN AM I = PAVEMENT ARTIST I. And I can’t figure what is the anagram indicator.
2 Check calm before a storm (8) RESTRAIN [calm=REST + storm=RAIN] Is RAIN by itself a STORM? I thought it was RAINSTORM
3 Mitchell heroine in Chiba, Japan (5) OHARA [O’HARA] Not a fan of defining a place as ‘in somewhere’
4 Projectile is initially sighted within a mile (7) MISSILE [IS Sighted inside MILE]
5 Heaven’s rain pelting around van (7) NIRVANA [RAIN* outside VAN]
6 Soft words for hard facts like being economical with the truth (9) EUPHEMISM [D by E]
7 In the funfair Ma noticed a pilot (6) AIRMAN [H]
8,17 Top banana in such a republic (6,8) TINPOT DICTATOR [CD]
14 Do away with flyer among the selected (9) ELIMINATE [flyer=MINA inside the selected=ELITE] Elite = the select?
16 A retsina fermented well (8) ARTESIAN [A RETSINA*] Type of well perhaps?
17 See 8
19 Flag-waving Irishman rising (7) PATRIOT [Irishman=PAT + rising=RIOT] Is there a part of speech mismatch? Flag-waving is an adjective but patriot is a noun?
20 Question’s can Nero arrest the image-maker (7) SCANNER [H]
21 See 1 down
22 A crown to strive for (6) ASPIRE [A + crown=SPIRE]
25 The ocean holds good cuttlefish (5) SEPIA [The ocean=SEA outside good=PI]

9 comments on “Financial Times 14,698 by SAYANG”

  1. Thanks, Bhavan. I didn’t think this was the best we’ve had from Sayang. Just for example, as you point out, there appears to be a redundant i in the 1dn anagram; the parsing of 13ac is awkward; and 24 ac seems a bit lacklustre. On the other hand, a pleasant romp before breakfast isn’t to be sneezed at, so many thanks for starting the day off with some sunshine, Sayang.

  2. Thanks Bhavan. I agree with Hornbeam that this was a bit of a mixed bag, with some rather dodgy indications, as noted in the blog.

    You’ve linked the whole of the clue for 28,29 to the Joplin piece, but it’s actually a double definition – THE ENTERTAINER is also a play by John Osborne.

  3. In 1D, I think the intention my be that the final I may not be part of the anagram but a definition (pavement artist) so it would be (prettiest van am)*. Only surmising of course.

  4. Thanks Sayang and Bhavan.

    I think “I” is the definition in 1,21dn as well. For draw, Chambers gives
    ‘to put into shape, to frame’. Perhaps “Out/standing drawer” could be considered
    as a second (Cryptic) Definition doing double duty as an anagram indicator.

    Maybe today’s puzzle is a bit of a mixed bag, but I think Chambers and Collins
    can back up the clue constructions in 9ac, 2dn and 19dn:
    on, prep ‘applied to’.
    storm, n ‘a heavy discharge or rain, as of bullets or missiles’.
    patriot, adj ‘devoted to one’s country’.

  5. Could the “I” in 1,21dn be a Roman numeral one, referring to 1ac, “Performance”, which might then be taken as the anagram indicator, as in “… prettiest van am performance”?

  6. I should add to 5 that “Outstanding drawer” then becomes the complete definition, with no need for further parsing of ‘outstanding’. Such an artist is, after all, usually outside and often standing.

  7. 1,21 seemed to have attracted a bit of flak. As nmsindy@3 so wisely pointed out, “I” is the personification of the definition ; quite a common device

    Chambers has patriot (adj) “devoted to one’s country”

    1,7 Rep craft or name coined for cultural activity (11,3) Somehow the blogger has missed “rep craft” (aka repertory theatre craft) … the anagram fodder also has the definition

  9. Thanks Sayang and Bhavan

    Hmmm … enjoyed this but was niggled by it as well …

    I liked both VESPA (as a wasp and in fact the Italian word for wasp – hence the scooter name!) and OHARA (for the small Japanese town) as new learnings.

    I didn’t like 8d, 17d at first … but the more I thought about it – the more clever it was!

    19d I read basically as the whole clue providing the definition. &lit?

    Didn’t like the I in 1,21 – actually thought that it must have been a misprint for a ?. Also 6d felt like a lot of words for a straight definition.

    Goods outweighed the bads still 🙂

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