Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of August 23, 2014
Another fine Mudd puzzle — thank you Mr. Halpern. My favourite clues in it are 13a (ANTIFREEZE), 3d (LOGO) and 19d (LACROSSE). All three of these have very fine surface readings, especially 13a. And 14d (RED HERRING) is also awfully good.
ACROSS
1 Jam preserve (6)
PICKLE – double definition
4 Marriage brings prisoner to prison with almost everyone (8)
CONJUGAL – CON (prisoner) + JUG (prison) + AL[l] (almost everyone)
10 Drink that’s current (7)
DRAUGHT – double definition
11 Popular administrative districts imploding thus? (7)
INWARDS – IN (popular) + WARDS (administrative districts)
12 Protective clothing for extreme point on the mainland (4)
CAPE – double definition
13 Unknown in Tenerife, perhaps, to go after a substance for wintry weather (10)
ANITFREEZE – A (a) + Z (unknown) in anagram of TENERIFE
15 One fixing a ship (6)
RIGGER – double definition
16 Vessel like Titanic’s beginning a game (7)
CANASTA – CAN (vessel) + AS (like) + T[itanic] + A (a)
20 Edges of pike terribly sharp, maybe? (7)
PERHAPS – P[ik]E + anagram of SHARP
21 Italian city in Milan, or even going the other way (6)
VERONA – reverse hidden word
24 Room for experimentation in political choice? (10)
LABORATORY – LAB OR A TORY (political choice?)
26 Cleaner map, eastern part missing (4)
CHAR – CHAR[t] (map, eastern part missing)
28 Stone tearing rocks (7)
GRANITE – anagram of TEARING
29 Conspirator spiking drink with uranium (7)
CASSIUS – U (uranium) in CASSIS (drink)
30 Desperate dying breath? (4-4)
LAST-GASP – double definition
31 Clobber in challenge (6)
TACKLE – double definition. ‘Clobber’ and ‘challenge’ are not the most common meanings for TACKLE but Chambers confirms that both are good ones.
DOWN
1 Middle of mouth pierced after surgery, cosmetic treatment (8)
PEDICURE – [mo]U[th] in anagram of PIERCED
2 Hear malingerer’s claim for a drink (9)
CHAMPAGNE – homophone (“sham pain”)
3 Mark sees John pinching Morag’s rear (4)
LOGO – [mora]G in LOO (john)
5 First old railing to be demolished (8)
ORIGINAL – O (old) + anagram of RAILING
6 Criminal seeking a fresh start? It’s hard to say (10)
JAWBREAKER – LAWBREAKER (criminal) with a changed first letter (a fresh start)
7 Stuff in deep, narrow passage (5)
GORGE – double definition
8 Drop punishment, say? (6)
LESSEN – homophone (“lesson”)
9 Cockney’s pen joins things up (5)
STINK – KNITS (joins thing) reversed. The definition refers to Cockney rhyming slang in which ‘stink’ refers to pen by virtue of rhyming with “pen and ink”.
14 “Wild herd straying”, misleading clue (3,7)
RED HERRING – anagram of HERD + ERRING (straying)
17 Thin item not thin enough to maintain power (9)
TOOTHPICK – P (power) in TOO THICK (not thin enough)
18 Perfect son with a flat stomach? (8)
SPOTLESS – S (son) + POTLESS (with a flat stomach?)
19 Even parts of clues to contain half the clues for game (8)
LACROSSE – ACROSS (half the clues) in [c]L[u]E[s] (even parts of clues)
22 Delay in friend describing a cadence (6)
PLAGAL – LAG (delay) in PAL (friend). I guessed this from the word play and checked letters but had to look up PLAGAL to confirm.
23 Attempt a joke (5)
CRACK – double definition
25 Bread in cheek (5)
BRASS – double definition (with ‘bread’ defining brass in the sense of money)
27 Here, capitals of Afghanistan, Singapore, Iran and Azerbaijan? (4)
ASIA – A[fghanistan] S[ingapore] I[ran] A[zerbaijan]
Thanks Mudd and Pete
Typically enjoyable puzzle which I attacked on and off during Monday.
On checking, I hadn’t parsed LABORATORY which was very clever. Didn’t know ‘pen and ink’ slang or PLAGAL.
Thanks to Pete and Mudd.
A good puzzle from Mudd with many fine clues including 13A as you mention.
I also liked 6d and 17D
Yes, a nice crossword with the usual just-under-Paul quality clueing.
Not even two weeks ago Rufus was, not for the first time, panned for using too many CDs and DDs.
In the blog for that puzzle (25 Aug, Guardian) I wrote at one point:
“Yes, the puzzles are easy (are they?) and especially double definitions are not my cup of tea as I find it a lazy device.
But having said that, take a closer look at Paul’s crosswords (or even more at Mudd’s in the FT) and see that even he uses DDs quite a lot. Nobody’s complained about that so far!”
Now, for anyone who didn’t believe me, here’s a good example:
9 double definitions in this Mudd.
Thanks Pete.
Sil, It did occur to me that there were a lot of double definitions in this puzzle. I do think of double definitions as the least cryptic of cryptic-clue types but I have no objection to them. I also find it hard to see double-defining as a lazy device; when I compose clues (which I do for cluing contests), I do not find myself resorting to DDs when I cannot come up with anything better.
The thing is Pete, one setter gets criticised for it, the other gets away with it.
As one who writes crosswords himself I try to avoid DDs as much as I can (and CDs too, however only because I don’t have the talent to write them).
If you cannot clue a word properly, look in the dictionary and see if you can make into a DD. I am afraid that I think that John Halpern, busy and prolific (and good) as he is, deliberately throws in so many DDs to make life easier.
See, 15ac is OK but 1ac one that’s done many times before (lazy!), and 10ac “Drink that’s current?” – what does that mean?
That said, I hope you really enjoy setting for these clueing contests.
Struggled on this one. Typo in your opening comment, Pete, Red Herring is 14d not 4d. Why is Z an unknown? (13ac)
Malcolm, Thanks, I have corrected the typo. Z is an unknown because of algebra! Mathematicians tend to use letters from the start of the alphabet to represent constants of unknown value and letters from the end of the alphabet to represent unknown variables. So, ‘unknown’ is often used to clue X or Y and, less commonly, Z.
Thanks Pete. I knew of X and Y but never met Z before. We live and learn!
I have also realised from comments that I’m blogging with some very clued up crossworders!
Sil, I did note your statement about one setter getting criticised for it and another getting away with it but neglected to respond to it. I acknowledge that as a crossword setter yourself you have a better perspective on the ease of writing DDs than I do and I take your point about it. And, yes, “drink that’s current” means little and seems kind of lazy.
Defeated by 8d and 9d . For 9d I was trying to get a writing implement that began with h, taking off the h to get something that joins things up. I didn’t find it.
Am I the only person who objects to 8D? Lesson as in “teach him a lesson” or “Let that be a lesson” doesn’t mean punishment – it means “make him know that if he does that he will be punished”. Given that the setter could have set “Lesson” or “Less on” if he couldn’t think of a better clue this seems lazy.
You can presumably have good DD and bad, as with other sorts of clue..
bernard, My experience with the use of ‘lesson’ in such a context is that it does refer to a punishment. When “let that be a lesson to you” has been said to me, it has typically happened right after a punishment has been administered and I have always taken the expression to refer to the punishment. Do I have this wrong?
I think it is pretty clear from Collins dictionary:
1. a unit, or single period of instruction in a subject; class ? an hour-long music lesson;
2. the content of such a unit;
3. material assigned for individual study;
4. something from which useful knowledge or principles can be learned; example;
5. the principles, knowledge, etc, gained;
6. a reprimand or punishment intended to correct;
7. a portion of Scripture appointed to be read at divine service.
15a: so a rigger is a ship? I’ve never heard of one and it isn’t in the Chambers Crossword Dictionary. Chambers itself calls it a ‘combining form’, so square-rigger etc. are ships, but rigger itself doesn’t seem to be. I can see what Mudd means, but isn’t this as lazy as all those DDs?
You could read it as a straight definition, but then it would hardly be cryptic at all and hardly a CD.