[If you’re attending York S&B please see comments 32&33] - here
Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of November 8, 2014
Another fine puzzle from Mudd. My favourite clues here are 20a (ESTONIA), 24a (SPIN DOCTOR) and 23d (BOTHY).
ACROSS
1 Consider putting stick in river (6)
DEBATE – BAT (stick) in DEE (river)
4 General swine booked by Orwell? (8)
NAPOLEON – double definition. The pig named Napoleon was one the the chief villains of Orwell’s Animal Farm.
10 Appealing, don’t always expect success? (7)
WINSOME – WIN SOME (don’t always expect success?)
11 Draw a measure of land on back of packet (7)
ATTRACT – A (a) + [packe]T + TRACT (measure of land)
12 Turn over paper – to find pen (4)
FOLD – double definition
13 Unfortunately easterly borders shut, open one of three sides (10)
HYPOTENUSE – anagram of E[asterl]Y SHUT OPEN
16 Bag of liquid not opening – some help to a fireman! (6)
LADDER – [b]LADDER (bag of liquid not opening)
17 Report of traffic jam, one read by a newsreader, say? (7)
AUTOCUE – homophone (“auto queue”). This is what Americans call a teleprompter.
20 Country is one with a capital in Tallinn, perhaps? (7)
ESTONIA – anagram of IS ONE A T[alinn]. And a semi-&lit in that the whole clue would also serve as a definition.
21 Bloodsucker declines to penetrate outer parts of tissue (6)
TSETSE – SETS (declines) in T[issu]E. I have always heard “tsetse fly” but I learn now that ‘tsetse’ is fine by itself.
24 Make PG a PR man? (4,6)
SPIN DOCTOR – SPIN ([how to] make) DOCTOR (from PG)
25 Island lacking shopping centre a killer in the main (4)
ORCA – [mall]ORCA (island lacking shopping centre). This was tough for me because I tend to think of the island in question only as Majorca.
27 Closely observe label designed to grab you (7)
EYEBALL – YE (you) in anagram of LABEL
29 A party in shed that’s flat in the main (7)
HALIBUT – A (a) + LIB (party) together in HUT (shed). With a nice cryptic definition.
30 Stormy in truth under Yeltsin (8)
THUNDERY – hidden word
31 Speed always on wheels (6)
CAREER – CAR (wheels) + E’ER (always)
DOWN
1 Sad three months in America, bringing collapse (8)
DOWNFALL – DOWN (sad) + FALL (three months in America). Americans refer to autumn as fall.
2 Report on New Delhi, as Asian (11)
BANGLADESHI – BANG (report) + anagram of DELHI AS
3 Going this way and that, hit the horn (4)
TOOT – palindrome (going this way and that)
5 Similar thing mixing guano with ale (8)
ANALOGUE – anagram of GUANO ALE
6 Where a chimney stack is free (2,3,5)
ON THE HOUSE – double definition
7 Special time, time for tea by all conclusions (3)
ERA – [tim]E [fo]R [te]A
8 Lower number after last of ten (6)
NETHER – [te]N + ETHER (number)
9 Where one’s heading for Nairobi in important African capital? (5)
KENYA – N[airobi] in KEY (important) + A[frican]. I may be missing something but this clue seems awkward in that, as I understand it, ‘Nairobi’ serves two purposes.
14 Appalling madman in blue, a misfit (11)
UNUTTERABLE – NUTTER (madman) in anagram of BLUE A
15 Used ticker? (6-4)
SECOND-HAND – dual definition
18 Letter like O (8)
CIRCULAR – double definition
19 Margate about to welcome second A-lister (8)
MEGASTAR – S (second) in anagram of MARGATE
22 Look to find power in a faction (6)
ASPECT – A (a) + P (power) in SECT (faction)
23 The two things together on top of yellow shed (5)
BOTHY – BOTH (the two things together) + Y (yellow). Bothy is a Scottish word for a small hut or cottage.
26 Arm supporter in Dublin bar, every second counting (4)
ULNA – [d]U[b]L[i]N [b]A[r]
28 Australian grounded in dance music (3)
EMU – hidden word
Thanks Mudd and Pete
9d I viewed the definition as just Where one’s = where one is, with the word play giving a big hint. Perhaps not clear where definition ends and word play starts but the answer is clear so the clue is perfectly fair.
My all time favourite crossword clue (araucaria) is
Where a girl carries on with two gentlemen (6) to give Verona
I suppose the definition there is just Where or Where (with two gentlemen)
Again the answer is clear but with a wonderful surface
I couldn’t get 23d and had “on the loose” for 6d. Certainly on the loose means free but couldn’t see why a chimney stack would be on the loose unless loose was a building term for a chimney support. Sadly it isn’t
In cryptic terms, it is
Where (a place) one (the solver) has N in KEY+A.
It is not &lit because there are extraneous elements, but you could probably make a case for an extended def clue. I like it!
Whilst in the Araucaria comparison the extraneous component is limited to ‘where’ (‘a’ we can ignore, surely) the same is true: you could (after having decided who the hell loves whom in WS’s usual complex comedic blather) very likely classify this too as an extended def.
But he was bloody good, the Rev, on Shaks:
A bank where blows wild thyme etc and Titania some night initially (7)
What an excellent clue. And so like many here, in Mudd’s splendid offering.
Thanks Mudd and Pete
Usual good quality crossword from Mudd with a number of nice clues. My particular favourite were SPIN DOCTOR and SECOND HAND (must have been used previously I’m thinking!)
A couple that I didn’t parse fully (ATTRACT) and ESTONIA (which I derived from its capital, Tallinn. Didn’t see the anagram at all.
Last in was the clever AUTOCUE