(Please post comments on ONLY the picture quiz hereinbelow. To post comments on the crossword puzzle, please click here.) A sort of anniversary for the FT puzzle, with its crossword compilers (from the previous 14999 puzzles) mentioned in the clues. Quite straightforward, especially with the special instruction, which meant you could eliminate cryptic and double definitions, and you had a “free” letter for each answer. Thanks to Gozo. Definitions are underlined in the clues.
The first row reads “fifteen”, but other than that today’s crossword is numbered 15000, I can’t find any other significance nor any other hidden words in the grid.
Across
8 Cinephile managed herrings by measure (4)
CRAN : The 1st letter of “Cinephile” + RAN(managed, say, an organization).
Defn: A volumetric measure, in the form of a basket, of fresh herrings.
9 Rush round Scottish isle with Gurney, having made new plans (10)
REARRANGED : REED(rush;any of the grasslike wetland plants) containing(round) [ ARRAN(the island off SW Scotland) plus(with) the 1st letter of “Gurney ” ]
10 Offshore structures to which lass I love returns with Sayang (3,4)
OIL RIGS : Reversal of(… returns) [ GIRL(a lass) + I + O(letter resembling 0;love in tennis scores) ] plus(with) the 1st letter of “Sayang “.
11 Speaks at length about Rosa Klebb’s vegetables (7)
SPROUTS : SPOUTS(speaks at length) containing(about) the 1st letter of “Rosa Klebb “.
13 Sleuth has eaten dry bananas, remaining unmoved (9)
SEDENTARY : The 1st letter of “Sleuth ” plus(has) anagram of(… bananas) EATEN DRY.
14 Wide characters trapping Redshank. Odd (5)
WEIRD : Anagram of(… characters) WIDE containing(trapping) the 1st letter of “Redshank “.
16 Ogre in Tolkien’s work giving gold to Crux (3)
ORC: OR(the colour, gold, in heraldry) plus(to) the 1st letter of “Crux “.
17 Realised the truth having made a decision about Monk and bishop (7)
RUMBLED : RULED(having made a decision, as a judge would have) containing(about) [ the 1st letter of “Monk ” + B(abbrev. for “bishop “) ].
18 Don’t go outside, Gozo! It could be a rottweiler! (3)
DOG : The 1st and last letters of(… outside) “Don’t go ” + the 1st letter of “Gozo “.
22 Nurse stuttered saying New York, Aardvark admitted (5)
NANNY : N-N-NY(written form of how a stutterer might say N.Y., abbrev. for New York) containing(… admitted) the 1st letter of “Aardvark “.
24 Upset nine rude characters about Phssthpok being green (9)
UNRIPENED : Anagram of(Upset … characters) NINE RUDE containing(about) the 1st letter of “Phssthpok “.
26 Make reference to 9 changes Mudd put forward (7)
MENTION : Anagram of(… changes) [TO + NINE(9)] placed after(… put forward) the 1st letter of “Mudd “.
27 Baby born to sailor holding Magwitch in love (7)
BAMBINO : B(abbrev. for “born”) plus(to) AB(abbrev. for an able-bodied seaman;a sailor) containing(holding) the 1st letter of “Magwitch ” + IN + O(letter resembling 0;love in tennis scores).
29 Erecting nothing about Cincinnus is selfish (10)
EGOCENTRIC : Anagram of(… about) [ERECTING + O(letter resembling 0;nothing) ] + the 1st letter of “Cincinnus “.
30 Ruff’s partner, Falcon and a sort of knot (4)
REEF : REE(the female partner of the ruff, a shore bird) + the 1st letter of “Falcon “.
Down
1 Frosty reception for Flimsy and French king – awfully rude (8)
FROIDEUR : The 1st letter of “Flimsy ” plus(and) ROI(French for “king”) + anagram of(awfully) RUDE.
Defn: … towards and from one person to another.
2 I infer changes involving Bradman, using few words (2,5)
IN BRIEF : Anagram of(… changes) I INFER containing(involving) the 1st letter of “Bradman “.
3 Flaky gilt ruff Hamilton damaged. Terrible! (9)
FRIGHTFUL : Anagram of(Flaky) GILT RUFF containing(… damaged) the 1st letter of “Hamilton“.
4 Talented plumbers initially installed Armonie’s faucet (3)
TAP : The 1st letters of, respectively(… initially), “Talented plumbers ” containing(installed) the 1st letter of “Armonie“.
5 Earl by track without Peto getting discharge (5)
ERUPT : E(abbrev. for ” Earl”) plus(by) RUT(a well worn track) containing(without) the 1st letter of “Peto “.
6 English medic points up Dinmutz in disguise (7)
ENCODED : Reversal of(… up) [ E(abbrev. for “English”) + DOC(short for “doctor”;a medic) + N,E(abbrev. for “north” and “east”, compass points) ] + the 1st letter of “Dinmutz“.
7 Nourishing product from exhibition centre first tempted Alberich with touch of relish added (6)
NECTAR : NEC(name of the exhibition centre in Birmingham, UK, from, obviously, “National Exhibition Centre”) + the 1st letter of(first) “tempted ” + the 1st letter of “Alberich ” plus(with … added) the 1st letter of(touch of) “relish“.
12 Timeless honour admitting Neo as old magistrate (7)
TRIBUNE : “tribute”(an honour) minus(…-less) “t”(abbrev. for “time”) containing(admitting) the 1st letter of “Neo “.
15 Highlander roughly ties topless girl – a halting performance (9)
HESITANCY : The 1st letter of “Highlander” + anagram of(roughly) TIES + “Nancy”(a girl’s name) minus
its 1st letter(topless …).
19 Our leading mortgage provider holds Adamant’s rose-bay (8)
OLEANDER : The 1st letter of(… leading) “Our ” + LENDER(a mortgage provider) containing(holds) the 1st letter of “Adamant “.
Defn: Another name for the rosebay plant.
20 Utterly confused on isle, with Chalmie being in the United Kingdom (7)
UNSTUCK : UNST(one of the Shetland Islands in Scotland) plus(with) [ the 1st letter of “Chalmie” contained in(in) U.K.(abbrev. for the United Kingdom) ].
21 Skua, say, first swallows bread Io scattered (7)
SEABIRD : The 1st letter of(first) “swallows ” + anagram of(… scattered) [BREAD + the 1st letter of “Io” ].
Defn: An example of which;say, is the skua.
23 Act spitefully as Gaff replaces unionist in the street (6)
AVENGE : The 1st letter of “Gaff ” replacing(replaces … in) “u”(abbrev. for “unionist”) in “avenue”(a broad street often lined with trees).
Answer: To act in retaliation (spite for spite, one might say).
25 Not a soul announced regular parts embracing Orense (2,3)
NO ONE : The 2nd, 4th, 6th and 8th letters of(… regular parts) “announced ” containing(embracing) the 1st letter of “Orense “.
28 Dante on the rails, sober (3)
DRY : The 1st letter of “Dante ” placed above(on, in a down clue) RY(abbrev. for “railway”;the rails).
Answer: No longer addicted to or drinking alcohol.
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The following pictures have unidentified links to the puzzle.
(Please post comments on ONLY the picture quiz hereinbelow. To post comments on the crossword puzzle, please click here.)
There is a BAMBINO in Pic 3, the small child…
and perhaps also a NANNY and a SEABIRD, but all this is too obvious.
Pic 5) Macbeth has some HESITANCY as he contemplates killing Duncan ?
Pic 2 is of oxidation/reduction reactions. A aide-memoire for this in terms of electrons is OIL-RIG – Oxidation Is Loss, Reduction Is Gain.
P.S. thanks for the tip, Cookie – am I allowed in as I didn’t attempt the crossword?
Pic 3, the Fates, might AVENGE wrongdoing?
I was looking for a CRAN in Pic 3, a hole made in a hard object to allow it to be hung, but I cannot see one, besides which the marble has a heavy base. Cran can also mean to carve out, or waviness of hair (the Cats Pic 1), but those uses are really French.
Pic 5 in Macbeth (Olivier/Leigh) the witches are known as the WEIRD sisters
Well done, muffin (chemistry ace?) for getting the mnemonic “OIL RIG”.
Well done, too, Shirl.
Ex-chemistry teacher, scchua – perhaps I should have left that one to others?
P.S. I was trying to write mnemonic, but my ms and ns kept getting mixed up!
Apparently the three itches in Macbeth are sometimes referred to as the Fates (pic 3), though we already have a Macbeth answer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fates
(It is a little known fact that Macbeth was plagued by three itches!)
Pic 1, Jennyanydots ‘sits and sits and sits and sits’ all day, SEDENTARY?
Hope you can all make out the words in Pic6.
scchua, I tried to bring it up on the screen, but Google warned me it was very dangerous! There were two similar photos, but now when I go back they are no longer there. In Heavens name, scchua, what have you done?
re-booted, one is back, but Avira is again giving warnings.
Could one be Seven Sisters REEF
When you say “one”, Cookie, do you mean pic 6? The Seven Sisters are the Pleiades, which appear in this one.
Sorry muffin, yes, I mean Pic 6. First of all @15 I forgot the apostrophe in Heaven’s, then @16 ‘one’ means one of the two photos like Pic 6 is back, then @18 ‘one’ means one of the labels on the photo in Pic 6.
I found two photos this morning, both the same as Pic 6, but when I went to read the article behind one of them the most horrendous red warning sign shot up, and I dared not even take time to read it – the two photos were immediately removed, by Avira I think. The same thing happened again when I tried this afternoon after scchua’s communication @14. Hence I was not ‘with it’ when I wrote those comments.
The Seven Sisters is the name of a coral REEF in the Red Sea off Aqaba, and of one in Fiji – there are probably others.
Cookie, your security system was probably having an attack pf paranoia, as I could get into the websites behind the pics without being warned off.
The Seven Sisters is near the required key to the answer to pic6.
Pic 6, could one say that Aldebaran (the Follower) DOGs the Pleiades?
Cookie, now you’ve gone too far!
Pic 1, the cats in the musical do a TAP dance
scchua @22, yes, I took ages to ‘read’ Hyades, but cannot see any connection
Of course the Hyades are the ‘April Rainers’ in ‘Green Grow the Rushes, O’, but…
Cookie @25
I love the “of course” – I only discovered that while researching this quiz!
…………….presumably the “seven stars in the sky” are the Pleiades?
………but what are the “nine bright shiners”?
[sh, muffin, have to take care of my image at the end of this beating by scchua.]
There’s this
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Grow_the_Rushes,_O
but some of it seems to be wild guesses (“the rivals” as Welsh mountains? I don’t think so!)
((Whisper – sorry, Cookie!))
By the way, muffin, well done with OIL-RIG, I don’t think any of us would have got the mnemonic, I don’t remember it from A-level chemistry.
I’m impressed by scchua’s breadth of knowledge – such varied references in all of these picture quizzes. (Thanks very much, scchua!)
Yes, thanks scchua for all the fun.
Is no 3 showing Hebe (or maybe Ganymede) handing out the NECTAR of the gods ?
muffin, I must dispel any notions about my knowledge. Thank you but I can’t take credit for it. The bits here and there that I know (and guess) are only good as leads to further enquiry.
Pic1: The BAMBINO is a cross-breed of cats
Pic3: Another meaning of WEIRD, older than its “odd” meaning, is “fate”
Pic4: CRANberry glass, or gold ruby glass, is used in decorative ware
Pic6: In Greek mythology, one of the Hyades was Ambrosia, and ambrosia and NECTAR are sustenance for the gods (stuartr, your were in the ballpark, as they say).
No.6 includes Hyades and Aldebaran, which in the classic horror story “The King in Yellow”, is the location of FRIGHTFUL Carcosa.