A difficult puzzle which I made harder for myself than necessary.
Today Queen Elizabeth II becomes the longest reigning monarch in the history of Great Britain. Gaff includes a message around the perimiter of the grid to celebrate this. Had I noticed earlier it would have made solving this puzzle a lot easier. Thank you Gaff.
| Across | ||
| 8 | IODINATE |
Apply antiseptic in US to aide in distress (8)
(TO AIDE IN)* anagram=distress |
| 9 | UVULAE |
Palatine pendants from return address in Arab state (6)
LUV (adress, to a person) reversed (return of) in UAE (arab state) |
| 10 | IDEM |
Eat modish goulash, not as hot as before (4)
anagram (goulash) of Eat MoDIsh missing AS HOT |
| 11 | GLITTERATI |
Reject Italian silver clothing for young socialites (10)
IT (Italian) AG (silver) reversed (rejected) containing (clothng) LITTER (young) |
| 12 | RENNET |
Separatist agent’s revolutionary note (6)
TENNER (note) reversed (revolutionary) |
| 13 | THRONING |
Pressing to boycott grand investiture (8)
THRONgING (pressing) missing G (grand) |
| 15 | ESSAYED |
Tried by state during Seed Riots (7)
SAY (state) in SEED* anagram=riots |
| 17 | PHASE IN |
Gradual start to pain she’s suffering (5,2)
(PAIN SHE’S)* anagram=suffering |
| 20 | EMBATTLE |
Remembers central alliance finally left prime minister ready for war (8)
remEMBers (central alliance, group in the middle) then Clement ATTLEe (prime minister) missing final letter |
| 22 | ARIOSO |
Music from the meeting of Super Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog (6)
found inside (from) a justaposition (the meeting) of super mARIO SOnic the hedgehog |
| 24 | VALENTINES |
Seven Latin playing cards, usually (10)
(SEVEN LATIN)* anagram=playing |
| 26 | SPIV |
Dodgy dealer’s return from knobs (4)
VIPS (knobs, very important person plural) reversed (return) |
| 27 | AUTEUR |
Arrogance contracted by high-end film maker (6)
hAUTER (arrogance, contracted=smaller) – an up-market film director. You could also have high-end to be the missing H and the defiition just ‘film maker’ if you prefer it that way. |
| 28 | ALLOTTEE |
Recipient of parcel from totally extravagant phone company (8)
ALL (totally) OTT (extragavagant) EE (mobile phone company) |
| Down | ||
| 1 | LOUDNESS |
Mostly less sound? Nonsense! (8)
an anagram (nonesense) of LESS sOUND (mostly, not all of the letters) – definition is &lit |
| 2 | OILMEN |
Rig Labour outcome in London Mayoral election, needing leaders (6)
leading letters of Outcome In London Mayoral Election Needing |
| 3 | NAUGHTIEST |
Worst of anything I kept at home (10)
AUGHT (anything) and I inside (kept at) NEST (home) |
| 4 | GET INTO |
Start to enjoy small boy colouring in (3,4)
GEO (boy george, small=contraction of) with TINT (colouring) inside |
| 5 | TUFT |
Nice you-and-us knot (4)
TU (you) ET (and) in French (in Nice perhaps). A tuet is another word for a lapwing. Possibly a lapwing and knot are synonymous in the US? I can’t find any references to support this. Any other ideas? TU (you) and FT (us) – a knot of hair. D’oh. |
| 6 | OUTRANKS |
This side’s armoured division, slightly modified, is militarily superior (8)
OUR TANKS (this side’s armoured division) slightly modified |
| 7 | RATTAN |
Art nouveau brown furniture material (6)
ART* anagram=nouveau with TAN (brown) |
| 14 | REHEARSALS |
Tries again to open all lady solicitors practices (10)
REHEARS (tries again, in court) with first letters (to open) All Lady Solicitors |
| 16 | AWAKENED |
Staggered about, shaken but not a bit stirred (8)
AWED (staggered) containing (about) shAKEn (but not a bit, not all the letters of) |
| 18 | INSPIRER |
Feverishly prise end off ring of stimulator (8)
anagram (feverishly) of PRISE and RINg (missing end) |
| 19 | BEANBAG |
Maybe runner has to reserve soft seat (7)
BEAN (maybe runner) has BAG (to reserve) |
| 21 | MEATUS |
Opening posh charcuterie houses (6)
U (posh) inside (housed by) MEATS (charcuterie) – an opening in the body |
| 23 | IN SITU |
Unmoved by reins, it understood a bit (2,4)
found inside (a bit of) reINS IT Understood |
| 25 | TYRO |
Unruly Tory apprentice (4)
TORY* anagram=unruly |
definitions are underlined
Thanks PeeDee and Gaff,
TUFT works better than TUET, I would say.
I was also slow to decode the nina, because I had Tartan instead of RATTAN for a while.
A lovely puzzle, I thought.
Just beat you to it Muffy. TUFT is clearly the correct solution.
Well, perhaps Gaff enjoyed himself. He certainly made sure the rest of us didn’t. The answers are so arrogantly smug. Is Gaff?
I hope the FT filters out in future setters who are only interested in showing off.
FTLTRR @3 – could you give some examples of what you mean by arrogantly smug answers?
For example: is it the choice of words in the grid? the surfaces of the clues? too easy or too hard? including a Nina?
What makes this arrogant or smug?
Ref @PeeDee
Only the other day I made a similar comment.
If FTLTRR had cited one or two answers/clues that the person thought were ‘arrogantly smug’, it would have helped us in making a judgement.
Sweeping generalisations are neither here nor there.
Thanks Gaff and PeeDee
Liked this a lot – hard but fairly clued, I thought. Sure, there were some unusual words to accommodate the nina, but in each case the answer was capable of being derived from the word play and hence am bemused by a comment such as FTLTRR @3.
Having said all of that, I made the error with TUFT, opting for ‘tuet’ that just about works apart from the ‘us’. EE as a telephone company at 28a was new to me. Had only recently come across ‘charcuterie’ as a side dish in a whisky and beer bar – and nice to know an unusual word in a puzzle for a change.
Finished over in the SW corner with EMBATTLE, BEANBAG and MEATUS as the last few in.