Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of August 29, 2015
I was very pleased to find a new Rosa Klebb puzzle waiting for me last weekend. And I enjoyed solving it despite a couple of concerns. My joint clues of the week are 24a (GUERRILLA) for its triple use of ‘irregular’ and 21d (SWEATY) which is an &lit. Honorary mentions go to 7a (COS), 12a (ELSAN) for its great surface, 14d (EPIGRAPHS) and 19d (REGALIA).
ACROSS
1 Spray it over again in different colours (11)
VARIEGATION – anagram of IT OVER AGAIN
7 Chief of Staff leaves function (3)
Triple definition (the second referring to lettuce and the third referring to ‘cos’ as an abbreviation of cosine)
9 Cashiers regularly snatch kiss (5)
SACKS – S[n]A[t]C[h] K[i]S[s]
10 Last ram wandering in quiet grazing area (4,5)
SALT MARSH – anagram 0f LAST RAM in SH (quiet)
11 Unearthly vista flashes behind head (9)
MOONSCAPE – MOONS (flashes behind) + CAPE (head)
12 Changing lanes for caravan’s convenience (5)
ELSAN – anagram of LANES. An elsan is a chemical toilet as often used in caravans.
13 Grandma bitterly cold in buff (7)
NANKEEN – NAN (grandma) + KEEN (bitterly cold). Nankeen, a word I did not know, is a Chinese fabric that is buff in colour. I guess “buff” was overwhelmingly appealing as a definition for the sake of the surface reading but it made for a very challenging clue!
15 Small, shy, lazy person (4)
SLOB – S (small) + LOB (shy)
18 Walk on water? (4)
PIER – cryptic definition
20 Vain tennis legend wearing underpants inside out (7)
USELESS – SELES (tennis legend) in U[nderpant]S
23 He’s courting wife, I’m afraid (5)
WOOER – W (wife) OO ER (I’m afraid)
24 Irregular, irregular, endlessly irregular line (9)
GUERRILLA – anagram of IRREGULA[r] L (line)
26 Boy saw off killer whale over in Greek tourist spot (9)
ACROPOLIS – SI (boy) + LOP (saw off) + ORCA (killer whale) all backwards. I was not familiar with Si as a name abbreviation (typically, I gather, for Simon).
27 Start to aesthetically reduce high-bridged nose (5)
AROMA – A[esthetically] + ROMA[n] (high-bridged)
28 Sound of sheep, feature of many graveyards (3)
YEW – homophone (“ewe”). I recently visited a yew that is reckoned to be the oldest living thing in Europe. It lives in Fortingall, Scotland and is thought to be as much as 3,000 years old. And it is in a graveyard.
29 Coppers seem disheartened by announcement at station (5,6)
SMALL CHANGE – S[ee]M + ALL CHANGE (announcement at station)
DOWN
1 Rosa Klebb, standing behind holy man, poking hole in robe (8)
VESTMENT – ST (holy man) + ME (Rosa Klebb) in VENT (hole)
2 Carmen speaks lovingly about national animals of America (8)
RACCOONS – RAC (carmen…read as “car men”) + N (national) in COOS (speaks lovingly)
3 Assuages worries, regardless of time (5)
EASES – [t]EASES (worries, regardless of time)
4 Tar and soil are on the wagon (7)
ABSTAIN – AB (tar, as in sailor) + STAIN (soil)
5 Complaint as Billy and Tessa shed clothes (7)
ILLNESS – [b]ILL[y] [a]N[d] [t]ESS[a]
6 No time for lunch for chief! (6,3)
NUMBER ONE – NUMBER (no) + ONE (time for lunch)
7 Red Lancer is evading capture (6)
CERISE – hidden word
8 Enigma of some ‘omeless figures articulated by Cockney (6)
SPHINX – S[ome] + PHINX (cockney homophone for “figures”). Thanks to two commenters for this explanation which I had been unable to parse myself.
14 Retired female embracing “eat greedily” and “criticise fiercely” as mottoes (9)
EPIGRAPHS – PIG (eat greedily) + RAP (criticise fiercely) together in SHE (female) backwards
16 Rapidly descended two hills (4,4)
FELL DOWN – FELL (one hill) DOWN (second hill)
17 Key article on defunct rocket (8)
ESCALATE – ESC (key) + A (article) + LATE (defunct)
19 Array of top class beer served up (7)
REGALIA – AI (top class) + LAGER (beer) all backwards
20 Briefly sick after decade in American vessel (7)
UTENSIL – TEN (decade) in US (American) + IL[l] (briefly sick)
21 Wet, say after exercise? (6)
SWEATY – anagram of WET SAY and an &Lit.
22 Lamenting Romeo, run over in Tamworth? (6)
SORROW – R (Romeo) + R (run) + O (over) together in SOW (Tamworth?)
25 Arrive at stretch of river (5)
REACH – double definition
Wonderful puzzle, perhaps the best (or most challenging) Rosa Klebb so far.
My favourites were 10ac (SALT MARSH), 18ac (PIER) [brilliant, worth a Rufus], 20ac (USELESS), 29ac (SMALL CHANGE), 6d (NUMBER ONE) and the splendid &lit at 21d (SWEATY).
For me, 11ac was problematic for a long time as I thought it was MOONS + (HEAD)*.
However, no anagram indicator provided and there’s also no such word as ‘moonshade’.
By the way, in the blog ‘moons’ should be ‘flashes behind’.
Thanks Pete for that blog.
I cannot help you with 8d which just had to be SPHINX.
Many thanks & ‘toodlepips’ (for now) to Spider Towers.
Many thanks for the blog – a great puzzle.
I parsed 8d as S (some without ‘ome – i.e. ‘omless!) plus PHINX (sounds like a Cockney pronunciation of “things” i.e. figures).
G@2, I think that 8d is s[ome] + {thinks(=figures,v.)}, hom.,
Thanks Pete and Rosa.
Lots to like here including the triple definition at 7ac and ‘flashes behind’ for ‘moons’ in 11ac.
I thought that ‘wearing underpants inside out’ for an envelope of ‘us’ was clever too.
My only slight doubt is ‘standing’ in 1dn. Is it just as an extra help to show that it’s not ‘I’?
Lastly, I too couldn’t fathom 8dn but – be George – I think our anonymous friend above has got it!
A very enjoyable puzzle – tough but fair. My favourites were USELESS, GUERRILLA, SMALL CHANGE and ILLNESS. I too parsed SPHINX as @2 and @3.
Thanks to Rosa and Pete, and special thanks to Sil van den Hoek for mentioning this crossword in the Guardian section.
Thanks Rosa and Pete
A welcome return and a typically well-crafted puzzle by one of my favourite setters. It was one of those crosswords that needed to be chipped away at.
Had to check that a Tamworth was a breed of PIG. Could not parse SPHINX, so thanks for Anon@3 for setting it out. Finished down in the SW corner with EPIGRAPHS, YEW and SORROW the last few in.
Many good clues, but did especially like SMALL CHANGE and RACCOONS.
Thank you very much, Giudice and Anon, for the explanation of this very clever clue (8d).