Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of October 10, 2015
I found this to be a fairly straightforward and easy solve. My clue of the week is 11d (TWELFTH NIGHT), a true gem, and I also applaud 19a (MIDSTREAM) and 20a (BREATHTAKING).
| Across | ||
| 1 | ROSE GARDEN |
Fragrant area, forest beyond wild gorse (4,6)
Anagram of GORSE + ARDEN (forest) |
| 6 | ABUT |
Neighbour, member of an orchestra (retired) (4)
TUBA (member of an orchestra) backwards |
| 9 | MOCK ORANGE |
Plant second religious text with gilt introduction in church (4,6)
MO (second) + KORAN (religious text) + G[ilt] together in CE (church) |
| 10 | FLEA |
Small jumper to take off, did you say? (4)
Homophone (“flee”) |
| 12 | IN OTHER WORDS |
Novel now shorter I’d expressed a different way (2,5,5)
Anagram of NOW SHORTER ID |
| 15 | PRIESTLEY |
Sound clerical writer (9)
Homophone (“priestly”) |
| 17 | LENTO |
Lion digesting books slowly (5)
NT (books) in LEO (lion) |
| 18 | LEDGE |
Move with caution beyond the far side of continental shelf (5)
[continenta]L + EDGE (move with caution) |
| 19 | MIDSTREAM |
Mad terms I amended half way through (9)
Anagram of MAD TERMS I |
| 20 | BREATHTAKING |
Wonderful Mad Hatter cooking sandwiches! (12)
Anagram of HATTER in BAKING (cooking) |
| 24 | URDU |
Language teacher not beginning to comprehend dialect, initially (4)
D[ialect] in [g]URU (teacher not beginning) |
| 25 | BELONGINGS |
People should maintain desire for stuff (10)
LONG (desire) in BEINGS (people) |
| 26 | DORK |
Social misfit in nerd or kook (4)
Hidden word |
| 27 | ASSORTMENT |
A street full of kind people, a mixed bag (10)
A (a) + SORT (kind) + MEN (people) together in ST (street) |
| Down | ||
| 1 | RUMP |
Drink problem’s beginning for bum (4)
RUM (drink) + P[roblem] |
| 2 | SOCK |
Item of footwear that’s a big hit (4)
Double definition |
| 3 | GROUNDSHEETS |
Reason these misconstrued as camp items (12)
GROUNDS (reason) + anagram of THESE |
| 4 | ROAST |
Have a go at Sunday lunch (5)
Double definition |
| 5 | EAGLE-EYED |
Discerning response ultimately a delight, you start to dance (5-4)
[respons]E + A (a) + GLEE (delight) + YE (you) + D[ance] |
| 7 | BELL RINGER |
Live with two students? Double clanger! (4-6)
BE (live) + LL (two students) + RINGER (double) |
| 8 | TRANSFORMS |
Breaking up vehicles, partners supporting changes (10)
NS (partners) + FOR (supporting) together in TRAMS (vehicles) |
| 11 | TWELFTH NIGHT |
The twice abridged, left-wing revolutionary play! (7,5)
Anagram of TH[e] TH[e] LEFT WING |
| 13 | SPELLBOUND |
With interval over, sure to be enthralled (10)
SPELL (interval) + BOUND (sure) |
| 14 | MIND READER |
I can tell what you’re thinking, there’s fear in subterranean worker (4,6)
DREAD (fear) in MINER (subterranean worker) |
| 16 | LIMITLESS |
Unfortunately, elitism among outsiders in Laos is never- ending (9)
Anagram of ELITISM in L[ao]S |
| 21 | KYOTO |
Eastern city right to screen play that’s uplifting (5)
TOY (play) in OK (right) all backwards |
| 22 | ANNE |
Queen – some Georgian next? (4)
Hidden word |
| 23 | PSST |
Heads in primary schools start to listen! (4)
P[rimary] S[chools] S[tart] T[o] |
Thanks Pete and Mudd.
Pretty straightforward as you say.
All very clearly clued and the only parsing which held me up for a short while was URDU.
Enjoyed PSST as well as the others that you mentioned. I suspect that the same word clued in Mudd’s alter-ego would have been a homophone.
All solved apart from 9a that I had never heard of and 25a that I just could not see.
Thanks Mudd and Pete
Agree that this was at the easier end of the Mudd spectrum, all finished well within the train ride into work yesterday. No real standouts to me in it either which is unusual for this setter.
Missed most of the parsing of EAGLE-EYED, although it had to be the answer.
Last few in were MOCK ORANGE (a new plant for me), GROUNDSHEETS (which I found deceptively tricky to see) and PRIESTLEY (a clever homophone).