Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of November 7, 2015
I found this a little more challenging than the average Mudd and had to think hard to understand the word play of a couple of clues even once I was sure of the answers. My clue of the week is 23a (COYPU) which cleverly brings in two of Snow White’s Seven Dwarves. I also especially like 24a (GARDA), 3d (ANNIE) and 21d (TWITCH) which makes brilliant play with spelling.
| Across | ||
| 1 | DISTAFF |
Passport rejected, man being female! (7)
ID (passport) backwards + STAFF (man). This is a word of which I knew the existence but not the meaning. I learned it originates from a device on a spinning wheel and came to mean associated with women (who presumably were the primary spinners). |
| 5 | LOCATE |
Find retro Spanish article about Mexican food (6)
TACO (Mexican food) backwards in EL (Spanish article) backwards |
| 8 | PLAINTIFF |
Somone in court spat on no oil painting (9)
PLAIN (no oil painting) + TIFF (spat). I did not originally understand how PLAIN was clued and have to thank HKrunner for explaining this (see comment #1 below). This clue apparently has a typo in it and should read “Someone in court…”. Does this error appear in the print edition? |
| 9 | NONET |
Figure in book group (5)
ONE (figure) in NT (book). Am I right about this one? NT is usually clued by ‘books’, not ‘book’. |
| 11 | OLIVE |
Wire alongside circuit, a shade of green (5)
O (circuit) + LIVE (wire). I suppose ‘wire’ clues LIVE in the same way that it could clue NEUTRAL or EARTH. |
| 12 | SHINTOISM |
Bone is buried in male religion (9)
SHIN (bone) + IS (is) in TOM (male) |
| 13 | ALGERIAN |
Doctor in a large African native (8)
Anagram of IN A LARGE |
| 15 | FABRIC |
Great wrench to cut material (6)
FAB (great) + RIC[k] (wrench to cut). I was originally unsure about the RIC part and, being unfamiliar with the relevant meaning of ‘rick’, had wondered if RIC were short for RICTUS. My thanks to HKrunner for what is now clearly the right explanation (see comment #1 below). |
| 17 | INSECT |
Bug home and dry with first bit of tapping (6)
IN (home) + SEC (dry) + T[apping] |
| 19 | CHIN-CHIN |
Hit after hit bringing cheers (4-4)
CHIN (hit) + CHIN (hit) |
| 22 | BELL TOWER |
One crying about tinnitus, initially, where ringing takes place (4,5)
T[innitus] in BELLOWER (one crying) |
| 23 | COYPU |
Bashful and Happy rolled over rodent (5)
COY (bashful) + UP (happy) backwards |
| 24 | GARDA |
Irish force a draw after a comeback (5)
DRAG (draw) backwards + A (a) |
| 25 | TOSCANINI |
Opera season’s ending in ignominy, primarily, for maestro (9)
TOSCA (opera) + [seaso]N + IN (in) + I[gnominy] |
| 26 | HOOKAH |
Articulated forward pipe (6)
Homophone (“hooker”, as in rugby) |
| 27 | NEST EGG |
Savings in bag get sent back (4,3)
Reverse hidden word |
| Down | ||
| 1 | DIPLOMATIC BAG |
Controversial topic: bad mail and good mail unchecked in here (10,3)
Anagram of TOPIC BAD MAIL + G (good) |
| 2 | SPARING |
Pipe about average, mean (7)
PAR (average) in SING (pipe) |
| 3 | ANNIE |
An agreeable, less conservative, musical (5)
AN (an) + NI[c]E (agreeable, less conservative) |
| 4 | FRIESIAN |
Food served with a burger in a kind of beef (8)
FRIES (food served with a burger) + anagram of IN A |
| 5 | LEFTIE |
Red trombone’s ending with pink organ in story (6)
[trombon]E + FT (pink organ!!!) in LIE (story) |
| 6 | CONSTRAIN |
Check prisoner’s discipline (9)
CONS (prisoner’s) + TRAIN (discipline) |
| 7 | TANGIER |
Port more flavoursome (7)
Double definition |
| 10 | TIME-CONSUMING |
Slow, as is “sentimental”? (4- 9)
Reverse clue |
| 14 | RACETRACK |
People follow a course (9)
RACE (people) + TRACK (follow) |
| 16 | WHORESON |
Love child who has translated Norse! (8)
WHO (who) + anagram of NORSE. Whoreson is not a word I knew. It is an insulting terms of address for people who are stupid, irritating or ridiculous, and also means the illegitimate offspring of unmarried parents. |
| 18 | SALERNO |
Drink in outskirts of Srinagar, certainly not an Italian port (7)
ALE (drink) in S[rinaga]R + NO (certainly not). We have a SALERNO clue a few weeks ago. |
| 20 | HAYWIRE |
Crazy, crazy way to divide rent (7)
Anagram of WAY in HIRE (rent) |
| 21 | TWITCH |
Jerk missing part of morgage, bad speller (6)
T (missing part of morgage) + WITCH (bad speller) |
| 23 | CLASS |
Fine form (5)
Double definition |
Thanks Pete. At 8ac it is “no oil painting” = PLAIN, as in ugly. And the RIC in 15ac I assumed was a cut version of RICK, as in “I’ve ricked my back”.
HKrunner, Thanks very much for these explanations. I have edited the blog accordingly. I was unfamiliar with ‘rick’ having the meaning of to wrench.
Thought this was difficult and some clues eg 10d hard to fathom. Thanks to all.
And as for 26a never got it even though had the down clues in. It’s that rugby thing again.
Yes, for some of us it’s sports, for others it’s history, and so on. I am no sports fan but I had to play it as a boy so know some of the nomenclature.
Thanks Pete and Mudd.
Enjoyable and all clear in the end. It was only when I picked it up ready to post here that I finally twigged the parsing of FABRIC.
Favourites were COYPU, HOOKAH, DIPLOMATIC BAG, LEFTIE and TWITCH.
I couldn’t get 14a and 26. Seemed hard on the whole.
Thanks Mudd and Pete
After starting off quickly, found this a solid workout as well. Some nice ideas including the reverse definition for TIME-CONSUMING, CHIN-CHIN (where did’t realise ‘chin’ could be a verb to hit) and the cleverly disguised parsing of DISTAFF.
The last few included FRIESIAN (and surprised to see it clued as ‘beef’, they are more dairy cows), SHINTOISM and LEFTIE (which took an age to understand that the pink organ was the salmon-coloured FT).
Finished in the early hours of this morning after some pre-birthday drinks with friends !!
Ys the spelling typo in 8ac appeared in the print version also. Failed on 1ac, 2d and 4d though I thought of Frisian, but didn’t check that the cattle is spelled with an “e”. Still don’t like 1 ac even with the explanation, but otherwise found it satisfying if challenging.
I don’t think we praise this setter enough. Some of this is brilliant.
Good point, Wil, thank you. Yes, Mudd gives us more puzzles in this space than any other setter and I always find several clues of his to praise. This one is especially brilliant but his consistency is most impressive. Thank you, Mudd!