| Across | ||
| 1 | MALTHUS |
African country falling short, so economist is needed (7)
MALi (african country, falling short) THUS (so) |
| 5 | FOWLER |
Expert at handling words not so nice when spoken (6)
Sounds like FOULER (not so nice, homonym)
|
| 8 | NEAR THING |
Dodgy event that is right under your eyes? (4,5)
Cryptic def
|
| 9 | ALIST |
Muslim and saint among the top people (1-4)
Charade of ALI (muslim) ST (saint) |
| 11 | YOUTH |
Youngster, the solver I’m addressing? This is denied (5)
YOU (the solver I’m addressing) THis (‘is’ denied) |
| 12 | FARMHOUSE |
What baker offers could make her famous (9)
Anagram of HER FAMOUS |
| 13 | PASSOVER |
Festival admission ticket a thing of the past (8)
Cryptic clue; A PASS would be an admission ticket, and if it was done being used (OVER), it would be a thing of the past. |
| 15 | ORWELL |
Blair getting nothing right? That does surprise me! (6)
O (nothing) R (right) WELL (Exclamation – That does surprise me !) – Eric Blair was better known as George Orwell. |
| 17 | NUMPTY |
Idiot in union – compassion denied one (6)
NUM (union, National Union of Mineworkers) PiTY (compassion, denied one i.e. without ‘i’) |
| 19 | HELD FAST |
Organised time of austerity and didn’t give up (4,4)
HELD (organised) FAST (time of austerity) |
| 22 | ENTRANCED |
Opening day makes one filled with delight (9)
ENTRANCE (opening) D (day) |
| 23 | LEVEE |
This bank would hold student event for influence (5)
Cryptic clue; If LEVEE held RAG (student event), you would get LEVERAGE (influence) |
| 24 | SUSHI |
Spuds regularly supplied by hospital to accompany one foreign dish (5)
SUS (SpUdS, regularly) H (hospital) I (one) |
| 25 | ROADWORKS |
Dark row, so upsetting, can stop people making progress (9)
Anagram of DARK ROW SO |
| 26 | REVERE |
Admire one emerging from daydream (6)
REVERiE (daydream, without one i.e. without ‘i’) |
| 27 | DISCERN |
Show contempt for big research organisation in notice (7)
DIS (show contempt) CERN (big research organisation) |
| Down | ||
| 1 | MONEY SPINNERS |
Things bringing a profit – the little black spiders so regarded? (5-8)
Cryptic clue – MONEY SPIDERS are a type of spiders that are supposed to bring financial luck. SPIDERS are also called SPINNERS. |
| 2 | LEAGUES |
Groups of people – there are about nine in a marathon (7)
A league is approximately 4.8 km, 9X of which results in a distance close to 42.2km , a marathon. |
| 3 | HUTCH |
Shelter children found in cupboard? (5)
HUT (shelter) CH (children) |
| 4 | STIFFKEY |
Frustration for someone trying to enter house in Norfolk village? (8)
Cryptic clue; A STIFF KEY would indeed frustrate someone trying to enter a house.
|
| 5 | FIGURE |
Guess American weightwatcher may be worried about it? (6)
Double def
|
| 6 | WEATHERED |
He watered ground affected by the elements (9)
Anagram of HE WATERED |
| 7 | EPICURE |
Pleasure-seeker in eastern film lacking heart (7)
E (eastern) PICtURE (film, lacking heart) |
| 10 | THE FLAT SEASON |
When certain races take place, fast one has let rip (3,4,6)
Anagram of FAST ONE HAS LET |
| 14 | OSTRACISE |
To banish care – it’s so tricky (9)
Anagram of CARE IT’S SO |
| 16 | DEAD HAND |
Oppressive influence that may pose difficulty for manual worker (4,4)
cryptic clue |
| 18 | MATISSE |
Artist is so devoid of love when friend comes round (7)
[IS So (devoid of love – without ‘O’)] surrounded by MATE (friend) |
| 20 | ADVERSE |
Unfavourable note on bit of the Bible? (7)
AD (note – not entirely sure about this) in VERSE (bit of the bible) |
| 21 | SCARCE |
Mark on church hard to find (6)
SCAR (mark) CE (church) |
| 23 | LAWNS |
Green areas? Any number restricted by rules here (5)
N (number) in LAWS (rules) |
Financial Times 15,099 by BRADMAN
A tough challenge from Bradman today meant that I couldnt solve this entirely on my own! Thanks to the Don for keeping me at my wits’ end.
FF: 7 DD: 10
*anagram
Makes a change from “Diss” which is traditionally Norfolk town which I was familiar with-never heard of this-typical Don
I was in STIFFKEY on holiday in August and found the idea too hard to resist, but I had heard of it before — there was a notorious rector (or was it vicar) of Stiffkey who came to an untimely end — worth looking up on Wiki!
Thanks both. Quite a challenge and I nearly finished it. For 23ac I had put LEDGE but the parsing does not quite work.
Now I remember why I’ve been avoiding Don Manley puzzles for the last few years. Tried this one and it’s really very good but it’s ruined by the stupid obscurities. Does he think he’s being clever? I’ll go back to avoiding him.
Thanks Turbolegs and Bradman.
I have to disagree with defcon63.
Though not a great puzzle, I would class this as generally good with a variety of styles to keep me on my toes.
I don’t remember having heard of Stiffkey before but in usual solving mode one has a ‘what if’ thought in response to the clue which was affirmed by a quick look in my apple maps – no harm in that while one’s on the move.
My only quibble was NEAR THING which – as is often the way with cryptic definitions – I found a bit weak.
But thanks again to Bradman. Though I may carp at times I appreciate all the time and effort which must go in to setting and also appreciate you dropping in to us lesser mortals out here in cyberspace ( in my case AKA the 7:30 to Waterloo).
Thanks Bradman and Turbolegs
Did this one yesterday morning over a couple of sessions and found it a pretty solid workout. There were a few words that were new to me – FOWLER (as in the author of the English lexicon), DEAD HAND, the village of STIFFKEY and the FARMHOUSE loaf of bread. All of them apart from the village were clearly gettable from the word play, so no issues there. I did have to look up a list of towns / villages in Norfolk to identify the appropriate place.
Wasn’t able to parse LEVEE at all.
Finished up in the NW corner with the clever LEAGUES, PASSOVER (which was harder to get than what it should have been) and STIFFKEY the last of all. Thought that MONEY SPINNERS and NUMPTY were the most enjoyable.