Financial Times 15,107 – Dante

by

Monday Prize Crossword / Dec 7, 2015

Familiar territory when Dante’s in charge.

Only a couple of clues for which I need a little help from my friends (2d, 19d).

Definitions are underlined wherever possible and/or appropriate.

Across
1 BUSTLE
To fuss around was the habit of Victorian ladies (6)

Double definition
4 SURPLICE
Service uniform? (8)

Cryptic definition
9 STROVE
Worked hard to convert voters (6)

(VOTERS)*    [* = to convert]
10 MASSENET
Scholars unusually tense, seeing French music master (8)

MAS (scholars, plural of MA) + (TENSE)*    [* = unusually]
12 AVERSION
A translation showing hostility (8)

A + VERSION (translation)
13 SWERVE
Change direction south-west and veer awkwardly (6)

SW (south-west) + (VEER)*    [* = awkwardly]
15 SIDE
Not the end of the team (4)

Double definition
16 WINDERMERE
Wilde’s version of “the Lady of the Lake” ? (10)

Double definition

‘Lady Windermere’s Fan, A Play About A Good Woman’ is a comedy by Oscar Wilde.

And there’s the lake in Cumbria.
19 STRICTURES
Limitations, being harsh, sure to be modified (10)

STRICT ((being) harsh) + (SURE)*    [* = to be modified]
20 ACNE
New expert seen about skin problem (4)

N (new) with ACE (expert) around it
23 ALL OUT
Maximum effort at the end of the innings (3,3)

Double definition
25 QUIBBLES
Makes trifling objections (8)

Cryptic definition

Not very cryptic, IMHO.
27 DISRAELI
Edited fifty diaries of a former PM (8)

(L (fifty) + DIARIES)*    [* = edited]
28 SAPELE
Please order wood for making furniture (6)

(PLEASE)*    [* = order]
29 PROPERTY
Quality homes (8)

Double definition
30 SENT ON
Forwarded foreign money, not returned (4,2)

SEN (foreign money, Japanese) + NOT (reversal, indicated by ‘returned’, of NOT)
Down
1 BUS PASS
Public vehicle licence (3,4)

Cryptic defintion, or BUS (public vehicle) + PASS (licence)
2 SURRENDER
Give up on French uprising (9)

SUR (on, in French) + RENDER (uprising, ??)

I’m not sure here.
3 LAVISH
It’s pointlessly subject to being extravagant (6)

SLAVISH (subject to) minus S (a compass point)
5 UPAS
Tree juice rises after mid- January (4)

PAS (reversal, indicated by ‘rises’, of SAP (juice)) coming after [jan]U[ary]
6 PASSWORD
The utterance of a friend? (8)

Cryptic definition

Dante is the Master of Cryptic Definitions but this one is rather poor, isn’t it?

Chambers: “A secret word by which a friend may pass or enter (a camp etc)”.

We all know what passwords are but this definition feels, to say the least, a bit old-fashioned.
7 INNER
Main meal without a starter? It won’t please this man (5)

DINNER (main meal) minus D, its starting letter
8 EXTREME
Going to great lengths at either end (7)

Double definition
11 COPIOUS
Company with reverence in abundance (7)

CO (company) + PIOUS (with reverence)
14 ADDED UP
Came to a total that made sense (5,2)

Double definition
17 EXCELLENT
Outdo others with a fast time – fantastic! (9)

EXCEL (outdo others) + LENT (a fast time, i.e. a time when people fast)
18 ACCURATE
Right to get junior minister to foot the bill (8)

CURATE (junior minister) coming under, indicated by ‘foots’, AC ((the) bill)
19 STAND UP
Show respect for an elderly lady, but insult a young one (5,2)

Double definition

I can see the first one but in the latter my command of English lets me down.
21 EASTERN
Oriental of earnest disposition (7)

(EARNEST)*    [* = disposition]
22 ABRADE
Scratch a new beard (6)

A + (BEARD)*    [* = new]
24 LASSO
See someone stupid caught in a snare (5)

LO (see) with ASS (someone stupid) going inside
26 SLOT
An opening possibly lost (4)

(LOST)*    [* = possibly]
*anagram

5 comments on “Financial Times 15,107 – Dante”

  1. 19d. If you have a date with a girl and don’t show, she would be “stood up”. I’m also not clear on 2d. Thanks

  2. Thanks Sil and Dante.

    I wasn’t sure about SURRENDER either. Also not quite sure why INNER is “this man” in 7dn.

    UPAS was a new word for me. Liked SAPELE.

    Whilst some of the CDs were barely cryptic, at least they weren’t as iffy as they often are with Dante.

  3. Thanks JohnH for explaining 19d.
    And Hamish, maybe I should underline only ‘this’ in 7d.
    Is that your point?
    The clue refers, of course, to ‘the inner man’ which can mean ‘stomach’ or ‘appetite’.

  4. Thanks Dante and Sil

    Found this a little harder than normal from Dante with a couple of new words in SAPELE and the French composer, MASSENET. Found the WINDERMERE clue an un-Dante-ish offering as well.

    I think that with RENDER, he is looking at computer graphics where one uses colour / shading to generate a 3-dimensional effect which could be described as ‘uprising or rising up’.

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