(Please post comments on ONLY the picture quiz hereinbelow. To post comments on the crossword puzzle, please click here.) A puzzle that’s trickier than the usual start to the FT week, with some nice surfaces. Thanks to Wanderer. And Happy Holidays all! Definitions are underlined in the clues.
Across
1 Fellow player leaves pitch (2-4)
CO-STAR : COS(a variety of lettuce, or its leaves) + TAR(pitch, as used to pave roads).
4 Nullify threat from doctor as I’m about to perform an amputation? (6)
DISARM : Double wordplay: 1st: Anagram of(… about) [ DR(abbrev. for “doctor”) + AS I’M]; and 2nd: DIS-ARM(whimsically, to take away;amputate an arm from one’s body).
8 Obedient daughter – lovely, but no princess in short (7)
DUTIFUL : D(abbrev. for “daughter”) + “beautiful”(lovely) minus(but no) “Bea”(Beatrice in short, Princess of Yok).
9 In direction of pull, a road south (7)
TOWARDS : TOW(to pull) + A + RD(abbrev. for “road”) + S(abbrev. for “south”).
11 Unruly youngster starts on telescope? (10)
REFRACTORY : The 1st letter of(… starts) “youngster ” placed after(on, in an across clue) REFRACTOR(a telescope that uses refracting lenses).
The clue could have been better with “… youngsters start …” to make the wordplay unambiguous.
12 Necklace of gold kept by the Celts, primarily (4)
TORC : OR(the colour of gold in heraldry) contained in(kept by) the 1st letters, respectively, of(…, primarily) “the Celts “.
Defn: … worn by the ancient Gauls and Celts.
13 Stupid lapse, bit of a bloomer (5)
SEPAL : Anagram of(Stupid) LAPSE.
14 Singers missing parts thrown away by tenor in a state (8)
CASTRATI : CAST(thrown away) plus(by) [ T(abbrev. for “tenor”) contained in(in) RI(abbrev. for Rhode Island, the US state) ].
Defn: …, those parts required for a donation to 15 down.
16 Cancel comic taking off ‘hard women’ (8)
WITHDRAW : WIT(a comic) + anagram of(taking off) [ HARD + W(abbrev. for “women”) ].
18 Glower as month ends (5)
EMBER : -EMBER(the endings in “September” and “December”).
Defn: Glow-er, something that glows.
20 Computer left in college dining room (4)
HALL : HAL(9000, acronym for the “Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer” in Arthur C. Clarke’s Space Odyssey series) containing(… in) L(abbrev. for “left”).
21 Start to make for port, so potentially protected from bad weather (10)
STORMPROOF : Anagram of(… potentially) [the 1st letter of(Start to) “make ” + FOR PORT, SO].
23 Crikey! In short, that’s some tomgirl (2,2,3)
OH MY GOD : Short;texting version of which is “OMG”, hidden in(that’s some) “tomgirl “.
24 Recipe, first from Italy involving one oval cooking dish (7)
RAVIOLI : [ R(abbrev. for “recipe”, as in medicinal prescriptions) + the 1st letter of(first from) “Italy” ] containing(involving) anagram of(… cooking) [I(Roman numeral for “one”) + OVAL].
Defn: … from an Italian recipe.
25 Footwear available in Boots and Aldi (6)
SANDAL : Hidden in(available in) “Boots and Aldi “.
26 Make last electronic transfer to UK when touring Spain (3,3)
EKE OUT : E(abbrev. for “electronic”, as in e-mail, etc) + anagram of(transfer) TO UK containing(when touring) E(the International Vehicle Registration code for Spain).
Defn: To make a supply of something last by practising strict economy.
Down
1 Manage to negotiate bend in car (5)
COUPE : COPE(to manage;to deal successfully with) containing(to negotiate) U(a 180 degree bend).
2 Agitate around radius bone (7)
STIRRUP : [STIR UP](to agitate) containing(around) R(abbrev. for “radius” in geometry).
Defn: … in your ear.
3 Throbbing uvulas? Not half! Carnal relations can be so described (9)
AVUNCULAR : Anagram of(Throbbing) [ “uvulas ” minus its last 3 letters(Not half) + CARNAL].
Defn: Pertaining to uncles, one’s close relatives.
A Deep Throat imagery.
5 White Welshman last seen in Caerphilly (5)
IVORY : IVOR(a masculine Welsh name) + the last letter of(last seen in) “Caerphilly “.
A nice surface.
6 Partly reveal a story regarding Shelley’s youth (7)
ALASTOR : Hidden in(Partly) “reveal a story “.
Answer: Title of a Percy Shelley poem, the full title of which is “Alastor, or the Spirit of Solitude”, and the poet was reputedly a loner in his youth.
7 Person looking after online discussion upset Romeo? Drat! (9)
MODERATOR : Anagram of(upset) ROMEO? DRAT.
10 Doctor Who crashed into tree, light being made of it? (9)
TORCHWOOD : Anagram of(… crashed) DOCTOR WHO.
Answer: Any of similar trees, whose wood is used for making torches.
“Torchwood” is a TV series spun off from “Doctor Who”, and, apparently, the producers had the same idea of making an anagram out of the latter title.
13 A revolutionary’s supporting PR section of the Greens (9)
SPINACHES : { [ A + CHE(Guevara, Marxist revolutionary) ] placed below( …’s supporting;is supporting, in a down clue) SPIN(PR;public relations practised by spin doctors) } + S(abbrev. for “section”).
Could “section” in the clue be deemed redundant with the “…’S” already in it.
15 Bare bum finally administered with heartless slap outside seed store (5,4)
SPERM BANK : Anagram of(… administered) [BARE + the last letter of(… finally) “bum“] contained in(with … outside) “spank”(a slap on the buttocks) minus its central letter(heartless …).
Picture the scene outside (inside?) a sperm bank.
17 Melancholy? Not me – 50, newly happy and carefree (7)
HALCYON : Anagram of(…, newly) “Melancholy ” minus(Not)[ me + L(Roman numeral for 50) ].
19 Mexican food – donkey eats it (7)
BURRITO : BURRO(a small donkey) containing(eats) IT.
21 Keep mum working at a foreign language (5)
SHONA : SH!(an interjection to keep mum;be silent) + ON(working, as, say, with an electrical appliance) plus(at) A.
Defn: … of the African people of the same name, belonging to the Bantu group of languages.
22 A little bird told me: new wife needed for Dutch male (5)
OWLET : Anagram of(… new) “told me ” with “w”(abbrev. for “wife”) replacing(needed for) [ “D”(abbrev. for “Dutch”) “m”(abbrev. for “male”)].
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The following pictures have unidentified links to the puzzle. What the answers are not (though they possibly might be):
Pic1: 22 down, Pic6: 15 down, 23 across, or 16 across.
(Please post comments on ONLY the picture quiz hereinbelow. To post comments on the crossword puzzle, please click here.)
Pic 1, HALCYON means ‘kingfisher’, probably too obvious, as is the captcha, ? x 1 = 3…
Pic 3, could this device qualify as a STIRRUP lever?
Cookie, that was an easy one to start with!
Pic 3, could be a trebuchet…used to STORM castles?
or perhaps to throw a dead “burro” over the walls?
Does pic 2 link to AVUNCULAR? There is a story that the Academy’s Executive Secretary said that the statuette reminded her of her “Uncle Oscar” and the name stuck
Hints:
Pic2: what do you get Oscars for?
Pic3: there’s some science here.
Pic 2 isn’t CO-STAR is it? As in best supporting actor/tress
Pic 3: it seems that the pivot arm of a trebuchet is also called a STIRRUP
pic 7: do they use SEPALs in aromatherapy?
pic 6: Masters and Johnson, sex researchers. Um…SPERM BANK? CASTRATI?
Pic 3, a trebuchet uses the torque (TORC) of the counterweight to project the projectile.
Cookie and Shirl:
Right again, Cookie: “torque” is a variant of TORC, and another meaning of the former is the momentum that propels the trebuchet’s projectile.
Pic2: James IVORY directed Oscar-winning films
Pic4: Olive Oyl was the girlfriend of Popeye the Sailorman, who converted SPINACH into muscle
Pic5: Bubblies like champagne could be poured into a COUPE, a wide-rimmed shallow glass
Pic6: Masters and Johnson studied human sexuality, in which the REFRACTORY period is the recovery period following orgasm in which it is physiologically impossible to have another one
Pic7: Essential oils, like those used in inhalers, are extracted from TORCHWOODS
Pic8: Rolling Stone, Mick Jagger, had a longterm relationship with Jerry HALL.
Thanks scchua, sorry you didn’t have many customers. Best wishes for the festive season
Wow, that was hard. I did mention there was a quiz to muffin in the morning on Screw’s blog – nearly everyone commented later than usual since that puzzle took a while to solve, so I guess they were short of time.
Thank you scchua, and season’s greetings.