Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of March 26. 2016
I recall only one Alberich before in our Weekend FT slot and that was one we saw last August. I found that one difficult and somewhat unrewarding. I found this puzzle challenging as well but considerably more pleasurable. We have a good few impressive clues here, notably the &Lits. 24a (DHOTI) which is my clue of the week and 25a (HABIT). I also like 11a (WEEDY), 19a (PARADISE), 2d (AIRLESS) and 6d (BOSSA NOVA). So, Alberich is growing on me!
| Across | ||
| 1 | DRACHMA | Once ready, children play outside (7) |
| CH (children) in DRAMA (play). I did not know but was not surprised to learn that ‘ready’ can mean ‘ready money’ or simply ‘money’. | ||
| 5 | MOB CAP | Second book by Mafia leader’s not old hat (3,3) |
| MO (second) + B (book) + CAP[o] (Mafia leader’s not old). A mob cap is a cloth hat once worn by women. | ||
| 8 | CARNATION | Motor race one’s often viewed in bed (9) |
| CAR (motor) + NATION (race) | ||
| 9 | SOLTI | Drunk touches current, grabbing front of lightning conductor (5) |
| L[ightning] in SOT + I (current). I have known since studying electronics in my youth that ‘I’ is used to stand for current but, on solving this clue, I realized that I had no idea why and decided to look it up. Wikipedia gave me the answer: The conventional symbol for current is I, which originates from the French phrase intensité de courant, meaning current intensity. | ||
| 11 | WEEDY | Well-tended garden shouldn’t be this wet (5) |
| Double definition | ||
| 12 | GERIATRIC | Chamberpot – a device, we’re told, for old people (9) |
| Homophone (“jerry a trick”). Jerry, perhaps short for jeroboam, can mean a chamberpot. | ||
| 13 | TESTATOR | One’s willing to try new oat recipe (8) |
| TEST (try) + anagram of OAT + R (recipe) | ||
| 15 | COME-ON | Nothing stopping soldiers after officer gives encouragement (4-2) |
| CO (officer) + O (nothing) in MEN (soldiers) | ||
| 17 | DENIAL | Refusal to deliver sandwiches at home withdrawn (6) |
| IN (at home) backwards (withdrawn) in DEAL (deliver) | ||
| 19 | PARADISE | Eden Project’s opening raised a bomb (8) |
| P[roject] + anagram of RAISED A | ||
| 22 | AITCHBONE | A desire to have Nancy’s good English beef (9) |
| A (a) + ITCH (desire) + BON (Nancy’s good) + E (English). An aitchbone is a cut of beef although not one I knew of. | ||
| 23 | DHOTI | Dress primarily fashionable with India (5) |
| D[ress] + HOT (fashionable) + I (India). I believe this qualifies as an &Lit. although I don’t know that many Indians would consider a dhoti fashionable! | ||
| 24 | HABIT | In rehab I trounced this? (5) |
| Hidden word and, debatably perhaps, an &Lit. | ||
| 25 | TRACK DOWN | Eventually find report detailing new railway’s progress? (5,4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 26 | FENCER | One may prefer sabre to foil criminal? Right (6) |
| FENCE (criminal) + R (right) | ||
| 27 | DIOCESE | See wacky comedies miles away (7) |
| Anagram (wacky) of CO[m]EDIES | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | DICE WITH DEATH | Take great risks? Ditch the idea, desperate to protect wife (4,4,5) |
| W (wife) in anagram of DITCH THE IDEA | ||
| 2 | AIRLESS | Stuffy, like ’Arry ’Ill? (7) |
| [h]AIRLESS (like ‘Arry ‘Ill). This refers to the bald British comedian and broadcaster Harry Hill. | ||
| 3 | HEADY | Intoxicating part of beer’s unknown (5) |
| HEAD (part of beer) + Y (unknown) | ||
| 4 | ABINGDON | A great party, note, outside North Oxfordshire town (8) |
| A (a) + N (north) in BIG DO (great party) + N (note) | ||
| 5 | MANURE | Hellenic character’s covered in horse dung (6) |
| NU (hellenic character, i.e. the greek ‘N’) in MARE (horse) | ||
| 6 | BOSSA NOVA | Brazilian dancing master’s a star (5,4) |
| BOSS (master) + A (a) + NOVA (star). I always understood bossa nova to be a genre of Brazilian music, not dancing. | ||
| 7 | AT LARGE | Free beer Rex promoted after a time (2,5) |
| A (a) + T (time) + LAGER (beer) with R (rex) moved up | ||
| 10 | INCONVENIENCE | Popular scam regularly seen in Italian city is a nuisance (13) |
| IN (popular) + CON (scam) + [s]E[e]N in VENICE (Italian city) | ||
| 14 | APATHETIC | Showing no interest in moving area to start with (9) |
| A (area) + PATHETIC (moving) | ||
| 16 | FACE-CARD | Maybe Jack’s following one around centre of Aberdeen (4- 4) |
| F (following) + ACE (one) + CA (around, i.e. circa) + [abe]RD[een]. I don’t recall seeing F as an abbreviation of ‘following’ before but it is in my Chambers. | ||
| 18 | NOTABLE | Incompetent celebrity (7) |
| NOT ABLE (incompetent) | ||
| 20 | ISOTOPE | Priest interrupts awfully otiose element of one mass (7) |
| P (priest) in anagram of OTIOSE | ||
| 21 | CO-STAR | One taking a leading role in Apple? Not quite (2-4) |
| COSTAR[d] (apple not quite). A costard is a type of cooking apple. | ||
| 23 | DEKKO | Look up a couple of kings in dictionary (5) |
| KK (a couple of kings) in OED (dictionary) all backwards (up) | ||
Thanks, Pete. I think the F as an abbreviation of ‘following’ you mention in 16 is common in footnotes designating page references. For example, a reference to a passage that begins on page 16 and rolls onto the next page might be “pp. 16f”; and for a discussion that runs multiple pages, you’d double it: “pp. 16ff”. You’ve probably seen this many times and just didn’t think of it when trying to figure out why “following” clued F. Took me a while too.
Thanks Pete and Alberich.
Enjoyable this. I particularly liked SOLTI, AIRLESS and MANURE.
Good solid puzzle.
Thanks Alberich and Pete
I happened to do a back logged Alberich puzzle last weekend, so looked forward to doing this prize version. Found it a little easier than his February crossword, but still a lot of fun notwithstanding !
Got started in the NE corner with AT LARGE. Strangely enough, it is where I ended up as well with MANURE, MOB CAP (a new word for me) and BOSSA NOVA the last few in.
Didn’t parse CO-STAR properly – my convoluted STA[R] in COR[E] pales into insignificance to the COSTARd Apple.
Dunno about the jeroboam, Pete – thought it stored wine … with the JERRY storing it after it had been processed through one’s kidneys !!! 🙂
Hi Bob. Maybe I don’t read enough material with footnotes but I do not remember seeing that usage before ever!
Bruce, I do think of a jeroboam primarily as a container for wine!