Had to wait for this…
…due to the puzzle not appearing on the FT website until late in the day, and then I was away from my PC in the evening.
Was it worth the wait? Well, frankly, no!
This was not Crux’s best effort, in my opinion.
11ac, 4dn and 23 dn I didn’t like.
I couldn’t parse DISINFECT and I don’t have the time this morning to explain why I don’t like HEAPS.
There were some good ones (1ac, for example), but in the end, I found the experience to be not terribly enjoyable.
| Across | ||
| 1 | MINNESOTA | Marshal nominates 1 in 50 (9) |
| *(nominates) | ||
| 6 | BREAD | Uneven parts of barley and wheat produce (5) |
| Uneven parts of BaRlEyAnD | ||
| 9, 21 | TITUSOATES | Oddly it’s out east he plotted conspiracy (5,5) |
| (its out east)
Titus Oates claimed there was a Jewish plot to assassinate Charles II |
||
| 10 | ABSTAINER | Party-pooper, in more ways than one! (9) |
| Someone who doesn’t vote could be described as a “party pooper” and I suppose if you don;t drink or take drugs, you COULD be considered a “party pooper”, although I’m quite happy to party without either myself! | ||
| 11 | DUODECIMAL | You need 12 to form such a system (10) |
| A (barely) cryptic definition | ||
| 12 | KITH | Old friends like Christopher and Elspeth at the end (4) |
| KIT + (elspet)H | ||
| 14 | FRAILTY | Cook taking tail off displays weakness (7) |
| *(tail) in FRY | ||
| 15 | EVOLVER | Defaced weapon naturally changes with time (7) |
| (r)EVOLVER | ||
| 17 | LESSENS | Cuts classes in oral comprehension (7) |
| Homophone of LESSONS | ||
| 19 | DEBACLE | ABCDE confused the French – what a fiasco! (7) |
| *(abcde) + LE | ||
| 20 | EROS | A divine youth’s painful setback (4) |
| <=SORE | ||
| 22 | BESTSELLER | A commercial success: what oenophiles long for, we’re told (10) |
| Homophone of BEST CELLAR | ||
| 25 | TITLE ROLE | Crazy little hero, beheaded in Peter Pan, say (5,4) |
| *(little ero) | ||
| 26 | HEAPS | Very many are out of shape (5) |
| *(shape)
This doesn’t feel right, but I haven’t the time to get my head round explaining why. |
||
| 27 | POSIT | Assume, for argument’s sake, it follows return of bribe (5) |
| IT follows <=SOP | ||
| 28 | DISINFECT | Debug beds in Homes and Gardens (9) |
| Can’t parse this | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | MATED | Got married without the Church – married still (5) |
| MAT(ch)ED | ||
| 2 | NATIONALS | Some newspapers for citizens (9) |
| Double definition | ||
| 3 | EASTERLIES | It releases unusually bitter blows (10) |
| *(it releases) | ||
| 4 | OPACITY | Work associated with a financial centre lacks transparency (7) |
| OP + A CITY
The clue indiucates a verb (“lacks transparity”), but the answer is a noun. Could have been clued as “shows a lack of transparity”. |
||
| 5 | ATSTAKE | Yorkshire headwear appropriate on the line (2,5) |
| ‘ATS + TAKE (“appropriate”) | ||
| 6 | BEAM | Fish out of river may be a ray (4) |
| B(r)EAM | ||
| 7 | ENNUI | Unseen nuisance that’s a source of tedium (5) |
| Hidden in “unseEN NUIsance” | ||
| 8 | DARK HORSE | Black Bess, for example, reveals unexpected talent (4,5) |
| Black Bess was a (not surprisingly) dark horse, ridden by Dick Turpin. | ||
| 13 | DOUBLE CHIN | Hitchcock’s outstanding feature? (6,4) |
| Alfred Hitchcock was often shown in silhouette with a marked double chin. | ||
| 14 | FALSE STEP | Having spelt “safe” wrong could put you in danger (5,4) |
| *(spelt safe) | ||
| 16 | VACILLATE | Hesitate to get sick during leave (9) |
| ILL “during” VACATE | ||
| 18 | STEROID | Unfit editors may need such injections (7) |
| *(editors) | ||
| 19 | DITHERS | This red mixture does 16 (7) |
| *(this red) | ||
| 21 | See 9 | |
| 23 | RESIT | Have another go at 24 (5) |
| Not very cryptic | ||
| 24 | TEST | Contestant takes part in experiment (4) |
| Hidden in “conTESTant” | ||
*anagram
I couldn’t parse 28 either. I wonder if the idea of “beds in Homes and Gardens” is just to show the types of places that beds might be found.
The solution posted today shows the answer was in fact DISINFEST (S instead of C), but that doesn’t help.
A thought regarding 28A
To remove bugs from a bed in the home.
To remove bugs from garden beds
Yes, I parsed disinfest as Aid has above. Started to think something could be done with n(f)est/home, but realised the cryptic definition soon enough.
Btw, I agree with Loonapick about 26a – the grammar doesn’t seem right. Very many out of shape would be better.
OK; the consensus is that 28ac is a cryptic definition. Not a good one, in my opinion.
Thanks Crux and loonapick
Pleasant enough romp with new learning of TITUS OATES. A couple of loosish clues – DOUBLE CHIN and DISINFEST (which I didn’t parse, got wrong with a C instead of an S and don’t much like the cryptic definition as such). Did like the different use of the numerals in the clues though !
Finished in the NE with NATIONALS, EASTERLIES and AT STAKE (which took a while to realise that there was more than one ‘AT involved).
Thanks Crux and loonapick.
Surely not as bad as all that!
Yes, it is very Danteish. Yes, DISINFESTS is a bit lame, and DOUBLE CHIN seems hardly cryptic at all.
But both MINNESOTA and MATED were excellent and I think that ABSTAINER is better than you think – I took it that the second abstention was political (so if you abstain from a vote you could also be a party-pooper).
Not great, but OK I think.