Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of April 23, 2016
I raced through this puzzle finding only 1a and 24d tricky and then had to look back to realize how clever some of the clues are. My clue of the week is the &Lit. 24d (NEIGH) and I also laud 27a (PORCUPINE), 15d (ASTROTURF) and 19d (CALYPSO).
| Across | ||
| 1 | SURGICAL SPIRIT | Very precise character, the stuff of theatre? (8,6) |
| SURGICAL (very precise) + SPIRIT (character) with a clever, but common, cryptic definition. I have known the term surgical spirit since childhood but, until now, never knew exactly what it is. Turns out to be a catchall term for various kinds of alchohol used primarily as topical anaesthetics. I also learned that it is a very British term and not used in the U.S. | ||
| 10 | ACCRA | Behind leaders in African council, bend over backwards for African city (5) |
| A[frican] C[ouncil] + ARC (bend backwards) | ||
| 11 | SOFT PEDAL | Piano part felt sad with hollow piano playing (4,5) |
| Anagram of FELT SAD P[ian]O | ||
| 12 | BARISTA | Italian city’s tea lacking body, one serving coffee (7) |
| BARI’S (Italian city’s) + T[e]A | ||
| 13 | REQUIRE | Demand a number of leaves on tree without bark? (7) |
| [t]RE[e] + QUIRE (a number of leaves) | ||
| 14 | TRA-LA | One abandoning path with a carefree song (3-2) |
| TRA[i]L (one abandoning path) + A (a). Well it’s really path abandoning one, isn’t it? | ||
| 16 | INCLEMENT | Seal quaffing first of lagers after popular bitter (9) |
| IN (popular) + L[agers] in CEMENT (seal) | ||
| 19 | CONSTRAIN | Force to study ancestral line (9) |
| CON (to study) + STRAIN (ancestral line) | ||
| 20 | KNOCK | Find fault with tap (5) |
| Double definition | ||
| 22 | LOWDOWN | Shameful facts (7) |
| Double definition | ||
| 25 | INSPIRE | Arouse in father outstanding passion, initially (7) |
| IN (in) + P[assion] in SIRE (father) | ||
| 27 | PORCUPINE | Hole to keep a serving of tea in that’s spiked (9) |
| CUP (a serving of tea) + IN (in) together in PORE (hole) | ||
| 28 | LANCE | Pierce artery, catching cold (5) |
| C (cold) in LANE (artery) | ||
| 29 | OUT OF THIS WORLD | Where spaceships are heading is wonderful (3,2,4,5) |
| Double definition | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | UNCERTAIN | Nicer aunt tossed up in the air (9) |
| Anagram of NICER AUNT | ||
| 3 | GRASS | Soporific to sing (5) |
| Double definition | ||
| 4 | COSTA RICA | Central American nation finding second player in Chad, oddly (5,4) |
| CO-STAR (second player) + I[n] C[h]A[d] | ||
| 5 | LIFER | Prisoner ending in jail, providing Her Majesty (5) |
| [jai]L + IF (providing) + ER (Her Majesty) | ||
| 6 | PIPSQUEAK | I speak up, moved to cover question for the little runt (9) |
| Q (question) in anagram of I SPEAK UP | ||
| 7 | RADII | Duck out of the way! Two bones! (5) |
| R[o]AD (duck out of the way) + II (two) | ||
| 8 | TALLEST | Everything in game is most implausible (7) |
| ALL (everything) in TEST (game) | ||
| 9 | RABBIT | Animal with pole to climb gripped hard (6) |
| BAR (pole) backwards (to climb) + BIT (gripped hard) | ||
| 15 | ASTROTURF | Horse’s pace maintained by a swell synthetic surface material (9) |
| A (a) + TROT (horse’s pace) in SURF (swell) | ||
| 17 | CANNINESS | Prudence, storing numbers in containers (9) |
| NINES (numbers) in CANS (containers) | ||
| 18 | EMOTIONAL | Poignant book written up on island overlooking lake (9) |
| TOME (book) backwards + IONA (island) + L (lake). The latter part of the wordplay could, I think, also be interpreted as I (island) + ON A (overlooking) + L (lake). This was my original take on it but thanks to a comment (see below) I now see and favour the IONA interpretation. | ||
| 19 | CALYPSO | Thus going under extremely likely in top Caribbean dance (7) |
| L[ikel]Y in CAP (top) + SO (thus) | ||
| 21 | KEEPER | Once more look up The Guardian (6) |
| RE-PEEK (once more look) backwards | ||
| 23 | WORST | Principals in women’s organisations routinely sacked, that’s most unacceptable (5) |
| W[omen’s] O[rganisations] R[outinely] S[acked] T[hat] | ||
| 24 | NEIGH | Sound coming from Ben Nevis in nineteen-eighty (5) |
| Hidden word with the Ben Nevis referred to being the horse that won the Grand National in 1980. Assuming that Ben Nevis must have neighed at least one in its year of glory, we can call this an &Lit. | ||
| 26 | SALVO | Round Italian house almost accommodating fifty (5) |
| L (fifty) in SAVO[y] (Italian house almost). Wikipedia notes that, “The House of Savoy (Italian: Casa Savoia) is one of the oldest royal families in the world, being founded in year 1003 in the historical Savoy region.” | ||
Thanks Pete and Mudd.
I thought 14ac was fine. It does say “one abandoning…..” rather than “one abandoned by……” but I see how it could be read.
Thanks for helping with the SAVOY part of SALVO – for some dumb reason I just couldn’t think of the Italian House.
All in all I agree with your synopsis. A great puzzle with some top quality clues.
To paraphrase “A fine Mudd you’ve got me into” I liked this on even though it took my usual week to solve.
4d you need IN chad oddly to collect the “i”
Ah yes, thanks for spotting that Malcolm. I have corrected the explanation.
Defeated by 3d -sorry don’t get the soporific bit , 17d and 26d . Simply didn’t know savoy.
Hi Bamberger, I took it to mean that smoking grass slows you to a sleepy stupor.
Thanks, Pete. Mudd’s one of my top favourites — but I needed your explanation for a couple of solutions.
Thanks Mudd and Pete
Typical classy offering by Mudd – not one of his toughest offerings, but still filled with some top line clues. Started off with ACCRA and then down to the long one on the bottom. Didn’t know the horse, but an easy hidden and a quick Google to check on it confirmed it was so – came across a racehorse in another crossword recently.
A couple that I didn’t parse – more by being lazy than anything – just didn’t go back to them. Finished in the NW corner with ASTROTURF, RABBIT (not sure why it took so long to see) and the tricky TRA-LA the last ones in.
Hi Pete, In 18d I took “…on island…” to be Iona.
Hi Kevin, Ah, yes! I am surprised that I missed that — especially since I was on Iona myself only last summer. Many thanks for the tip.