Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of April 30, 2016
Another good puzzle from Dogberry. I got stuck for a while in the bottom-left quadrant. My clue of the week is 13a (INSTRUCTOR) and I also applaud 14d (CHAMBER POT), 19d (ADELAIDE) and 22d (UPSHOT).
| Across | ||
| 1 | COFFIN | Hum overtures of Otello and Carmen backwards in box (6) |
| NIFF (hum, in the sense of an unpleasant smell) + O[thello] + C[armen] all backwards. I think I have come across ‘hum’ meaning a bad smell before but the word ‘niff’ is new to me. | ||
| 4 | PROTRUDE | Put out by puritan collecting rubbish (8) |
| ROT (rubbish) in PRUDE (puritan) | ||
| 10 | MANAGER | Executive gear redistributed on island (7) |
| MAN (island) + anagram of GEAR | ||
| 11 | TURNS UP | Appears to ram vases inside (5,2) |
| URNS (vases) in TUP (ram) | ||
| 12 | TANG | Returning insect’s bite (4) |
| GNAT (insect) backwards | ||
| 13 | INSTRUCTOR | Tutor – maybe tutor in Royal Shakespeare Company? (10) |
| Anagram of TUTOR IN RSC | ||
| 15 | SLIGHT | Insult left visible? (6) |
| L in SIGHT (left visible) | ||
| 16 | NOTHING | Lean and gaunt, initially, following number zero (7) |
| NO (number) + THIN (lean) + G[aunt] | ||
| 20 | GRAMPUS | Drink spread around by marine mammal (7) |
| SUP (drink) + MARG (spread). A grampus is a type of porpoise. | ||
| 21 | CUSSED | Returning from Hades, successor is obstinate (6) |
| Reverse hidden word | ||
| 24 | PROPENSITY | Ruth maintains means to bind partners is inclination (10) |
| ROPE (means to bind) + NS (partners, as in bridge) together in PITY (ruth) | ||
| 26 | DEAL | Timber trade (4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 28 | HAIRPIN | Instrument protecting one in sharp turn (7) |
| I (one) in HARP (instrument) + IN (in) | ||
| 29 | FERRARI | Go wrong in service, backing one car manufacturer (7) |
| ERR (go wrong) in RAF (service) backwards + I (one) | ||
| 30 | TREATIES | Agreements I, a setter, negotiated (8) |
| Anagram of I A SETTER | ||
| 31 | MANURE | Greek character covered with horse dung (6) |
| NU (Greek character) in MARE (horse) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | COMATOSE | Qualification keeping headless fruit inert (8) |
| [t]OMATO (headless fruit) in CSE (qualification). CSE stands for Certificate of Secondary Education. | ||
| 2 | FINANCIER | Businessperson’s home more elaborate externally (9) |
| IN (home) in FANCIER (more elaborate) | ||
| 3 | IAGO | Villain making lilac grow evenly? (4) |
| [l]I[l]A[c] G[r]O[w] | ||
| 5 | ROTATION | Turning to limit supply (books included) (8) |
| OT (books, i.e. Old Testament) in RATION (limit supply) | ||
| 6 | THROUGHOUT | Hard, thuggish character interrupting solicitor from start to finish (10) |
| H (hard) + ROUGH (thuggish character) together in TOUT (solicitor) | ||
| 7 | UPSET | Happy clique distressed (5) |
| UP (happy) + SET (clique) | ||
| 8 | EXPERT | Apply to seize power from master (6) |
| P (power) in EXERT (apply) | ||
| 9 | DRONE | Tedious sound of flying object (5) |
| Double definition | ||
| 14 | CHAMBER POT | Yellow River dividing Switzerland from Thailand is receptacle for waste (7,3) |
| CH (Switzerland) + AMBER (yellow) + PO (river) + T (Thailand) | ||
| 17 | NOSFERATU | Vampire reincarnated as 4, 10? (9) |
| Anagram of AS FOUR TEN | ||
| 18 | NUISANCE | Pest is put in shade (8) |
| IS (is) in NUANCE (shade) | ||
| 19 | ADELAIDE | Bird-lover turns to assistant for capital (8) |
| LEDA (bird lover) backwards + AIDE (assistant). Leda is a mythological character who married a swan. Adelaide is the capital of South Australia. | ||
| 22 | UPSHOT | Consequence of lob? (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| 23 | STUFF | Things to pack (5) |
| Double definition | ||
| 25 | OLIVE | Love to be green (5) |
| O (love) + LIVE (to be) | ||
| 27 | ARIA | Song with some variations (4) |
| Hidden word | ||
My problems were in the NW .
1a I just couldn’t get a foothold with only ????i?. I do know niff .
1d With ??m?t???, I guessed that it became ??omato?? but CSEs went out years ago.
2d Just having ??n?n???? isn’t enough for a guess.
15a Again with only ????h? that was not enough. I have to say that I don’t see where the instruction is to insert left into visible.
20a Never heard of and ???m?u? did not help.
I had trouble with 15a (SLIGHT) too. I think it works but it is rather oblique.
I had heard of a GRAMPUS before but could not have told you what it was.
Thanks Dogberry and Pete.
I read 15ac as visible = in sight. So if you take “left in sight” as an instruction then it works.
I recall GRAMPUS from a puzzle a long time ago – although I’d normally spell Marge (for spread) with an “e” – but it made sense when it came together so OK by me.
I’m sure that some would argue that a CSE was hardly a qualification – but that’s History (in which I didn’t even get that far!)
One of the definitions that my Chambers gives for ‘qualification’ is “a certificate issued for an examination passed”. If my understanding of CSEs is correct then they fit this. But I think of qualification much more as meaning something that qualifies one for something specific.
Couldn’t get 20ac (never heard this word) nor 22d and 24ac. Otherwise done. 1d we still have GCSEs so CSE wasn’t so difficult. I enjoyed this one.
Thanks Dogberry and Pete
This all went smoothly for me too, until like Bamberger, slowing down in NE corner. Was able to break it open with FINANCIER and then COFFIN (NIFF new to me). Finished with COMATOSE (with the lack of local knowledge of CSE had to confirm it after getting it) and DRONE (which was looking awfully forlorn for ages) as the last one in.
Think that Hamish nails the logic with SLIGHT which I thought was excellent !!
GRAMPUS makes reasonably regular appearances in crosswords – I associate it more to killer whales.
Didn’t parse either GRAMPUS or PROPENSITY, so thanks for that !!!