Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of July 2, 2016
I found this puzzle a bit easier than most of Redshank’s. My clue of the week is 2d (AGORA) and I also especially like 28a (DAYBREAK).
| Across | ||
| 1 | MAN-OF-WAR | RAF woman steered old ship (3-2-3) |
| Anagram of RAF WOMAN | ||
| 6 | STEPPE | Plain, small, very quiet place to drive herds (6) |
| S (small) + PP (very quiet) in TEE (place to drive!) | ||
| 9 | BOWLER | He flexes elbow and runs, hoping to limit them (6) |
| Anagram of ELBOW R (runs) | ||
| 10 | UNNERVED | Having lost bottle, topless racer veered before quitting (8) |
| [r]UNNER (topless racer) + VE[ere]D (VEERED with ERE removed) | ||
| 11 | GALA | Knight had forgotten banquet (4) |
| GALA[had] (knight had forgotten) | ||
| 12 | ANDALUSIAN | Spaniard with a large useless Scotsman (10) |
| AND (with) + A (a) + L (large) + US (useless) + IAN (Scotsman). Curiously I happen to be solving and blogging this puzzle in Andalusia — so this clue was easy! Well, easy except that I was unsure about how ‘useless’ clues US. It turns out to be an abbreviation for ‘unserviceable’. (Thanks, Eileen.) | ||
| 14 | TOP-NOTCH | Superb bun picked up when out of cash (3-5) |
| TOP[k]NOT (bun) + C[as]H (when out of cash). Both from the comments here and private emails I have received, it is very clear that many people had trouble understanding the wordplay in this clue — I certainly did. If Sil is correct (see comment #1 below), “picked up” is a homophone indicator telling us to spell ‘topknot’ exactly as it sounds, i.e. TOPNOT. I do not recall coming across a mechanism like this before. | ||
| 16 | NOEL | Prize-giver loses heart for present time (4) |
| NO[b]EL (prize-giver loses heart) with a nice cryptic definition | ||
| 18 | ASTI | Drink’s lasting longer than necessary (4) |
| Hidden word — and an especially clever one | ||
| 19 | UNCHASTE | Running free, reportedly having had it? (8) |
| Homophone (“unchased”) with another cryptic definition | ||
| 21 | HANG-GLIDER | High dangler nervously losing height? (4-6) |
| Anagram of HIG[h] DANGLER | ||
| 22 | PUMP | Grill fat left to go off (4) |
| P[l]UMP (fat left to go off) | ||
| 24 | AGITATOR | He disturbs a reptile eating it (8) |
| A (a) + IT (it) in GATOR (reptile) | ||
| 26 | IMPEDE | Hamper suspect emptied: tea said to be missing (6) |
| Anagram of EMP[t]IED | ||
| 27 | STYMIE | Items scattered around rear of chemistry block (6) |
| [chemistr]Y in anagram of ITEMS | ||
| 28 | DAYBREAK | Dawn’s daughter takes time off to tour Yarmouth (8) |
| D (daughter) + Y (Yarmouth) in A BREAK (time off) | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | AGORA | Space in Athens described by Pythagoras (5) |
| Hidden word | ||
| 3 | OIL PAINTING | Crude heavy breathing impresses one beauty (3,8) |
| OIL (crude) + I (one) in PANTING (heavy breathing) | ||
| 4 | WARRANTY | Sound off, breaking cautious promise (8) |
| RANT (sound off) in WARY (cautious) | ||
| 5 | ROUND-SHOULDERED | Shell should be red not black and curved at the top (5-10) |
| ROUND (shell) + SHOULD [b]E RED | ||
| 6 | SENILE | Doddery earl with signs of ageing all over (6) |
| E (earl) + LINES (signs of ageing) all backwards | ||
| 7 | ERR | Palace duo miscalculate (3) |
| ER R (palace duo) | ||
| 8 | PREVALENT | Stop a student entering common (9) |
| A (a) + L (student) together in PREVENT (stop) | ||
| 13 | SUNDAY PAPER | Observer perhaps and German cut state exam (6,5) |
| UND (and German) in SAY (state) + PAPER (exam) | ||
| 15 | ONSLAUGHT | Charge about street, stifling scream (9) |
| ON (about) + SCREAM (laugh) in ST (street) | ||
| 17 | ACERBITY | Get bitterness from maple by squeezing it (8) |
| ACER (maple) + IT (it) + BY (by). Acer, in addition to being a Taiwanese technology company, is a genus of trees that includes maples. Is the ‘get’ not a bit awkward here? | ||
| 20 | CLOTHE | Reluctant to appear in church robe (6) |
| LOTH (reluctant) in CE (church) | ||
| 23 | MEDIA | Some said emails upset press and TV (5) |
| Reverse hidden word | ||
| 25 | TOM | Witty remark about queen’s consort (3) |
| MOT (witty remark) backwards with ‘queen’ referring, in the definition, to a female cat. At first I thought this clue was a bit weak without bon but one dictionary I consulted indicates that mot by itself can be used as an abbreviation for bon mot. | ||
Pete, 14ac was the only one I did not understand, so I hoped you had the answer!
However, on second thoughts, I see now how it works.
It is a homophone (‘picked up’) of TOPKNOT (bun), plus AS (when) removed from CASH.
Good crossword, easier and less tricky than normally is the case with Redshank.
Thanks for the blog, Pete.
AGORA was my favourite, too – great surface! I also liked the original clue for ASTI and the witty high dangler / HANG GLIDER.
Pete, Chambers gives US as unserviceable.
Sil @1 – I’m sure you meant to write ‘plus CH [‘as’ removed from CasH].’
I agree that this was easier than usual for Redshank but none the worse for that. Many thanks to him, as ever – I really enjoyed it.
Thanks Pete as ever. I wasn’t helped by spelling “Andalusian” with a “c” instead of “s”.
Though I got TOPNOTCH I still don’t understand it even with Sils comments.
11ac the “A” needs to be outside the bracket in your explanation.
Didn’t get 17ac but do understand it now, and the “get” makes sense. You “get”(in the sense make the word) acerbity from “acer”, and “by” squeezing “it”.
I have more difficulty understanding in 2ac why TEE should have the PP inside it though I did get the answer.
Sil, Thank you for your take on 14ac which I think must be correct although it surprises me.
Eileen, Thanks for the US reference.
Malcolm, Ah, yes, easy mistake to make. Teresa, my partner, tells people that we are in Andalucia while I tell them we are in Andalusia!
One away -couldn’t get 16a even with n?e? . Went through the alphabet but no word starts noe does it ?
Thanks Pete and Redshank.
Interestingly, Picaroon in the Guardian prize puzzle of the same day had STEPPE = PLAIN (used here in 6ac) the other way round.
I am feeling smug for getting and parsing TOP NOTCH early on.
Fun puzzle.
I should have known better; Al Andalus in Mozarabic is the giveaway
Thanks Redshank and Pete
This was a welcome bit of respite in between a number of harder backlog puzzles that I am currently working on. Some really excellent clues throughout the grid – especially liked a couple of the &lits – BOWLER and HANG-GLIDER.
Was surprised that people had difficulty with TOP-NOTCH – immediately think of the Japanese samurais or sumo wrestlers when I come across this word – and notice that some of our Australian Rules footballers have introduced it as a fashionable (hipster) style down here in recent times.
Didn’t know of US as an abbreviation for unserviceable – but it just had to be something like that.
Finished in the SE corner with the humorous UNCHASTE, PUMP (which i made heavier work than I needed to) and the clever SUNDAY PAPER as the last few in.