Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of September 16, 2016
Another delightful puzzle from Rosa. My clue of the week is the lovely 1a (AUGUST). Honourable mentions go to 4a (EGOISM), 12a (IDLY), 13a (THONG), 3d (STRATAGEM) and 10d (BEATITUDE).
| Across | ||
| 1 | AUGUST | 31 days of wind after seconds of lamb curry (6) |
| [l]A[mb] [c]U[rry] + GUST (wind). Oh, what a lovely surface!! (And I do like lamb curry.) | ||
| 4 | EGOISM | Selfishness of horrible heartless moggies (6) |
| Anagram of MOG[g]IES | ||
| 8 | POLLARD | People regularly ignored fat hornless animal (7) |
| P[e]O[p]L[e] + LARD (fat) | ||
| 9 | LULLABY | Left with dull baby, heads off for air at bedtime (7) |
| L (left) + [d]ULL [b]ABY | ||
| 11 | WALL STREET | Elstree unoriginally invested in Disney movie of 1987 (4,6) |
| [e]LSTREE in WALT (Disney) | ||
| 12 | IDLY | Rosa Klebb would kick stuffing out of 9 for no particular reason (4) |
| I’D (Rosa Klebb would) + L[ullab]Y (kick stuffing out of 9) | ||
| 13 | THONG | Run away from crowd in minuscule knickers (5) |
| TH[r]ONG (run away from crowd) | ||
| 14 | TACTLESS | Crass Celts sat around (8) |
| Anagram of CELTS SAT | ||
| 16 | TRANSMIT | Pass on Sumatran’s mitre box (8) |
| Hidden word | ||
| 18 | BOORS | Rude people show contempt for Royal Society (5) |
| BOO (show contempt for) + RS (Royal Society) | ||
| 20 | KIWI | Five sons refused to kiss Swiss bird (4) |
| KI[ss] [s]WI[ss] | ||
| 21 | REDUCTIONS | Point of sale? (10) |
| Cryptic definition. I presume the idea here is that shops put on what we call “sales” that involve price reductions. I have noticed that, in Spain and Portugal, sales are advertised using the word “reductions” in the local language meaning, I suspect, that they have no word that quite matches our “sale” in this sense. Surely the direct point of a sale is either to clear out merchandise that is not moving or to draw in customers; reductions are more of an indirect point | ||
| 23 | CHRONIC | Very bad lad enthralled by elegance (7) |
| RON (lad) in CHIC (elegance). This clue gave me a little trouble. My first guess was CHAOTIC but that does not fit with ‘lad’. Then I found myself objecting to ‘very bad’ being used to clue chronic. However a dictionary confirms that this meaning is found in British colloquial usage although some people consider it incorrect. I am one of those people (although I do not mean this as any criticism of Rosa’s clue). | ||
| 24 | OUTINGS | Day trips from Tunis go wrong (7) |
| Anagram of TUNIS GO | ||
| 25 | DREDGE | Remove deposits from bed of Doctor Heidegger, oddly absent (6) |
| DR (doctor) + [h]E[i]D[e]G[g]E[r] | ||
| 26 | ASCENT | Reportedly sanction rise (6) |
| Homophone (“assent”) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | AROMA | It’s redolent of Emilia-Romagna (5) |
| Hidden word | ||
| 2 | GALILEO | Astronomer from Italy aboard sailing ship briefly (7) |
| I (Italy) in GALLEO[n] (sailing ship briefly) | ||
| 3 | STRATAGEM | Scheme giving rise to huge pies (9) |
| MEGA TARTS (huge pies) backwards | ||
| 5 | GRUNT | Oink and tail of pig, smallest in litter (5) |
| [pi]G + RUNT (smallest in litter) | ||
| 6 | ILL WILL | Bitterness of individual lines by the Bard (3,4) |
| I (individual) + LL (lines) + WILL (bard) | ||
| 7 | MOBILISES | Lawgiver hoards metals and prepares for war (9) |
| BI (bismuth) LI (lithium) (metals) in MOSES (lawgiver) | ||
| 10 | BEATITUDE | Go away and, without former husband, exude perfect happiness (9) |
| BEAT IT (go away) + [ex]UDE (without former husband, exude) | ||
| 13 | TARNISHED | Surprisingly, Tinder has lost lustre (9) |
| Anagram of TINDER HAS | ||
| 15 | CUB SCOUTS | Seconds out, clubs and clouts lads who are prepared (3,6) |
| C[l]UBS C[l]OUTS | ||
| 17 | NOISOME | Retired Missouri dons sound disgusting (7) |
| MO (Missori) backwards in NOISE (sound) | ||
| 19 | ORIFICE | I force operative to fence off one hole (7) |
| I (one) in anagram of I FORCE | ||
| 21 | RUING | Regretting batting wearing toupee (5) |
| IN (batting, as in cricket) in RUG (toupee) | ||
| 22 | NIGHT | Hearing horseman when one sleeps (5) |
| Homophone (“knight”) | ||
Yes, another delightful puzzle from many solvers’ favourite setter.
Unfortunately, a majority of Guardian solvers haven’t discovered yet that she can also be found here.
That said, I think ‘metals’ for BI + LI (in 7d) is all right but not really satisfactory.
I did not enter REDUCTIONS at 21ac (which had to be the solution) because I didn’t get it.
I still don’t get it, I’m afraid.
Apart from that, a good solve.
I guess a sale is a price reduction.
I usually try and post in the Graun thread when she’s doing a Rosa gig.
Thanks for blog.
I too loved this puzzle.
21a. As an accountant I immediately got (and liked) the clue. The ‘point’ (intention) of a sale is to reduce prices.
Thanks Rosa and Pete
Thought that this was excellent as usual from this setter … but for some reason found it to be a lot easier than what she normally delivers else I was just on her wavelength – finishing inside 30 minutes, which has not happened before with her puzzles.
Her surface readings were exceptional and agree that AUGUST was the pick of a very good crop !! Thought that the constructions of KIWI and LULLABY were particularly clever and my last one in, REDUCTIONS, raised a wry smile as the penny finally dropped as to what she was doing.
trenodia, Thanks for commenting. I got 21ac quickly too although I did wonder a bit about how apt the clue is. I added some thoughts about this to my explanation of the clue. But I still think it’s a fine clue as is evidenced by the fact that plenty of people solved it easily enough.
I gotit and enjoyed it. thanks Rosa and Pete,