Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of September 24, 2016
A breezy and enjoyable puzzle from Mudd, I thought. My clue of the week is the clever and unusual 1a (EAR-SPLITTING) and I also like 28a (DELICATESSEN) and 21d (EMULATE).
| Across | ||
| 1 | EAR-SPLITTING | Deafening – as are loud gongs, primarily, in Elgar? (3-9) |
| I am unsure of how to categorize this clue but the wordplay identifies LG (loud gongs primarily) as splitting the E and the AR, thus EAR, in Elgar. Edward Elgar did use gongs in his music. | ||
| 10 | EXTRACT | Draw more colourful things, originally (7) |
| EXTRA (more) + C[olourful] T[hings] | ||
| 11 | CASCADE | Rat drowned by situation, series of waterfalls (7) |
| CAD (rat) in CASE (situation) | ||
| 12 | MUMPS | Footnote on parent getting childhood disease (5) |
| MUM (parent) + PS (footnote) | ||
| 13 | TEENSIER | More slight changes seen with rite (8) |
| Anagram of SEEN RITE | ||
| 15 | DISHONESTY | Lying in bed, I shone stylishly (10) |
| Hidden word | ||
| 16 | TEAL | Brew requiring head on lager for bird (4) |
| TEA (brew) + L[ager] | ||
| 18 | SPAT | Argument, as cold and hot the wrong way round? (4) |
| TAPS (cold and hot) backwards | ||
| 20 | COMPLEMENT | Entire crew required – staff in total one short? (10) |
| MEN (staff) in COMPLET[e] (total one short) | ||
| 22 | OUTSTRIP | Unfashionable kit is better (8) |
| OUT (unfashionable) + STRIP (kit). I find that ‘strip’ can be used to mean the attire or uniform of a sports team, a usage I do not recall encountering before. | ||
| 24 | FAUST | Opera house’s heart breaking rapidly (5) |
| [ho]U[se] in FAST (rapidly) | ||
| 26 | TOURIST | US author captivated by infant, one on holiday (7) |
| [Leon] URIS (US author) in TOT (infant) | ||
| 27 | BEEFALO | Meaty complaint, at loggerheads over starters – so cross (7) |
| BEEF (meaty complaint) + A[t] L[oggerheads] O[ver]. The answer refers to a hybrid animal that is a cross between cattle and buffalo. | ||
| 28 | DELICATESSEN | Fudge as selected in food store (12) |
| Anagram of AS SELECTED IN | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | AT TIMES | Being wild, it’s tame occasionally (2,5) |
| Anagram of ITS TAME | ||
| 3 | SNAPSHOT | Informal image in card game, ruined (8) |
| SNAP (card game) + SHOT (ruined) | ||
| 4 | LUTE | Sound money for old instrument (4) |
| Homophone (“loot”) | ||
| 5 | TICKER-TAPE | Credit repeat broadcast that’s kind of welcome? (6-4) |
| TICK (credit) + anagram (broadcast) of REPEAT. Non-Brits may be unfamiliar with the expression “to buy on tick” which means the same as “to buy on credit”. | ||
| 6 | IBSEN | Popular housing foundation evicting a playwright (5) |
| B[a]SE (foundation evicting a) in IN (popular) | ||
| 7 | GRANITE | Resilience shown by elderly relative with sex appeal and energy (7) |
| GRAN (elderly relative) + IT (sex appeal) + E (energy) | ||
| 8 | BERMUDA SHORTS | Informal wear that’s old, terribly smart brushed coats (7,6) |
| O (old) in anagram (terribly) of SMART BRUSHED | ||
| 9 | PETROL STATION | Lost swimming among a quota of goldfish, say, where tank filled up (6,7) |
| Anagram (swimming) of LOST in PET RATION (a quota of goldfish, say) | ||
| 14 | HEDONISTIC | His diet ruined munching on first of cakes – that’s decadent (10) |
| ON (on) in anagram of HIS DIET + C[akes] | ||
| 17 | SELFLESS | Charitable organisations ultimately lacking spirit? (8) |
| [organization]S + ELFLESS (lacking spirit). Do I have this right? I think of an elf as being a supernatural creature, not a spirit. | ||
| 19 | ASTOUND | A noise surrounding onset of traumatic shock (7) |
| A (a) + T[raumatic] in SOUND (noise) | ||
| 21 | EMULATE | Bird behind mirror (7) |
| EMU (bird) + LATE (behind) | ||
| 23 | TWILL | Material things initially put before last wishes (5) |
| T[hings] + WILL (last wishes) | ||
| 25 | ABET | A pledge to support wrongdoing (4) |
| A (a) + BET (pledge) | ||
Thanks Mudd and Pete
Did this one near publication date and have it marked as being completed in two 10 minute sessions which is most unusual for me with this setter.
Had everything parsed as per the blog with EAR-SPLITTING as my favourite as well ! It’s a sort of unpictorial rebus … :). A clever clue type that JH does present occasionally and which I always enjoy.
Finished in the SE corner with HEDONISTIC, FAUST and SELFLESS (which raised a slight chuckle as it parsed) as the last few in.
27ac never head of it,
Beefalo is not an everyday word — and to my mind it is a rather unpleasant concoction — but I have come across it once or twice.
I too managed to finish this one. Although I solved beefalo as it had to be correct I spent too long in reading “cross” as “angry”. Bermuda shorts gave me trouble.
As a long-shot explanation of 17 down: Elf is a French brand of petroleum spirit.
Hello psmith, thanks for commenting. You present an interesting idea. I am not convinced but it does seem plausible. And, while it did not occur to me in the context, I am familiar with Elf in this sense.
My undoing was the SE where I had never heard of a beefalo . Is a bet really a pledge? I have my misgivings about elf as well.
Bamberger, I wondered about ‘bet’ and ‘pledge’. They seemed close but not close enough perhaps. A consultation of a thesaurus does however support an overlap in meaning in the sense that a pledge can mean an amount that one bets.
I seem to be able to get on the Mudd wavelength – I completed and parsed this one, with the same reservations as noted by Pete. Thanks to both, and all the commenters.