Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of October 29, 2016
Mudd continues to provide almost half of these weekend puzzles and not only keeps up a fine standard but gives us some substantial variety in both difficulty and clues. I found this one to be on the easy side. My clue of the week is 20d, 9a (PRISON SENTENCE) and I also applaud 1a (AWAY GAME) and 24a (TAIPAN).
| Across | ||
| 1 | AWAY GAME | Hungarian back not entirely in admiration, seeing fixture abroad? (4,4) |
| MAGYA[r] backwards in AWE (admiration) | ||
| 5 | STARCH | *carbon and hydrogen – carbohydrate! (6) |
| STAR (*) + C (carbon) + H (hydrogen) | ||
| 9 | See 20 | |
| 10 | PEEPER | Waste fluid for each eye (6) |
| PEE (waste fluid) + PER (for each) | ||
| 11 | MAILSHOT | Middle of this almost round, circular (8) |
| Anagram (round) of [t]HI[s] ALMOST | ||
| 12, 16 | DOUBLE NEGATIVE | Author’s no-no? (6,8) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 14 | PEJORATIVE | First of jokes penned by poet I rave about is insulting (10) |
| J[okes] in anagram of POET I RAVE | ||
| 18 | CAERPHILLY | Pear cooked in cold cheese (10) |
| Anagram (cooked) of PEAR in CHILLY (cold) | ||
| 22 | ORANGE | Primate requiring key for house (6) |
| ORANG (primate) + E (key) | ||
| 23 | REHEARSE | Go through on black car (8) |
| RE (on) + HEARSE (black car) | ||
| 24 | TAIPAN | Sloth beginning to panic in the grip of brown snake (6) |
| AI (sloth) + P[anic] together in TAN (brown) | ||
| 25 | IDOLISED | I perform song about last of Mohicans that’s adored (8) |
| I (I) + DO (perform) + [mohican]S in LIED (song) | ||
| 26 | CREASE | The mark of a batsman to stop collecting runs? (6) |
| R (runs) in CEASE (stop) | ||
| 27 | BROMANCE | Live to embrace Italian chap, primarily – that’s love between men (8) |
| ROMAN (Italian) + C[hap] together on BE (live) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | ASSUME | Suspect finding problem in court proceedings, heading off (6) |
| SUM (problem) in [c]ASE | ||
| 2 | AUNTIE | A release for a relative (6) |
| A (a) + UNTIE (release) | ||
| 3 | GREASY | Snake having escaped grasp then not difficult – but difficult to grasp? (6) |
| GR[asp] + EASY (not difficult) | ||
| 4 | MICRONESIA | End up touring island with witches in part of Oceania (10) |
| I (island) + CRONES (witches) together in AIM (end) backwards | ||
| 6 | TEETOTAL | Dry, eighteen of course? (8) |
| Double/cryptic definition | ||
| 7 | REPUBLIC | Antique seen around bar in the US, for example (8) |
| PUB (bar) in RELIC (antique) | ||
| 8 | HARDENED | Redhead struggling to inspire northern set (8) |
| N (northern) in anagram (struggling) of REDHEAD | ||
| 13 | GOALTENDER | Sporty type working out a lot during sex (10) |
| Anagram (working out) of A LOT in GENDER (sex) | ||
| 15 | ACROSTIC | Word puzzle – a native of Australia claims it’s stuck up (8) |
| A (a) + ITS (it’s) backward (stuck up) in CROC (native of Australia) | ||
| 16 | See 12 | |
| 17 | SPYGLASS | Girl beneath base of lens having trouble looking up telescope (8) |
| [len]S + GYP (trouble) backwards + LASS (girl) | ||
| 19 | BEDLAM | Chaotic scene, as bottom hit (6) |
| BED (bottom) + LAM (hit) | ||
| 20, 9 | PRISON SENTENCE | Time I spent on screen adaptation (6,8) |
| Anagram of I SPENT ON SCREEN | ||
| 21 | BEADLE | Rosary item dominating empty life for parish officer (6) |
| BEAD (rosary item) + L[if]E | ||
Got all bar 24a and 13d . I’ve heard of a bartender but never a goaltender .
I wondered about GOALTENDER. I am so used to goalkeeper it seemed jarring to think of a goaltender. So, I just did a little googling which tells me that the terms are sport-dependent. ‘Goaltender’ is used in ice hockey while ‘goalkeeper’ is used in almost every other sport that has such a position.
Thanks Mudd and Pete
Although completed inside an hour, I didn’t find this on the easy side, with some tricky constructions, a couple of new terms for me and an interesting definition of the two reptilean clues. As with a majority of JH puzzles, I totally enjoyed his sense of humour that goes into such clues as STARCH, TEETOTAL and DOUBLE NEGATIVE.
Was surprised to see CROC defined as an Australian native – the saltwater croc is prevalent in northern Australian waters, but they do exist in south east Asia and India as well – it’s probably a fall out from the Australian ‘Crocodile Dundee’ movies of the 1980’s. On the other hand, the TAIPAN is endemic to Australasia and is apparently the most poisonous of all land snakes. Would hate to be cornered by either of them, methinks !
GYP (in this British context), GOALTENDER and CAERPHILLY (my last one in) were all new terms for me.
Bruce, I too was surprised to see CROC defined as Australian and you may well have zeroed in on the reason. I have just been reading up on taipans. I had thought them to be an Asian snake (perhaps because the name sounds a bit Chinese) and was surprised to learn that they are Australasian. I do hope I never meet one.