Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of November 12, 2016
I found this to be a typically enjoyable Mudd and on the easy side. My clue of the week is 18d (SELFLESS) with 13a (SPEED DEMON) as runner up.
| Across | ||
| 1 | COMELY | Pretty evasive about something juicy? That’s not on! (6) |
| MEL[on] (something juicy that’s not on) in COY (evasive) | ||
| 4 | ONE BY ONE | Individually taking drugs, live to accept that (3,2,3) |
| ON (taking) + E (drugs) + YON (that) in BE (live) | ||
| 10 | MAGNETISM | First of gismos among items man scattered in drawer? (9) |
| G[ismos] in anagram (scattered) of ITEMS MAN | ||
| 11 | EDICT | Decree providing change, Conservative admitted (5) |
| C (Conservative) in EDIT (change) | ||
| 12 | HAHA | A couple of witches cut the cackling? (4) |
| HA[g] HA[g] (a couple of witches cut). My original answer was HEHE (from HE[xer] HE[xer]) and I did not think of HAHA until Sil pointed it out in a comment below. So, this is one of those cases that happen seldom but still surprisingly often to my mind where a clue has two plausible answers. In this case as in most where I get it wrong, I think the ‘right’ answer is better. | ||
| 13 | SPEED DEMON | Fast driver needs moped to be customised (5,5) |
| Anagram (to be customized) of NEEDS MOPED | ||
| 15 | FURTHER | More hair on the rabbi’s head (7) |
| FUR (hair) + THE (the) + R[abbi] | ||
| 16 | SHANDY | Drink stored initially in a convenient place (6) |
| S[tored] + HANDY (in a convenient place) | ||
| 19 | AZORES | Bow dropped in cutters circling eastern island group (6) |
| E (eastern) in [r]AZORS (bow dropped in cutters) | ||
| 21 | MACRAME | West hoarding stuff, a knotty art (7) |
| CRAM (stuff) in MAE (West) | ||
| 23 | HOW-DO-YOU-DO | Difficult situation for an opener? (3-2-3-2) |
| Double definition | ||
| 25 | TIFF | Argument in firm short of leadership (4) |
| [s]TIFF (firm short of leadership) | ||
| 27 | DINAN | Part found in another town in Brittany (5) |
| Hidden word | ||
| 28 | MESCALINE | Semi-clean suspect offered hallucinogen (9) |
| Anagram (suspect) of SEMI CLEAN | ||
| 29 | WEARYING | Tiresome putting on sandwiches daily in the end (8) |
| [dail]Y in WEARING (putting on) | ||
| 30 | THANKS | Cheers, as Hungarian capital toured by military vehicles (6) |
| H[ungarian] in TANKS (military vehicles) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | CAMSHAFT | Half of safety match replaced part of an engine (8) |
| Anagram (replaced) of SAF[ety] MATCH | ||
| 2 | MEGAHERTZ | Frequency unit is extremely painful to hear? (9) |
| Homophone of “mega hurts”! | ||
| 3 | LIEU | Place to sit, on top of umbrella (4) |
| LIE (sit) + U[mbrella] | ||
| 5 | NUMBERS | More than one song book (7) |
| Double definition (the second referring to a book in the bible) | ||
| 6 | BREAD SAUCE | Gravy on cheek, part of Christmas dinner? (5,5) |
| BREAD (gravy) + SAUCE (cheek). I did not originally understand how ‘gravy’ clues BREAD and thank Sil for pointing out that they are both slang terms for money. (I knew that ‘bread’ was but not ‘gravy’.) | ||
| 7 | OPIUM | Flower brought up, one I’m not sure is a narcotic (5) |
| PO (flower) backwards (brought up) + I (one) + UM (I’m not sure) | ||
| 8 | EXTENT | Length – alien about twenty? (6) |
| X + TEN (twenty!!) in ET (alien) | ||
| 9 | KIPPER | Breakfast in bed? (6) |
| Double definition — and one I like a lot. | ||
| 14 | CHARDONNAY | Vegetable working, no drink (10) |
| CHARD (vegetable) + ON (working) + NAY (no) | ||
| 17 | DRAVIDIAN | Ancient Indian and I gathered around religious leader, devoted (9) |
| R[eligious] + AVID (devoted) together in anagram of AND I. The Dravidians are the people who originated in the south of India. | ||
| 18 | SELFLESS | Charitable, banks finally? No cobblers! (8) |
| [bank]S + ELFLESS (no cobblers!!!). I had forgotten (if I ever knew) that elves were known as shoemakers. | ||
| 20 | SHOWMAN | Performer was on with Her Majesty, dancing (7) |
| Anagram (dancing) of WAS ON HM | ||
| 21 | MEDUSA | Nation going after sea monster (6) |
| MED (sea) + USA (nation) | ||
| 22 | SHADOW | Opposition ate into the swine (6) |
| HAD (ate) in SOW (the swine) | ||
| 24 | WONGA | Money earned, a third gained (5) |
| WON (earned) + GA[ined] | ||
| 26 | DASH | Run a bit (4) |
| Double definition | ||
Thanks Pete for another nice blog of a not too taxing puzzle.
I had HAHA at 12ac – I saw it as HA[g] HA[g].
6d: BREAD and GRAVY are apparently both slang words for ‘money’.
All OK, except Mudd’s use of E for ‘drugs’ (4ac).
It is usually ‘drug’, singular.
Ah, thank you, Sil. I think you have the better answer for 12ac. While I am very used to ‘bread’ as slang for ‘money’, I did not know ‘gravy’ as such.
Thanks Mudd and Sil
Did find this quite testing at times, particularly in the SW corner – taking just under the hour to get through it. Found the style of a couple of clues quite unusual for JH – especially the removals of parts of words in 1a, 12a, 1d and 24d. I did agree with Sil’s take on both HAHA and ‘Gravy’ (although I had to look that one up to check).
A few new terms for me, including BREAD SAUCE, the MESCALINE drug and DINAN the little town in France which does look a very interesting place to go and see one day !
I can vaguely remember children’s books with ELVES as cobblers, but can’t place it and couldn’t find it when googling it either.
Finished with COMELY, HAHA and DINAN as the last few in.
Americans generally don’t know BREAD SAUCE either but it can be a delicious accompaniment to turkey — which I shall be eating for Thanksgiving tomorrow.
I know MESCALINE from Aldous Huxley’s book The Doors of Perception.
[ Forgot that Thanksgiving was so close … you guys enjoy !!! ]
Thanks Mudd and Pete
4ac: This works if we keep ON + E together. Someone who is “on ecstasy” would be “taking drugs”.
That’s it, PB, you’re absolutely right.
Should have seen that, probably did but forgot about it.
I withdraw my objection.
Pete, haven’t you heard the expression “gravy train” in connection getting in to a situation where money is flowing?
I just couldn’t get “selfless” and “tiff”. thought of tiff but couldn’t work out why.
Malcolm, I am certainly familiar with the expression “gravy train” (for example, from Pink Floyd’s “Have A Cigar”) but, having just now looked it up, I realize that I never had a clear idea of what it meant. I had imagined it meant being on to something good in a general way but find it really refers a situation in which someone can make a lot of money for very little effort.
I have revised my explanation of 12ac after confirming from the published solution that the answer is HAHA, not HEHE.
Great one. Thanks Pete and Mudd
10ac: magnetism = drawer? I can’t see how; OK the act of drawing, or something like that, but an actual thing that draws??
It is a debatable issue. I see two questions: Does it work in terms of part of speech? And does it work in terms of meaning? As for the second, it is weak as a definition considering the original meaning, that is a quality shown by a magnet, because a magnet can be a “repulser” as much as a drawer. However when I consider its more abstract use, as in personal magnetism, I see ‘drawer’ working well. As for part of speech, I am lost.