Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of February 18, 2017
I found this a rather unsatisfying Mudd. For the first time that I can remember, I found a clue that I could easily get an answer to (18a, COR ANGLAIS) but whose wordplay I could make no sense of at all. Fortunately I found someone to help me with it. I am also not sure of my interpretation of 15d (SCAFFOLD). My clue of the week is 7d (BLACK TEA) and I also like 14a (HIP-HUGGERS).
| Across | ||
| 1 | CONTEMPT | Prisoner taking bait showing disrespect (8) |
| CON (prisoner) + TEMPT (bait) | ||
| 5 | STABLE | Number of horses on solid ground (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| 9 | TOP-NOTCH | Excellent work with recollection of hundred bagged by test cricket’s hardworking openers (3-5) |
| OP (work) + TON (hundred) backwards (recollection) together in T[est] C[ricket’s] H[ardworking] | ||
| 10 | MORASS | Other ranks in service giving ground (6) |
| OR (other ranks) in MASS (service) | ||
| 11 | HOLOGRAM | Stand-out image in amateur boxing record, gold-plated (8) |
| LOG (record) in OR (gold-plated) in HAM (amateur) | ||
| 12 | JOCKEY | Humorous trousers beginning to chafe for hurdler, perhaps? (6) |
| C[hafe] in (trousers) JOKEY (humorous) | ||
| 14 | HIP-HUGGERS | Fashionable bears in trousers (3-7) |
| HIP (fashionable) + HUGGERS (bears) | ||
| 18 | COR ANGLAIS | Orchestra member rarely is after a drink (sounded drunk) (3,7) |
| RANG (sounded) in (drunk) COLA (drink) + IS (is). I was unable to figure out this wordplay and have to thank my solving buddy Peter for his help. | ||
| 22 | FLINCH | Bird circling lake, quail (6) |
| L (lake) in FINCH (bird) | ||
| 23 | ASPIRING | A resilience about one being hopeful (8) |
| A (a) + I (one) in SPRING (resilience) | ||
| 24 | ORIGIN | Foundation taking payment back in (6) |
| GIRO (payment) reversed (back) + IN (in) | ||
| 25 | PORRIDGE | Cooler time for hot breakfast? (8) |
| Double/cryptic definition | ||
| 26 | DIETER | Some concrete ideas rejected, as fat loser (6) |
| Reverse hidden word | ||
| 27 | BEFRIEND | Help to turn around end of tiresome day (8) |
| [tiresom]E + FRI (day) together in BEND (turn) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | CATCHY | Girl touring Chilean capital, memorable (6) |
| C[hilean] in CATHY (girl) | ||
| 2 | NEPALI | National alpine resort (6) |
| Anagram (resort) of ALPINE | ||
| 3 | ENOUGH | A person upset, I hate that! Stop it! (6) |
| ONE (a person) backwards (upset) + UGH (I hate that!) | ||
| 4 | PICCALILLI | Gather a flower, say, for East Indian food (10) |
| Homophone (say) of PICK A LILY (gather a flower) | ||
| 6 | THOROUGH | Principally, outrageous cuts finished comprehensive (8) |
| O[utrageous] in THROUGH (finished) | ||
| 7 | BLACK TEA | Drunk back late – it’s the drink (5,3) |
| Anagram (drunk) of BACK LATE | ||
| 8 | ESSAYIST | Writer in Cervantes, say, is talismanic (8) |
| Hidden word | ||
| 13 | CHAIN STORE | Retailer has a job bagging satin pants (5,5) |
| Anagram (pants) of SATIN in (bagging) CHORE (a job) | ||
| 15 | SCAFFOLD | Non-English promoted sides financially fail supporter (8) |
| FAC[e]S (non-English sides) backwards (promoted) + FOLD (financially fail). I understand that it is widely accepted that ‘promoted’ can indicate reversal in a down clue. How this can be justified is, however, beyond me. | ||
| 16 | ARTIFICE | A suit held up by Japanese staple, clever trick (8) |
| A (a) + FIT (suit) backwards (up) in RICE (Japanese staple) | ||
| 17 | INACTIVE | Still popular, concert leader in uplifting musical (8) |
| IN (popular) + C[oncert] in EVITA (musical) backwards | ||
| 19 | MIRROR | Newspaper copy (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| 20 | FIDDLE | Toy instrument (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| 21 | AGREED | Settled on old houses (6) |
| RE (on) in (houses) AGED (old) | ||
Thanks Mudd & Pete. I too had difficulty parsing 18 across, and I still do not understand the significance of rarely.
!n 15 down I imagine that promoted is used in the same way as in sports reports when a football team goes up to a higher league.
Thanks Pete Maclean and Mudd.
Needed parsing for cor anglais.
Recall coming here after enjoying Boatman that weekend..so..seemed rather straightforward then.
psmith, You raise a good point that I missed regarding the significance of ‘rarely’ in 18a. Thank you.
Thanks Mudd and Pete
Did this one on the publication weekend and it did take the elapsed weekend to finish it by mainly being held up in the SW corner. Initially wrote in a not fully parsed HIP POCKETS at 14 which slowed things up a bit – even after getting the correct HIP HUGGERS, I still had a lot of self convincing to equated HUGGERS to bears (eventually assumed something to do with ‘bearhugs’).
I see from my notes that COR ANGLAIS was quite an early entry but do remember it taking quite a while to work out the parsing of it. Assumed that a COR ANGLAIS is not a common instrument in an orchestra (but I am very not up with the component pieces of such) and therefore could be described as a ‘rare orchestra member’ perhaps.
Had no issue with the promotion of the reverse FAC(E)S at 15 (think that smith’s description sums it up) and thought that it was quite a good clue with it’s misleading surface.
BEFRIEND was my last in, taking quite a while to work out what the definition was going to be – ‘help’ wouldn’t have been in my first half dozen synonyms for it!
I also found this hard and less satisfactory than most of Mudd’s. Perhaps this was partly down to the horrible grid, which makes it basically four little crosswords joined together rather tenuously, particularly if you have CHINA STORE for 13dn, which seemed a bit thin as I wrote it in but I shrugged and said well OK then.
Agree with you about promoted. What has going up to a higher division to do with it?
Ah, I missed that possibility for 13dn.