Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of November 4, 2017
A typically ingenious puzzle from Rosa. My clue of the week is 5dn (ISTHMUS) and so many more to like, especially 15ac (OUTWORN).
| Across | ||
| 1 | MOMENT | Second warning in case of misconduct (6) |
| OMEN (warning) in M[isconduc]T | ||
| 4 | DISASTER | Calamity of girl with bloomers back to front (8) |
| DI (girl) + ASTERS (bloomers) with final ‘S’ moved to the front | ||
| 10 | DESICCANT | Accidents in tumble drier (9) |
| Anagram (in tumble) of ACCIDENTS | ||
| 11 | TRUCE | Finally capitulate after rejecting short ceasefire (5) |
| CURT (short) backwards (rejecting) + [capitulat]E | ||
| 12 | ALLY | Friend of much pilloried aunt scratching head (4) |
| [s]ALLY | ||
| 13 | ADAMS APPLE | Papa’s medal could produce a lump in the throat (5,5) |
| Anagram (could produce) of PAPAS MEDAL | ||
| 15 | OUTWORN | Antiquated old couple drowned in vat of tea? (7) |
| O (old) + TWO (couple) in (drowned in) URN (vat of tea) | ||
| 16 | SET-UPS | On vacation, surprise mates with arrangements (3-3) |
| S[urpris]E + TUPS (mates). ‘Tup’ means to copulate when sheep are involved. | ||
| 19 | SEPTIC | Infected by bacteria, Mick sheds skin after 30 days (6) |
| SEPT (30 days) + [m]IC[k] | ||
| 21 | ENVENOM | Right-wingers in Europe warn M15 about poison (7) |
| [europ]E [war]N + M ONE V (M15) backwards | ||
| 23 | YESTERYEAR | Agreed with queen after tense revolutionary period in the past (10) |
| YES (agreed) + T (tense) + ER (queen) + YEAR (revolutionary period — that is the period it takes the Earth to revolve around the Sun). I do not remember ‘T’ being used before as an abbreviation of ‘tense’ but it is in my Chambers. I did not original cop to the relevance of ‘revolutionary’ here and thank the folks who pointed it out in comments. | ||
| 25 | THUS | They used to get half-cut like this (4) |
| TH[ey] US[ed] | ||
| 27 | OBESE | Enormous gong sounds eerie at first (5) |
| OBE (gong) + S[ounds] E[erie]. The OBE (Order of the British Empire) is a British award, technically a order of chivalry given by the Crown. Recent recipients of an OBE include James Corden. John Graham (Cinephile/Araucaria) had an MBE. | ||
| 28 | GO THROUGH | Visigoth roughly restraining bear (2,7) |
| Hidden expression | ||
| 29 | GHERKINS | Female relatives chasing last of mouth-watering small pickles (8) |
| [mouth-waterin]G + HER (female) + KIN (relatives) + S (small) | ||
| 30 | THREAT | Nipple rings hurt intermittently, cause of anxiety (6) |
| H[u]R[t] (hurt intermittently) in (rings) TEAT (nipple) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | MEDIATOR | Male journalist welcoming a go-between (8) |
| M (male) + A (a) in EDITOR (journalist) | ||
| 2 | MISTLETOE | Excuse to kiss TS Eliot cheekily seized by setter (9) |
| Anagram (cheekily) of TS ELIOT in (seized by) ME (setter) | ||
| 3 | NICK | Pinch bottoms of Bishan Bedi and Dominic Cork (4) |
| [bisha]N [bed]I [domini]C [cor]K | ||
| 5 | ISTHMUS | Laundering this amount of money over in Panama? (7) |
| Anagram (laundering) of THIS + SUM (amount of money) backwards (over) | ||
| 6 | ATTRACTIVE | Lovely piece of writing in review of musical (10) |
| TRACT (piece of writing) in EVITA (musical) backwards (review of) | ||
| 7 | THUMP | Punch end of recalcitrant camel’s protruberance (5) |
| [recalcitran]T + HUMP (camel’s protuberance) | ||
| 8 | REEKED | I’m afraid boring communist stank (6) |
| EEK (I’m afraid) in (boring) RED (communist) | ||
| 9 | PARDON | Be merciful to average fellow (6) |
| PAR (average) + DON (fellow) | ||
| 14 | BOTTLENECK | Daring kiss, source of congestion (10) |
| BOTTLE (daring) + NECK (kiss) | ||
| 17 | PENTHOUSE | Quietly wax lyrical about oligarch’s principal residence (9) |
| P (quietly) + O[ligarch] in ENTHUSE (wax lyrical) | ||
| 18 | SMASH HIT | Great success of mum’s two husbands described by brood (5,3) |
| MAS (mum’s) + HH (two husbands) together in SIT (brood) | ||
| 20 | CRYOGEN | Blubber gone bad in freezer (7) |
| CRY (blubber) + anagram (bad) of GONE | ||
| 21 | E-WASTE | She was tempted to hoard discarded mobiles etc (1-5) |
| Hidden word | ||
| 22 | CYBORG | Extremely chunky bonobo resembling Darth Vader? (6) |
| C[hunk]Y B[onob]O R[esemblin]G | ||
| 24 | SIEVE | Separate society that is very English (5) |
| S (society) + IE (that is) + V (very) + E (English) | ||
| 26 | ARCH | Leaders of Conservative revolt are heartless, artful and sly (4) |
| Anagram (artful) of C[onservative] R[evolt] A[re] H[eartless] | ||
Thanks Rosa & Pete.
23 across raises one or two queries.
I think that YES corresponds simply to “Agreed” and “with” is a linking word.
I do not understand the significance of “revolutionary”; presumably YEAR corresponds to “revolutionary period”, but I don’t know why.
psmith, I can’t imagine now why I thought that ‘with’ went with ‘agreed’. Now you point it out, it seems obvious that it is a linking word. Thanks for putting me straight — I have edited the blog accordingly. And because of my confusion about ‘tense’ I completely forgot to mention the question of what ‘revolutionary’ is doing there — I had meant to. I am unable to see its serving any useful purpose and the surface reading would be fine without it.
Could a revolutionary period be the length of time it takes the earth to orbit the sun? I think Rosa might be teasing.
I did like she who hoarded the E-WASTE, and ARCH, OUTWORN,THUS, and MISTLETOE.
Agree with paddymelon@3. A year represents one revolution around the sun so ‘revolutionary period’ seems fair to me.
Obvious really! I should have understood that “revolutionary period” has its normal meaning but was trying to interpret it cryptically. You can spend too long in crossword land!
Could someone please explain the connection between gong and OBE (Order of the British Empire, I assume) for the benefit of a puzzled Yank?
Thanks for any help, and also thanks to all the setters and bloggers.
D’oh! Silly me, of course that is what ‘revolutionary’ means. Thanks very much paddymelon and Hovis.
vermontkev, Thank you for commenting. I try to include explanations of very British terms that crop up in these crosswords for the benefit of non-Brits. I am well aware that there are plenty of people around the world who enjoy these puzzles; I am in private contact with some in Australia and the U.S. In this case, I just forgot to say something about what an OBE is but have now added it. As for ‘gong’, as often happens I just did not realize that this is a term that non-Brits might not know, sorry! Actually ‘gong’ is common British slang for a medal.
Her surfaces are always so witty. There’s no cricket theme, so where on earth does 3d NICK come from? And that’s not even the best clue!
Thank you, Rosa and Pete.
Nila, Thank you for commenting. What does the fact that Bishan Bedi and Dominic Cork are both cricketers have to do with the clue? I think there is no requirement for this to have any relevance but it is an interesting question nonetheless. Does ‘nick’ have some meaning in cricket? I don’t know of one. Does pinching bottoms have some relevance to cricket? I hope not. Maybe Rosa just happens to be a cricket fan.
I asked Jane Teather, our resident cricketing expert, about this and she agrees that there is no direct relevance to the clue but confirms that Sarah Hayes (Rosa Klebb) is indeed a cricket fan herself and a Lancashire supporter. Jane also pointed out that I should probably have referred to Bishan Bedi and Dominic Cork as former cricketers.
Pete, my question was rhetorical. I was expressing amazement at Arachne’s ingenuity at plundering the last letters of cricketers (from different eras!) to clue NICK in what wasn’t a cricket-themed puzzle. Your confirmation that she’s a cricket fan goes some way to explaining it, but I still think it’s evidence of an unusual brain at work. (Meant as a compliment!)
Thanks for looking into it!
^ Sorry, meant Rosa Klebb not Arachne in this case.
Thanks Rosa Klebb and Pete
This was Rosa at the top of her game for mine. Her usual witty and smoothly written clue surfaces as well as some interesting clue devices – particularly the innovative ENVENOM which took me quite a while to figure out the MI5 bit – and a couple of superbly hidden words with GO THROUGH and E-WASTE.
Also liked SMASH HIT and CYBORG (although had never considered Darth Vader as one – but he did have a lot of biomechanical parts in him !).
Finished with PENTHOUSE and that E-WASTE.
As for the rhetorical question – a NICK in cricket is in fact when the batsman gets a faint edge on a ball from a bowler (either of the named two included) that is often caught by either the wicket keeper of slips fielder to get the batsman out.
Bruce @14, I think it’s ‘snick’ you’re thinking of, hence the famous Snickometer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snickometer
Thanks RK and Pete
Nila Palin @ 15
brucew@aus is correct, a faint edge in cricket is a nick, and has been for as long as I remember. Snickometer came along much later.
Simon @ 16, maybe so – although could that be people using the wrong word without knowing it? I can’t find such a definition of nick in Chambers, Collins or Oxford, but snick is in all three.
Let me know if this gets boring! 😉
Hi Nila
http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/story/239756.html
ESPN Cricinfo is the world wide blogging site for International cricket matches – here is a list of cricket terms according to them. Not the standard reference for English cryptic crosswords – but as this was only a passing surface reading, it probably passes.
Hope this helps.
Thanks for the link, Bruce, a nice find. I can believe it’s used in a cricketing context, but it’s interesting that snick is in dictionaries and not nick, yet snick isn’t mentioned in your link.
I think people have got the wrong end of the bat about my first post. The matter of whether NICK can or cannot be cricket-related was never my point; it’s just a coincidence, and doesn’t affect the clue at all. I was just marvelling at the setter’s use of two diverse ex-cricketers who are not standard crossword fodder like, say, Boycott or Botham, to clue a word that must have been open to so many easier possibilities. I was posting in praise of the setter’s ingenuity, not from a standpoint of not knowing what was going on.
I’ve received three emails telling me to go away while I was typing this!
Thank God this has finally disappeared from the front page. 😀