Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of November 18, 2017
I think this puzzle is one of Mudd’s best. My clue of the week is 22dn (BUDGIE) and I also like 7ac (FIB), 20ac (POTOMAC), 27ac (MOTTO), 29ac (EINSTEINIUM), 1dn (GAMESTER) and 16dn (AMARETTI).
| Across | ||
| 1 | GLASS-BLOWER | Wearing frown, girl beginning to berate Murano worker? (5-6) |
| LASS (girl) + B[erate] together in GLOWER (frown) | ||
| 7 | FIB | Revolutionary provided origin of background story (3) |
| IF (provided) backwards (revolutionary) + B[ackground] | ||
| 9 | MASSE | Service charge’s ultimate swerve on the table? (5) |
| MASS (service) + [charg]E. A masse is a shot in billiards made by hitting the cue ball with the cue held nearly vertically; the cue ball spins around another ball before hitting the object ball. Even though I have played billiards, I had to look this one up. | ||
| 10 | GLOBALIST | Considering the world failed to impress island, Grenada’s leader going ahead (9) |
| G[renada] + BALI (island) in LOST (failed) | ||
| 11 | SPEED BUMP | Drug expecting evidence slower? (5,4) |
| SPEED (drug) + BUMP (expecting evidence!!!) with a brilliant cryptic definition | ||
| 12 | LIKEN | Compare some fine kilts from behind (5) |
| Reverse hidden word | ||
| 13 | EYEBALL | Intently study sweetheart with a belly that’s wobbly (7) |
| Anagram (that’s wobbly) of [sw]E[et] A BELLY | ||
| 15 | ERGO | So I must hold back in war (4) |
| [wa]R in (must hold) EGO (I) | ||
| 18 | FUZZ | Force down (4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 20 | POTOMAC | River, river to ebbing river (7) |
| PO (river) + TO (to) + CAM (river) backwards (ebbing) | ||
| 23 | BOUND | Tethered spring (5) |
| Double definition | ||
| 24 | MAN-AT-ARMS | Soldier king, perhaps, a sailor on paper (3-2-4) |
| MAN (king, perhaps) + A (a) + TAR (sailor) + MS (paper, i.e. manuscript) | ||
| 26 | ARGENTINE | Doctor entering behind a South American (9) |
| A (a) + anagram (doctor) of ENTERING | ||
| 27 | MOTTO | Saw doctor injecting too much (5) |
| OTT (too much, i.e. Over The Top) in MO (doctor) | ||
| 28 | NEE | Previously known as Capone, evildoer’s imprisoned (3) |
| Hidden word | ||
| 29 | EINSTEINIUM | In bombing nine times one needing uranium, radioactive element (11) |
| U (uranium) in anagram (in bombing) of NINE TIMES I (one) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | GAMESTER | East Germany changed, though not any better (8) |
| Anagram (changed) of EAST GERM[any] | ||
| 2 | ANSWERED | Returned as new, mulled wine (8) |
| Anagram (mulled) of AS NEW + RED (wine) | ||
| 3 | STEED | Issue surrounding rear of draft horse (5) |
| [draf]T in SEED (issue) | ||
| 4 | LEG-PULL | Joke on jerk (3-4) |
| LEG (on, as in cricket) + PULL (jerk). I originally saw this as a double definition, albeit not a very good one, and thank commenter custard for setting me straight. | ||
| 5 | WHOOPEE | Joy made little round ring (7) |
| HOOP (ring) in (round) WEE (little) | ||
| 6 | REAR LIGHT | Tory punched by nobleman gets a shiner (4,5) |
| EARL (nobleman) in (punched by) RIGHT (Tory) | ||
| 7 | FRISKY | Playful female, ticklish (6) |
| F (female) + RISKY (ticklish) | ||
| 8 | BITING | Grand houses can chill (6) |
| TIN (can) in (houses) BIG (grand) | ||
| 14 | ABUNDANCE | Plenty suggesting a trip round the bakery? (9) |
| A BUN DANCE (a trip around the bakery?) | ||
| 16 | AMARETTI | A horse that’s thoroughbred invariably heads for the biscuits (8) |
| A (a) + MARE (horse) + T[hat’s] T[horoughbred] I[nvariably] | ||
| 17 | ICE STORM | Freezing weather, wind comes with it – that’s about right (3,5) |
| R (right) in (that’s about) anagram (wind) of COMES IT | ||
| 19 | ZAMBIAN | Unknown native of Banjul masking face, African (7) |
| Z (unknown) + [g]AMBIAN (native of Banjul masking face) | ||
| 20 | PUNGENT | Withholding information, bet it’s spicy (7) |
| GEN (information) in (withholding) PUNT (bet). ‘Gen’ is a common informal British term for information — and one that frequently appears in cryptics. | ||
| 21 | OBTAIN | Earn duck, bat badly batting! (6) |
| O (duck) + anagram (badly) of BAT + IN (batting) | ||
| 22 | BUDGIE | I move cages for bird (6) |
| I (I) in (cages) BUDGE (move) | ||
| 25 | TEMPI | Favourite climbs around a thousand and one paces (5) |
| M (thousand) in PET (favourite) backwards (climbs) + I (one) | ||
Not my favourite setter but I also enjoyed this. The double definition “force down” made me chuckle. (And also was a nice example of how some of us at least iterate these things. Is that Gambia? No, must be Zambia. But then 18 ends with a z. Ah….)
Thanks Mudd & Pete.
I found the bottom half a lot easier than the top.
A couple of typos:
In 15 across EGO is not reversed; back in waR means R.
In 29 across the S in TIMES is part of the anagram.
Thanks for pointing out those typos. I have fixed them.
Those nouns masquerading as adjectives (better, slower) are always tricky…
For what it’s worth, in 4d, rather than a double def, is the wordplay not LEG (on-side) + PULL (jerk)?
Thanks Mudd and Pete
Found this quite tough but lots of interesting word plays, unexpected definitions and a handful of new terms. Couldn’t parse ICE STORMS (and stunned how straightforward it really was when seeing it here).
A number of excellent clues, with the best for mine being SPEED BUMP – great definitions for the traffic slower … and the baby bump. Thought the definition for REAR LIGHT was quite good as well.
It’s interesting, I was not aware that elements could be man-made as in 29a – but on looking it up there is in fact 24 of these such elements !
Finished in the NE corner with GLOBALIST and BITING the last couple in.
Thank you, custard. I have corrected the explanation of 4dn. Much obliged to you.
Bruce, It’s a fascinating matter (pun intended) about these man-made elements. Essentially, it seems to me, they are natural things that don’t occur in nature!