Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of December 2, 2017
I enjoyed this Mudd. My clue of the week is 13dn (MIND READER) and I also like 19ac (SIDECAR) and 22ac (JUMBLE SALE).
| Across | ||
| 1 | WATER FLEA | Tiny crustacean with conflict to escape, did you say? (5,4) |
| Homophone (did you say?) of WAR TO FLEE (conflict to escape). If you were unaware of the existence of a water flea (as I was), you might guess it is a water insect. But it is in fact, as the clue says, a crustacean. | ||
| 6 | MINIM | Car heading for Morocco, note (5) |
| MINI (car) + M[orocco] | ||
| 9 | RUN UP | Hurriedly produce ladder – having climbed it? (3,2) |
| RUN (ladder, as in a stocking) + UP (having climbed it?) | ||
| 10 | SECTARIAN | Bigoted as certain freaks (9) |
| Anagram (freaks) of AS CERTAIN | ||
| 11 | SUPERWOMAN | Hybrid of mouse and prawn producing female with special powers! (10) |
| Anagram (hybrid) of MOUSE and PRAWN | ||
| 12 | WELL | I’m surprised it’s a hole in the ground (4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 14 | MANATEE | Bloke took drugs, finding sea cow! (7) |
| MAN (bloke) + ATE (took) + E (drugs) | ||
| 15 | PAISLEY | Settle around Skye, perhaps, somewhere in Scotland (7) |
| ISLE (Skye perhaps) in PAY (settle) | ||
| 17 | SIRLOIN | Cut iron and silver, half destroyed (7) |
| Anagram (destroyed) of IRON SIL | ||
| 19 | SIDECAR | Passenger vehicle was competitive, and is in reverse (7) |
| RACED (was competitive) + IS (is) all backwards (in reverse) | ||
| 20 | ROSE | Beauty took the lift? (4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 22 | JUMBLE SALE | It’s a trading event, Elsa suggested? (6,4) |
| Reverse anagram: “Jumble sale” would clue ELSA | ||
| 25 | AT ONE TIME | Previously in unison (2,3,4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 26 | DRIES | Lacking sun, an assortment loses moisture (5) |
| [sun]DRIES (lacking sun, an assortment) | ||
| 27 | TELLY | Count last of twenty in the box (5) |
| TELL (count) + [twent]Y | ||
| 28 | HETERONYM | Controversial theory with men in row, for example? (9) |
| Anagram (controversial) of THEORY MEN. A heteronym is a word that has two or more sets of different sounds and meanings. “I had a row with the person in row four.” | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | WARTS | Tube lifted to reveal unsightly marks (5) |
| STRAW (tube) backwards (lifted) | ||
| 2 | TIN OPENER | Gadget unable to write in a line (3-6) |
| NO PEN (unable to write) in TIER (a line) | ||
| 3 | REPARATION | Praetorian out for compensation (10) |
| Anagram (out) of PRAETORIAN | ||
| 4 | LISSOME | Agile plant arising in story (7) |
| MOSS (plant) backwards (arising) in LIE (story) | ||
| 5 | ARC LAMP | Under vehicle with roof sheared off, securely grip light (3,4) |
| [c]AR (vehicle with roof sheared off) + CLAMP (securely grip) | ||
| 6 | MAAM | Royal address that could go either way? (4) |
| Palindrome | ||
| 7 | NAIVE | Innocent approaching an early night, we hear? (5) |
| Homophone (we hear) of NIGH (approaching) and EVE (an early night). I was not clear about this but, in addition to meaning the day before, ‘eve’ can mean essentially the same as ‘evening’. | ||
| 8 | MINELAYER | Extract on early sort of ship (9) |
| MINE (extract) + anagram (sort of) EARLY | ||
| 13 | MIND READER | I know what you’re thinking, there’s fear in one working underground (4,6) |
| DREAD (fear) in MINER (one working underground) | ||
| 14 | MISCREANT | Short shriek contained by perfect little terror (9) |
| SCREA[m] (short shriek) in (contained by) MINT (perfect) | ||
| 16 | LACTATION | Mother’s release still needed Thai, maybe, to speak out? (9) |
| Homophone of “lacked Asian” (still needed Thai, maybe) | ||
| 18 | NOURISH | Feed American author in to Japanese drama (7) |
| URIS (American author, i.e. Leon Uris) in (in) NOH (Japanese drama) | ||
| 19 | SUBJECT | National issue (7) |
| Double definition | ||
| 21 | SPOIL | Damage the earth to seize power (5) |
| P (power) in SOIL (the earth) | ||
| 23 | EPSOM | Course here taken by chimney- sweep, so messy! (5) |
| Hidden word | ||
| 24 | SEXY | Edges in shade, axes getting hot (4) |
| S[had]E + XY (axes) | ||
The familiar enjoyable stuff from Mudd.
As to 14ac (MANATEE), I assume it should be MAN + ATE + E.
In which case E = ‘drugs’ is somewhat dubious.
Als thanks for giving me a mention in the blog (17ac).
Thanks Pete (and Mudd, of course).
Sil, Thanks for that correction. I agree that ‘drugs’ cluing E is dubious. And, yes, nice to see you hiding in 17ac!
I couldn’t parse 27a and used tally, not seeing ‘the box’, hey ho. It also took me an age to see axes as xy.
Jeremiah, Thank you for commenting. I happen to know that you were not the only one to choose TALLY for 27a. I considered it myself.
Thanks Mudd and Pete
Not one of his hardest for mine, but still one that provided a lot of enjoyment. Love the way he can use the smallest nuance of a word’s meaning to make a clever wordplay – ‘having climbed it’ to mean UP was very good. Also thought that MIND READER was excellent.
Didn’t have an issue with the plural of ‘drugs’ at 14a – ‘he took drugs’ pretty much equates to ‘he took ecstasy’ I think. Being no expert, I presume that someone could take two ecstasy tablets in a session.
Hadn’t seen HETERONYM before.
Bruce, Thanks for your input. It led me to think that maybe I should have included a definition of ‘heteronym’ and I have now added that.