Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of January 13, 2017
I found this a relatively easy Mudd. My clue of the week is 27ac (NIGHT) and I also especially like 22ac (NANOSECOND) and 16dn (BETROTHAL).
| Across | ||
| 1 | BUTTERCUP | Flower, bottom part raised, we hear? (9) |
| Homophone (we hear) of “buttock up” (bottom part raised) | ||
| 6 | PUT UP | Erect – but it may be knocked over (3,2) |
| Palindrome | ||
| 9 | THUMB | Digit so short, then doctor required (5) |
| THU[s] (so short) + MB (doctor) | ||
| 10 | ALONGSIDE | Next to a pine, plane (9) |
| A (a) + LONG (pine) + SIDE (plane) | ||
| 11 | RED SNAPPER | Fish ends in a stew eaten by urban musician (3,7) |
| Anagram (in a stew) of ENDS in (eaten by) RAPPER (urban musician). I am not sure I understand why a rapper is an urban musician. | ||
| 12 | SHOO | Get lost in daydreams, hoovering (4) |
| Hidden word | ||
| 14 | CARTOON | Container containing old drawing (7) |
| O (old) in CARTON (container) | ||
| 15 | NAMIBIA | Looking west, one piece borders on Burundi, a country in Africa (7) |
| I (one) + MAN (piece) together backwards (looking west) + B[urund]I + A (a) | ||
| 17 | PARSNIP | Expected result with bargain vegetable (7) |
| PAR (expected result) + SNIP (bargain) | ||
| 19 | BLOATER | Found in hat, head of large fish (7) |
| L (head of large) in (found in) BOATER (hat) | ||
| 20 | RUSH | Burn rubber plant (4) |
| Double definition. To “burn rubber” is an informal expression meaning to drive very quickly, that is without concern for how much rubber your tyres may lose. | ||
| 22 | NANOSECOND | Only a little flash, perhaps, no Cannes do! (10) |
| Anagram (perhaps) of NO CANNES DO | ||
| 25 | STRONG-ARM | Bully astronaut, moving gun to the back (6-3) |
| ARMSTRONG (astronaut, i.e. Neil) with ARM (gun) moved to the back | ||
| 26 | ABHOR | Loathe a dull type endlessly going around hospital (5) |
| A (a) + H (hospital) in (going around) BOR[e] (dull type endlessly) | ||
| 27 | NIGHT | Approaching end of daylight, what comes next? (5) |
| NIGH (approaching) + [dayligh]T | ||
| 28 | HORSEPLAY | Shenanigans, as poser rolls around with first of ladies in the grass (9) |
| Anagram (rolls around) of POSER L[adies] in HAY (grass) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | BITER | Half-hearted, cold, vicious dog? (5) |
| BITTER (cold) with one ‘T’ removed (half-hearted) | ||
| 2 | THUNDERER | Jupiter below in the ranks, initially (9) |
| UNDER (below) in THE (the) + R[anks] | ||
| 3 | EMBONPOINT | Pimento, on getting pickled, full of black stout (10) |
| B (black) in (full of) anagram (getting pickled) of PIMENTO ON. Embonpoint is a word I have come across before but did not know the meaning of. One definition I found is, sufficiently fat so as to have a pleasing fullness of figure. | ||
| 4 | CRAMPON | Climbing equipment affected, mountaineer ultimately held on (7) |
| [mountainee]R in (held) in CAMP (affected) + ON (on) | ||
| 5 | PROTEIN | Substance in meat for container absorbing energy (7) |
| PRO (for) + E (energy) in (absorbing) TIN (container) | ||
| 6 | PAGE | Contact that’s in the book (4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 7 | THIGH | Point finally off top of pin (5) |
| [poin]T + HIGH (off, as in smelling rotten). ‘Pin’ is an informal term for leg. | ||
| 8 | PTEROSAUR | Fear something with teeth, did you say? Old reptile (9) |
| Homophone of “terror saw” (fear something-with-teeth). A pterosaur was a flying reptile of the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. | ||
| 13 | IMMODERATE | Work made it more excessive (10) |
| Anagram (work) of MADE IT MORE | ||
| 14 | CAPARISON | Cheat touring a European city in sumptuous clothing (9) |
| A (a) + PARIS (European city) together in CON (cheat) | ||
| 16 | BETROTHAL | Promise between two people, both having later broken (9) |
| Anagram (broken) of BOTH LATER | ||
| 18 | PHARAOH | Old king – just character, might you say? (7) |
| Homophone of “fair oh” (just character) | ||
| 19 | BLOOMER | Slip in a loaf (7) |
| Double definition | ||
| 21 | SPRIG | Shoot last of bullets over puritan (5) |
| [bullet]S + PRIG (puritan) | ||
| 23 | DERBY | Local game for a US hat (5) |
| Double definition. While The Derby refers to a horse race, ‘derby’ can also refer to any sort of sporting match, especially one between local teams. | ||
| 24 | KNOT | Flier in binder (4) |
| Double definition, the first being a meaning I had not known: a sandpiper that breeds in the Arctic and winters in the southern hemisphere. | ||
Being picky (and why not) in 19D the linking “in” is rather inelegant.
Bit lacking in spark overall.
Thanks Mudd & Pete.
Although I guessed 10 across correctly, I do not understand the equivalence of plane and side.
Re 10 across: Both ‘side’ and ‘plane’ can mean a flat surface and I am guessing that this is what Mudd had in mind. Does anyone have a better suggestion?
Thanks Mudd and Pete
This one took me a bit longer than normal for Mudd and needed several sittings – funny how the difficulty experience can vary between even experienced solvers. Seemed to have the most problems in the SW corner where HORSEPLAY, DERBY and NANOSECOND were the last few in. In retrospect I don’t really understand why they gave so much trouble.
Am assuming that Mudd refers to RAP as ‘urban music’ because of its origin in the ghettos of New York – still don’t really know too many rural areas where it is well known to be played.
Did smile at the surface of BETROTHAL.
Please explain why ‘burn rubber’ equates to rush in 20 across. Thank you.
Barry, thanks for commenting. Yes, that is worth explaining and I have done so.
I guess it depends on your accent (mine is broad Fife) but I didn’t think either of the homophones for buttercup or pterosaur worked. In particular sticking an r at the end of words like saw or draw etc isn’t done up here.