Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of January 27, 2018
I am posting this blog late after forgetting to schedule it as I usually do. Apologies for the delay.
There are several Goliathisms here, notably in 9 and 29 across, including one that stumped me for a while. My favourite clues here are 9ac (EIGHTH), 21ac (PARK), 11dn (UGLY) and 26dn (ACTOR).
| Across | ||
| 1 | COLONIAL | As Britain was: Ali suffers (8) |
| COLON (:) + anagram (suffers) of ALI | ||
| 5 | EIGHTH | 12.5% extra wonder (6) |
| Double/cryptic definition | ||
| 9 | ATTACHED | Struck with hotel fork in a relationship (8) |
| ATTACKED (struck) with ‘K’ changed to ‘H’ (hotel for k) | ||
| 10 | ERASER | Rubber queen playing herself? (6) |
| ER (queen) + AS ER (playing herself) | ||
| 12 | SPLASHING | Spanish girl heartlessly frolicking and having fun in the pool? (9) |
| Anagram (frolicking) of SPANISH G[ir]L | ||
| 13 | GHOST | Spirit of Van Gogh, ostensibly (5) |
| Hidden word | ||
| 14 | SOFA | Not quite up to moment for a place to sit (4) |
| SO FA[r] (not quite up to the moment) | ||
| 16 | YELLING | Lengthy lie over, bar the shouting (7) |
| Anagram (over) of LENG[th]Y LI[e] | ||
| 19 | ARRANGE | Head for Rocky Mountains, after a fix (7) |
| A (a) + R[ocky] + RANGE (mountains) | ||
| 21 | PARK | Green for stop (4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 24 | INNER | Intimate meal with no starter (5) |
| [d]INNER (meal with no starter) | ||
| 25 | VIBRATING | Scandinavian king briefly deposed by enfant terrible, buzzing (9) |
| BRAT (enfant terrible) in VI[k]ING (Scandivian, king briefly deposed) | ||
| 27 | HEIGHT | Top five playing (6) |
| Anagram (playing) of EIGHTH (five, i.e. 5 across). I believe that, when a number is used to reference another clue, it is usually written in digits. Its being written as a word here meant it took some time for me to catch on. | ||
| 28 | MISTAKEN | Wrong girl abducted according to reports (8) |
| Homophone (according to reports) of “miss taken” (girl abducted) | ||
| 29 | STRIPE | Scrap band (6) |
| Double/cryptic definition. ‘Band’ is a straight definition for STRIPE while ‘scrap’ is a cryptic one as S-CRAP cluing S-TRIPE. My thanks to P.G. for helping me with this one. | ||
| 30 | THURSDAY | Had rusty wreck on which child will go far? (8) |
| Anagram (wreck) of HAD RUSTY. The definition refers to the saying, “Thursday’s child has far to go”. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | COARSE | Firm bottom? That’s rude! (6) |
| CO (firm) + ARSE (bottom) | ||
| 2 | LATELY | A telly production in recent times (6) |
| Anagram (production) of A TELLY | ||
| 3 | NICKS | Cuts devil’s takes: nothing to report (5) |
| Homophone (to report) of NIX (nothing) with three(!) definitions | ||
| 4 | AMERICA | In the morning girl is continent (7) |
| AM (in the morning) + ERICA (girl) | ||
| 6 | IRREGULAR | Kind of soldier, embracing left instead of right, turns into guerrilla (9) |
| Anagram of GUERRILLA with one ‘L’ changed to an ‘R’ (embracing left instead of right) | ||
| 7 | HISTORIC | Important to give this to Richard, but not all of it (8) |
| Hidden word | ||
| 8 | HERITAGE | Perhaps their age is past (8) |
| Anagram (perhaps) of THEIR + AGE (age) | ||
| 11 | UGLY | Extremely unappealing (literally) (4) |
| U[nappealin]G L[iterall]Y and &Lit. | ||
| 15 | OWNERSHIP | How sniper shot into property (9) |
| Anagram (shot) of HOW SNIPER | ||
| 17 | VANISHES | Polishes right away suddenly can’t be seen (8) |
| VA[r]NISHES (polishes right away) | ||
| 18 | FRONTIER | Border terrier’s clothing: fine or foul? (8) |
| Anagram (foul) of T[errie]R FINE OR | ||
| 20 | ENVY | Ambassador has no love for sin (4) |
| ENV[o]Y (ambassador has no love) | ||
| 21 | PUBLISH | Advance secures origins of best literature into print (7) |
| B[est] L[iterature] I[nto] in (secures) PUSH (advance) | ||
| 22 | WICKED | Not good as a candle (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| 23 | AGENCY | In Copenhagen, cycling means business (6) |
| Hidden word | ||
| 26 | ACTOR | One’s performance right to bag Oscar (5) |
| ACT (one’s performance) + O (oscar) + R (right) | ||
Enjoyed this one. I almost always do with Goliath. Lots of great clues. I know some people don’t like ‘lift and separate’ clues but I do, especially when I spot them, such as in 9a and 29a, the latter being my LOI. 16a was another clue that took some thought. Think I’ve seen a similar clue to 1d before – maybe from back in the day when I used to do Cyclops. Thanks to S&B.
Thanks Pete.
There were two clues I couldn’t explain (9ac [I entered ‘attacked’ seeing no other alternative] and 29ac). I should have known better because if you don’t understand a Goliath clue it’s always that type of clue which some call ‘lift & separate’. I am not really against it but there are only two setters who do them this way, Boatman and Goliath/Philistine. The splits here are different from splitting a compound word like ‘under/ground’ and – I said it before – you either love them or hate them. I’d love to hate them (or was it the other way round?) …. 🙂
There was enough left to enjoy, of course.
I have my doubts about ‘over’ being a proper anagram indicator and the resources I have access to (including the Chambers Crossword Dictionary) seem to agree.
A pity that we had twice ‘to report(s)’ as a homophone indicator but it’s not wrong.
6d (IRREGULAR) I found the least satisfying clue because of the somewhat clumsy (or just minimalistic) wording. Goliath means: [We have here a] Kind of soldier, [which if] embracing left instead of right, turns [read: can turn] into guerrilla. Not sure though whether the clue really tells me that.
But, as Hovis said, there were lots of great clues!
Thanks Goliath & Pete.
I had difficulty with the SE corner but am relieved to see that Pete and Sil had reservations about two of the clues that defeated me.
I parsed 8 down as *(THEIR) + AGE rather than *(THEIR AGE). The result is the same but avoids the repetition of AGE in the fodder and solution of the anagram.
For SE read SW.
Sil, Thanks for your long comment. Like you, I am very doubtful about ‘over’ as an anagram indicator.
Thanks Goliath and Pete
Found this a very entertaining puzzle and am another who does like the lift and separate clues, although the ‘fork’ one did hold me up for a good while. Just lots of excellent clues although three hidden devices, as good as they were, was a little surprising.
PARK was my last one in – not used to referring to a park as a ‘green’ – but eventually it fell. Did like the compound anagram with YELLING and thought that the clue for COARSE was very clever – implicating in the surface that ARSE might, indeed, be a coarse word for ‘bottom’.
I know of one park that is called a green, that is St. Stephen’s Green in Dublin, Eire. I fancy that I may have come across a couple more but they are not coming to mind at the moment.
How about Green Park in London, or is that stretching it too far?