A classic puzzle, not wickedly hard but with some delightful clueing.
Occasional Tuesday droppers-by will know that I’m a very full – not to say pernickety – explainer. Today, it’s been a pleasure to unpick in detail some very elegant clues indeed, including a couple of splendid &lits. Thanks, Neo.
| Across | ||
| 1 | REACTION TIME | In at core working hours for speed of response (8,4) |
| Anagram (‘working’) of IN AT CORE + TIME (‘hours’). | ||
| 8 | ART DECO | Cunning Italian author pens note in style (3,4) |
| ART (an exponent’s ‘cunning’) + Umberto ECO (‘Italian author’, common 3-letter visitor to crosswords) surround (‘pen’) the note of ‘D’. | ||
| 9 | EXTINCT | Capitalist’s banking on old money that’s obsolete (7) |
| C,T, – the letters which surround or ‘bank’ the word CapitalisT – after EX (past, or ‘old’) + TIN (‘money’). | ||
| 11 | ATLANTA | City worker going through map book endlessly (7) |
| ANT (insect ‘worker’) included (‘going through’) ATLAs (‘map book’, without its final ‘S’). | ||
| 12 | PANACHE | Spirit delivers one from pain and hunger (7) |
| 1 deletd from ‘PAiN’ + ACHE (‘hunger’). | ||
| 13 | INDUS | Asian runner in French south retired (5) |
| IN + reversal (‘retired’) of SUD (‘south’ in French). | ||
| 14 | KING COBRA | Hooded killer from Royal Horse Artillery (4,5) |
| KING (‘royal’) + COB (a ‘horse’) + R[oyal] A[rtillery]. | ||
| 16 | EURIPIDES | Foul residue covers irrational tragedian (9) |
| Anagram (‘foul’) of RESIDUE surrounds PI (‘irrational’ number) to give the author of, inter alia, the tragedies of Electra & Medea. | ||
| 19 | MERGE | Come together in lake, shipping gallons (5) |
| MERE (‘lake’) including (‘shipping’) G[allons]. | ||
| 21 | ORLANDO | Shakespearean character’s men get nothing (7) |
| O[ther] R[anks] (military ‘men’) + LAND (‘get’) + 0 (‘nothing’), for the goody in As You Like It. | ||
| 23 | ALGEBRA | Subject is Gable: Tortured Artist (7) |
| Anagram (‘tortured’) of GABLE + RA (‘artist’). | ||
| 24 | TWISTED | Pressman after dance becomes contorted (7) |
| ED[itor] (‘pressman’) after TWIST (a ‘dance’). | ||
| 25 | GRENADE | Pineapple class to admit unmarried chaps (7) |
| GRADE (‘class’) includes ‘mEN’ (‘chaps’, who, lacking their ‘M’ for ‘married’ are indeed ‘unmarried’). | ||
| 26 | WHISKY GALORE | Showgirl Kay exploding with energy in film (6,6) |
| Anagram (‘exploding’) of SHOWGIRL & E[nergy]. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | RATTLED | Conductor having died caused upset (7) |
| Simon RATTLE (‘conductor’) + D[ied]. | ||
| 2 | AVERNUS | Area right inside planet’s infernal regions (7) |
| A[rea] then R[ight] inside VENUS (‘planet’) to give the Roman entry to Hell. | ||
| 3 | THOMAS KYD | Do myth differently – enquire within for dramatist (6,3) |
| Anagram (‘differently’) of DO MYTH has ASK (‘enquire’) within. The Revenger’s Tragedy, ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore &c. | ||
| 4 | ONE-UP | Person in saddle having slim advantage? (3-2) |
| Double definition, a horse-rider being said to be ‘up’. | ||
| 5 | TITANIC | Painter sends second one to bottom, caught in sinking ship (7) |
| T1T1AN (as it were, ‘painter’) with second ‘1’ sent to the end + C[aught] (in cricket). | ||
| 6 | MINICAB | Change of heart for parrot with sailor in taxi (7) |
| MINIC (= MImIC or ‘parrot’ with central letter ‘changed’) + AB (‘sailor’). | ||
| 7 | PARADISE LOST | Ideal spot, as sullied, Tempter at last having entered? (8,4) |
| Anagram (‘sullied’) of IDEAL SPOT including (‘having entered’) R (last letter of ‘tempteR’). Know thine Milton for this classic whole-clue definition. | ||
| 10 | THE CARETAKER | About to get in there and study Romeo’s play (3,9) |
| Complex parse: THERE includes CA (=’about’) then TAKE (‘study’ i.e. for exam) then R[omeo] (radio code for letter R). | ||
| 15 | NOSTALGIA | Whereof perhaps, as I long, a time’s recalled internally? (9) |
| Another ambitious whole-clue job. Anagram (‘whereof perhaps’) of AS I LONG, with A + T[ime] reversed therein, if you follow me. | ||
| 17 | RALEIGH | Elizabeth’s favourite beer in privilege curtailed (7) |
| RIGHt (‘privilege’, shortened) contains ALE, for Liz 1’s court favourite and much good did it do him. “Cause of death: decapitation” (Wiki). | ||
| 18 | PENATES | Author at Ephesus, discontented, seeks household god (7) |
| PEN (‘author’) + AT + E,S, being ‘EphesuS’ with internal contents removed, thus ‘dis-contented’. Chambers gives ‘gods’ in the plural, but we shan’t quibble. | ||
| 19 | MAGNETO | Silver mesh installed in second generator (7) |
| AG (‘silver’) + NET (‘mesh’) in MO[ment], a ‘second’. | ||
| 20 | RIBCAGE | Band composer requires an organ case (7) |
| RIB (‘band’) + John CAGE (American ‘composer’). | ||
| 22 | ODDLY | Bond I’d play now and then in unusual fashion (5) |
| Alternate letters (‘now and then’) of ‘bOnD iD pLaY’. | ||
*anagram
Enjoyable ‘arty’ puzzle. If you include film and popular dance to your definition of art and culture, I reckon the following clues apply in clue or solution: Across- 1,8,16,21,23, 24 and 26; Down – 1,2,3,5,7,10,17,18,21 and 22.
Many thanks to Neo and Grant.
I actually liked this offering from Neo-nothing like a bit of culchah.
Fastidious (and fantastic) blogger has missed things at 26 across and 7 down. Still a super commentary however, and a very neat puzzle.
Nice to have the Culture in. There’s a trend away from it, and towards boring words that everyone should know, but I don’t necessarily care for it. People used to read you know.
I liked this, even if much of the subtlety (eg PARADISE LOST) went over my head.
I didn’t know there had been a remake of WHISKY GALORE. It may be fine for all I know but I’m quite happy to keep to the original Ealing version. The “missed things” at 7d referred to by featherstonehaugh @3 have also passed me by. About the only ‘Showgirl Kay exploding with energy in film’ who I could think of was Kay Kendall playing the trumpet for all she was worth in ‘Genevieve’.
Thanks to Neo and Grant.
Somebody beat me in mentioning the missing bits of anagrist in 26a and 7d. I must admit I am a bit of an uncultured slob so lots of unknowns for me: WHISKY GALORE, AVERNUS, PANATES andTHOMAS KYD. Fortunately, they were all impeccably clued so I was able to finish. Thanks to Neo and GB.
Thanks to Neo and GB. Lots of fun. I dredged up both AVERNUS and PENATES (and Lares) from my long ago Latin classes (and was never sure whether the latter terms were singular or plural). Re the blog for THOMAS KYD, he did not write Revenger’s Tragedy (now attributed to Middleton) and was long dead by the time of ‘Tis Pity, but did write The Spanish Tragedy, one of the landmark (and often-quoted) plays before Shakespeare.
I really enjoyed this. Thanks to Neo & GB. Solved online, too. I hope the new online tool will lead to more people solving & commenting on FT puzzles
Yes, I did it online and enjoyed it. The online version didn’t appear until early afternoon, though.
At 7d the fodder is surely “IDEAL SPOT AS + R?”
Would have been better if I had written out the anagrist for ‘Euripides’, then I might have spelled it correctly.
Thanks Neo and Grant
Enjoyable puzzle with not too many holdups along the way with as much pleasure in unravelling some of the wordplay – sometimes to derive the answer, sometimes to justify the answer.
Started with KING COBRA and finished up the top with REACTIONARY TIME and the clever AVERNUS as the last one in.
Didn’t particularly notice the abundance of culture throughout