Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of May 12, 2018
I found this puzzle harder than most Mudds, especially the bottom half. My clue of the week is 16a (OLD MASTER) and I also like 13a (HARNESS).
| Across | ||
| 1 | AFOREMENTIONED | Idea not supposed to impress supervisors, alluded to previously (14) |
| FOREMEN (supervisors) in (to impress) anagram (supposed) of IDEA NOT. Do we like ‘supposed’ as an anagram indicator? | ||
| 10 | LARGO | Slowly travel east of Clare, avoiding the outskirts (5) |
| [c]LAR[e] + GO (travel) | ||
| 11 | GUACAMOLE | Dip a tea plant, mile off, into liquid glue (9) |
| A (a) + CAMO[mile] (tea plant, mile off) together in anagram (liquid) of GLUE | ||
| 12 | WITHERS | Bit of a nag dies slowly (7) |
| Double/cryptic definition | ||
| 13 | HARNESS | Couple run around naked at first, on ship (7) |
| N[aked] in (around) HARE (run) + SS (ship) | ||
| 14 | ROACH | Animal found in the water butt (5) |
| Double definition | ||
| 16 | OLD MASTER | Splash of red, almost a work of art (3,6) |
| Anagram (splash of) RED ALMOST | ||
| 19 | DREAMLESS | So deep in sleep in centre of bed without short trousers? (9) |
| [b]E[d] in (trousers) DRAMLESS (without short) | ||
| 20 | SINUS | Setter is back in hole (5) |
| SUN (setter!) + IS (is) all backwards (back). ‘Sinus’ can refer to any cavity in the body – something I had not known. | ||
| 22 | CODLING | Apple, little one underwater? (7) |
| Double definition. The first refers to a variety of apple called the English Codling (thanks, PG) while the second refers to a young codfish. | ||
| 25 | RESPECT | Regard muscle during period of relaxation (7) |
| PEC (muscle) in REST (period of relaxation) | ||
| 27 | ELONGATED | Happy about nothing, no good going further (9) |
| O (nothing) + NG (no good) together in ELATED (happy) | ||
| 28 | UNITE | Link every second part in turn, and tie in knots (5) |
| [t]U[rn] [a]N[d] + anagram (in knots) of TIE | ||
| 29 | SEPARATE TABLES | In a storm at sea, plebs screening rank drama (8,6) |
| RATE (rank) in anagram (in a storm) of AT SEA PLEBS. Separate Tables is the collective name of two one-act plays by Terence Rattigan that were also filmed under the same title in 1958. | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | FIRST MATE | Evergreen nation welcoming male officer on ship (5,4) |
| FIR (evergreen) + M (male) in STATE (nation) | ||
| 3 | RHONE | River, perfect river (5) |
| R (river) + HONE (perfect) | ||
| 4 | MEGASTORE | Massive outlet feeding biodome, gas to release (9) |
| Hidden word (feeding) | ||
| 5 | NEATH | Straight over brow of hill, Welsh town (5) |
| NEAT (straight) + H[ill] | ||
| 6 | IN ARREARS | Behind upstanding king and queen, pair listening? (2,7) |
| R (king) + RANI (queen) together backwards (upstanding) + EARS (pair listening) | ||
| 7 | NOOSE | Circular loop, end of rope just round the corner pulled up (5) |
| SOON (just around the corner) backwards (pulled up) + [rop]E | ||
| 8 | DRESSER | One putting things on sideboard (7) |
| Double definition | ||
| 9 | FLOWER | One found in bed perhaps, flies originally down (6) |
| F[lies] + LOWER (down) | ||
| 15 | HUMDINGER | Dim recollection in desire for something else (9) |
| Anagram (recollection) of DIM in HUNGER (desire). ‘Humdinger’ is, I believe, primarily an American term used to refer a remarkable or outstanding person or thing of its kind. | ||
| 17 | DISCREDIT | It is hidden under plate – bloody shame (9) |
| DISC (plate) + RED (bloody) + IT (it) | ||
| 18 | TENDERISE | Soften mood finally during rite seen as grotesque (9) |
| [moo]D in anagram (grotesque) of RITE SEEN | ||
| 19 | DUCHESS | Noble knight mostly on the game (7) |
| DU[b] (knight mostly) + CHESS (the game) | ||
| 21 | SITTER | Model, one rarely missed? (6) |
| Double definition, the second alluding, I presumed, to a sitter in the sense of a sitting target. But ACD offers a different and, I think, better meaning for the second definition — see comment #4 below. | ||
| 23 | DROOP | Sink blocked at the bottom, rubbish coming up (5) |
| [blocke]D + POOR (rubbish) backwards (coming up) | ||
| 24 | GET AT | Criticise access (3,2) |
| Double definition | ||
| 26 | SQUAB | Little bird seemingly quite upset, attacking bunting initially (5) |
| S[eemingly] Q[uite] U[pset] A[ttacking] B[unting] | ||
I too found this hard for a Mudd. Got there in the end. The only difference in my parsing was that I used (t)U(r)N in 28a but I think both parsings work.
Hi Hovis, Thanks for pointing that out. I am torn between the two.
Thanks Mudd and Pete
Also found this one quite challenging taking one longish session and a couple of shorter ones to get it completed. However looking back over it now, it makes me wonder why it was – a sign of a good crossword.
I was with the Hovis way of parsing UNITE.
OLD MASTER is so simple in retrospect, but agree that it was an excellent clue. Thought CODLING was also good – didn’t realise that it was an apple having only heard of the ‘codling moth’ and the little worms that they would leave in an apple and that you always hoped that you found a full one and not half of one !!!
Finished down with that one along with DREAMLESS and HUMDINGER as the last couple in.
Thanks to Mudd and Pete. ROACH defeated me, but I made good progress with the rest. It helped that I knew HUMDINGER, SEPARATE TABLES (I saw a stage version), and both senses of CODLING, and here in the US I even knew NEATH – not from any sense of Wales geography but from the lyrics of Pete Seeger’s The Bells of Rhymney that includes “the loud bells of Neath.”. Re SITTER, I believe that a sitter or hanger is a ball on a pool table that is hanging over the edge of the pocket.
What did trousers have to do with dreamless?
Thanks Mudd and Pete.
Karen really 19ac: I think you have to take “without short” together as indicating DREAMLESS. Then “trousers” is the containment indicator.
Good question! I think I had the wordplay wrongly explained in my original post. I have now updated it. I always thought that ‘trousers’ must be an insertion indicator (used in the sense of ‘steals’) but failed to fully put everything together at first. Thanks for prompting me to get it right.
With regard to my previous comment, it looks as though some autocorrecting has been going on. I meant to say “Karen re 19ac” and that “without short” gives DRAMLESS.
Thank you Pete and Pelham. Now I follow the clue. Thanks Mudd.