Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of June 2, 2018
As usual with Rosa we have many clues with outstanding surfaces, notably 21ac, 23ac, 28ac, 2dn, 14dn, 17dn and 20dn. My clue of the week is 27ac (HYENA) and I am also wowed by 14dn (FIBRILLATE) and 24dn (BLESS).
| Across | ||
| 1 | FOETID | Stinking tide of rubbish (6) |
| Anagram (rubbish) of TIDE OF. ‘Fetid’ is, I believe, the slightly more common spelling these days. | ||
| 4 | SCREWTOP | Asks crew to pull nets closer (8) |
| Hidden word | ||
| 10 | GO IT ALONE | Bash toenail badly and proceed unaided (2,2,5) |
| GO (bash) + anagram (badly) of TOENAIL | ||
| 11 | IN USE | Busy at home, oddly unseen (2,3) |
| IN (at home) + U[n]S[e]E[n] | ||
| 12 | ACRE | It’s hidden in Holy Land (4) |
| [s]ACRE[d] (hidden in holy). Probably like many others I figured this clue had something to do with Acre, the town in Israel also known as Akko. Maybe it does in the sense that that was an intended misdirection on Rosa’s part. | ||
| 13 | PEAR-SHAPED | Sherpa wickedly mimicked hippy (4-6) |
| Anagram (wickedly) of SHERPA + APED (mimicked) | ||
| 15 | PANNIER | Orphan found in empty paper bag (7) |
| ANNIE (orphan, as in “Little Orphan Annie”) in P[ape]R | ||
| 16 | YELLOW | Yard with headless male chicken (6) |
| Y (yard) + [f]ELLOW (headless male) | ||
| 19 | ESCROW | County recoils after conclusion of vile deed (6) |
| [vil]E + WORCS (county) backwards. ‘Worcs’ is the abbreviation for Worcestershire. | ||
| 21 | STUNNER | Crazy about new Royal, great beauty (7) |
| NUTS (crazy) backwards (about) + N (new) + ER (royal) | ||
| 23 | AMBULATORY | Pedestrian Conservative’s statement, full of endless rubbish (10) |
| BUL[l] (endless rubbish) in “AM A TORY” (Conservative’s statement) | ||
| 25 | TREE | Trio missing second plane? (4) |
| T[h]REE (trio missing second) | ||
| 27 | HYENA | Wild animal miles away from Maidenhead area (5) |
| HY[m]EN (miles away from Maidenhead) + A (area) | ||
| 28 | LIKE A SHOT | Fifty one parrots piping eagerly (4,1,4) |
| LI (fifty one) + KEAS (parrots) + HOT (piping). Keas are the only Alpine parrots and are natives of New Zealand (where I have seen them). | ||
| 29 | DISPERSE | Policemen essentially go their separate ways (8) |
| DIS (policemen) + PER SE (essentially) | ||
| 30 | CARPEL | Swimmer, unclothed, held reproductive organ (6) |
| CARP (swimmer) + [h]EL[d] | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | FOG LAMPS | Dandies transfixed by seductive bright lights (3,5) |
| GLAM (seductive) in (transfixed by) FOPS (dandies) | ||
| 2 | EMIGRANTS | They leave native lands, streaming abroad (9) |
| Anagram (abroad) of STREAMING | ||
| 3 | IRAN | Borders of insular Asian nation (4) |
| I[nsula]R A[sia]N | ||
| 5 | CLEARLY | Prematurely supporting gutless colonel, of course (7) |
| C[olone]L + EARLY (prematurely) | ||
| 6 | EPITHELIUM | He chases European with scar tissue (10) |
| E (European) + PIT (scar) + HELIUM (He) | ||
| 7 | THUMP | Sock smell in teepee (5) |
| HUM (smell) in TP (teepee) | ||
| 8 | PSEUDS | 9s, regularly missed, pushed up daisies discontentedly (6) |
| P[u]S[h]E[d]U[p] + D[aisie]S | ||
| 9 | POSEUR | Regrets surgery adversely affected individual (6) |
| OP (surgery) + RUES (regrets) all backwards (adversely) | ||
| 14 | FIBRILLATE | Twitch and lie on Channel 8 broadcast (10) |
| FIB (lie) + RILL (channel) + ATE (homophone of 8) | ||
| 17 | OWNERSHIP | Possession of barbiturates eschewed by daughter with joint (9) |
| [d]OWNERS (barbiturates eschewed by daughter) + HIP (joint) | ||
| 18 | ORIENTAL | Gold cases of incense, not all from the east (8) |
| OR (gold) + I[ncens]E N[o]T A[l]L | ||
| 20 | WATTLES | Daub partner’s droopy bits (7) |
| Double definition, the first referring to “wattle and daub” and the second to the dangly bits of skin that chickens and turkeys have hanging from their necks. | ||
| 21 | STRIKE | Cycles back to front in protest (6) |
| TRIKES (cycles) with the ‘S’ moved to the front | ||
| 22 | DASHED | Ran commercial about Slough (6) |
| AD (commercial) backwards (about) + SHED (slough) | ||
| 24 | BLESS | Lay hands on constable’s sausage sandwiches (5) |
| Hidden word | ||
| 26 | TA-TA | See you make lace article (2-2) |
| TAT (lace) + A (article) | ||
Thanks Rosa Klebb and Pete
Enjoyable puzzle and a little harder than normal from her I thought – lovely surfaces and a hidden 8-letter word at 4a that had me foxed until near the end – very impressive ! The other hidden, BLESS, was my last one in – so doubly impressive!! HYENA did raise a wry smile.
Didn’t fully parse ACRE (so thanks for that, Pete) – uncomfortably just put in down to a weak cryptic definition of the Israeli port – should’ve known better !!
Sheer class.
Well said!
Thanks, Pete.
Nothing to add to what copmus said, except many thanks, as ever, to Arachne.
Loved the range of clues and the ‘hidden’ indicators. AMBULATORY brought a smile as did so many other clues. Concur with Pete’s long list.
Learned a new meaning of WATTLE ( the second one). All very fair and lots of fun.
Arachne always gets it just right in this game between setter and solver. My favourite setter by far.