Knut focuses on topical news in his puzzles. Topicality of course is constrained by the lead times required to get a puzzle compiled, edited and published in a national daily.
This puzzle is themed around the meeting in SINGAPORE (12 across) on 12th June between Donald Trump (POTUS [President of the United States]) and Kim Jong-un (Leader of North Korea). Donald Trump has referred to Kim Jong-un in disparaging terms as LITTLE [14 across] ROCKET MAN [17 down]. The weapons under the control of both can create MUSHROOM CLOUDS [1 and 5 across]. You can debate amongst yourselves whether the two entries at 10 and 11 across, DUMBO and TOP BANANA are thematic or not. Certainly many in their entourages will have partaken of a SINGAPORE SLING [12 and 13 across] before or after the meeting. We also have references in the grid to the KOREA[n] PENINSULA [23 and 27 across] With a bit of lateral thinking you could relate a few other entries to varying views of the participants in the meeting.
Throughout the clues there were many references to the United States and politics.
As ever, an enjoyable puzzle from Knut with some quite complex constructs in the wordplay.
The wordplay in 19 across, NO SWEAT, defeats me completely. No doubt the first comment will show me the glaringly obvious wordplay that I have missed!
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
| 1 | It could be a button mother stitched on to second-hand jumper (8) |
MUM (mother) containing (stitched on to) (S [second] + H [hand] + ROO [kangaroo; jumper]) MU (S H ROO) M |
MUSHROOM (reference a button MUSHROOM [defined as the head of an unexpanded MUSHROOM) |
| 5 | They bring wet, cold, thunderous showers at first (6) |
C (cold) + LOUD (thunderous) + S (first letter of [at first] SHOWERS) C LOUD S |
CLOUDS (masses of fog, consisting of minute particles of water, which can fall as rain; they bring water) |
| 10 | Get Oscar after silent movie about 14 circus act (5) |
DUMB (silent) + O (Oscar is the international radio codeword for the letter O ) DUMB O |
DUMBO (film by Disney, first released in 1941, about a LITTLE circus elephant. Apparently it is going to be released again in un updated form in 2019) |
| 11 | Actor Eric featuring in panto playing the main man (3,6) |
BANA (reference Eric BANA [born 1968], Australian actor) contained in (featuring in) an anagram of (playing) PANTO TOP (BANA) NA* |
TOP BANANA (most important person in their organisation; the main man)
|
| 12 | Raffles here distributing gains, as some might say, for the poor (8) |
Anagram of (distributing) GAINS + PORE (I’m not sure what is going on here. Is PORE a pronunciation [as some might say] of POOR in some dialects?) SINGA* PORE |
SINGAPORE (Raffles Hotel is in SINGAPORE)
|
| 13 | Support Sri Lankan leaders elected government (5) |
SL (first letter of [leaders of] each of SRI and LANKA) + IN (elected) + G (government) SL IN G |
SLING (hanging support for an injured arm or foot) |
| 14 | Wee, let off by Macron’s bed? (6) |
LIT (French [Emmanuel Macron is the President of France] for bed) + an anagram of (off) LET LIT TLE* |
LITTLE (small;wee) |
| 16 | Space for Spanish 1A retail outlets (7) |
EM (space used in printing equivalent to the width of a letter m) + POR (Spanish for ‘for’) + 1A (IA) EM POR IA |
EMPORIA (retail outlets)
|
| 19 | Mum’s working without a problem? (2,5) |
I have no idea about the wordplay in this clue. I can’t see any allusion to Mum or working
|
NO SWEAT ( words used to indicate that something will present no problems. |
| 21 | Bed in school might be labelled "Teacher’s" (6) |
COT (bed) contained in (in) SCH (school) S (COT) CH |
SCOTCH (Teacher’s Highland Cream is a brand of SCOTCH whisky)
|
| 23 | Kilo chocolate bar knocked back, where 14, 17 is at home up north (5) |
K (kilo) + AERO (brand of chocolate bar) reversed (knocked back) K OREA< |
KOREA (Kim Jong Un, known to Donald Trump as LITTLE (14a) ROCKET MAN (17d) lives in North KOREA) |
| 25 | Pro-cheese movement of concern to the Greens? (9) |
Anagram of (movement) PRO-CHEESE ECOSPHERE* |
ECOSPHERE. (parts of the universe or especially the earth in which life is possible; areas of interest to supporters of the Green environmentally friendly movement) |
| 27 | Open in Sulawesi, defending 23 for one (9) |
PENINSULA (hidden word in (defending) OPEN IN SULAWESI) PENINSULA |
PENINSULA (KOREA [23 across] is a PENINSULA comprising both North and South KOREA)
|
| 28 | Fawn shot by Disney (5) |
BAMBI (young deer, or fawn, in the classic film of the same name) BAMBI |
BAMBI (animated Disney film first released in 1942) |
| 29 | Hip replacement finally ready, following change of heart (6) |
T (last letter of [finally] REPLACEMENT) + READY with the central letter changed (change of heart) from A to N T RENDY |
TRENDY (in the forefront of fashion; hip) |
| 30 | Deplore halfwit taking charge of opera company (8) |
DUNCE (halfwit) containing (taking charge of) ENO (English National Opera) D (ENO) UNCE |
DENOUNCE (deplore) |
|
Down |
|||
| No | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
| 1 | Maine Democrat states she’d be at home in the 18! (6) |
ME (Abbreviation of the American State of Maine) + D (Democrat) + USA ([United] States [of America]) ME D USA |
MEDUSA (in Greek mythology, MEDUSA was a monster, a Gorgon, generally described as a winged human female with living venomous snakes in place of hair; someone who would have been at in a SNAKE PIT [18 down])
|
| 2 | Titles mounted, credits announced, for meaningful linguistics study (9) |
NAMES (titles) reversed (mounted; down clue) + TICS (sounds like [announced] TICKS [marks or credits]) SEMAN< TICS |
SEMANTICS (the area of linguistics dealing with the meaning of words)
|
| 3 | "Wine?" "Yes", from Franz Ferdinand, going first (5) |
RIO (reference ex-football player and current pundit RIO Ferdinand) + JA (German [Franz] for ‘yes’) RIO JA |
RIOJA (red or white Spanish table wine)
|
| 4 | Democratically defeat Farage’s objective (7) |
OUT (leave) + VOTE (reference the June 2016 referendum on whether to stay in the European Union). Take together the two components express Nigel Farage’s wish for the United Kingdom to VOTE to come OUT of the European Union OUT VOTE |
OUTVOTE (defeat by a greater number of votes which is considered to be a means of defeating one’s opponents democratically)
|
| 6 | Paves the way for first POTUS trip (5,2,2) |
LEAD (be in first position) + an anagram of (trips) POTUS LEAD S UP TO* |
LEADS UP TO (prepares [paves] the way for)
|
| 7 | Taste a bit of poppadum, amigo (5) |
UMAMI (hidden word in [a bit of] POPPADUM AMIGO) UMAMI |
UMAMI (savoury, satisfying taste) |
| 8 | Press Connery to admit to having been a contralto (8) |
SHANG (the way in which Sean Connery, with his drawl, would probably pronounce [admit] SANG) + HAI (sounds like [announce] HIGH) A contralto is a low voice for a women , but a high voice for a man, so if Sean Connery SANG HIGH he would have been a counter-tenor which equates to female contralto) SHANG HAI |
SHANGHAI (drug or make drunk and send to sea as a sailor; press into service) |
| 9 | A gun each (6) |
A + PIECE (gun) A PIECE |
APIECE (to each individually) |
| 15 | Released evil spirits from head Republican with bronzed skin (9) |
REP (Republican) contained in (with … skin) TANNED (bronzed) T (REP) ANNED |
TREPANNED (removed a piece of the skull from. Wikipedia tells me that the bone that was TREPANNED was kept by the prehistoric people and may have been worn as a charm to keep evils spirits away) |
| 17 | John hit Macron, drunk, having taken ketamine (6,3) |
Anagram of (drunk) MACRON containing (having taken) KET (ketamine) ROC (KET) MAN* |
ROCKET MAN (hit [popular song] by Elton John) |
| 18 | Sit around, almost nude, paid upfront in den of iniquity (5,3) |
SIT containing (around) (NAKED [nude] excluding the last letter [almost] D + P [first letter of {upfront} PAID]) S (NAKE P) IT |
SNAKE PIT (hostile or dangerous environment; a place, or circumstances,characterised by disorder emotions and relationships, for instance a den of iniquity) |
| 20 | Arranges what Trump does at the weekend (4,2) |
TEES UP (Donald Trump is reputed to play golf most weekends, so he TEES UP on each hole) TEES UP |
TEES UP (arranges) |
| 21 | Somewhere in Washington, had a word about Ivanka’s core investment (7) |
SPOKE (has a word) containing (about) AN (central letters of [core of] IVANKA) SPOK (AN) E |
SPOKANE (city in the American State of Washington)
|
| 22 | European railways turnover weakened with age (6) |
(E [European] + LINES [railways]) all reversed (turnover) (SENIL E)< |
SENILE (showing the decay of mind or body brought on by old age) |
| 24 |
Reach of 14 17’s weapon? That’s odd – no way (5) |
STRANGE (odd) excluding (no) ST (street; way) RANGE |
RANGE (the reach of LITTLE [14a] ROCKET MAN‘s [17d] weapon) |
| 26 | Trap a bloke smuggling a Picasso (5) |
PABLO (hidden word in [smuggling] TRAP A BLOKE) PABLO |
PABLO (reference PABLO Picasso [1881 – 1973], Spanish painter) |
I think 19across is a reference to the brand of antiperspirant ‘Mum’. If it works, there’ll be no sweat.
Thank you Manuel-I had the entry without the parse.
Very neat and entertaining puzzle as usual from Knut.
Raffles was great before they changed it all. Now its probably at least $20(of someone’s money) for a 12/13 and the waitress has a sullen look on her face expecting you to pay even more.Service with a sneer.
But it used to be one of the few places in Singapore where you could score really average food.
The Omar Khyam served the best Indian I’ve ever tasted -just up the road but sadly, long gone.
Shurely, a puzzle about cocktails disguised as political commentary? There seems to be a cocktail named after everything: mushroom cloud, rocket man, spokane snakepit (coming soon)
I liked Mum, Franz Ferdinand and Eric Bana in the panto.
Thanks Knut, Duncan
The usual splendid topical and enjoyable puzzle from Knut.
Thanks to him and Duncan too
Once again, I’m totally with crypticsue – many thanks to both.
All very entertaining, though I missed some of the theme, and it took me ages to see SHANGHAI, perhaps because I was thinking of female voices and as Duncan says, in that context CONTRALTO is low…
Thanks to Knut and Duncan