Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of August 4, 2018
I found this a bit harder than usual for Rosa and just as entertaining. Strangely, there is one clue, 27dn, that appears to be seriously broken but which I solved easily nonetheless. My favourite is 15ac (SHAKEN) and I also especially like 1ac (SPARSE), 24ac (EXTRALEGAL) and 9dn (DOPEY).
| Across | ||
| 1 | SPARSE | Scanty smalls worn by Norm start to excite (6) |
| PAR (norm) in SS (smalls) + E[xcite] | ||
| 4 | OBEISANT | Is worker perhaps following order and showing deference? (8) |
| OBE (order) + IS (is) + ANT (worker) | ||
| 10 | TORNADO | On the road he missed unusually bad weather (7) |
| Anagram (unusually) of ON T[he] ROAD | ||
| 11 | GRECIAN | Nana smuggling crystal meth back from Athens? (7) |
| ICE (crystal meth) backwards (back) in GRAN (nana) | ||
| 12 | READ | Prepared contracts for study (4) |
| READ[ied] | ||
| 13 | YESTERYEAR | Scratching head, puzzle over English sensitivity in the past (10) |
| E (English) in [m]YSTERY (scratching head, puzzle) + EAR (sensitivity) | ||
| 15 | SHAKEN | Brandished tinned fish (6) |
| HAKE (fish) in SN (tinned) | ||
| 16 | DEFACER | He vandalises excellent maple (7) |
| DEF (excellent) + ACER (maple). I was not aware of either ‘def’ in this sense or ‘acer’ as the botanical term for the genus of trees commonly known as maples. | ||
| 20 | SEXTONS | Churchmen taking care of it a lot (7) |
| SEX (it) + TONS (a lot) | ||
| 21 | REDONE | Florid individual given makeover (6) |
| RED (florid) + ONE (individual) | ||
| 24 | EXTRALEGAL | Lad with three lower limbs not subject to the law (10) |
| EXTRA LEG (with three lower limbs) + AL (lad) | ||
| 26 | SOAR | Reportedly hurting fly (4) |
| Homophone (reportedly) of “sore” (hurting) | ||
| 28 | SUN KING | Louis XIV knocked back gin boisterously (3,4) |
| SUNK (knocked back) + anagram (boisterously) of GIN | ||
| 29 | EXAMINE | Question during sex: am I nervous? (7) |
| Hidden word | ||
| 30 | ESCHEWED | Shunned key cut by vacuous ex-husband (8) |
| ESC (key) + HEW (cut) + E[x-husban]D | ||
| 31 | PASTIS | Dad settles back for aperitif (6) |
| PA (dad) + SITS (settles) backwards (back) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | SATIRIST | One poking fun at Murdoch in street (8) |
| AT (at) + IRIS (Murdoch) together in ST (street) | ||
| 2 | ARREARAGE | What’s outstanding about a storm south of Arkansas? (9) |
| AR (Arkansas) + RE (about) + A (a) + RAGE (storm) | ||
| 3 | SPAS | Nits turning up in health resorts (4) |
| SAPS (nits) backwards (turning up) | ||
| 5 | BEGETTER | Implore me to dump son for father (8) |
| BEG (implore) + [s]ETTER (me to dump son) | ||
| 6 | INEBRIATED | Crapulent criminal, irate in bed (10) |
| Anagram (criminal) of IRATE IN BED | ||
| 7 | ASIDE | Unclothed man content to use bidet in private (5) |
| [m]A[n] [u]S[e] [b]IDE[t] | ||
| 8 | TENURE | Holding 10, quarrel regularly (6) |
| TEN (10) + [q]U[a]R[r]E[l] | ||
| 9 | DOPEY | Bashful companion close to hilarity after cannabis (5) |
| DOPE (cannabis) + [hilarit]Y. The definition refers to the seven dwarfs in the story of Snow White. | ||
| 14 | NEUTRALISE | Take out rubbish at leisure centre in Penge (10) |
| Anagram (rubbish) of AT LEISURE [pe]N[ge] | ||
| 17 | ECONOMIST | Varoufakis, for one, misusing emoticons (9) |
| Anagram (misusing) of EMOTICONS. Yanis Varoufakis is an economist and one-time Greek Minister of Finance. | ||
| 18 | INVEIGLE | Coax expedition’s leader into living wildly on top of Everest (8) |
| E[xpedition] in anagram (wildly) of LIVING + E[verest] | ||
| 19 | PEERLESS | Unbeatable advice to gawpers (8) |
| PEER LESS (advice to gawpers) | ||
| 22 | LESSEE | Charles seemingly welcoming tenant (6) |
| Hidden word | ||
| 23 | VALET | Servant unblocking the toilet from below (5) |
| T[h]E (unblocking the) + LAV (toiler) all backwards (from below) | ||
| 25 | TONIC | American out of action, accidentally shot in the arm (5) |
| Anagram (accidentally) of [a]CTION | ||
| 27 | SAGA | Heroic story from Shanghai, oddly ignored (4) |
| S[h]A[n]G[h]A[i] . Surely “oddly ignored” is exactly the opposite of what is needed? | ||
Thanks Rosa Klebb and Pete
Only solved this one yesterday and also found it on the more difficult end for this setter – I think that the grid with a lot of hidden starting letters added to this. Found some of the word play quite tough – especially YESTERYEAR which took ages ! Tried to justify BEGOTTEN at 5d for a long time as well.
I just had ‘prepared contracts’ as READ[Y] – as in dinner is prepared / ready, but either work.
Loved her surfaces as per usual and her tricky definitions in some of the charades were very enjoyable to wrinkle out as well. Finished after twice the normal solve time for her puzzles with SEXTONS which was a good example of everything mentioned above.
The Oxford dictionary tells me that ‘oddly’ means: “in a way that is different to what is usual or expected”.
That’s what it exactly was for you, Pete, in 27d ……
By the way, I’ve seen it before like this, though I’m not keen on it.
Very good crossword, indeed harder than her usual output, but for some reason still an Arachne Lite.
I decided that 13ac had to be YESTERYEAR but couldn’t parse it.
And so, I lost this time!
Many thanks to Pete & Rosa Klebb
Like Sil, I got YESTERYEAR but failed to parse it. I can’t agree with the explanation for 27d though which I think is just an error. I don’t see how the OED definition given would suggest every other letter. I also had READy for 12a.
Thanks to Rosa and Pete.
Challenging. I had 7d and 30ac ready to go in but could not work out why they might be correct. “Deacons” instead of “Sextons” threw that part of the grid for me, so couldn’t get “neutralise”. I’m with you Pete on “Shaken” as a great clue, which again I didn’t get.
As for 12ac I’m with you on “readied”. That may be my legal background as a contract being prepared would be got ready or readied. Only now have I noticed that “contract” also means “shorten”!
Hovis, my quotation from the OED was not to justify 27d but to tease Pete a bit.
Yes, it’s probably an oversight of RK. But I have seen it in the past, setters using ‘oddly’ to indicate the even letters – slightly different from here, similar idea.
20a: “It” = SEX. Yes, I’ve seen “it” before, and “it” trips me up, huh-huh-huh. (So childish! Knock it off!)
It means nothing to me, though …. 🙂
Thanks Pete.
I thought 27d was an error, too. Didn’t get YESTERYEAR either.
Your list of favs matches mine!