A solid Tuesday set with plenty of anagrams & double-Ds to keep the brain-cells ticking plus the odd flash of wit
I liked the ‘No. 1’ in ‘abrasion’ particularly. Thanks to Sayang.
| Across | ||
| 1 | DEFINITE | Such article as “The Firm” (8) |
| Double definition. Bit woolly, but the adjectival noun works I think (as in “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly”). | ||
| 5 | AERIAL | Lofty antenna (6) |
| Another DD. | ||
| 9 | MARATHON | Running event may damage a short sexy beachwear (8) |
| MAR (‘damage’) + A + THONg (shortened ‘sexy beachwear’). | ||
| 10 | ABUSER | He berates sailor, a drug addict (6) |
| AB[le Seaman] + USER (‘drug addict’). | ||
| 12 | SMEAR | Spread false report (5) |
| And another DD. | ||
| 13 | BREADLINE | You really need to be on this (9) |
| Whole-clue cryptic. Only those ‘in need’ are on the breadline. | ||
| 14 | MODERATENESS | Frenzied maestro needs temperance (12) |
| Anagram (‘frenzied’) of MAESTRO NEEDS. | ||
| 18 | BABY-SNATCHER | Recant shabby arrangement for one with a young bride (4-8) |
| Anagram (‘arrangement’) of RECENT SHABBY. | ||
| 21 | TRANSIENT | Temporary interns at work (9) |
| Anagram (‘work’) of INTERNS AT. | ||
| 23 | PEACE | Caught a bit of rest (5) |
| Homophone (‘caught’ by ear) of ‘piece’ (‘a bit’). | ||
| 24 | ORIGIN | Alternatively, a drink fountain (6) |
| OR (‘alternatively’) + 1 (= ‘A’) + GIN (‘a drink’). | ||
| 25 | VALIDATE | Approve of girl I go out with (8) |
| VAL (‘a girl’) + I + DATE (‘go out with’) | ||
| 26 | RANGER | Compass right for park officer (6) |
| RANGE (‘compass’) + R[ight]. | ||
| 27 | STANDARD | Classic colours (8) |
| Double def again. ‘Colours’ as in military flag. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | DAMASK | Block request for material (6) |
| DAM (‘block’) + ASK (‘request’). | ||
| 2 | FORKED | Split in favour of King Edward’s divorcee initially (6) |
| FOR (‘in favour of’) then 1st letters of King Edwards Divorcee. | ||
| 3 | NOTORIOUS | Infamously famous (9) |
| Whole-clue not-very-cryptic. But a neat definition. | ||
| 4 | TROUBLEMAKER | The first Russian ready to meet Creator – he disturbs the peace (12) |
| T(he) + ROUBLE (‘Russian ready’, i.e. cash money) + MAKER (‘creator’). | ||
| 6 | EMBED | Position problem be deciphered therein (5) |
| Inclusion in ‘problEM BE Deciphered’. | ||
| 7 | INSPIRED | Imaginative ticket tout almost got in, dressed like Wayne Rooney (8) |
| ‘Dressed like Wayne Rooney’ could be IN RED (Manchester Utd colours, although he’s moved on now). Insert therein a shortened SPIv (‘ticket tout almost’). | ||
| 8 | LARGESSE | Huge ship laden with oriental generosity (8) |
| LARGE SS (‘huge ship’) + E[astern]. | ||
| 11 | RECALCITRANT | Tartan cleric, unruly and defiant (12) |
| Anagram (‘unruly’) of TARTAN CLERIC. | ||
| 15 | EXEMPTION | Exclusion of retina from clinical experimentation; yes, exclusion (9) |
| Anagram (‘clinical’) of EXPerIMEnTatiON, minus letters of ‘retina’. | ||
| 16 | ABATTOIR | A mammal flying blindly to Irish slaughterhouse (8) |
| A + BAT (‘mammal flying blindly’) + TO + IR[ish]. | ||
| 17 | ABRASION | When accepting support, naval lieutenant raised friction (8) |
| BRA (‘support’) in AS (‘when’) + reversal of NO 1 (‘Number One’, nickname for ‘naval lieutenant’). | ||
| 19 | BANANA | Singularly crazy fruit in hand (6) |
| ‘Bananas’ is ‘crazy,’ of course. And a bunch of bananas is a ‘hand’. | ||
| 20 | DEFEND | Guard fed up with outcome (6) |
| Reversal of FED + END (‘outcome’). | ||
| 22 | SHINE | Quiet! I need half the light (5) |
| SH (‘quiet’) + I + NEed (= half of ‘need’). | ||
*anagram
Thanks Sayang and Grant
One of Sayang’s better puzzles I thought.
Thought that 1a was one of the best – the trick is that I think that the break is after ‘The’ – so we have – “such article as ‘the'” = definite article and “firm” = definite. Nice
Hadn’t heard of a ‘naval lieutenant” referred to as Number One – but guessed that must have been what was going on.
Finished in the NE corner with BREADLINE and INSPIRED.
Parsed 1a as Bruce@1. Found this a bit too easy but enjoyable overall. Wasn’t keen on ‘laden’ in 8d, which suggests inclusion to me rather than adding on at the end but I guess it works. ‘Clinical’ as an anagram indicator?
Thanks to Sayang and Grant.
The long anagrams helped enormously. Was hung up on 2d trying to fit WS (Wallace Simpson) in after FOR. A fun puzzle.
Thanks Sayang and GB.
Thanks to Sayang and Grant B. I agree – lots of fun. I remembered “caught” as a homophone indicator from a previous puzzle for PEACE (my LOI), guessed that NOI was somehow a naval lieutenant, and parsed most of INSPIRED but not the SPIv-tout that was new to me.
On another topic, here in the US for over a year I’ve been printing out the FT puzzles after 8 PM our time and doing them the next day. Recently, though the puzzles look fine on my PC, more than half of those printouts have come out with no numbers on the grid and no numbers or letters in the solution – and words with two Fs (today “officer”) have the Fs blocked out. Also the top of the page is cut off so that today the top of 7 down is unreadable. I don’t think that the flaw is in my printer.
@ACD, I am in US as well, I print the PDF version, it prints as a facsimile of the FT newsprint version, no issues.
For me, I have done well if I can solve the puzzle using no more than the allotted “JOTTER PAD” space for noodling.
Thanks Sayang & Grant.
A whimsical interpretation of 5 across is that a domestic aerial is often located in the loft of the house. So a CD rather than a DD.