Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of November 25, 2018
Are we getting more Goliath puzzles in this space? Historically we have had no more than one a month since they starting appearing in 2014. Now we have the second within a month. I found this one a good bit harder than his last, with difficulty especially in the bottom-right corner.
There are two clues here that I do not fully understand the workings of: 31ac and 15dn.
| Across | ||
| 1 | See 23 | |
| 4, 10 | SHOULDER TO CRY ON | Comfort knackered old country horse (8,2,3,2) |
| Anagram (knackered) of OLD COUNTRY HORSE | ||
| 11 | GEHENNA | Copenhagen without law enforcer turns into destination for the wicked (7) |
| Anagram (turns into) of [cop]ENHAGEN. Gehenna is a mythical place where the wicked are punished after death. | ||
| 12 | POPE | Innocent may be found in cheapo peepshows (4) |
| Hidden word | ||
| 13 | BIOLOGICAL | Organic story sensible (10) |
| BIO (story) + LOGICAL (sensible) | ||
| 16 | SKIERS | Lousy kisser finding many going down (6) |
| Anagram (lousy) of KISSER | ||
| 17 | KNEES-UP | Diocese held by troublemaker backing party (5-2) |
| SEE (diocese) in (held by) PUNK (troublemaker) all backwards (backing) | ||
| 20 | IN A STEW | Upset meat etc here? (2,1,4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 21 | FILIAL | Twice I fall over as a child (6) |
| Anagram (over) of I I FALL | ||
| 24 | UNLAWFULLY | You in jail at last, very dishonestly (10) |
| [yo]U [i]N [jai]L + AWFULLY (very) | ||
| 25 | See 26 | |
| 27 | HIPSTER | Trendy person with a low waistline showing his pert bum (7) |
| Anagram (bum) of HIS PERT with two definitions | ||
| 29 | OBESITY | Do as you’re told, sit inside and blubber (7) |
| SIT (sit) in (inside) OBEY (do as you’re told) | ||
| 30 | PURCHASE | Grip bag containing tea (8) |
| CHA (tea) in (containing) PURSE (bag) | ||
| 31 | JOINTS | Hangouts found here (6) |
| I feel sure that JOINTS must be the answer but am unsure of the intended wordplay here. One possibility is that one might find joints in the sense of marijuana smokes in a hangout. Google offers online group meetings called hangouts but I doubt that that has any relevance here. I found a couple of suggestions that [han]GOUT[s] is found in joints but find this idea totally unconvincing. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | GATEPOST | Access letters from keeper of secrets? (8) |
| GATE (access) + POST (letters) | ||
| 2 | EXCEPTIONAL | Unusual old place into renovation (11) |
| EX (old) + anagram (renovation) of PLACE INTO | ||
| 3 | STYX | Bits of wood reported in hellish river (4) |
| Homophone (reported) of “sticks” (bits of wood) | ||
| 5 | HIGHLAND | On a trip over country plateau (8) |
| HIGH (on a trip) + LAND (country) | ||
| 6 | UNHYGIENIC | Nice guy in trouble, with hospital admission posing infection risk (10) |
| H (hospital) in (with…admission) anagram (trouble) of NICE GUY IN | ||
| 7 | See 28 | |
| 8 | REALLY | Extremely rare friend indeed (6) |
| R[ar]E + ALLY (friend) | ||
| 9 | ANVIL | Block in Roman village (5) |
| Hidden word | ||
| 14 | CRUCIFIXION | Police force implicated in a hundred and one reported stories of torture (11) |
| RUC (police force, referring to the Royal Ulster Constabulary) in (implicated in) CI (a hundred and one) + FIXION (homophone of “fiction”) | ||
| 15 | WRISTWATCH | Initially ward round is scheduled to monitor ticker (10) |
| W[ard] R[ound] I[s] S[cheduled] T[o] + WATCH (monitor). I do not understand how Goliath clues the ‘T’ here. | ||
| 18 | REQUIRES | Regarding paper needs (8) |
| RE (regarding) + PAPER (quires) | ||
| 19 | BLUE EYES | Beauty sleep not apt to distort Sinatra features (4,4) |
| Anagram (to distort) of BE[a]U[t]Y SLEE[p]. Frank Sinatra was often referred to as Old Blue Eyes. | ||
| 22 | HUSH UP | Keep quiet and heartily exhume bishop, stupid (4,2) |
| [ex]HU[me] [bi]SH[op] [st]UP[id] | ||
| 23, 1 across | ELBOW GREASE | Agrees bowel movement is hard work (5,6) |
| Anagram (movement) of AGREES BOWEL | ||
| 26, 25 | MEMORISE | Retain note to revolt (8) |
| MEMO (note) + RISE (to revolt) | ||
| 28, 7 | PARDON | I’m sorry for standard wear (6) |
| PAR (standard) + DON (wear) | ||
Thanks Goliath and Pete. I cannot help with 31ac, which I left unsolved, but 15dn I can do. It is W[ard] R[ound] I[s] S[cheduled] T[o] + WATCH.
Well, Pete, 31ac was the one I didn’t get.
But now that I know the answer (JOINTS), I had another look at the completed grid. I can see SHOULDER, KNEES, HIP, WRIST. ELBOW and perhaps more?
And in 15d, it is one more ‘first letter’, one of this setter’s trademerk (multiple fodder clues). (Oops, as PB said @1).
Thanks Goliath and Pete
Good puzzle as normal from this setter – always provides an enjoyable challenge. Whilst not seeing the logic for JOINTS when solving it, I think that you are on the money with being able to find ‘gout’ in both ‘hangouts’ and JOINTS.
Finished in the SW corner with REQUIRES, HIPSTER (with the clever dual definitions) and IN A STEW as the last few in.
I couldn’t parse JOINTS either, but I’m sure Sil @2 is correct with this being the theme. The incus (or ANVIL) is a small bone in the middle ear, so this doesn’t quite qualify as a thematic clue, but almost.
As well as the theme, I missed the double def. for HIPSTER and had only vaguely heard of GEHENNA. STYX was also there to remind us of the consequences of not behaving ourselves.
I liked the ‘knackered old country horse’ in 1a.
Thanks to Goliath and to Pete.
Thanks to Sil for explaining 31a which I failed to get at all. Thanks also to Goliath and Pete.
I may be being slow, but I am not sure Sil has explained 31; ok,joints may be part of the theme, but that doesn’t make the clue ok.
I’m afraid it’s simply a duff clue – a shame at the end of a pleasing puzzle
Andrew B@6: I think Sil @2 has completely explained the setter’s intention that “found here” means that there are names of specific joints in the body to be found in the grid. Whether that is a sufficient secondary indication is a matter of taste, particularly noting that FT puzzles are simply labelled “Crossword” not “Cryptic Crossword”.
Andrew@6. Not sure what your objection is. ‘Joints’ are hangouts and joints are found here, i.e., in the grid solutions.
For once I rattled through this in two sessions…. except for “memorise” and “joints” both of which eluded me. I don’t think I would ever have got joints.
Thank you all for the commentary. I feel a complete chump now for failing to correctly interpret 15dn and also for not noticing all the joints in the puzzle. I do consider it an essential part of my responsibility as a blogger to check the grid for patterns, Ninas and so on but managed to overlook all the joints in this one. Thanks especially to Sil.
Very late coming to this but there’s an error in the explanation for 2dn. I think it should be EX (old) + anagram (renovation) of PLACE INTO
K3vin, Thank you for pointing that out. What a goof! Now corrected.