Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of January 5, 2019
Another clever and satisfying puzzle from Goliath. My favourite clues are 14dn (TRESPASSER), 17dn (AWE-STRUCK) and 21dn (TWENTY).
In my original version of this blog, I gave Goliath no credit for 4ac (CLERIHEW). The clue did stand out for me but, while I was not 100% sure, I fancied that it did not read as a proper clerihew. And commenter trenodia has confirmed this. But I have now come to think that it is a splendid clue anyway and probably the best in the puzzle. And please see trenodia’s clerihew in comment #3.
Is there a mini-theme that I missed? Maybe. See comment #5.
| Across | ||
| 1 | MEAGRE | Miserable subsection of loathsome agreement (6) |
| Hidden word | ||
| 4 | CLERIHEW | About rent in arrears, perhaps to one’s ears, a type of clue that’s somewhat new (8) |
| HIRE (rent) backwards (in arrears) in (about) CLEW (homophone of “clue”) with the whole clue serving as a definition by example | ||
| 10 | DIRT CHEAP | This writer would come back with a new chapter for very little money (4,5) |
| ID (this writer would) backwards (come back) + anagram (a new) of CHAPTER | ||
| 11 | TUTTI | Expression of dispproval rejecting it all together (5) |
| TUT (expression of disapproval) + IT (it) backwards (rejecting) | ||
| 12 | IAGO | Evil character of compiler in the past (4) |
| I (compiler) + AGO (in the past). Iago is the evil character in Shakepeare’s Othello. | ||
| 13 | ASTONISHED | Surprised since I dropped weight first (10) |
| AS (since) + TON (weight) + I SHED (I dropped) | ||
| 15 | See 26 | |
| 16 | SEPTAL | Unusual pastel mural (6) |
| Anagram (unusual) of PASTEL. With ‘mural’ in the sense of “relating to the wall of a body cavity”. | ||
| 19 | JETSAM | Set off in traffic to find discarded goods (6) |
| Anagram (off) of SET in (in) JAM (traffic) | ||
| 21 | TORPEDO | Over-rode protective cover for missile (7) |
| Reverse hidden word. | ||
| 23 | DISPATCHES | Dumps containing resort communications (10) |
| SPA (resort) in DITCHES (dumps) | ||
| 25 | See 3 | |
| 27 | INDUS | Try to leave business for the river (5) |
| INDUS[try] (try to leave business) | ||
| 28 | INTRIGUED | Becoming interested during tie break (9) |
| Anagram (break) of DURING TIE | ||
| 29 | GOMORRAH | God’s mortal rage, He half visited on this place (8) |
| GO[ds] MOR[tal] RA[ge] H[e] | ||
| 30 | TICKER | Watch the heart (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | MIDNIGHT | G type of oil burnt by late work (8) |
| Reverse clue: “midnight” could clue ‘G’ | ||
| 2 | ARROGANCE | Pride of farm crop, egg was once set to be shelled (9) |
| [f]AR[m] [c]RO[w] [e]G[g] [w]A[s] [o]NC[e] [s]E[t] | ||
| 3, 25 | ROCK STAR | Famous person helps sailor to go to sleep (4,4) |
| ROCKS TAR (helps sailor go to sleep) | ||
| 5 | LAPTOPS | See friend set up computers (7) |
| SPOT (see) + PAL (friend) all backwards (set up) | ||
| 6 | RETAIL PARK | Where to find goods left in stricken pirate ship (6,4) |
| L (left) in anagram (stricken) of PIRATE + ARK (ship) | ||
| 7 | HITCH | Difficulty with knot (5) |
| Double definition | ||
| 8 | WEIRDO | Freak party under waterfall (6) |
| WEIR (waterfall) + DO (party) | ||
| 9, 20 | DEUS EX MACHINA | Theatrical device showing intercourse at high speed in Auden’s letters (4,2,7) |
| SEX (intercourse) + MACH I (high speed) in anagram (letters) of AUDEN. As a threatical device, a deus ex machina is indicates a person or event which provides a sudden, unexpected solution to a story. | ||
| 14 | TRESPASSER | Right under very old-fashioned Parisian sinner (10) |
| TRES PASSE (very old-fashioned Parisian) + R (right) | ||
| 17 | AWE-STRUCK | Most impressed with report of East End equine transport (3-6) |
| Homophone (report of) ‘ORSE TRUCK (East End equine transport) | ||
| 18 | CORRIDOR | Endless bullfight or passage (8) |
| CORRID[a] (endless bullfight) + OR (or) | ||
| 20 | See 9 | |
| 21 | TWENTY | Score with the previous clue? (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| 22 | IDLING | Setter would fish, being lazy (6) |
| ID (setter would) + LING (fish) | ||
| 24 | SODOM | 29’s partner in bad mood after Howards End (5) |
| [howard]S + anagram (bad) of MOOD | ||
| 26, 15 | JIMI HENDRIX | 3 25 crashed hired Mini into empty jukebox (4,7) |
| Anagram (crashed) of HIRED MINI in (into) J[ukebo]X. The definition refers to 3,25 (ROCK STAR). | ||
Thanks Goliath and Pete
A typically creative puzzle from Goliath. CLERIHEW took ages to see how the actual parsing worked and with the clue in fact being an example of one, it became my favourite one in the puzzle.
DEUS EX MACHINA was the only new term for me and another nicely crafted word play.
Finished in the SW corner with SODOM & GOMORRAH, DISPATCHES and TRESPASSER as the last few in.
(Pete, the hidden clue explanation is missing from the TORPEDO clue)
Thanks Pete. Like brucew I too enjoyed CLERIHEW — for me it’s the clue of the decade, it made me smile so much. It was my FOI. Well done again Goliath
I too thoroughly enjoyed all of this but 4A is not strictly a CLERIHEW. So I thought: What the heck and here goes:
Goliath! / The art that you plyeth / Is one where you always excel — / And so do your colleagues as well.
Many thanks to you both.
Bruce, Thanks for pointing out my missing TORPEDO explanation, now corrected.
Hornbeam, Thanks for commenting. I am thinking now that I did not give Goliath sufficient credit for CLERIHEW. (Although the clue stood out for me, I was hesitant to praise it because, as trenodia notes, I thought it was not quite a proper clerihew.)
trenodia, Many thanks for a proper one!
Thanks, Goliath and Pete.
Think I see a mini theme with JIMI
HENDRIX, ROCK STAR and MIDNIGHT (his song “Burning of the Midnight Lamp”)?
jeff, Thanks for commenting. I think you may be on to something. I do not know enough of Hendrix’s work to have made the association with MIDNIGHT.
Very late as usual and probably only you Pete will see this, but you may be interested to know, if you didn’t already, that Azed used CLERIHEW as his clue-word in the January competition. In his slip he drew the distinction between a clue giving an example of a clerihew and one actually defining one, and criticised the former, although the ones that got VHCs seemed to me to fall foul of this ruling, so one wonders why he approved of them.
http://www.andlit.org.uk/azed/slip_search.php