Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of March 6, 2019
This puzzle was a slow solve for me but has plenty of impressive clues. My favourites are 14ac (HIDDEN AGENDA), 25ac (LATRINE) and 4dn (AUF WIEDERSEHEN).
| Across | ||
| 1 | BINOMIAL | Trash old sorted mail with two names (8) |
| BIN (trash) + O (old) + anagram (sorted) of MAIL. I am much more familiar with ‘binomial’ in its mathematical sense but it seems obvious that it should also mean “with two names”. | ||
| 5 | TOSS-UP | It helps you pick something to drink after close of business (4- 2) |
| TO (to) + [busines]S + SUP (drink) | ||
| 10 | EASE OFF | Stand briefly by side of cricket pitch to relax (4,3) |
| EASE[l] (stand briefly) + OFF (side of cricket pitch) | ||
| 11 | INCLINE | List clubs cutting latest brand (7) |
| C (clubs) in (cutting) IN (latest) LINE (brand) | ||
| 12 | SALES | In which small beers are discounted? (5) |
| S (small) + ALES (beers) | ||
| 13 | INSURABLE | You are wearing cool fur that could be covered (9) |
| UR (you are) in (wearing) IN (cool) SABLE (fur) | ||
| 14 | HIDDEN AGENDA | Undisclosed reason Dad had engine fixed? (6,6) |
| Anagram (fixed) of DAD HAD ENGINE | ||
| 18 | ENTREPRENEUR | English theatres respecting north regret backing impresario (12) |
| E (English) + NT REP (theatres) + RE (respecting) + N (north) + RUE (regret) backwards (backing). NT being the National Theatre and REP short for repertory as a class of theatre. | ||
| 21 | SEMIBREVE | Small music company (British) always returns note (9) |
| S (small) + EMI (music company) + B (British) + EVER (always) backwards (returns) | ||
| 23 | EVICT | Throw out six in European court (5) |
| VI (six) in ECT (European court, i.e. Employment Claims Tribunals) | ||
| 24 | APOSTLE | Advocate job in drink (7) |
| POST (job) in (in) ALE (drink) | ||
| 25 | LATRINE | After training, I learnt where to go in the army (7) |
| Anagram (after training) of I LEARNT | ||
| 26 | PEBBLE | Footballer collects books, one of many on beach (6) |
| BB (books) in (collects) PELE (footballer) | ||
| 27 | USURIOUS | FT female quits, enraged, attracting huge interest (8) |
| US (FT) + [f]URIOUS (female quits enraged) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | BREAST | Milk supplier runs into pig (6) |
| R (runs) in (into) BEAST (pig) | ||
| 2 | NESTLE | Wife about to leave NE city to settle down (6) |
| NE[w] [ca]STLE | ||
| 3 | MOONSHINE | Do well following month on the hard stuff (9) |
| MO (month) + ON (on) + SHINE (do well) | ||
| 4 | AUF WIEDERSEHEN | He weds eine Frau illegally, leaving her with this? (3,11) |
| Anagram (illegally) of HE WEDS EINE FRAU | ||
| 6 | OCCUR | Company climbing with dog come to pass (5) |
| CO (company) backwards (climbing) + CUR (dog) | ||
| 7 | SHINBONE | Quiet popular bishop, one that supports member (8) |
| SH (quiet) + IN (popular) + B (bishop) + ONE (one) | ||
| 8 | PLEBEIAN | Enable pi to be computed but not refined (8) |
| Anagram (to be computed) of ENABLE PI | ||
| 9 | PINS AND NEEDLES | Evergreens lose energy with their leaves prickling (4,3,7) |
| PIN[e]S (evergreens lose energy) + AND (with) + NEEDLES (their leaves) | ||
| 15 | GAULEITER | German governor regularly duelled during spat (9) |
| [d]U[e]L[l]E[d] in (during) GAITER (spat). Gauleiter is a new word to me. It refers to a political official governing a district under Nazi rule. | ||
| 16 | JEWS HARP | People play this in Israeli flat? On the contrary (4,4) |
| JEW (Israeli) + SHARP (flat, on the contrary) | ||
| 17 | ATOM BOMB | Big weapon old doctor stored in a vault (4,4) |
| O (old) + MB (doctor) in (stored in) A TOMB (a vault) | ||
| 19 | LIBIDO | Drive and look around in the same place (6) |
| IBID (in the same place, short for ibidem) in (around) LO (look) | ||
| 20 | STRESS | Emphasise English MPs should avoid sewer (6) |
| SEMPSTRESS (sewer) with EMPS (English MPs) removed. ‘Sempstress’, a new word to me, means someone who sews dresses (same as a seamstress). | ||
| 22 | BETEL | Narcotic leaf insect picked up (5) |
| Homophone (picked up) of “beetle” (insect) | ||
Ahe said in Jazz Club….”nice”
22d – surely the definition is “Narcotic leaf”, not just “narcotic”, which would avoid any need for incorrect nomenclature.
On another biological note, BINOMIAL in the non-mathematical sense most commonly relates to the genus+species scientific names of organisms in the Linnaean taxonomy, e.g. Homo sapiens, Tyrannosaurus rex.
27a – a usurious loan might be said to “attract high interest”.
Andrew, Thank you for the correction on 22d. I was confused between betel nuts and betel leaves. And thank you also for the confirmation on 27a.
Thanks to Pete and Redshank
I hadn’t heard of GAULEITER either, and I also assumed (never having heard the word actually used), that BETEL was pronounce BET/EL. So that’s two things I’ve learnt.
I enjoyed this but I am not happy with 16d. I am not PC – I object merely on grounds of meaning.
A Jew may well not be an Israeli (most aren’t), and an Israeli is certainly not necessarily a Jew.
I note the ? but I don’t think that covers it.
Thanks Redshank & Pete.
Dansar @ 4 — In 16 down the question mark relates only to flat so that On the contrary implies sharp, so certainly does not cover your objection. But one could make a similar comment about 2 down: Newcastle is not the only city in NE England and there are other Newcastles elsewhere.
Thanks Redshank and Pete
Did this one last weekend and enjoyed it a lot even though it wasn’t as testing as this setter can be. I’d add ENTREPRENEUR (for the clever integration of the theatres into the clue) and NESTLE (for the clever de-construction to arrive at the answer) to those already mentioned as very good clues.
Finished in the SE corner with LIBIDO, GAULEITER (which I had not heard of before either) and LATRINE (although obvious from the anagram fodder, took a while to decipher why – that use of ‘go’ can occasionally trip one up)
So we know two things now — at any rate according to Redshank: ‘UR’ is acceptable as an abbreviation for ‘you are’ and the textspeak doesn’t need to be highlighted; and it is quite OK to have a definition by example, as in 1dn (all pigs are beasts, but not all beasts are pigs). If you can accept that then the rest of it was very good.
I don’t agree with psmith that ‘one could make a similar comment about 2 down: Newcastle is not the only city in NE England and there are other Newcastles elsewhere’. It’s not a similar comment: if one says ‘Israeli’ as a definition of ‘Jew’ it’s not the same thing as saying ‘NE city’ as a definition of ‘Newcastle’. In the first case you’re saying two words are identical in meaning; in the second you’re saying a class contains examples.
Wil, I do not see 1dn as you do. A nasty, cruel person could be referred to as either a pig or a beast.
Sorry to be dense, but why does FT = US?
In this case, ‘us’ refers to the party responsible for the crossword — that is the Financial Times — and that is commonly referred to by its initials. This is a good one to keep in mind; it comes up frequently.