Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of June 1, 2019
This puzzle challenged me a bit more than other recent Mudds with most difficulty in the bottom-left quadrant. My favourite clue is 27dn (INCH) and I also applaud 1ac (BOOZER) and 7dn (ABSURD).
| Across | ||
| 1 | BOOZER | Australian in old South African pub (6) |
| OZ (Australian) in (in) BOER (old South African) | ||
| 4 | TOP BRASS | Important people covering items of underwear with jumpers (3,5) |
| BRAS (items of underwear) in (covering) TOPS (jumpers) | ||
| 9 | CUCKOO | Daft bird (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| 10 | I DARE SAY | A year after building raised, probably (1,4,3) |
| Anagram (building) of RAISED + A (a) + Y (year) | ||
| 12 | LOOP | John Paul’s first ring (4) |
| LOO (john) + P[aul] | ||
| 13 | MORAL | Right molar operated on (5) |
| Anagram (operated on) of MOLAR | ||
| 14 | IRON | Element neither you —- recalled? (4) |
| NOR I backwards (recalled) | ||
| 17 | STEAL THE SHOW | Last two, he and she out to attract the most attention (5,3,4) |
| Anagram (out) of LAST TWO HE SHE | ||
| 20 | QUARTERSTAFF | Pole once finding accommodation on river (12) |
| QUARTERS (accommodation) + TAFF (river). The Taff is a river in Wales. | ||
| 23 | MEET | Touch flesh by the ears? (4) |
| Homophone (by the ears) of “meat” (flesh) | ||
| 24 | FIBRE | In sack, black thread (5) |
| B (black) in (in) FIRE (sack) | ||
| 25 | BIRO | Writer in author I bossed around (4) |
| Reverse hidden word | ||
| 28 | UNSTABLE | Rocky somewhere in Bedfordshire, initially lost (8) |
| DUNSTABLE (somewhere in Bedfordshire) with the ‘D’ removed (initially lost) | ||
| 29 | UNFAIR | Not just a run, if jumping (6) |
| Anagram (jumping) of A RUN IF | ||
| 30 | TOMAHAWK | Male, a belligerent killer on reservation? (8) |
| TOM (male) + A (a) + HAWK (belligerent) with a somewhat cryptic definition | ||
| 31 | WHEEZE | Clever trick – gasp! (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | BACKLASH | Graduate chalks off negative comments? (8) |
| BA (graduate) + anagram (off) of CHALKS | ||
| 2 | ONCE-OVER | Brief check when done (4-4) |
| ONCE (when) + OVER (done) | ||
| 3 | EROS | Goddess about right for god (4) |
| R (right) in (about) Eos. Eos is the goddess of the dawn in Greek mythology | ||
| 5 | OLD MAN’S BEARD | Plant growth on dad? (3,4,5) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 6 | BIRD | Time that flies (4) |
| Double definition. With ‘time’ in the sense of ‘doing time’ or ‘doing bird’. | ||
| 7 | ABSURD | Ridiculous putting a bendy bus on road (6) |
| A (a) + anagram (bendy) of BUS + RD (road) | ||
| 8 | SAYING | Gnome always blocking pipe up (6) |
| AY (always) in (blocking) SING (pipe up). A gnome in the sense used here is a short pithy saying expressing a general truth. | ||
| 11 | MOTHERS-IN-LAW | Relatives who aren’t slim, unfortunately (7-2-3) |
| Anagram (unfortunately) of WHO ARENT SLIM | ||
| 15 | FLOUR | White powder line figure secretes (5) |
| L (line) in (secretes) FOUR (figure) | ||
| 16 | COAST | Payment including a float (5) |
| A (a) in (including) COST (payment) | ||
| 18 | BADINAGE | Ribbing rotten, in time (8) |
| BAD (rotten) + IN (in) + AGE (time) | ||
| 19 | OF COURSE | Dynamic forces around Open University, certainly (2,6) |
| OU (Open University) in (around) anagram (dynamic) of FORCES | ||
| 21 | AMOUNT | A racehorse – how much? (6) |
| A (a) + MOUNT (racehorse) | ||
| 22 | JETSAM | In France, I haul up part of ship that’s been thrown overboard (6) |
| JE (in France I) + MAST (part of ship) backwards (haul up) | ||
| 26 | DASH | Pinch zip (4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 27 | INCH | Creep at the altar, perhaps? (4) |
| IN CH (at the altar, perhaps) | ||
Thanks to Mudd and Pete. I struggled here and failed to get WHEEZE and INCH.
Was the difficulty with 31ac (WHEEZE) due to your not knowing the “clever trick” meaning of the word? This is, I believe, a particularly British usage and I emailed with another solver, an American, who had difficulty with it for this reason.
I agree with Pete that this was a more challenging Mudd than usual, although I can’t cavil at anything. Thanks, Pete, and Mudd as usual.
Thanks Mudd and Pete
Also struggled with this, taking nearly half as long again than normal to get it done. Looking back there was nothing particularly difficult that should have made it so, perhaps ti was the long intersecting clues that took a while to work out .
Started easily enough with BACKLASH and BOOZER going in pretty much straightaway. Did like that quirky definition for TOMAHAWK.
Finished in the bottom right quadrant with INCH (smirked when I saw the word play), BADINAGE (which I’m sure that I’ve seen that clueing before in hindsight) and WHEEZE (where I hadn’t come across the ‘clever trick’ definition before) as the last few in.