Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of June 29, 2019
My first-in was the easy 1 across and my last the tricky 21 across. Favourites are 17dn (TOTALISER), 1ac (BREAD-AND-BUTTER) and 28ac (ELDER) which cleverly manages to involve the names of three trees.
| Across | ||
| 1 | BREAD-AND-BUTTER | Living standard (5-3-6) |
| Double definition. And, by dint of that, one might say a bread-and-butter clue for Mudd! | ||
| 10 | PANEL | Board bound to flip about pension, ultimately (5) |
| [pensio]N in LEAP (bound) backwards (to flip) | ||
| 11 | UP AND DOWN | Changeable – switch positions? (2-3-4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 12 | TROTTED | Cart finally went off, and moved at a fair pace (7) |
| [car]T + ROTTED (went off) | ||
| 13 | SCRATCH | Cancel score (7) |
| Double definition | ||
| 14 | NEIGH | Beastly sound actually audible (5) |
| Homophone (audible) of “nay” (actually) | ||
| 16 | NITPICKER | One selecting an idiot, perhaps, in critic (9) |
| NIT (an idiot) + PICKER (one selecting) | ||
| 19 | STEADIEST | Most secure, building stateside (9) |
| Anagram (building) of STATESIDE | ||
| 20 | ELDER | Wood cut, knock over cherry tree (5) |
| EL[m] (wood cut) + RED (cherry) backwards (knock over) | ||
| 22 | APPROVE | Sanction range alongside software tool (7) |
| APP (software tool) + ROVE (range) | ||
| 25 | LAGGARD | Haul girl back, one going slowly (7) |
| DRAG (haul) + GAL (girl) all backwards (back) | ||
| 27 | LOWLINESS | Poor quality rum wino sells (9) |
| Anagram (rum) of WINO SELLS | ||
| 28 | RIPEN | Wiser in the end, I turn out mature (5) |
| [wise]R + I (I) + PEN (turn out). I am assuming that ‘turn out’ clues PEN in the sense of ‘to produce a literary work’. | ||
| 29 | WORCESTERSHIRE | Choristers were assembled where triennial choir festival staged? (14) |
| Anagram (assembled) of CHORISTERS WERE. I have googled “Worcestershire” and “triennial choir festival” and found confusing information. Maybe Mudd knows better or maybe he got it not quite right? | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | RANDOMISE | Mix up compound and isomer (9) |
| Anagram (compound) of AND ISOMER | ||
| 3 | ALLOT | Hand out bags to the audience? (5) |
| Homophone (to the audience) of A LOT (bags) | ||
| 4 | ABUNDANCE | Something of Chelsea observed during a trip – wealth! (9) |
| BUN (something of Chelsea) in (observed during) A DANCE (a trip). I was well aware of the existence of a bun called a Chelsea Bun but could not have described the sweetmeat. Wikipedia tells me that, “The Chelsea bun is a type of currant bun that was first created in the 18th century at the Bun House in Chelsea, an establishment favoured by Hanoverian royalty, which was demolished in 1839.” | ||
| 5 | DRAWS | Going uphill, lawn proves alluring (5) |
| SWARD (lawn) backwards (going uphill) | ||
| 6 | UNDERMINE | Badly ruined, men weaken (9) |
| Anagram (badly) of RUINED MEN | ||
| 7 | TROUT | Fish in bottom of net, thrashing (5) |
| [ne]T + ROUT (thrashing) | ||
| 8 | RANCHER | US farmer made swift progress, he being in credit (7) |
| RAN (made swift progress) + HE (he) in (being in) CR (credit) | ||
| 9 | SPOT ON | Server keeping time precisely (4,2) |
| T (time) in SPOON (server) | ||
| 15 | HYDROXIDE | When heard, secrete diamonds observed in compound (9) |
| Homophone (when heard) of “hide rocks eyed” (secrete diamonds observed) | ||
| 17 | TOTALISER | Child is real tricky, you can bet on it! (9) |
| TOT (child) + anagram (tricky) of IS REAL | ||
| 18 | KIDNAPPER | Criminal joke, one having a lie down? (9) |
| KID (joke) + NAPPER (one having a lie down) | ||
| 19 | SWALLOW | Down – that’s feathered (7) |
| Double definition | ||
| 21 | RIDING | Secured by band, papers being carried (6) |
| ID (papers) in (secured by) RING (band) | ||
| 23 | POWER | Authority in parliament often weak, evidently rubbish leaders (5) |
| P[arliament] O[ften] W[eak] E[vidently] R[ubbish] | ||
| 24 | EVENT | Something going on still, heading for trouble (5) |
| EVEN (still) + T[rouble] | ||
| 26 | GIRTH | Measure right round (5) |
| Anagram (round) of RIGHT | ||
Thanks to Pete and Mudd
I have some connection with Worcestershire and know of that festival though I’ve not managed to attend yet. It’s an annual event but, being shared between Worcester, Hereford and Gloucester, it could tenuously be described aa Triennial with regards to Worcester. Hence the? I suppose.
21d I think the def should really be BEING CARRIED BY, or ON
24d I think the def includes ON
29a. The Three Choirs Festival is a well-known musical event (although sadly I have not been). When I solved the clue I reckoned it to be a rare lapsus calami by Mudd.
Thank you Mudd and Pete
trenodia, Thank you for bringing lapsus calami to my attention. I had not been aware of the expression.
Dansar, Thank you for the correction for 24d, now made.
Thanks Mudd and Pete
Struggled to get started on this one, but once I had a foothold the puzzle submitted quite gently thereafter. Not any unusual words and only a little bit of local knowledge required to properly understand the context of WORCESTERSHIRE with the Three Choirs Festival.
Finished in the SW corner with APPROVE (which took a while to click, always look at the punishment view of ‘sanction’ first rather that the ‘approval’ one), that WORCESTERSHIRE (didn’t know of the particular festival, worked out the answer from the anagram and then had to check for the festival) and HYDROXIDE (which I thought was an excellent homophonic clue which made me smile !)