An excellent puzzle from Redshank in this morning’s FT.
This was a really good crossword, in my opinion, with a good range of devices and just about the right kind of difficulty for a Thursday. I did have a couple of minor quibbles – the “foot”) in 12 ac works better in a down clue, and a TABLET and a CAPSULE are two different things (5dn), but those aside, I really enjoyed solving (and blogging) this.
Thanks, Redshank
| Across | ||
| 1 | KENNEL | Boat brings in news where setter lives (6) |
| KEEL (“boat”) brings in N N (new twice, so “news”) | ||
| 4 | STOPPAGE | Work quietly during theatre strike (8) |
| OP (“work”) P (quietly) during STAGE (“theatre”) | ||
| 9 | ENTICE | Some apprenticeships are attractive (6) |
| Hidden in “apprENTICEships” | ||
| 10 | AMNESIAC | He can’t remember odd names, even bits of finance (8) |
| *(names) + [even bits of] (f)I(n)A(n)C(e) | ||
| 12 | HATE | Bowler maybe with athlete’s foot can’t stand (4) |
| HAT (“bowler, maybe”) with (athlet)E [‘s foot] | ||
| 13 | NONCHALANT | No time to absorb new chapter bloke composed (10) |
| NO T (time) to absorb N (new) CH (chapter) ALAN (“bloke”) | ||
| 15 | GLOCKENSPIEL | Music-maker’s sleeping rough, eating jam (12) |
| *(sleeping) eating LOCK (“jam”) | ||
| 18 | INSALUBRIOUS | Hot with it, 101 leave lewd and unhealthy (12) |
| IN (“hot”) + SA (sex appeal, so “it”) + LUBRI(ci)OUS (“lewd”, with CI (“101”) leaving) | ||
| 21 | AUCTIONEER | He sells gold coins, primarily one kept in bank (10) |
| Au (“gold”) + C(oins) [primarily] + ONE kept in TIER (“bank”) | ||
| 22 | GALA | Noblest knight had ignored banquet (4) |
| GALA(had) (“noblest knight”) with HAD ignored | ||
| 24 | SPIRITED | Vivace observed to include ritardando (8) |
| SPIED (“observed”) to include RIT (ritardando) | ||
| 25 | MUESLI | Fine cloth mostly protects English breakfast (6) |
| MUSLI(n) (“fine cloth”, mostly) protects E (English) | ||
| 26 | RENEGADE | Outlaw’s oath stopping Frenchman (8) |
| EGAD (“oath”) stopping RENE (“Frenchman”) | ||
| 27 | PASSIM | “Skip a page” returning throughout text (6) |
| <=MISS A P (page) where MISS = “skip” | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | KNEE-HIGH | Short cavalier grips flanks of elite horse in such boots? (4-4) |
| KNIGH(t) (short “cavalier”) grips [flanks of] E(lit)E H (horse) | ||
| 2 | NOTATION | Thought about volunteers once filling in score . . . . (8) |
| NOTION (“thought”) about TA (Territorial Army, so “volunteers once”) filling in | ||
| 3 | ETCH | . . . . score that features in cricket charts (4) |
| HIdden in [features in] “crickET CHarts” | ||
| 5 | TIME CAPSULES | Tablet’s among sundry items in buried containers (4,8) |
| CAPSULE (“tablet”) among *(times) Capsule and tablet are not synonymous, though? | ||
| 6 | PIED-A-TERRE | In Paris, Peter’s guarding girlfriend’s flat (4-1-5) |
| PIERRE (“in Paris, Peter”) guarding DATE (“girlfriend”) | ||
| 7 | ANIMAL | Creature writer’s getting fixated about (6) |
| I’M (“writer’s”) getting ANAL (“fixated”) about | ||
| 8 | EXCITE | Provoke European to pursue Charlie during leave (6) |
| E (European) to pursue C (Charlie) during EXIT (“leave”) | ||
| 11 | FOUNTAINHEAD | Type in front skirts cool spring (12) |
| FOUNT (“type”) + AHEAD (“in front”) skirts IN (“cool”) | ||
| 14 | SKIN-DIVING | Avoiding work around home, departs for water sport (4-6) |
| SKIVING (“avoiding work”) around IN (“home”) + D (departs) | ||
| 16 | MOLASSES | Sticky stuff trapping a vessel between piers (8) |
| A SS (steamship, so “vessel”) between MOLES (“piers”) | ||
| 17 | ESCAPISM | Timeless camp sites abroad offering this? (8) |
| *(camp sies) where SIES is SI(t)ES without T (time) | ||
| 19 | HAWSER | Thick tie was frayed in woman’s embrace (6) |
| *(was) in HER (“woman’s) embrace | ||
| 20 | ACTION | Begin filming current heavyweight without one (6) |
| AC (alternating “current”) + TON (“heavyweight”) without I | ||
| 23 | DUMA | French novelist doesn’t finish diet in Russia (4) |
| (Alexandre) DUMA(s) (“French novelist” doesn’t finish)
A duma was an elected council in Russia |
||
*anagram
Thanks for the blog, loonapick – I agree with you on ‘excellent puzzle’.
I see what you mean about athlete’s foot but it’s a lovely clue. Other favourites were GLOCKENSPIEL [‘sleeping rough’], PIED-A TERRE and SKIN-DIVING – but it was all good.
Most enjoyable – many thanks, Redshank.
What Eileen said
Thanks to Redshank and loonapick
Yes, very enjoyable, much more so than the cricket on the TV I was (and still am) watching at the same time! I liked the ‘Vivace’ clue, GLOCKENSPIEL and INSALUBRIOUS.
As a bonus, I’ve finally learnt what PASSIM means – amazing what you can ignore if you set your mind to it – and that FOUNT and ‘font’ are alternative spellings of the same word.
Thanks to Redshank and to loonapick
It was a good puzzle. I didn’t get Fountainhead despite all the crossers! I’m still in the foothills of crossword solving. Why is “entice” the same as “ are attractive” in 9d.
A bit of a challenge for me and that’s a good thing — so many clues could have had so many meanings that my solve time was quite slow. I never did get HAWSER, partly because that’s a new word to me. It took awhile to get KENNEL, not knowing that KEEL is actually a boat in Britain, not just part of one; also, I was thinking of “setter” as Redshank, not a breed of dog! Thanks for a good puzzle.
Thanks to Redshank and loonapick. I agree – very enjoyable. I handled most of the clues on my first go but had to come back later in the day to figure out MOLASSES, FOUNTAINHEAD, and INSALUBRIOUS.
Thanks Redshank & loonapick.
IN seems to be a versatile word, meaning hot (18 across) or cool (11 down) as well as home (14 down).
‘Begin filming’ is not a definition of ‘action’. “Roll camera” means begin filming. “Action” means begin acting.
Thanks Redshank and loonapick
Meaty puzzle that took a few sittings to get out with some pretty tricky word play to work through to get many of the clues. A couple of new terms with ‘vivace’ in 24a and LUBRICIOUS in 18a and didn’t naturally equate RENEGADE to ‘outlaw’ at first in 26a.
Liked SKIN DIVING and PIED A TERRE.
Finished in the SE corner with MUESLI, DUMA and PASSIM the last few in.