Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of July 20, 2019
A very typical Goliath puzzle with an unannounced theme and several interesting clues. The theme is Dante Alighieri and features his name in 3,15, his best known work in 1,22 (DIVINE COMEDY) and his beloved in 7dn (BEATRICE). Are there any more Dante-related clues that I missed?
My clue of the week is the impressive &Lit. of 3,15 (DANTE ALIGHIERI). I also like the unconventional 14,21,11,20 (MAKE BOTH ENDS MEET), 26dn (WACKO) and 30ac (ANTONYMS) but feel that 1,17 (DROP-DEAD GORGEOUS) is strangely weak.
| Across | ||
| 1, 17 | DROP-DEAD GORGEOUS | Dressed to kill (4-4,8) |
| I do not know how to classify this clue. I suppose it could be intended as a cryptic definition but it seems much more a straight definition to me. | ||
| 5 | TRIBAL | Initially, Tony Blair’s distortion of the family (6) |
| T[ony] + anagram (distortion) of BLAIR | ||
| 9 | VERANDAH | Porch is where flying raven had returned (8) |
| Anagram (flying) of RAVEN + HAD (had) backwards (returned) | ||
| 10 | IN VAIN | Heard where blood flows to no useful purpose (2,4) |
| Homophone (heard) of “in vein” (where blood flows) | ||
| 12 | NORWEGIAN | Someone from Europe, and not the British, gain ground (9) |
| NOR (and not) + WE (the British) + anagram (ground) of GAIN | ||
| 13 | STRAW | Material defects over (5) |
| WARTS (defects) backwards (over) | ||
| 14, 21 across, 11, 20 | MAKE BOTH ENDS MEET | Manage to bring B and H together (4,4,4,4) |
| BOTH ENDS (B and H) in MAKE MEET (bring together). The expression means to manage to keep one’s expenses within one’s income. | ||
| 16 | STENCIL | Writer initially made way for extremely smart old printer (7) |
| PENCIL (writer) with the ‘P’ (initially) replaced by (made way for) S[mar]T | ||
| 19 | ONANISM | Pleasing oneself by refitting mansion (7) |
| Anagram (by refitting) of MANSION | ||
| 21 | See 14 | |
| 24 | GIRTH | Right about waistline (5) |
| Anagram (about) of RIGHT | ||
| 25 | ELBOW ROOM | Space for tied ribbon jumper found in tree (5,4) |
| BOW (tied ribbon) + ROO (jumper) together in (found in) ELM (tree) | ||
| 27 | OYSTER | Aphrodisiac may be part of a playboy’s territory (6) |
| Hidden word (may be part of) | ||
| 28 | ALL CLEAR | Permission for safe signal with nothing ambiguous (3,5) |
| Triple definition | ||
| 29 | SUNLIT | Small and dark? No (6) |
| S (small) + UNLIT (dark) | ||
| 30 | ANTONYMS | Mark manuscript as good and bad? (8) |
| ANTONY (Mark) + MS (manuscript) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1, 22 | DIVINE COMEDY | Epic climber approach with oddly drip-dry clothing (6,6) |
| VINE (climber) + COME (approach) together in (clothing) D[r]I[p]D[r]Y | ||
| 2 | ORRERY | Cosmic model is at last okay after error corrected (6) |
| Anagram (corrected) of ERROR + [oka]Y | ||
| 3, 15 | DANTE ALIGHIERI | Italian “dirge” he composed? (5,9) |
| Angram (composed) of ITALIAN DIRGE HE and &Lit. Initially I did not recognize Dante’s Divine Comedy as a dirge which meant I was unsure if this clue worked as an &Lit. I have to thank Cantdocrosswords for correcting me. | ||
| 4 | AVARICE | Hot stuff should not get left on top of staple food – that’s greed (7) |
| [l]AVA (hot stuff should not get left) + RICE (staple food) | ||
| 6 | RENASCENT | Born again late Christian tea parties finally included (9) |
| [christia]N [te]A [partie]S in (included) in RECENT (late) | ||
| 7 | BEATRICE | Take a second woman (8) |
| BE A TRICE (take a second) | ||
| 8 | LONE WOLF | One missing from pack? (4,4) |
| Cryptic definition | ||
| 11 | See 14 | |
| 15 | See 3 | |
| 17 | See 1 across | |
| 18 | GARRISON | River banks in Saigon troubled many soldiers (8) |
| R[ive]R in (in) anagram (troubled) of SAIGON | ||
| 20 | See 14 | |
| 21 | BABYLON | Endearment supported by half of London wonder city (7) |
| BABY (endearment) + LON[don] | ||
| 22 | See 1 down | |
| 23 | SMARTS | Pains from smalls (6) |
| S (s…) + MARTS (…malls) | ||
| 26 | WACKO | For starters: wine and cheese, coming up: fine fruitcake (5) |
| W[ine] A[nd] C[heese] + OK (fine) backwards (coming up) | ||
A dirge is a “lament for the dead”
The Divine Comedy is Dante’s homage to Beatrice, who was dead when he wrote it.
So yes it is at least a”dirge” with the quotes
Dante was one of the first and leading Renaissance poets so 6 down hints at that.
Another interesting puzzle.
Thank you both.
Cantdocrosswords, Thank you for commenting. There was a time in my life when I was involved with the Dante Alighieri Society. That was because I was a student of the Italian language, not because of any great interest in or knowledge of the man it was named after. However that part of my history leaves me thinking that I jolly well should know more about him. Anyway, thank you very much for filling in those details about his Divine Comedy. (The Dante Alighieri Society is a society for promoting Italian language and culture around the world.)
Never heard of wacko and not in my dictionary. Interesting crossword. Thanks Pete and goliath
Perhaps I know ‘wacko’ only too well because I have been called one! One of my dictionaries defines it as “a person who is regarded as eccentric”.
The topic brings an amusing story to mind: A dear, late friend of mine had the unusual surname ‘Yacoe’. She once received a piece of mail addressed to “Ms Wacko”!
Wacko Jacko!
(aka Michael Jackson, RIP)
Thanks, Sil. I actually just came back from a walk on which the same thing occurred to me.
Thanks Goliath and Pete
A puzzle done over four very short sessions when I could grab some time during another busy day – and finished in one of the quickest aggregate times that I have achieved for this setter. Thought that the clues for the theme were clever and there early-ish answers were probably one of the reasons for the shorter solving time.
Was amused by the ‘pleasing oneself’ definition and although I’ve seen the Mark Antony trick with 30a before, thought that this one was very well disguised.
The four centre words didn’t resolve until near the end along and BABYLON was last.