Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of September 21, 2019
Juicy clues: 4ac (UNSHAVED), 23ac (LIBIDINOUS), 27ac (TINGE). Clues with beautiful surfaces: 21ac (SURGERY), 9dn (LET RIP), 24dn (BONCE). Clues with clever definitions: 1dn (QUISLING), 3dn (SANE), 6dn (HEREDITARY), 20dn (SUNBURN). Clues with clever or unusual wordplay: 1ac (QUINSY), 30ac (CLIENT), 21dn (STURDY). I worship at your feet, Rosa.
| Across | ||
| 1 | QUINSY | Five arriving at once with unknown illness (6) |
| QUINS (five arriving at once!!!!!) + Y (unknown). I knew this word but could not have described the illness. One dictionary says, “A painful pus-filled inflammation of the tonsils and surrounding tissues”. | ||
| 4 | UNSHAVED | Hairy nuns have denied embracing (8) |
| Hidden word | ||
| 10 | ISLANDERS | Lesbians perhaps cooking large sardines (9) |
| Anagram (cooking) of L SARDINES with the definition referring to the people of the Greek island of Lesbos. | ||
| 11 | RADIO | Short farewell east of river channel (5) |
| R (river) + ADIO[s] (short farewell) | ||
| 12 | LAME | Feeble American wearing lingerie inside out (4) |
| AM (American) in (wearing) L[ingeri]E | ||
| 13 | PREJUDICES | Harms judge during vigorous pedicures (10) |
| J (judge) in (during) anagram (vigorous) of PEDICURES | ||
| 15 | NON-SLIP | Indefinite number working, knocking back beer and offering resistance (3-4) |
| N (indefinite number) + ON (working) + PILS (beer) backwards (knocking back) | ||
| 16 | BOTTOM | Buttocks burgeon over time, ultimately vast (6) |
| T (time) + [vas]T together in (over) BOOM (burgeon) | ||
| 19 | EDICTS | 7 losing case seconds after court orders (6) |
| [v]EDI[c] (7 losing case, referring to 7 down) + CT (court) + S (seconds) | ||
| 21 | SURGERY | Senior nurses strongly advise ending of unnecessary operations (7) |
| URGE (strongly advise) in (nurses) SR (senior) + [unnecessar]Y | ||
| 23 | LIBIDINOUS | Lustful librarian promises to muffle noise (10) |
| LIB (librarian) + DIN (noise) in (to muffle) IOUS (promises) | ||
| 25 | ODDS | Likelihood of dodos appearing regularly? (4) |
| O[f] D[o]D[o]S | ||
| 27 | TINGE | Touch can dissolve innards of Geraldine (5) |
| TIN (can) + G[eraldin]E | ||
| 28 | UNDERLING | Most enduringly silly minion (9) |
| Anagram (silly) of ENDURINGL[y] | ||
| 29 | OBEISANT | Born in Estonia, struggling to be deferential (8) |
| B (born) in anagram (struggling) of ESTONIA | ||
| 30 | CLIENT | About to produce storybooks for customer (6) |
| C (about) + LIE (to produce story) + NT (books) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | QUISLING | Abruptly abandon shy Norway rat (8) |
| QUI[t] (abruptly abandon) + SLING (shy). A quisling is a traitor, the term deriving from a particular traitor, Vidkun Quisling, who happened to be Norwegian. A clever twist in the clue is that the common brown rat (Rattus norvegicus) is also known as the Norwegian Rat. | ||
| 2 | ILL-OMENED | Unfortunate old men lie drunk (3-6) |
| Anagram (drunk) of OLD MEN LIE | ||
| 3 | SANE | All there is can be invisible at first (4) |
| [i]S [c]AN [b]E | ||
| 5 | NOSEJOB | Amendment to feature Biden’s 24, according to Spooner (4,3) |
| Spoonerism of “Joe’s knob” (Biden’s 24, i.e. bonce) | ||
| 6 | HEREDITARY | Passed on woman’s European journal about this, but not man’s (10) |
| HER (woman’s) + E (European) + T[his] in DIARY (journal) | ||
| 7 | VEDIC | Old Sanskrit section of comparative dictionary (5) |
| Hidden word | ||
| 8 | DROWSY | Tired arguments in outskirts of Derby (6) |
| ROWS (arguments) in D[erb]Y | ||
| 9 | LET RIP | The French on holiday don’t hold back! (3,3) |
| LE (the French) + TRIP (holiday) | ||
| 14 | PLACIDNESS | Working class pined for tranquillity (10) |
| Anagram (working) of CLASS PINED | ||
| 17 | OVERDRIVE | Trim plain tripe in state of heightened activity (9) |
| OVER[t] (trim plain) + DRIVE[l] (trim tripe) | ||
| 18 | EYESIGHT | I agree to stop 8 in faculty (8) |
| YES (I agree) in (to stop) EIGHT (8) | ||
| 20 | SUNBURN | Hide damage from boy, reportedly smart (7) |
| Homophone (reportedly) of “son burn” (boy, smart) with a cryptic definition | ||
| 21 | STURDY | Tough 24 hours without answers (6) |
| S[a]TURD[a]Y | ||
| 22 | BLOTTO | Brahms and Liszt left in 16 briefly (6) |
| L (left) in BOTTO[m] (16 briefly, i.e. 16 across). “Brahms and Liszt” is Cockney rhyming slang for pissed. | ||
| 24 | BONCE | Nut formerly supporting bishop (5) |
| B (bishop) + ONCE (formerly) | ||
| 26 | ORAL | Ignoring the 25, not really vocal (4) |
| [n]O[t] R[e]A[l]L[y] with ’25’ referring to 25ac (ODDS) | ||
Thanks to Pete and Rosa
I’ve been waiting to comment on this one. It is a masterclass.
It’s difficult to single out any clue, but I particularly enjoyed 3d, simple but brilliant.
Really Rosa? “Brahms and Liszt” again? Cluing slang with cant – again?
Does anybody say “Brahms and Liszt”? Maybe Eliza Doolittle’s old man – but spare a thought for the young folks.
Simply brilliant.
Strangely, just a few days before doing this, my mother informed me that a neighbour had gone into hospital with quinsy. Never heard of it before then.
3d was a nicely hidden definition, 17d took a bit of working out, as did 1d and 4a was a beautiful example of a hidden word.
Thanks Rosa and Pete.
Thanks for the blog, Pete, including the excellent summary / review of the clues in your preamble. [I know you don’t always catch Guardian Arachne puzzles but there was a real gem yesterday, https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/27941, to which comment 2 refers. If you’re tired of Rosa, Peter Mork, you must be tired of life.]
Many thanks, as ever, Rosa, for a super puzzle.
Excellent.
Everything went in slowly but SANE refused to yield until it suddenly fell into place when I returned to look at the puzzle after a week.
I especially liked the ‘Lesbians perhaps’ and clever ‘Norway rat’ definitions but best of all was the great surface for LIBIDINOUS which brought a big smile. A classic which has already gone into my ‘Top cryptic clues’ file.
To Pete and Rosa Klebb
Thanks to both for the entertainment and explanations. I started this at 3 am on a non-sleep night but could not get the NW corner to work. That eventually happened when I was more 3D and less 8D. Enjoyable as ever though and I should note that I also had not heard of the disease.
Thanks to Rosa ad Pete. I always struggle with Cockney rhyming slang (so BLOTTO took a while) and had to look up QUINSY, but, as expected, this puzzle was a delight.
I’ll join Pete in his worship, the spider lady weaves another intricate web.Thank goodness 7d was a hidden – new one for me and it took quite some time before the light dawned over 3d which then became my clue of the day. Many thanks to Rosa for the challenge and to Pete for the impeccable review.
Thanks Rosa Klebb and Pete
One is never disappointed with a puzzle from this lady, and although this one didn’t take too long to complete, it was all pleasure. Even repeated devices such as in 25a, 3d and 26d are covered with a slightly different instruction to get the letters and all have the silky smooth surface reading that she is renowned for.
The gentleman of 1d had come up in a recent Polymath, so he was well remembered.
Finished in the NW corner with that tricky SANE (which also became my clue of the day when the penny dropped) and LAME (simple in hindsight but took a long time to see the other way around) the last couple in.
Re comment @2 and rhyming slang – nobody properly using this form of expression has ever said “Brahms and Liszt”. The whole point is to use only the first element of the rhyme. I assume that the setter uses the whole because “Brahms”, unlike “china”, “barnet”, “syrup”, and a few others is not listed in dictionaries in it’s own right.
Very happy with this crossword, but surely 15a should read ‘offering no resistance’, since that’s the point of being non-slip.
My understanding is that “offering resistance” is appropriate. A non-slip finish on, say, the bottom of a bath tub would do its job by supplying frictive resistance to the feet.