Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of October 5, 2019
Ah, the second Rosa in three weeks! My records tell me this has happened only once before.
I was not in good form over the weekend and found three clues (14, 27 and 29) very challenging, so much so that I sought some assistance. My favourite clue is the delightful and topical 1ac (BIRDSONG) and I also especially like 19ac (PLUMMET) and 15dn (WOMANISER).
| Across | ||
| 1 | BIRDSONG | Tweets boring rubbish about vacuous dimwits (8) |
| D[imwit]S in (about) anagram (rubbish) of BORING | ||
| 5 | SMACKS | Savours hearty kisses (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| 9 | ALTRUISM | Being kind of aluminium bromide (8) |
| AL (aluminium) + TRUISM (bromide) | ||
| 10 | INTERN | Trainee painter needs covers (6) |
| Hidden word | ||
| 12 | SAN MARINO | Unruly, as in Roman Republic (3,6) |
| Anagram (unruly) of AS IN ROMAN | ||
| 13 | ROOKS | Men on board ketch originally wearing jumpers (5) |
| K[etch] in (wearing) ROOS (jumpers) | ||
| 14 | SWAY | Cycling means power! (4) |
| Cyclic shift (cycling) of WAYS (means). I missed the wordplay here and thank Sil for explaining it (see comment below). | ||
| 16 | SCUTTLE | Small mollusc in sink (7) |
| S (small) + CUTTLE (mollusc, as in cuttlefish) | ||
| 19 | PLUMMET | Drop crumbs into empty pocket (7) |
| LUMME (crumbs) in (into) P[ocke]T | ||
| 21 | MYTH | One’s extremely Trumpish misconception (4) |
| MY (one’s) + T[rumpis]H | ||
| 24 | IOWAN | Midwestern clan half-cut on island (5) |
| IOW (island, that is the Isle Of Wight) + [cl]AN | ||
| 25 | ERSTWHILE | Old version of Welsh rite (9) |
| Anagram (version of) WELSH RITE | ||
| 27 | THRASH | Personnel cutting hair for party (6) |
| HR (personnel, that is Human Resources) in TASH (hair). ‘Tash’ is short for moustache. I was totally unaware of this meaning of ‘thrash’ (as a lavish or unrestrained party) and I had difficulty remembering ‘tash’. | ||
| 28 | PARVENUS | Upstarts criticise retired neighbour of ours (8) |
| RAP (criticise) backwards (retired) + VENUS (neighbour of ours) | ||
| 29 | ROSTRA | Counter or bar finally introduced into station platforms (6) |
| RO (counter or) + [ba]R + STA (station). I found this clue difficult and took some assistance to get the meaning of “counter or”. | ||
| 30 | NEURITIS | Nervous condition of new German and British clearing banks (8) |
| NEU (new German) + [b]RITIS[h] (British clearning banks) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | BRASSY | Loud British idiot, playboy at heart (6) |
| BR (British) + ASS (idiot) + [pla]Y[boy] | ||
| 2 | RATING | Sailor from Tangier dropping E and running amok (6) |
| Anagram (running amok) of TANGI[e]R | ||
| 3 | SOUSA | March man and son round America (5) |
| S (son) + O (round) + USA (America) | ||
| 4 | NASTILY | Stalin treated Yankee in a horrible way (7) |
| Anagram (treated) of STALIN + Y (yankee) | ||
| 6 | MINOR SUIT | Youngsters oddly shunning nudist clubs? (5,4) |
| MINORS (youngsters) + [n]U[d]I[s]T | ||
| 7 | CHEROOTS | Fidel’s compadre rummages for cigars (8) |
| CHE (Fidel’s compadre) + ROOTS (rummages) | ||
| 8 | SINISTER | Part of Wisconsin is terribly menacing (8) |
| Hidden word | ||
| 11 | DOSS | Refuse to forgo right to be lazy (4) |
| D[r]OSS (refuse to forgo right). Doss as a verb can mean to slack off as well as to sleep rough. | ||
| 15 | WOMANISER | Wise man, or dissolute seducer? (9) |
| Anagram (dissolute) of WISE MAN OR | ||
| 17 | SPRINTER | Bolt perhaps finally secures peripheral device (8) |
| [secure]S + PRINTER (peripheral device) with the definition referring to Usain Bolt | ||
| 18 | BULWARKS | Outlaws regularly protected by ship’s defences (8) |
| [o]U[t]L[a]W[s] in (protected by) BARKS (ships) | ||
| 20 | TIER | Row about sex, getting upset (4) |
| RE (about) + IT (sex) all backwards (getting upset) | ||
| 21 | MISTAKE | Howler monkey is initially pale (7) |
| M[onkey] I[s] + STAKE (pale) | ||
| 22 | SIGNET | Ring number up after brief expression of weariness (6) |
| SIG[h] (brief expression of weariness) + TEN (number) backwards (up) | ||
| 23 | TENSES | Contracts past and present? (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| 26 | WAVER | Hesitate over shedding clothes during struggle (5) |
| [o]VE[r] in (during) WAR (struggle) | ||
Thank you, Pete (& Rosa Klebb, ofcourse).
In 14ac ‘cycling’ is a device telling you that you should rotate the letters of a word in one direction. SWAY can be the result of ‘cycling’ WAYS (means).
And, indeed, in 29ac ‘counter or’ tells you to flip ‘or’ to get RO.
Good crossword (again).
Great surfaces.
Sil, thank you very much for explaining 14ac.
Thanks for the blog, Pete.
What copmus said, re surfaces – but I can’t remember there ever being a dud one from Rosa. I had the same three favourites as Pete but my top one was PLUMMET, which I thought was just perfect.
Huge thanks, as ever, to Rosa for another lovely puzzle.
Never heard of sousa? Didn’t know Tash meaning hair and 29a never got. Thanks Pete and Rosa. Too difficult for me to finish, but enjoyed trying.
Thanks Rosa Klebb and Pete
This puzzle had a bit of everything – her trademark excellent surfaces, quite a bit of new learning for me and a great mix of clue devices to have to unravel. Took a couple of sessions with a day or two in between to eventually get this one out – one of the hardest Rosa puzzles for quite a while.
Ended up only missing on the parsing of SWAY, so was happy enough to get it completed. BIRDSONG was my favourite as well !
Finished in the SW corner with THRASH (knew the music, didn’t know the party), that SWAY (held up more about not understanding why) and ROSTRA (that stayed empty by itself for quite some time until the penny dropped and was eventually able to work through the wordplay). Great entertainment !
Karen, I had come across ‘tache but, like you, did not know tash. (I don’t much like either!)
Bruce, I am glad to know that I was not the only one who missed the parsing of SWAY.