Prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of January 4, 2020
I finished this in one session and especially enjoyed 11-16 (TONE-DEAF), 14ac (LEONARDO), 24ac (LIMPNESS), 3dn (TOFFEE-NOSED) and 5dn (HYPOCHONDRIASIS).
| Across | ||
| 1, 6 | LEFT HIGH AND DRY | Stranded in port and abstaining, having got intoxicated first (4,4,3,3) |
| LEFT (port) + HIGH (intoxicated) + AND (and) + DRY (abstaining) | ||
| 9 | WAFFLE | For some, breakfast is drivel (6) |
| Double definition. Ah, last week it was porridge for breakfast; now it’s waffle. | ||
| 10 | POLECATS | European tigers may be ferrets (8) |
| POLE (European) + CATS (tigers). Ferrets are domesticated European polecats. | ||
| 11, 16 | TONE-DEAF | Start off hearing nothing, lacking pitch (4-4) |
| [s]TONE-DEAF (start off hearing nothing). Another topless clue! | ||
| 12 | PICCALILLI | Choose a flower, picked up with relish (10) |
| Homophone (picked up) of “pick a lily” | ||
| 14 | LEONARDO | Christmas rejected by roadwork painter (8) |
| NOEL (Christmas) backwards (rejected) + anagram (work) of ROAD | ||
| 16 | See 11 | |
| 18 | See 7 | |
| 19 | DEADLIER | Rickety ladder that’s intrinsically more dangerous (8) |
| Anagram (rickety) of LADDER IE (that’s intrinsically) | ||
| 21 | WUNDERKIND | Child sensation finding Andrew ultimately less than sympathetic (10) |
| [andre]W + UNDER (less than) + KIND (sympathetic) | ||
| 22 | EASE | Badger’s home is said to need this to become a place to sit and relax (4) |
| Homophone (is said) of “Es” (what a SETT needs to become SETTEES) | ||
| 24 | LIMPNESS | Oddly, males with penis trouble (8) |
| Anagram (trouble) of M[a]L[e]S PENIS | ||
| 26 | See 25 | |
| 27, 28 | KNOCKS SPOTS OFF | Beats and leaves complexion clear (6,5,3) |
| Double definition. I solved this easily although I was only barely familiar with the expression ‘to knock spots off’ which apparently means to beat in the sense of do better than. | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | ERATO | Doth bard get up unclothed for inspiration? (5) |
| [d]OT[h] [b]AR[d] [g]E[t] backwards (get up) | ||
| 3 | TOFFEE-NOSED | Aristocrat, extremely effeminate, was meddlesome. What’s he like?! (6-5) |
| TOFF (aristocrat) + E[ffeminat]E + NOSED (was meddlesome) | ||
| 4 | INEXPERT | Clumsy home, now flabby? (8) |
| IN (home) + EX-PERT (now flabby?) | ||
| 5 | HYPOCHONDRIASIS | Why hospital physician’s door gets battered (15) |
| Angram (gets battered) of H PHYSICIANS DOOR | ||
| 6 | AFLOAT | How one might be in a pool? (6) |
| At first, this clue seemed non-cryptic to me and I wondered if Goliath intended it to be a cryptic definition or perhaps a dual definition (with the second definition being A FLOAT). Commenters, who I am sure have a better sense of the terms ‘pool’ and ‘float’ in financial usage than I do, now support the second hypothesis so let’s call it a dual definition. | ||
| 7, 18 | DOCTORS | They treat the first signs of coronary thrombosis indoors (7) |
| C[oronary] T[hrombosis] in DOORS (indoors) | ||
| 8 | RETALIATE | Aggressive tail a terrapin displays when about to strike back (9) |
| Reverse (when about) hidden word (displays) | ||
| 13 | INDULGENCES | Silenced gunshot means to reduce punishment (11) |
| Anagram (SHOT) of SILENCED GUN | ||
| 15 | ELOCUTION | Shocking treatment, but not ECT? Right, in a manner of speaking (9) |
| EL[ectr]OCUTION | ||
| 17 | FANDANGO | Dance enthusiast having one desperate attempt (8) |
| FAN (enthusiast) + DAN (one desperate) + GO (attempt) | ||
| 20 | BRIEFS | Fancy fibres for pants (6) |
| Anagram (fancy) of FIBRES | ||
| 23 | SHELF | Book location of quiet pixie the woman let fly at first (5) |
| SH (quiet) + ELF (pixie) -or- SHE (the woman) + L[et] F[ly] | ||
| 25, 26 | PICNICKED | Did le déjeuner sur l’herbe, for one, get stolen? (9) |
| PIC (le déjeuner sur l’herbe, for one) + NICKED (stolen) | ||
I parsed 6d as the second of your options. I’m not sure “float” and “pool”, in the money senses, are equivalent but I thought they were close enough.
Thanks Goliath and Pete
Hmmm … an error with my PICCADILLO (a spicy dish rather than a relish though) and believe it or not I did find a river (‘flower’) called the Dilo in Gabon !!!! Other than that it was quite an enjoyable solve – a few new terms in that PICCALILLI, HYPOCHONDRIASIS and the Catholic meaning of INDULGENCES. Was interesting to see the clue for LIMPNESS which I used to see more by the Guardian setter Paul.
Went with A FLOAT (as in pool of money) for the second definition at 6d, but it is rather tenuous – would have thought that the kiddie’s float in a pool would’ve been too close in meaning to the AFLOAT term.
Finished with a couple down the bottom – WUNDERKIND and that LIMPNESS and then back up the top to get the tricky wordplay of ERATO.
Thanks to both. I eventually came round to the money side with 6d. My reasoning is that a pool of money is there to be doled out if certain conditions are met and, if you are still meeting those conditions, you are still “afloat” in that pool so have a chance of claiming it.
The rest of the puzzle was a gentle little interlude for one of my sleepless nights.
Thank you for the opinions on 6dn (AFLOAT). I think we have a clear majority if not a consensus satisfied that the clue is a dual definition.
Thanks to both. Favorites included 21a and 24a. Not sure if I’ve ever seen compound words like “roadwork” and “gunshot” where part of the word is an anagram indicator and the other part gives the letters to be used. Very clever — will have to add this to my bag of tricks.
Another terrific offering from Goliath. Within five seconds my brain had spotted FOI 21acWUNDERKIND, and after that there was no let-up. Thanks Goliath and Pete.
I don’t agree with Tony Santucci@5: Not in my opinion very clever and in my opinion the thin end of the wedge. Many setters would not approve of it. Fortunately Goliath seems to be one of the few who use this device.
What happened to Afrit’s injunction ‘you need not mean what you say but you must say what you mean’? If you’re saying ‘gunshot’ you’re not saying ‘gun shot’.