Today’s FT puzzle is brought to us courtesy of Jason.
I ran through this in fairly quick time, with all bar two answers in place in a couple of run-throughs. My atheism was an issue as I have never heard of a HYSSOP, so that and BRANDYSNAP (because I could not see the parsing) held me up for a bit.
Overall, this was an excellent puzzle with some clever diversions and unusual indications, but I do have a couple of clues I am unsure about, and these may just be down to my ignorance.
13dn – CHOLESTEROL – not sure what the definition is here. If it’s “fat”, then why have “what shifts” in the clue? As far as I am aware, cholesterol doesn’t shift fat?
5dn – are ROCKET SCIENTISTs high fliers? Most rocket scientists work on the ground, as far as I am aware. Or is Jason referring to the science and engineering background that some astronauts have?
Neither of these detracted from my enjoyment of the puzzle – and as I say, may be irrelevant queries.
Thanks, Jason.
| Across | ||
| 1 | CONSIDER | Chew over Cook’s opening with eleven runs (8) |
| C(ook’s) [opening] + ON (“with”, as in “beans on toast”) + SIDE (“eleven” as in a cricket eleven) + R (runs, in cricket) | ||
| 6 | SPRAIN | Country accepted Republican twist? (6) |
| SPAIN (“country”) accepting R (Republican) | ||
| 9 | WELL UP | Being knowledgeable become teary (4,2) |
| Double definition | ||
| 10 | CHARMING | Delightful tea with the best china? (8) |
| CHAR (“tea”) + MING (“china” vase) | ||
| 11 | EASY | A piece of cake is, perhaps, buttery but not gross (4) |
| (gr)EASY (“buttery”, but not Gr. (gross)) | ||
| 12 | TREBLE CLEF | More than double more or less divided the sign of high scorers? (6,4) |
| TREBLE (“more than double”) + CLEF(t) (“divided” more or less) | ||
| 14 | ESSENCES | Sense revitalised by the return of dry extracts (8) |
| *(sense) [anag:revitalised] by [the return of] <=SEC (“dry”) | ||
| 16 | OOPS | Fellow quitting parody’s review makes mistaken exclamation (4) |
| F (fellow) quitting <=SPOO(f) (“parody”, reviewed) | ||
| 18 | PASS | Quiet nana’s amorous advance (4) |
| P (piano in music, so “quiet”) + ASS (“nana”) | ||
| 19 | IN THEORY | Iron they forged according to principle (2,6) |
| *(iron they) [anag;forged] | ||
| 21 | BRANDYSNAP | Biscuit is a British hot shot, say (10) |
| B (British) + RANDY (“hot”) + SNAP (“shot, say” as in a holiday snap being a photo, a shot) | ||
| 22 | TALE | Drink after time – that might be a whopper (4) |
| ALE (“drink”) after T (time) | ||
| 24 | WATER SKI | Sadly at risk we skim over the surface (5,3) |
| *(at risk we) [anag;sadly] | ||
| 26 | ABROAD | Primarily at large? (6) |
| [primarily] A(t) + BROAD (“large”) and &lit. | ||
| 27 | REDTOP | Tabloid’s dithering trope about Duke (6) |
| *(trope) [anag;dithering] about D (duke) | ||
| 28 | TREE LINE | Wind in bit of fork is an alpine feature? (4,4) |
| REEL (“wind”) in TINE (“bit of fork”) | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | OMEGA | Papandreou’s last letter which stands for resistance (5) |
| Double defintion (last letter of the Greek alphabet, and the symbol for an ohm, a unit of resistance in physics) | ||
| 3 | SILLY SEASON | When journo jokes about rash age (5,6) |
| SILLY (“rash”) + SEASON (“age”) | ||
| 4 | DIPSTICK | Dummy declines HP (8) |
| DIPS (“declines”) + TICK (credit, or Hire Purchase, so “HP”) | ||
| 5 | ROCKET SCIENTIST | A high-flier who launches one studying salad? (6,9) |
| Someone studying rocket, (i.e. the leaves), could be called a rocket scientist. | ||
| 6 | STABLE | Established place to house hacks, for example (6) |
| Double definition | ||
| 7 | RUM | What Trump conceals is bizarre (3) |
| Hidden in (t)RUM(p) [conceals] | ||
| 8 | INNKEEPER | Carry on blocking exclusive or private landlord (9) |
| KEEP (“carry on”) blocking INNER (“exclusive or private”) | ||
| 13 | CHOLESTEROL | What shifts fat? Tight clothes and active role (11) |
| *(clothes) [anag:tight] + *(role) [anag:active]
Not sure what the definition is supposed to be here. Cholesterol is a type of fat, and does not shift fat, as far as my non-scientific thinking goes, but happy to be corrected if I have got it wrong. |
||
| 15 | STAIRCASE | Celeb carrying one bit of baggage in flight (9) |
| STAR (“celeb”) carrying I (one) + CASE (“bit of luggage”) | ||
| 17 | STOPPAGE | Shutdown is opposed in theatre (8) |
| Opp. (opposed) in STAGE (“theatre”) | ||
| 20 | HYSSOP | Junk shop’s in possession of yard sprinkler (6) |
| *(shops) [anag:junk] in possession of Y (yard)
A hyssop is used to sprinkle holy water. |
||
| 23 | LEARN | Pick up Latin warrant (5) |
| L (Latin) + EARN (“warrant”) | ||
| 25 | EAT | What to do with mutton, eg, with its head removed (3) |
| (m)EAT (“mutton, eg” with its head removed) | ||
*anagram
Quick solve for me, thought 21ac should be (6,4) but if it’s also (10), fine by me. COD 7d for its topicality.
Cholesterol is a sterol that transports fat so Jason is correct on this. I did raise an eyebrow on ROCKET SCIENTIST definition and wasn’t mad keen on STABLE since, presumably, “established” comes from the same root.
Thanks to Jason and loonapick.
Thanks J and Loona… ROCKET SCIENTIST didn’t bother me when I solved it, in fact rather liked it — but now that you mention it, I see why “a high-flier who launches” doesn’t quite work (maybe should have read “a high-flier who lunches on…” :).
^hanks both.
I grow a lot of hyssop, for its culinary uses, its attractive flowers, and its value as a bee attractor. Had to check the BRB to find it was a sprinkler.
Thanks to both. In 5d I interpreted high-flier to be an “academic grading” or person of greater intelligence, who launched as part of their work. The rest? No great concerns but I did look sideways at CHOLESTEROL, so thanks Hovis@2. That is part of my growing list of “things I have forgotten”.
Thanks to Jason and loonapick. The combination of HYSSOP and REDTOP (the latter new to me) slowed me down but I did finish.
This took a bit — I got CHOLESTEROL only from the crossings — got sidetracked with thinking “shift” was an anagram indicator and “clothes” meant something would be surrounded. There were a number of others that sent me in the wrong rabbit holes making this more difficult for me. Liked 5d and enjoyed OOPS very much. Thanks Jason and Loonapick.
I love this site! The explanations of the answers help me with future puzzles, and I enjoy reading the comments. I live in New York City and have been subscribing to the Financial Times for over 25 years, just for the crossword puzzle.
Sharon Bear @ 8
These days you can get the FT crossword as a free download.
@simon: now if only someone would take the pdf and create an AcrossLite optoin 🙂
Hi, In my mind 5d is a sort of treble definition.
Thanks Jason and loonapick
Did this one on the day but only just got around to checking it off. Was able to finish the grid off much quicker than the last two or three puzzles by this setter – however there was quite a few where extra time was needed to figure out the word play (12a, 21a, 3d, 5d) or confirm the definition (REDTOP, HYSSOP).
Had 5d as a whimsical definition of a very intelligent person (high flyer) who launches rockets and a second whimsical definition of a botanist (scientist who studied rocket, the salad plant) – liked it a lot !
Finished down the bottom with REDTOP, HYSSOP and ABROAD.