Neo is the setter of today's FT puzzle.
This was definitely at the less challenging end of the Neo spectrum. The top half went in very quickly, and the bottom half soon followed. That is not a criticism of Neo, in fact quite the opposite. If it weren't for some of the general knowledge required, this may be an excellent beginner's puzzle.
Thanks, Neo.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1, 10 | LADIES IN WAITING | Attendants dig Italian wines out (6-2-7) |
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*(dig italian wines) [anag:out] |
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| 4 | STITCHER | Rest ordered to protect long sewer (8) |
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*(rest) [anag:ordered] to protect ITCH ("long") |
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| 9 | MARCH | Month in advance (5) |
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Double definition |
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| 10 | See 1 | |
| 11 | DRIBLET | Little water fowl back to meet obstruction (7) |
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<=BIRD ("fowl", back) to meet LET ("obstruction") |
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| 12 | ROOSTER | Chicken roll containing nothing (7) |
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ROSTER ("roll") containing O (nothing) |
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| 13 | CAGE | Composer’s pen (4) |
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Double definition, the first referring to John Cage, best known for his experimental 1952 work 4'33" which is not exactly the most difficult piece of music to perform. |
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| 14 | CAFFEINE | In restaurant’s fine-ground stimulant (8) |
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In CAFE ("restaurant"), *(fine) [anag:ground] |
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| 17 | OVERSHOE | Old rhyme about house – one outside Oxford? (8) |
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O (old) + VERSE ("rhyme") about Ho (house) |
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| 19 | OGRE | Flesh-eating monster making some progress (4) |
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Hidden [making some] in "prOGREss" |
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| 22 | OPENING | Initial opportunity (7) |
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Double definition |
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| 24 | DICKENS | Returning hero knows Scots writer (7) |
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<=CID (returning "hero") + KENS ("knows" in "Scots") CID refers to El Cid, the nickname given by the Moors to the 11th century Castilian knight, Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar. |
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| 25 | PARTHENON | Dolly perhaps bringing female inside temple (9) |
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(Dolly) PARTON bringing HEN ("female") inside |
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| 26 | RATIO | Spanish banker clutching at relationship (5) |
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RIO (Spanish for river, so "Spanish banker") clutching AT |
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| 27 | ENTITLED | Championship secured in final with style? (8) |
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TITLE ("championship") secured in END ("final") |
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| 28 | NEURON | Excitable thing in north going after new money (6) |
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N (north) going after N (new) + EURO ("money") |
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| DOWN | ||
| 1 | LAME DUCK | Spooner’s Lady Fortune for company in trouble (4,4) |
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To Spooner. DAME LUCK ("Lady Fortune") would come out as LAME DUCK |
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| 2 | DERRINGDO | Operas at Bayreuth occasion bold action (7-2) |
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DER RING (Des Nibelungen) (a cycle of four "operas" by Wagner, first performed "at Bayreuth" in 1876) + DO ("occasion") |
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| 3 | EXHALE | Prince Henry in river having to breathe out (6) |
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HAL ("Prince Henry") in (River) EXE |
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| 5 | TOWER OF LONDON | Wooden floor collapsed in Tennessee building (5,2,6) |
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*(wooden floor) [anag:collapsed] in TN (Tennessee) |
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| 6 | TRIPOLI | Capital made by Republican taking hint about oil supply (7) |
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R (Republican) taking TIP about + *(oil) [anag:supply] |
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| 7 | HOIST | One in crowd offers lift (5) |
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I (one) in HOST ("crowd") |
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| 8 | REGARD | View communist eating fish (6) |
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RED ("communist") eating GAR ("fish") |
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| 10 | INTRANSIGENCE | Pigheadedness a sign in recent changes (13) |
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*(a sing in recent) [anag:changes] |
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| 15 | EGGBEATER | Scrambling device used in Yankee helicopter (9) |
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Double definition, the second referring to the Kellett XR-8, a twin-rotor American helicopter. |
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| 16 | TEASPOON | Might we soon need this one as pot boils? (8) |
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*(one as pot) [anag:boils] |
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| 18 | EPITHET | Essence contained in letter backing Lackland’s one (7) |
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PITH ("essence") contained in <=TEE ("letter", backing) Lackland was epithet given to King John. |
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| 20 | CORPSE | Body Romeo dragged into thicket (6) |
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R (Romeo) dragged into COPSE ("thicket") |
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| 21 | SCARCE | Rare fright catching cold (6) |
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SCARE ("fright") catching C (cold) |
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| 23 | EGRET | One partial to fish, Ruth having no starter (5) |
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(r)EGRET ("ruth", having no starter) |
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As Loonapick says, the top half slotted in quite nicely. I found most of the puzzle an engaging write-in until I got to the SW corner where I struggled with 18d, my LOI, which I guessed at but couldn’t parse. DERRING-DO and EGGBEATER were my picks today. Enjoyed working out the anagrams in particular and the cluing in general.
Thanks Neo. Great blog too, Loonapick.
Another Neo treat – thanks to him and Loonapick
One of the reasons I liked this was because I found it tough to finish, especially in the bottom half, with EPITHET (no idea about ‘Lackland’) and EGRET my last couple in. One of my first, but I liked DERRING-DO and later on the ‘Excitable thing’ def and wordplay for NEURON which fooled me into thinking of a word for an alert Scot!
Thanks to Neo and loonapick
Thanks to Neo and loonapick. Easy but very enjoyable, especially after my total failure yesterday. I did eventually parse everything though I took a while with EPITHET and DERRING-DO.
Thanks Neo, this hit the right notes with me. I enjoyed seeing John Cage remembered — I saw him in concert years ago and was awestruck with his creativity. It’s too bad that most folks only know 4’33” which is really just an exercise on how to listen to the background “music” in one’s environment.
I had many favourites in this crossword — STITCHER, PARTHENON, and RATIO to name a few. Thanks Loonapick for the blog.
Thanks to both. Delightful. I had to look up “Ruth”, even though it did ring a very small bell. Took me ages to see NEURON for some reason, so those were the last squares filled.
Thanks Neo and loonapick
A welcome relief after the hard slog of the previous day. Was able to complete all but two over a light lunch and was able to knock off on getting home and seeing that I had written in rubbish letters at the bottom of INTRANSIGENCE which allowed ENTITLED to be entered. Still was unaware of ‘style’ being equivalent to TITLE until looking it up.
The rest held no real problems, although missed the DER RING parsing of 2d, hadn’t seen DRIBLET before nor the company definition of LAME DUCK.