Non-prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of November 21, 2020
A somewhat challenging puzzle from Mudd this time. I worked through most of it with just a little difficulty but got stuck for a good while over some clues in the bottom-left quadrant. The most difficult for me was probably 30ac (ROAD-TEST). My top clues are 1ac (TIGRIS) and the two “African natives”: 29ac (GIRAFFE) and 14dn (WILDEBEEST).
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | TIGRIS | Flower arrangement’s last bloom, good for bedding (6) |
| [arrangemen]T + G (good) in (for bedding) IRIS (bloom) | ||
| 4 | PETULANT | Irritable bowels of Fräulein nursed by favourite soldier? (8) |
| [fra]UL[ein] in (nursed by) PET (favourite) + ANT (soldier) | ||
| 10 | PYRAMID | Solid girl blocking sink, pulled from the rear (7) |
| MARY (girl) in (blocking) DIP (sink) backwards (pulled from the rear) | ||
| 11 | RESHAPE | Once again mould turn of phrase, English (7) |
| Anagram (turn of) PHRASE + E (English) | ||
| 12 | TUBE | Pipe travelling underground, bewilderingly expensive for starters (4) |
| T[ravelling] U[nderground] B[ewilderingly] E[xpensive] | ||
| 13 | GOBSMACKED | Surprised when teeth knocked out, say? (10) |
| Double definition | ||
| 15 | FILLIP | Back medicine providing pick- me-up (6) |
| PILL (medicine) + IF (providing) all backwards (back) | ||
| 16 | PADDOCK | Field that’s flat, cut (7) |
| PAD (flat) + DOCK (cut) | ||
| 20 | WINDSOR | House turned gold (7) |
| WINDS (turned?) + OR (gold). Surely this clue should read, “House turns gold”. | ||
| 21 | ANIMAL | Being eaten by human, I’m alarmed (6) |
| Hidden word (eaten by) | ||
| 24 | ALGEBRAIST | Jiggling of large bits beyond a student of valued relationships? (10) |
| A (a) + anagram (jiggling of) LARGE BITS with a very Muddy definition. | ||
| 26 | BOOM | Report a time of prosperity (4) |
| Double definition | ||
| 28 | BANGERS | Fireworks in crates? (7) |
| Double definition | ||
| 29 | GIRAFFE | African native stripping lead from wood in error (7) |
| [f]IR (stripping lead from wood) in GAFFE (error) | ||
| 30 | ROAD-TEST | Check out when nuts roasted with joint, finally (4-4) |
| Anagram (when nuts) of ROASTED + [join]T | ||
| 31 | COSTLY | Steep gradient, hill ends comfortable touring (6) |
| [gradien]T [hil]L in (touring) COSY (comfortable) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | TIPSTAFF | Officer sorting out spat in petty quarrel (8) |
| Anagram (sorting out) of SPAT in TIFF (petty quarrel) | ||
| 2 | GARIBALDI | First of generals a licentious one, revered nationalist (9) |
| G[enerals] + A (a) + RIBALD (licentious) + I (one) | ||
| 3 | IAMB | Foot – British leader introducing himself? (4) |
| I AM B (British leader introducing himself). This clue reads well because we Brits have had a leader in Michael Foot. In particular, he was leader of the Labour Party from 1980 to 1983. | ||
| 5 | ETRUSCAN | Old Italian cars, ten taking a spin around Umbria, primarily (8) |
| U[mbria] in (around) anagram (taking a spin) of CARS TEN | ||
| 6 | UPSTANDING | Happy with position, honest! (10) |
| UP (happy) + STANDING (position) | ||
| 7 | ABACK | A second way to be taken when shocked? (5) |
| A (a) + BACK (second) | ||
| 8 | TRENDY | Final bit parts go in (6) |
| END (final bit) in (parts) TRY (go) | ||
| 9 | ADIOS | Pop over about one? I’m off! (5) |
| I (one) in (about) SODA (pop) backwards (over) | ||
| 14 | WILDEBEEST | Oscar winner receiving prize, ultimately, for African native (10) |
| WILDE (Oscar) + [priz]E in (receiving) BEST (winner) | ||
| 17 | COME OFF IT | Get down from there? You’re kidding! (4,3,2) |
| Double definition | ||
| 18 | MOLASSES | Idiot feeding burrowing animals syrup (8) |
| ASS (idiot) in (feeding) MOLES (burrowing animals) | ||
| 19 | FLUMMERY | Goodness in fish that’s deceptive (8) |
| LUMME (goodness) in (in) FRY (fish) | ||
| 22 | BARBER | Scorer and cutter (6) |
| Double definition with the first referring to the American composer Samuel Barber. | ||
| 23 | USAGE | In the end, you learned operation (5) |
| [yo]U + SAGE (learned) | ||
| 25 | GANJA | Pot badger upended before bottom ripped from vessel (5) |
| NAG (badger) backwards (upended) + JA[r] | ||
| 27 | TRIO | Three tenors rejoicing in operatic overtures (4) |
| T[enors] R[ejoicing] I[n] O[peratic] | ||
A difficult Mudd for me, this weekend, but still I found joy and some excellent cluing. Pete, 20a baffled me and I think you’re right about the tense. BARBER was also a DNF.
Though I didn’t know TIPSTAFF, FILLIP helped with the ‘tiff’ part of the equation. Loved the teasing surfaces for both ANIMAL and TIGRIS. GOBSMACKED, BOOM and BANGERS were favourites. The ‘African natives’ were good fun too. (There’s an ‘e’ missing off ‘Wilde’ in the blog for 14d)
Thanks to Mudd and Pete.
Thanks, Pete. When I saw solid = pyramid, I felt a bit doubtful about this puzzle, but then elsewhere I saw ‘solid’ clued as another geometric shape, so I must have been wrong in thinking it was unusual. I scrolled through the answers and agree it has some challenging words/clues, although I liked the clue for ‘algebraist’ and will have to try to work ‘flummery’ into a sentence or have it on the menu because it sounds sort of cool.
Thanks Mudd and Pete
Also found this one solid going, taking several sessions to get it out. A couple of new words with FLUMMERY / LUMME and a cleverly disguised definition for ETRUSCAN. Lots of his usual nifty charades and really liked his paired ‘African natives’ and ‘solids’ clues. A couple of good double definitions to top it off.
Had trouble parsing that FLUMMERY, to a lesser extent PETULANT and forgot to go back to find the leading characters of TRIO.
Finished in the NE corner with GOBSMACKED, TRENDY and ABACK as the last few in.
If you found it challenging, Pete, then no one will be surprised that I found it undoable.
“Scorer” doesn’t appear often enough to become second nature – perhaps next time I see it I will realise immediately what is needed, but on this occasion Barber was my LOI and only after a lot of pondering.
Diane, Thank you for the correction to 14.
Something of a relief that others found this difficult. I found this a great deal tougher than the usual Mudd weekend puzzle, and at my age one is always anxious about signs of mental decline. Tipstaff and pyramid really had me chewing the pen; they felt a little bit like staring at a quick xword where you just can’t bring a word to mind.
A pity about Windsor, which perhaps was a typo. Otherwise, enjoyable.
On another point, does anyone know why we haven’t had a Rosa Klebb for a long time. Apologies if this is a sensitive question, but she is much missed.
Hi Andrew B … strangely enough, I was just thinking the same thing earlier tonight !!
This was easy compared to a Paul prize puzzle but harder for me than the usual Mudd — I had to use a word finder for 13a, 16a, 20a, 14d, and 22d. Still this was worthwhile — I particularly liked PETULANT (great surface), FILLIP, GIRAFFE, GARIBALDI, and GANJA. Thanks Mudd and to Pete for the blog.
Was Mudd in a 4ac mood when setting this? That was a beast (a 14d?). So saying, the cleverness of some of the clues, when eventually solved, made it seem worthwhile
Hi Martyn, Thanks for commenting. Mudd professes to not set unless he is enjoying the process. Still, I suppose he could enjoy being petulant.
Thanks Mudd and Pete. I found this a one snooze crossword as it needed a brain reset to get my thoughts online again. I agree with the concerns over 20a and left it for some time as I could not convince myself it was correct. In the end it just had to be that.
There is always the thought there is some esoteric setter discussion group in action as we have now had two GIRAFFEs in the last couple of weeks, clued much the same way.
Mystogre @12: If there were an esoteric setter discussion group we wouldn’t be having two giraffes or other repeated answers; my guess is that many use the same computer programs that might suggest similar things.
Thanks Pete for your reply. I do hope you understood I was not entirely serious. Glad to hear Mudd only sets when he is enjoying the process – as I thoroughly enjoy the result. I must confess, no matter how much difficultly I encounter solving the clues, I always wish for more at the end