A strangely familiar offering from Baslisk this morning…
Oops. I had a strong sense of deja vu as I worked through this excellent puzzle, rather too easily, Sure enough, it turns out to have been first published as FT 16,776 on Tuesday, May 4th last, which happened to be one of my days off as blogger, though I did solve it then.
I've gone ahead and blogged it again anyway in case any of you happened not to have seen it. If you didn't, you're in for a treat; it's very good indeed. Thanks again to Old Snake Eyes.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SUMMON |
Call up star taking mass medium over (6)
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SU.N includes M[ass} + M[edium] + O[ver]. |
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| 4 | PLANGENT |
Ringing covert agent to receive information (8)
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PLAN.T (a mole, 'covert agent') includes GEN (info). |
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| 10 | LITTERBUG |
Refuse to be thrown by her line dance starting late (9)
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L[ine] + jITTERBUG ('dance starting late', i.e without first letter). |
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| 11 | IDIOM |
Tense is misused primarily in stupid turn of phrase (5)
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IDIOt (as adjective, 'stupid'), its T[ense] replaced by 1st of M{isused}. |
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| 12 | TOOL |
Return of stolen goods being exploited by third party (4)
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LOOT ('stolen goods') reversed. A dupe or patsy might said to be a 'tool'. |
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| 13 | PARTY PIECE |
Act deployed regularly in article about political division? (5,5)
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A press article about political factions might be called a 'party piece'. as might a reliable crowd-pleasing 'act'. |
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| 15 | EVOLVED |
Changed letter of introduction for delegate going to the Far East (7)
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dEVOLVE (to 'delegate'), its first letter being moved to the further end ('the Far East'). |
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| 16 | RULING |
Decision made by linesman? (6)
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Cryptic def of one who rules lines, perhaps. |
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| 19 | SEARCH |
Look for evidence of attention in school (6)
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EAR ('evidence of attention' as in 'lend me your ears').in SCH[ool]. |
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| 21 | OBSERVE |
Comply with note to watch clock (7)
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Quadruple definition, I think, though some seem a little close. |
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| 23 | NARCISSISM |
Man’s crisis shattered his enormous self- regard (10)
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Anagram ('shattered') of MANS CRISIS. |
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| 25 | AEON |
Came round every so often for many years (4)
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Alternate letters of 'cAmErOuNd'. |
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| 27 | LIVED |
Experienced setter’s charging £500 (5)
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I'VE (= I have, the setter has, 'the setter's) inside L[= pounds] + D (Roman 500). |
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| 28 | INEBRIATE |
I worried about brine decomposing pickled human being (9)
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I + ATE (p.t. 'worried') around anagram of BRINE. |
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| 29 | TALENTED |
Story by journalist on National Trust getting endowed with gifts (8)
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TALE ('story') + N[ationat] T[rust ] + ED[itor]. 'journalist' |
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| 30 | YONDER |
Try on de rigueur clothing over there (6)
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Hidden in 'trY ON DE Rigueur'. |
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| DOWN | ||
| 1 | SPLUTTER |
Group of Scottish footballers talk and talk incoherently (8)
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S[cottish] P[remier] L[eague} + UTTER ('talk'). |
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| 2 | METRONOME |
Banker reportedly supports railway that keeps time (9)
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Homophone of 'gnome' ('banker' as in the supposed 'gnomes of Zurich') under METRO ('railway'). |
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| 3 | OWED |
Felt the need to give recital of poet’s work (4)
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Homophone of ODE ('poet's work'). |
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| 5 | LIGHTER |
Match substitute perhaps carrying less weight (7)
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Double definition. |
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| 6 | NAIL POLISH |
Secure language for digital application (4,6)
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NAIL (to 'secure') + POLISH ('language'). |
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| 7 | EXILE |
Displaced person always killing time in Jersey? (5)
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Both letter Ts in tEXtILE (eg, jersey) are removed; T[ime] is thus always killed |
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| 8 | TEMPER |
Moderate politician divides support on right . . . . (6)
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MP in TEE + R[ight]. 'Moderate' & 'temper' as verbs, of course. |
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| 9 | ABOARD |
. . . . in run-down foreign places (6)
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ABrOAD ('foreign places'), its R[un] moved downward. |
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| 14 | OVERRIDDEN |
Set aside surplus free study (10)
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OVER ('surplus') + RID (to 'free') + DEN ('study'). |
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| 17 | NURSEMAID |
Woman having issue at work runs media organisation (9)
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Cryptic def w anagram ('organisation') of RUNS MEDIA |
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| 18 | REINDEER |
Cupid’s one means of controlling loved one we hear (8)
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REIN ('means of controlling') + homophone of 'dear' (loved one'). |
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| 20 | HOSTILE |
Army uncovered files related to acts of war (7)
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HOST ('army') + interior of 'fILEs' |
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| 21 | OYSTER |
Gem manufacturer employs terrifying guards (6)
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Hidden in 'emplOYS TERrifying'. |
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| 22 | ANKLET |
Insiders in banks allowed enhancement for PIN? (6)
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Inside letters of 'bANKs' + LET ('allowed'), w cryptic definition. |
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| 24 | REVEL |
Celebrate return of prize (5)
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Reversal of LEVER (to 'prize'). |
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| 26 | BRIO |
Writer’s change of heart shows zest for life (4)
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BIRO ('writer'), internal letters switched. |
Thanks Basilisk and Grant. I do not always keep my old copies of crosswords that long, but I have still got the previous appearance of this one. Apparently it took me 47 minutes last time and only 14 minutes this time. Make of that what you will.
It may just be me but i think there’s a problem with the ft site & hence why we’ve got a recent repeat puzzle.
I also had a strong feeling that I had seen several of the clues before, or at least something very similar. I now remember the puzzle, as it has a hard-to-spot nina. Take the first letter of each across solution in clue order.
I wonder if the repeat publication is related to yesterday’s failure at Fastly, which apparently took down many websites.
The Fastly outage occurred at about 11 am (BST) this morning, taking out the FT site, among others. This crossword had been published long before that.
And in any case the crossword is the same in the print edition, which is how I do it. I must have done it in May, but had managed to forget all about it, so perfectly happy to do it again….
As soon as i got to litterbug I remembered, what a shame, I was looking forward to this after the Guardian was so disappointing again.
The editor must love Basilisk because this is the second time that one of his puzzles reappears ….
My ‘way in’ was the ‘Group of Scottish footballers’ which caused me some trouble then – but not now!
Not having seen it before I enjoyed this – although it was a dnf. I had ABROAD rather than ABOARD and an unparsed MOUTH PIECE for 13a. Lots to like – especially the hidden YONDER – clever use of italics and over there leading me down the French garment path until very near the end. I thought the deja vu you were referring to GB was the appearance of PLANGENT in both the G and here. Many thanks to you and Basilisk.
I haven’t done the G yet.
Sometimes I think, Spoilergate will never stop.
We thought there was something familiar about the puzzle but put it down to one answer (but not the clue) being the same as one in the same position in the grid in yesterday’s Indy – although the Scottish footballers did ring a bell too.
My sympathies, Sil. Sometimes a spoiler can be subtle, and therefore possibly inadvertent, the commenter not having noticed it. Not this time, however.
Remember to look for the Nina / acrostic picked up by Hovis when this appeared first. That was the only thing that rang a bell!