Buccaneer continues to impress.
Another fine puzzle from the relatively newbie.
I particularly liked ASIDE and METHOD for their simplicity, but I gave ticks to many others. The definition for URETHRA(‘passing water duct”) was excellent, and I was impressed by the clever KAMA SUTRA “hidden in reverse” clue. A couple of clues took a while to parse (TROTH and UNKNOWN), but I got there in the end, I think.
As the grid was filling, I thought the puzzle would become a pangram, but Q and Z didn’t;t turn up to the party.
Thanks, Buccaneer.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SABOTEUR |
Sure boat at sea is a destroyer (8)
|
| *(sure boat) [anag:at sea] | ||
| 5 | KISMET |
After endless smooch, satisfied with one’s lot! (6)
|
| after [endless] KIS(s) (“smooch”), MET (“satisfied”) | ||
| 10 | ASIDE |
Main song line directed at the audience (5)
|
| The A-SIDE of a record was the one with the “main song” on it, so the song became known as the A-side. | ||
| 11 | KAMA SUTRA |
In part, USA makes revolutionary guide to good relations (4,5)
|
| Hidden backwards [in, revolutionary] “pART USA MAKes” | ||
| 12 | OFF-COLOUR |
Not in the pink, maybe somewhat blue (3-6)
|
| Cryptic/double definition | ||
| 13 | FATWA |
Decree carrying a lot of weight with American (5)
|
| FAT (“carrying a lot of weight”) + W (with) + A (American) | ||
| 14 | BARREN |
Unproductive member of the nobility, we hear (6)
|
| Homophone [we hear] of BARON (“member of the nobility”) | ||
| 15 | LEEWARD |
Pull swimmer back in sheltered area (7)
|
| <= (DRAW (“pull”) + EEL (“swimmer”)) [back] | ||
| 18 | URETHRA |
Passing water duct in old city with churned earth (7)
|
| UR (“old city”) with *(earth) [anag:churned] | ||
| 20 | ALCOTT |
Female writer of a vacuous lyric going too far (6)
|
| A + [vacuous] L(yri)C + OTT (over the top, so “going too far”)
Louisa May Alcott’s most famous work was Little Women (not Uncle Tom’s Cabin as I originally wrote) (only excuse was the early hour!). |
||
| 22 | CHAFF |
Waste drink with considerable volume (5)
|
| CHA (tea, so “drink”) + FF (fortissimo (very loud in music notation) so “with considerable volume”) | ||
| 24 | AFFLUENCE |
A virus stops criminal having cash to splash (9)
|
| A + FLU (“virus”) stops FENCE (“criminal”) | ||
| 25 | MARSUPIAL |
Bandicoot, say, camouflaged in puma’s lair (9)
|
| *(pumas lair) [anag:camouflaged in] | ||
| 26 | TROTH |
It was pledged to be red hot (5)
|
| TROT (Trotskyite, so “red”) + H (hot) | ||
| 27 | EVELYN |
Still keeping extremely lovely 17th- century recorder (6)
|
| EVEN (“still”) keeping [extremely] L(ovel)Y
John Evelyn was a diarist who kept a diary for over 60 years, providing a chronicle of his life and times between 1640 and 1706. |
||
| 28 | LADYBIRD |
Hen possibly a dotty little creature (8)
|
| A “hen” is a female bird, so a LADY BIRD | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | SHADOW |
Dog Bill’s entered into competition (6)
|
| AD (“bill) entered into SHOW (“competition”) | ||
| 2 | BRIEFCASE |
Document holder that won’t hold the cops up long? (9)
|
| A BRIEF CASE “won’t hold the cops up for long” | ||
| 3 | THE FOURTH OF JULY |
Liberating moment of joyful truth he arranged (3,6,2,4)
|
| *(of joyful truth he) [anag:arranged] | ||
| 4 | UNKNOWN |
A little drunk now, number 3 in maths? (7)
|
| Hidden in [a little] “drUNK NOW Number”
The 3 in the clue refers to 3d, [the fourth of] (Jul)Y, and the letter y is often used as an unknown in algebra, geometry or trigonometry. |
||
| 6 | IT’S A FREE COUNTRY |
“I’ll do what I like”, it could be said on 3 (3,1,4,7)
|
| 3 refers to 3dn, when Americans did declare “IT’S A FREE COUNTRY“ | ||
| 7 | MOTET |
Tiny little piece, Mozart’s final composition (5)
|
| MOTE (“tiny little piece”) + (mozar)T | ||
| 8 | TEA CADDY |
Two things golfer wants, the first picked up in tin (3,5)
|
| Homophone [picked up] of TEE and CADDY (“two things golfer wants”) | ||
| 9 | AMORAL |
Oblivious to the right marks in a test (6)
|
| M (marks, as in the old German currency) in A ORAL (“test”) | ||
| 16 | ANTONIONI |
Merchant of Venice gets flipping cool director (9)
|
| ANTONIO (“Merchant of Venice” in Shakespeare’s play) gets [flipping] <=IN (“cool”)
Michaelangelo Antonioni (1912-2007) directed films such as L’avventura and Blowup |
||
| 17 | BUNCOMBE |
Rubbish bishop with messy hair, mostly (8)
|
| B (bishop) + UNCOMBE(d) (“with messy hair”, mostly) | ||
| 19 | ATAXIA |
Drivers’ group fixing vehicle’s motor problem (6)
|
| AA (Automobile Association, so “drivers’ group”) fixing TAXI (“vehicle”) | ||
| 20 | ALFALFA |
Forage in area by Florida, doubling back (7)
|
| <=(A (area) by FLA,FLA (“Florida”, doubling)) [back] | ||
| 21 | METHOD |
Routine drug overdose (6)
|
| (crystal) METH (“drug”) + OD (overdose) | ||
| 23 | AGREE |
Getting jazzy, eager to harmonise (5)
|
| *(eager) [anag:getting jazzy] |
Er…, sorry loonapick, but I think you may have mixed up your American 19th century ‘female writer(s)’. Louisa May Alcott’s most famous work was “Little Women”; Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”.
I liked the ‘Passing water duct’ and the misdirection of the wordplay for the ‘motor problem’. Didn’t know BUNCOMBE rather than the more usual “bunkum”. An A-SIDE and 45’s – now relics of the past.
Well up to Buccaneer’s usual standard. Thanks to him and loonapick.
2. Oops – of course you are right, WP @1 – too early in the morning!
Buccaneer is only a newbie to the FT.He has been setting for some time as Picaroon on the Graun.I love his stuff,
Like WP, I was unfamiliar with BUNCOMBE although the answer was obvious from the clue. I have never known it by anything other than BUNKUM; maybe I’ve been away from England for too long.
I did not know 19A and my attempts at ACARIA left me with no clue for the extra I. Also 27A was unknown to me but the cross letters suggested no other word. One of the few times I have had to resort to a search engine to complete.
… and Buccaneer is also Rodriguez in the Indy. I love his stuff, too.
I enjoyed the clever anagrams @1ac, SABOTEUR, 25ac MARSUPIAL and 3dn THE FOURTH OF JULY and the hidden reversal in 11ac, KAMA SUTRA. Other ticks were for 5ac KISMET, which made me smile, 18ac URETHRA, for the definition, 26ac TROTH, for the PDM, 19dn ATAXIA for the surface and 20ac ALCOTT, because I love her books.
I’m another not to know that spelling of bunkum.
Many thanks to Buccaneer and loonapick.
More or less what Eileen said. I did know the alternative spelling of 17d
Thanks to Buccaneer for the enjoyable crossword – which turned out not to be as tricky as I thought it might be when I saw your name – and to loonapick for the blog
Another super puzzle from Buccaneer with just ATAXIA which eluded me.
My experience echoes the thoughts of others from the unknown but parsable BUNCOMBE to ALCOTT, URETHRA and KAMA SUTRA as favourites. To these, I would add the neat and simple SHADOW for its definition and the mention of ANTONIONI, cinephile that I am.
Thanks to Buccaneer and to Loonapick for the explanations.
Very satisfying. I couldn’t work out the word play for 4d but smiled when I read the explanation here.
Thanks to Buccaneer and loonapick. I did not parse ASIDE but did know the spelling of BUNCOMBE that preceded bunkum as a term for pretentious and nonsensical talk. It originated with Felix Walker, a U.S. congressman (1817-23) who represented a region in western North Carolina that included Buncombe County. Walker gave a high-sounding speech on a minor topic to a nearly empty congressional chamber.
[For some reason my screen name ACD has disappeared.]
Echo all the above – thanks to Buccaneer for another excellent puzzle – fine variety and some good quirks, which made it hard enough to be interesting.
Thanks Buccaneer and loonapick. Needed Word Wizard for several clues including BUNCOMBE, but all makes sense. Agree with ASIDE and METHOD, very clever surfaces. Didn’t get EVELYN. Thanks for parsing TROTH – couldn’t figure out surface though I guessed word. 3d, 4d and 6d all nicely done and thanks for parsing 4d.
A top class puzzle as is now the norm from Bucc/Rod/Pic. The stand out feature of his puzzles for me is the succinctness of the clues that read and misdirect so well. I could have ticked every clue and will give my double tick to KAMA SUTRA which was the loi and solved from the crossers before eventually seeing the hidden word. Nho BUNCOMBE (or ATAXIA) but the clue led to the answer and nice to know where it came from – thanks to ACD@9 – and to Buccaneer and loonapick.
Lots to enjoy.. altho needed help with 11ac.. failed to spot the inclusion which was annoying.. liked the linking of 6dn n 3dn.. as well as CHAFF n LADYBIRD..
Thanks BUCCANEER n loonapick
Top drawer crossword but I can’t stop kicking myself for failing to see the extremely clever ASIDE and METHOD. Both would have been double ticks for me. Maybe next time. Thanks to both.
Thanks Buccaneer and loonapick
Always liked Picaroon’s puzzles at the Guardian (not enough hours in the day to do both) and was glad when he popped up here. This didn’t take long on the clock to fill the grid, but some of the parsing made up for that – got them all apart from the A-side @ 10a.
Took a while to change an unparsed SLALOM at 1d to the parsed SHADOW as my last one in. Could’ve picked almost any clue as favorite.