Non-prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of June 26, 2021
This puzzle took some work and a good bit of time, all very worthwhile. My favourite clues here are 10 (REALITY), 12 (GENEALOGIST), 19 (FARE) and 21 (BASSO PROFUNDO). The most challenging were 6 (SEA POWER), 8 (DAYDREAMER) and 14 (ECRU).
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SHINY |
Modest nursing home’s gleaming (5)
|
| IN (home) in (nursing) SHY (modest) | ||
| 4 | GRASSLAND |
One informs youth about new area for stock (9)
|
| GRASS (one informs) + N (new) in (about) LAD (youth) | ||
| 9 | MOLDOVA |
State initially manages antiquated cells (7)
|
| M[anages] + OLD (antiquated) + OVA (cells) | ||
| 10 | REALITY |
The truth about post- revolution Italy (7)
|
| RE (about) + anagram (post-revolution) of ITALY | ||
| 11 | SCANDALMONGER |
Study Dutch welfare worker hiring German gossip (13)
|
| SCAN (study) + D (Dutch) + G (German) in (hiring) ALMONER (welfare worker) | ||
| 14 | ECRU |
Fawn found in English vineyard (4)
|
| E (English) + CRU (vineyard) | ||
| 15 | MILLENNIA |
Factory girl I enlisted returns for long spells (9)
|
| MILL (factory) + I (I) in (enlisted) ANNE backwards (returns) | ||
| 18 | LOOSE ENDS |
Left ducks nibbling primarily among nuts? They need tying up (5,4)
|
| L (loose) + OO (ducks) + N[ibbling] in (among) SEEDS (nuts) | ||
| 19 | FARE |
Manage food transportation cost (4)
|
| Triple definition | ||
| 21 | BASSO PROFUNDO |
Graduates with very senior teacher ruin singer (5,8)
|
| BAS (graduates) + SO (very) + PROF (senior teacher) + UNDO (ruin) | ||
| 24 | ARSENIC |
Is it put out in case awful rodent pokes its head in? (7)
|
| R[odent] in (pokes its head in) anagram (awful) of IN CASE | ||
| 26 | LEE SIDE |
Swimmer goes round team that’s got less wind (3,4)
|
| EEL (swimmer) + SIDE (team) backwards (goes round) | ||
| 27 | SINCERELY |
Bank pursues wrong church in good faith (9)
|
| SIN (wrong) + CE (church) + RELY (bank) | ||
| 28 | RATTY |
Perhaps skate across Tees in a huff (5)
|
| TT (tees) in (across) RAY (perhaps skate) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | SOME |
A few soon meet every so often (4)
|
| S[o]O[n] M[e]E[t] | ||
| 2 | ILLUSTRIOUS |
Famous writer, liberal one, featuring in glossy (11)
|
| I (writer) + L (Liberal) + I (one) in (featuring in) LUSTROUS (glossy) | ||
| 3 | YEOMAN |
The erstwhile sultanate’s palace attendant (6)
|
| YE (the erstwhile, that is ‘the’ written with a thorn) + OMAN (sultanate) | ||
| 4 | GUARDSMEN |
Troops armed us on manoeuvres in borders of Gabon (9)
|
| Anagram (on manoeuvres) of ARMED US in G[abo]N | ||
| 5 | AURAL |
Involved in hearing, woman’s beginning to finish (5)
|
| LAURA (woman) with the ‘:L’ moved to the end (beginning to finish) | ||
| 6 | SEA POWER |
Wastepipe controlling a river’s main force? (3,5)
|
| A (a) + PO (river) together in (controlling) SEWER (wastepipe) | ||
| 7 | ALI |
Ringmaster at heart of 10 (3)
|
| Hidden word (at heart of) in 10 across | ||
| 8 | DAYDREAMER |
Train ready-made radical fantasist (10)
|
| Anagram (train) of READY MADE + R (radical) | ||
| 12 | GENEALOGIST |
Tree student has info on each branch first (11)
|
| GEN (info) + EA (each) + LOG (branch) + IST (first) | ||
| 13 | JELLY BEANS |
Gorging on these, front of tummy drops into trousers? (5,5)
|
| [b]ELLY (front of tummy drops) in (into) JEANS (trousers) | ||
| 16 | LUSTFULLY |
Latin American orator once hugs female, thus? (9)
|
| L (Latin) + US (American) + F (female) in (hugs) TULLY (orator once)
‘Tully’ refers to Marcus Tullius Cicero, better known as simply Cicero, Roman philosopher, politician, lawyer and orator. |
||
| 17 | DENOUNCE |
Damn slow learner holds individual up (8)
|
| ONE (individual) backwards (up) in (holds) DUNCE (slow learner) | ||
| 20 | ENDEAR |
Bar student learned somehow to inspire affection (6)
|
| Anagram (somehow) of [l]EARNED | ||
| 22 | RECCE |
What scouts do in playground supported by this Parisian (5)
|
| REC (playground) + CE (this Parisian)
‘Recce’ is a British slang word for reconnaissance or reconnoitre. |
||
| 23 | LEVY |
Charge 50 envoys, barring every second (4)
|
| L (50) + E[n]V[o]Y[s] | ||
| 25 | SON |
Issue often associated with Lumière (3)
|
| Double definition, the second referring to Son et Lumière |
A super puzzle from Redshank pitched just at the right level for the weekend. My FOI was BASSO PROFUNDO, which was a big help in the SW corner where I found my overall favourite: JELLY BEANS. DAYDREAMER was a close second.
I do remember tussling with SEA POWER for a long time but the stiffest holdout for me was the triple-duty FARE which earned my admiration once the penny dropped. Parsing proved fair all round but I couldn’t work out LOOSE ENDS so thanks, Pete, for explaining that and your blog as a whole.
Time well spent so thanks to Redshank.
Thanks Redshank, that was perfect for a weekend crossword. Favourites were MILLENNIA, SINCERELY, YEOMAN, SEA POWER, JELLY BEANS (great surface), and DENOUNCE. Had problems solving ECRU, RECCE, and BASSO PROFUNDO and needed external help for those. Thanks Pete for the blog.
Pete, thanks for tying up my one loose end which was explaining LUSTFULLY. I assumed Tully was a forgotten politician of more recent times. I knew he wasn’t one of ours, so British or American seemed quite possible. The clue I really appreciated was SEA POWER.
Thanks for the puzzle Redshank as I certainly needed to sleep on this one before I finished it.
Super blog as always , thank you. This has become my Monday ( and Thursday ) treat, what a proper crossword. Diane and Tony have said it all really, will just mention RATTY for the misleading TEES and mention YEOMAN again for the use of erstwhile, an old fashioned word to give an old version of the.
Thanks Redshank and Pete
A typically enjoyable puzzle from this setter which took a couple of sessions over last weekend. Was able to steadily ply through the grid with the only real setback from initially writing in REALISM instead of REALITY at 10a.
A lot of excellent clues with JELLY BEANS, LOOSE ENDS and my last in DAYDREAMER the cream of the cream.
Thanks Redshank and Pete
I must admit I could not finish this one, and did not progress far beyond the NW corner. I was a bit short of time this weekend, and I am very short of crossword experience, and I just could not penetrate Redshank’s language. It actually turns out I solved and parsed a couple of clues (MILLENNIA and SCANDALMONGER), but was not confident enough of my answers to write them into the grid!
I hope to handle the next Redshank puzzle a bit better