Non-prize puzzle from the Weekend FT of September 25, 2021
A fairly typical Mudd with several clever double definitions, one &Lit. (HEDGE at 29 across), and one term that was new to me, PICOT at 9. My first-in was 13 (CHAD) and last was 21 (RATHER). My favourites are 20 (STRING) and 26 (HEDGE)
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | PICKLE |
Troublesome child in quandary? (6)
|
| Double definition with the first referring to informal British usage of ‘pickle’ to mean a mischievous child | ||
| 4 | DISCOVER |
12 record finished (8)
|
| DISC (record) + OVER (finished) with the definition referring to 12 across (REALISE) | ||
| 9 | PICOT |
Old Scot keeping Leader of Opposition in loop (5)
|
| O[pposition] in (keeping) PICT (old Scot). A picot is any of a pattern of small loops, as in lace. | ||
| 10 | FIT TO DROP |
Exhausted, do in left-back after match (3,2,4)
|
| FIT (match) + DO (do) in (in) PORT (left) backwards (back) | ||
| 11 | LARCENY |
Unlawful act: criminal nearly accepting consequences, initially (7)
|
| C[onsequences] in (accepting) anagram (criminal) of NEARLY | ||
| 12 | REALISE |
Make new serial, last of three (7)
|
| Anagram (new) of SERIAL + [thre]E | ||
| 13 | CHAD |
In leaving superpower, head for Djibouti, African country (4)
|
| CH[in]A (in leaving superpower) + D[jibouti] | ||
| 14 | INFANTRY |
Soldiers in test rescuing lover (8)
|
| IN (in) + FAN (lover) in (rescuing) TRY (test) | ||
| 17 | HARDCORE |
Cold heart, obscene (8)
|
| HARD (cold) + CORE (heart) | ||
| 19 | PSST |
Ship involved in exercise, I say! (4)
|
| SS (ship) in (involved in) PT (exercise, i.e. physical training) | ||
| 22 | TOPICAL |
One in better state, newsworthy (7)
|
| TOP (better) + I (one) + CAL (state) | ||
| 24 | AMATEUR |
Lay a carpet on surfaces in every utility room (7)
|
| A (a) + MAT (carpet) + E[very] U[tility] R[oom] | ||
| 25 | INTRODUCE |
Present doctrine circulated around university (9)
|
| U (university) in (around) anagram (circulated) of DOCTRINE | ||
| 26 | HEDGE |
Ultimately, bush on border? (5)
|
| [bus]H + EDGE (border) &Lit | ||
| 27 | GOODNESS |
Honour my word! (8)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 28 | CRAYON |
Drawer that follows line, drawn back (6)
|
| ARC (line) backwards (drawn back) + YON (that) with a cryptic definition | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | POPULACE |
People put delicate fabric underneath uniform (8)
|
| POP (put) + U (uniform) + LACE (delicate fabric) | ||
| 2 | COCKROACH |
Male swimmer – creature doing the crawl? (9)
|
| COCK (male) + ROACH (swimmer) with a slightly cryptic definition | ||
| 3 | LITTER |
Refuse family (6)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 5 | INTERMARRIAGE |
Union between races that is inspiring migrant, rare surprisingly (13)
|
| Anagram (surprisingly) of MIGRANT RARE in (inspiring) IE (that is) | ||
| 6 | COOLANT |
For example, water bird circling land, briefly (7)
|
| LAN[d] in (circling) COOT (bird) | ||
| 7 | VERDI |
Credentials minister backed up for Italian behind bars? (5)
|
| ID (credentials) + REV (minister) all backwards (backed up) with a cryptic definition | ||
| 8 | RAPIER |
Weapon good to stab back when raised (6)
|
| PI (good, i.e. pious) in (to stab) REAR (back) backwards (when raised) | ||
| 10 | FLYING COLOURS |
Doing well, pass claimed by us – passing with those? (6,7)
|
| FLYING (doing well) + COL (pass) + OURS (claimed by us) | ||
| 15 | YESTERDAY |
Old song in recent memory? (9)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 16 | STURGEON |
Fish not gutted, grouse cooked (8)
|
| Anagram (cooked) of N[o]T GROUSE | ||
| 18 | RACCOON |
Wheels turning, business working for American native (7)
|
| CAR (wheels) backwards (turning) + CO (business) + ON (working) | ||
| 20 | STRING |
Saint with halo in series (6)
|
| ST (saint) + RING (halo) | ||
| 21 | RATHER |
Slightly sooner (6)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 23 | PATIO |
Terrace: second in road I touch up (5)
|
| [r]O[ad] in (in) I TAP (I touch) all backwards (up) |
Good one Mudd.
I really liked STRING for its surface, and GOODNESS for some reason. I often find cryptic definitions annoying, but Mudd made me smile at VERDI and RACOON.
Always good to expand the vocabulary – there were plenty of new words to me, including PICKLE as a troublesome child, PICOT, YON, PICT, COL and ROACH. Given this list of ignorance, it is obvious I needed a dictionary to reverse engineer some of the answers.
Thanks Pete for the great blog, and showing me how to parse CRAYON and FLYING COLOURS. And thanks to Mudd
“Pi” for good is something I occasionally see in crosswords, but only in crosswords. Never seen it in the wild.
Leaving aside the obscurity, I don’t quite understand it. If it’s an abbreviation for pious, then it means pious. Pious people aren’t necessarily good (several tsars spring to mind) and many good people aren’t pious.
Thanks to Mudd for a very entertaining puzzle, with some agreeable obscurities – I enjoyed it.
Andrew B @2 is correct, I think: in my dictionaries “pi” is defined as “sanctimonious” or “obtrusively religious” and never as “good”. However, in crossword land it comes up frequently as “good”, so I guess we just have to cut the setters a bit of slack.
Thanks for a very thorough blog, I agree about PI and that we are just resigned to accepting it. I suppose PI turns up in quite a lot of words and GOOD is very flexible with lots of different meanings for the word play.
Thanks Mudd and Pete
15dn: Having spent twenty minutes at my (electronic) piano last night singing songs composed by Robert Schumann and Edward Elgar, I would question the description of Yesterday as an old song.
Thanks Mudd, I enjoyed this with favourites being LARCENY, TOPICAL, AMATEUR, VERDI, and RACCOON. Thanks Pete for the blog — I couldn’t fully parse FIT TO DROP (but it’s quite simple really) or CRAYON (not so simple to see.)
[Pelham Barton @5: Old is relative — Italian visitors to the U.S. laugh at what we call old or antique.]
Thanks Mudd and Pete
Found this more difficult than usual for some reason, taking about twice as long as my average solve. Eventually got there with all fully parsed except the COLOURS part of 10d. A couple of others with quite tricky word play, including CRAYON and POPULACE with a few misleading definitions, especially the ‘American native’ for RACCOON (kept looking for the human natives) and the ‘Italian behind bars’ for VERDI. PICKLE as a child was the only new learning.
Finished in the SW corner with STRING (one of the favourites), TOPICAL and that RACCOON (after the penny dropped with all of the crossing letters in).