Sleuth's turn to try to bamboozle us.
I found this puzzle quite straightforward. No obscure words or phrases (although some people may not have heard of Thomas Hood, and some non Brits may not have got ANT in PLANTAIN) and three anagrams that were barely disguised, especially MOUNTAIN which had MOUNT in the clue, but also TAP-IN and CROUTON.
If I'm honest, I found some of the clues lacking. In some cases, surfaces were a bit contrived ("enveloped by cheers"?) and in the case of LEA, the clue was tortured to satisfy the surface.
Final minor quibble – do cowboys use a NOOSE? I'd have though they used a LASSO, but happy to be contradicted.
I know I'm not the only solver who feels that FT puzzles sometimes need a little editing.
Apologies if the blog comes across as grumpy, but in my defence, I am now into my second week of a chest infection, and my patience is wearing a bit thin.
Thanks, Sleuth.
| ACROSS | ||
| 9 | A BOB OR TWO |
Stop with Oscar to acquire book and ring requiring quite a hefty sum? (1,3,2,3)
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ABORT ("stop") + W (with) + O (Oscar, in the phonetic alphabet) to acquire B (book) and O (ring) |
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| 10 | LAUDA |
Former aviation entrepreneur is more flamboyant by the sound of it (5)
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Homophone [by the sound of it] of LOUDER ("more flamboyant") |
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| 11 | SENATOR |
Unusual reason to save time for a political representative (7)
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*(reason) [anag;unusual] to save T (time) |
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| 12 | NOMADIC |
Wandering inspector enters much of Monaco nervously (7)
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DI (Detective "inspector") enters *(Monac) [anag:nervously] where MONAC is [much of] MONAC(o) |
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| 13 | LEA |
Blue tag regularly found in pasture (3)
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(b)L(u)E(t)A(g) [regularly found] I don't like this clue – surely, LEA is found in BLUE TAG. The setter has twisted this around for the purposes of making the surface sound better, but in doing so, he is no longer "saying what he means" as Ximenes would have put it. |
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| 14 | AT FIRST HAND |
Initially, assistance is given face to face (2,5,4)
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AT FIRST ("initially") + HAND ("assistance") |
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| 17 | HINGE |
Something employed to an extent in turning point (5)
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Hidden in [to an extent] "sometHING Employed") |
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| 18 | LOB |
Lazy sort missing second shot from back of the court? (3)
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(s)LOB ("lazy sort") missing S (second) |
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| 19 | TAP-IN |
Easy goal engineered in part without resistance (3-2)
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*(in pat) [anag:engineered] where PAT is PA(r)T without R (resistance) |
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| 21 | ON THE BOUNCE |
Note one heartless bunch warring in succession (2,3,6)
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*(note one buch) [anag:warring] where BUCH is [heartless] BU(n)CH |
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| 23 | APT |
Prince in heart of Bath? That’s fitting (3)
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P (prince) in [heart of] (b)AT(h) |
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| 25 | WORRIES |
Recall gentleman with argument about online concerns (7)
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[recall] <=(SIR ("gentleman") with ROW ("argument")) about E- ("online", as in e-commerce) |
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| 27 | CROUTON |
Small bit of bread scattered on court (7)
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*(on court) [anag:scattered] |
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| 28 | NOOSE |
Thing a cowboy might use shortly if returning close to cattle (5)
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<=SOON ("shortly", if returning) + [close to] (cattle)E |
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| 29 | INVENTION |
Meeting has institute replacing company? That’s a lie (9)
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(co>I)NVENTION ("meeting" with I (institute) replacing Co. (company)) |
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| DOWN | ||
| 1 | TASSEL |
Soprano is wearing least exotic ornamental tuft (6)
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S (soprano) is wearing *(least) [anag:exotic] |
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| 2 | MOUNTAIN |
Staggering amount in an excess of products (8)
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*(amount) [anag:staggering] + IN |
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| 3 | CONTRAVENE |
Break veteran arranged after first of campaigns in operation (10)
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*(veteran) [anag:arranged] after [first of] C(ampaigns) + ON ("in operation") |
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| 4 | STIR |
One that’s revered by Irish excited reaction (4)
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St. (saint, so "one that's revered") by Ir. (Irish) |
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| 5 | ROUND ROBIN |
A set of drinks before a lot of dressing in a type of competition (5,5)
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ROUND ("a set of drinks") before [a lot of] ROBIN(g) ("dressing") |
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| 6 | PLUM |
Choice fruit (4)
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Double definition |
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| 7 | TUNDRA |
A French medic is enveloped by cheers in Arctic environment (6)
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(UN ("a" in "French") + Dr. (doctor)) is enveloped by TA ("cheers") |
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| 8 | FANCY DAN |
Take a shine to Scandinavian ignoring European flashy sort (5,3)
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FANCY ("take a shine to") + DAN(e) ("Scandinavian" ignoring E (European)) |
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| 15 | FOLLOW SUIT |
Support clubs, maybe, to do the same (6,4)
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FOLLOW ("support") + SUIT ("clubs, maybe") |
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| 16 | TO THE POINT |
Short drink supplied by fashionable place first off proves apposite (2,3,5)
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TOT ("short drink") supplied by HEP ("fashionable") + (j)OINT ("place" with its first (letter) off) |
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| 17 | HOODWINK |
Deceive English poet with women in front of kiosk (8)
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(Thomas) HOOD ("English poet") with W (women) + IN + [front of] K(iosk) |
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| 20 | PLANTAIN |
Latin TV presenter tucks into French bread and fruit (8)
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L (Latin) + ANT ("TV presenter", one half of Ant 'n' Dec) tucks into PAIN ("French" for "bread") |
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| 22 | TORPOR |
Trustee defending poor working as lethargy (6)
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Tr. (trustee) defending *(poor) [anag:working] |
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| 24 | TENANT |
Figure followed by worker is no permanent dweller (6)
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TEN ("figure") followed by ANT ("worker") |
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| 26 | ITEM |
Pair in site memorably (4)
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Hidden [in] "sITE Memorably" |
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| 27 | COVE |
Chap found in mutual agreement (not half) (4)
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COVE(nant) ("agreement", not (ie. missing) half) |
I probably derived more fun from this grid than our setter though I agree on MOUNTAIN.
LAUDA was my FOI and HINGE my last and I found the three core answers rather neat being shots or techniques in various sports: HINGE (golf), LOB (tennis) and TAP-IN (football). My pick of the bunch was FANCY DAN with COVE not far behind.
Cleanly clued for the most part though I didn’t parse the ANT part of 20d despite being a Brit.
Thanks to Sleuth and Loonapick.
Didn’t care for this. In addition to issues already mentioned, I didn’t like the definition for LOB. Ok, the clue ends with a question mark, but lobs can be played from anywhere in the court (usually to the back of the court).
Slightly trickier than a usual Sleuth and I agree with Loonapick’s quibbles
Thanks to Sleuth for the crossword and Loonapick for the blog – get well soon
I have never heard of FANCY DAN which I find is American English.
SM@4 Chambers doesn’t mention American English – just says it is ‘informal’
I’ve heard ‘fancy dan’ used in Australia in connection with rugby, usually sledging! But he’s a character, I believe, in a US comic.
I liked this and found the parsing of some, eg my last in A BOB OR TWO, took a bit of working out. At the other end of the list of clues, I couldn’t work out how COVE = ‘mutual agreement (not half)’ though clearly should have thought of the not too difficult COVE(NANT). As a non-UK solver, I only knew ANT courtesy of previous crosswords, often clued with his partner. I thought NOOSE was OK, but I did think of ‘lasso’ first.
Favourite was LAUDA. Despite being ‘more flamboyant by the sound of it’ in crossword land he was an extraordinary man in real life and about as far away from a FANCY DAN as you could get.
Thanks to Sleuth and loonapick
Not my favourite puzzle from this setter whom I usually rate quite highly but doubtless I was influenced to some extent by not knowing either FANCY DAN or the poet HOOD.
Not to worry, we all have ‘off’ days and it sounds as though our reviewer has had almost a fortnight of them!
Thanks to Sleuth for the puzzle and to Loonapick, particularly for the help with parsing A BOB OR TWO.
Thanks Sleuth and loonapick. Hope your chest infection clears up soon.
Thank you Sleuth and Loonapick. Acccording to Chambers, a lasso is a rope with a noose on the end.
Being unfamiliar with the phrase A BOB OR TWO, chap as COVE, and supplied by = HEP I was unable to complete this. I liked TUNDRA but I didn’t tick anything else. Thanks to both.
A sound enough puzzle but it didn’t really catch our imagination. We’d not heard of FANCY DAN and we took ages to spot the anagrams in 2dn and 27ac. And we thought the setter missed a trick with HINGE – ‘to an extent’ could be left out if ‘something’ was read as ‘some thing’.
Thanks, though, to Sleuth and, with best wishes for a speedy recovery, to loonapick.
Overall, no complaints.
I had not seen the word HEP used instead of HIP which threw me.
Agree with Hovis re LOB. I will often lob a shot dropped over the net to buy time!
I liked FANCY DAN and thought it emanated from Victorian music hall – but seem to be incorrect.
Thanks Sleuth and loonapick.
Tony @ 11
It’s not “supplied by = HEP”, it’s “fashionable = HEP”, as in “HEP CAT”, a fifties(?) term for one who’s up with the latest jazz trends.
Simon @14: Thanks. No wonder it didn’t make sense. I need to go back to reading class
Enjoyed, if only for reminding me of…
Who was that Austrian racing driver…?
Lauda
I SAID, WHO WAS THAT AUSTRIAN RACING DRIVER?
Thanks Sleuth and loonapick
Another oldie which took quite a while to complete, a number of short sessions followed by a couple of longer ones. Started well enough with TASSEL going in immediately and although being familiar with Ant & Dec (only through other puzzles) and Thomas Hood (was into poetry earlier on), had not heard of the FANCY DAN term before.
Interestingly, saw LAUDA in exactly the same position in the same grid in a more recent puzzle. Notwithstanding the points above, did enjoy getting this one done
Finished in the SE corner with INVENTION, COVE and TO THE POINT.